History of the College of Pharmacy

Founded in 1859 as a private institution, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Pharmacy joined the University of Illinois system in 1896. Today, it is one of 15 Colleges on the Chicago campus, which stands as one of 88 leading research universities in the nation and one of only four universities with a full complement of six health science colleges.
Today, the UIC College of Pharmacy is the third oldest college of pharmacy with a continuous charter in the US, and the oldest academic unit of the University of Illinois. It is the only public institution of pharmaceutical education in the state of Illinois.

The College was founded by a group of prominent Chicago druggists with a desire to improve the profession and promote competent and ethical practice. They
formed a society in downtown Chicago to offer a more formal means of training to supplement apprenticeship.

The 140-year college history is chronicled here within a framework of change--in governance, location and educational program, taking into account significant
external influences. Our institution has had four different names, a professional educational program that evolved through five major degree changes, and multiple
locations (permanent and temporary) in downtown Chicago and on the West Side Medical Center.

While founded as a private institution, the administration worked successfully to affiliate with the state land-grant institution in the 1890s. The complex of health science programs and health care at the Medical Center predated the University of Illinois at Chicago (circa 1965), formerly known as Circle Campus. Campus consolidation in the earl y eighties changed our name to UIC when the medi cal center became West Campus and Circle the East Campu s of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Strategically located in the Illinois Medical District—the world's largest concentration of advanced health care facilities—the UIC College of Pharmacy serves a racially and ethnically diverse student body of 614 students who are pursuing PharmD and graduate degrees. Pharmacy faculty and staff operate and manag e pharmacy services at the UIC Hospital, providing comprehensive inpatient clinical pharmacy care, as well as ambulatory care services in the Pharmaceutical Care Center facility.

UIC College of Pharmacy is fourth among the nation's colleges of pharmacy in total National Institutes of Health funding, and it supports international collaborations with more than 20 countries. Its specialized research units include: Centers for Dietary Supplements Research on Botanicals, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Drug Information and Medication Use Outcomes; a Clinical Research Laboratory; an Institute for Tuberculosis Research; the Natural Products Alert; and a Program for Collaborative Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences. The College also houses the World Health Organization Center for Traditional Medicine.

This information and more history about the UIC College of Pharmacy can be found by visiting their site at http://www.uic.edu/pharmacy