Two New Departments in Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Dear UC San Diego Community,

The Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Dean of UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences are pleased to announce the formation of two new academic departments within the school: the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Sciences and the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Previously operating as three separate divisions — the divisions of clinical pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences and pharmaceutical chemistry — the evolution to academic departments reflects the rapid growth and success of Skaggs School of Pharmacy. Founded in 2002, the school is already ranked as the No. 12 best pharmacy school in the nation by U.S. News & World Report (tie score) and No. 4 in the nation for research funding according to American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP).

The new departments will advance groundbreaking research that improves human health; teach and train students across the school’s Pharm.D., dual Pharm.D./Ph.D., dual Pharm.D./M.P.H. and master’s programs; and serve our campus and public communities. Specific focus areas are as follows:

The Department of Pharmacy Practice and Sciences delivers excellence in clinical pharmacy practice, teaching and research with an emphasis on collaborative care and innovative practice models. The department’s 29 faculty members will continue to advance scientific discovery involving clinical research and health outcomes, pharmacy informatics, health policy, pharmacoeconomics, access to care and scholarship of teaching and learning; help shape policy through service on national, international and government committees or advisory boards; teach courses in the school’s Pharm.D. and master’s program curriculum; and provide patient care at UC San Diego Health, the UC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic Project, Veteran Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and additional locations.
The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences trains future leaders in therapeutics innovation and serves as a hub for state-of-the-art research and education in drug discovery and development. The department’s 27 faculty members advance groundbreaking drug discovery, development and translational science, with key focus areas including pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacology, computational drug discovery and microbiomics/proteomics. In addition to teaching and training pharmaceutical science in the school’s Pharm.D., joint Pharm.D./Ph.D. and master’s degree programs, faculty also train graduate students via joint campus efforts with graduate programs in biomedical sciences, chemistry/biochemistry, marine natural product sciences, bioinformatics, computer sciences and engineering, bioengineering, biological sciences, neurosciences, medicine and related programs.

Please join us in welcoming the new departments and celebrating the possibilities they offer for our campus. We look forward to seeing the positive impact they will have on our school and communities.

John M. Carethers
Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences

Brookie Best, Pharm.D., M.A.S.
Dean, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093