History/The University of Tokyo

History

The organization of pharmaceutical education in Japan began in 1877 with the establishment of a Pharmaceutical Institute (later Division of Pharmacy) in the Medical Faculty of this University. For the first 10 years, instruction was given by foreigners, and in particular a Dutch chemist Dr. J. E. Eijkman. He left a large amount of fine work in the study of components of various domestic medicinal plants.

For the next 25 years, from 1887 to 1912, Japanese who had returned from studies in Germany took over the education of students, carried out valuable investigations of their own, and also established the ground for pharmaceutical organic chemistry in Japan. Three chairs were provided: for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, and Health Chemistry.

During the next 25years, from 1913 to 1938, the chairs of Pharmaceutical Technology, and of Chemistry of Organotherapeutic Medicine (Present Physiological Chemistry) were established, and in 1939 the chair of Analytical Chemistry was founded.

After World War II, the chairs of Pharmaceutics and of Chemical Pharmacology were added, making eight laboratories in all. In 1958, the Division of Pharmacy separated from the Faculty of Medicine and became an independent School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, including Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences for Undergraduate Course. In 1959, the School gained more laboratories to make them 13 altogether: Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, Health Chemistry, Physiological Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Chemical Pharmacology, Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry, Biophysics, Physical Chemistry, Microbial Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Synthetic Chemistry, and Physiochemical Analysis.

In 1966 the Research Institute for Chemical Hazards, and in 1973 the Experimental Station for Medicinal Plant Studies were founded. In 1976, the Research Institute for Chemical Hazards was abolished, and instead three Laboratories were established: Laboratory of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Molecular Immunology, and Laboratory of Bio-Organic Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry. In 1996, the newest Laboratory of Neuropathology and Neuroscience was founded.

In recent years, significance of the research and graduate education at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences became profound. To meet such demands, the School was reorganized in 1997 along with the new system, so called "Graduate School Priority System", and the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences were reformed into three Divisions, that is, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Biology, and Pharmaceutical Technology. Although the Faculty's emphasis of education is shifted from the Undergraduate Course to the Graduate Course, most of the faculty members also continue undergraduate education. Now the School has 94 faculty members, 60 of clerks and supporting staffs, 30 pre- and post-doctoral research fellows, 330 graduate students, and 170 undergraduate students (juniors and seniors).