University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy

Chartered in 1878, the School of Pharmacy is the oldest of the University of Pittsburgh's Schools of the Health Sciences. The School of Pharmacy is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, adjacent to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Like the five other Schools of the Health Sciences, the School of Pharmacy is affiliated with the internationally renowned academic medical center, the UPMC-Health System, which provides the region's largest and finest network of tertiary, specialty and community hospitals. Collectively, these facilities provide one of the nation's greatest, most complete health centers for teaching, patient care, and research in the health sciences.

Pharmacists are held in high esteem by the public, as evidenced by the nine-year number one ranking in honesty and ethical standards among the professions (Gallup polls). The University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy is on the forefront of educating pharmacy's future practitioners with its four-year PharmD program. Setting the School apart from others is a curriculum that 1.) integrates science and practice throughout the course of study; 2.) emphasizes team building through collaborative learning in group work; 3.) leads the nation in its service learning program; 4.) offers professionally and technologically advanced methods of instruction delivery; and 5.) prides itself in excellent student-faculty relationships. The School of Pharmacy also enjoys a national reputation for the Clinical Pharmaceutical Scientist Program, a relatively unique PhD program that educates scientists to conduct translational or patient-oriented research.

Today, the School of Pharmacy is a leader in research, with endeavors ranging from patient care outcomes and human clinical research to research in molecular genetics. The School of Pharmacy is home to four centers: the Center for Pharmacogenetics, the Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research (CEDAR), the Pharmacodynamic Research Center, and the Center for Innovation in Health Care. The School also houses the Cell Imaging Core of the Center for Reproductive Science, a Neuroendocrinology Research Consortium, as well as, considerable chemistry expertise in the Bioanalytical/Proteomics Core and Medicinal Chemistry/Pharmacognosy Group . Collectively, these programs catapulted the School in the year 2000 into the top 10 among schools of pharmacy based on competitive research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

In education and patient care, the International Smoking Cessation Specialist Program and the Program for Pharmaceutical Care to the Underserved Population, respectively, are landmark programs that reflect the quality and excellence in the School of Pharmacy as are the Drug Information Center and Pittsburgh Poison Center. The School also has a direct link to the Institute for Research, Education and Training in Addictions (IRETA) through one of its faculty members who also serves as the Scientific Director of IRETA. The latter is an organization through which state-of-the-art research is translated to the practice of substance abuse treatment.

The School of Pharmacy's overall reputation is grounded in the excellence of the teaching, patient care, research, and service conducted by the faculty, graduate students, residents, postdoctoral fellows, staff, and alumni of the School of Pharmacy.

Organization and Facilities

Organizationally, the School of Pharmacy is comprised of three units: the Office of the Dean, the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics. Instruction for the professional and graduate courses in the School of Pharmacy occurs mainly in Salk Hall on the second floor and in shared classrooms of the third and fourth floors. State-of-the-art research laboratories are located on the fifth through eighth and the 10thfloors of Salk Hall. The ninth and eleventh floor house faculty and administrative offices exclusively. The Elmer H. Grimm, Sr. Pharmacy Museum, located on the fourth floor, honors the history of the pharmacy profession and acknowledges the contributions of alumni and friends to society. The Salk Polio Vaccine display, also on the fourth floor, commemorates the development of the killed virus polio vaccine in this building by the team of University researchers directed by Dr. Jonas Salk. Faculty of the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics have offices in Scaife Hall and the Victoria Building, as well as in UPMC hospitals, the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and VA hospital in proximity to their patient care practices.