Timeline
The figure provides a timeline for the development of the Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Biophysics graduate programs from 1939 until present. Originally, Pharmaceutical Chemistry Graduates were provided a tract in the Chemistry Department at UC Berkeley in 1939. E. Leong Way (Eddie Way) was the first graduate in 1942. The Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Biophysics PhD programs migrated to San Francisco as part of the large-scale migration of Medical programs from Berkeley ca late 1950s, early 1960s. There was a single graduate program, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, in the School of Pharmacy
When Les Benet came to UCSF in 1963, he was funded by the Training Grant in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the director of the program was Chair of the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, Warren D. (Bud) Kumler. Bud retired in 1972 after 38 years on the faculty and was Chair of Pharm Chem and director of the graduate program from 1959-65. Jere Goyan became the director of the Pharm Chem graduate program in 1966 and expanded it to include Pharmaceutics and ran the joint program until 1978. John Craig became the Director of the graduate program when he was Chairman from 1965-70, followed by Manfred Wolfe from 1970-82.
The separate graduate program in Pharmaceutics occurred after Jere Goyan became the first chair of the Department of Pharmaceutics, the year before he became Dean (~ 1966-68). Both departments shared the training grant and all graduates received their PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. During those years PhD students were separately chosen by Pharm Chem and Pharmaceutics faculty, but students accepted in each of the programs could get their PhD under either program depending on whom they chose for their major professor. This was the origins of the Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) program that was initiated in 1998 with Charles Craik serving as the director of the CCB program from 1998-2019. The former Pharm Chem training grant was taken over by Frank Szoka which eventually became the Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics (PSPG) graduate program. Jason Gestwicki became the CCB program director in 2020.
The Biophysics graduate program also moved over from UC Berkeley in the same time frame but with a different administrative structure. It came initially as a joint program with representation from both campuses and allowing faculty and graduate students from both campuses to participate in classes and graduate program activities. It largely focused on radiation biology and had membership from the Lawrence Berkeley labs as well. The joint activities gradually dropped off, but as late as the mid-1970s, there were students from UC Berkeley who got their PhD degrees at UCSF. In fact, at that time, the student could elect which campus the degree came from. This stopped abruptly when a dean at UC Berkeley objected to such unregulated behavior. However, because the PhD degree was designated as a “Joint” degree, UCSF was allowed to keep a PhD program going as a separate entity. Irwin "Tack" Kuntz was the first Director of that independent program from 1986-1994, followed by David Agard, 1995-2008, Matt Jacobson 2009-2016, Tanja Kortemme & James Fraser, 2016-2023 and Aashish Manglik, beginning in 2004.