Outline of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Chiba University is a monumental pharmaceutical course since it was established in 1890 as the oldest Department of Pharmacy in the Medical School in Japan as a part of the First Senior High School. Since then, we have graduated numerous pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists who make outstanding contributions in the healthcare industry including pharmaceutical companies and chemical companies, the medical institutions such as hospitals and pharmacies, the national or public regulatory authorities, and academia including universities and research institutions. We pride ourselves on these accomplishments.

In 2011, we moved to Inohana campus of Chiba University, where a new building was ready for the Graduate School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The movement was based on our unique strategy which is to realize interacting and highly professional medical education and research in the campus; closely relating three divisions, the School of Medicine, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the School of Nursing, were gathered in a small area, Inohana campus. No university realizes similar ideal situation in Japan.

Nowadays, both highly specialized knowledge and advanced skills are required for pharmacists. The demand is increasing ceaselessly. In 2006, the six-year program has been formally started for the education of student pharmacists in Japan considering this social demand. Our Department of Pharmacy offers the six-year program mainly for the education of student pharmacists and also for education of future specialists in clinical development and in regulatory sciences. On the other hand, our Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences offers existing four-year program primarily for the initial education of future scientists in drug discovery area. The entrance examination is the same for these two departments. Moreover, there is no difference in lectures in the first and the second years. Students can think thorough his or her future path in these years. Students choose the department by their own will thereafter. In both departments, we train students taking global leaderships and responsibilities, and solving problems in rational ways, in addition to learn various knowledge and skills in pharmaceutical sciences. After graduation of these departments, we offer graduate courses for the master and doctor degrees.

We educate students who want to make significant global contributions to human health and welfare through medicine under ideal environments.

History of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Chiba University

The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Chiba University is located on Inohana campus, which is an ideal environment for research and education in the healthcare field; we are interacting closely with the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, and the Hospital of Chiba University at Inohana campus.

The origine of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences is the Department of Pharmacy at the Medical School of the First Senior High School, which was established in 1890. It was inherited by the Pharmacy Department at the Chiba Medical College in 1901. The current faculty name has been used since 1949 as a faculty name of the Chiba Medical University. The Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences was established for the master’s degree in 1964, and for the doctor’s degree in 1979, respectively. The faculty was composed of 17 laboratories in 1987, three of them were joined from the former Bioactivity Research Institute including laboratory of the hospital pharmacy. Each two laboratories were joined further from the Faculty of Liberal Arts and from the Medical Plant Garden by a major reorganization of the university in 1994. Through reorganizations in 1996 and 2001, the current organization with a total of 21 laboratories (including two cooperative ones) was realized, which is now one of the largest faculties of pharmaceutical sciences in Japan. The reorganization in 2001 included establishment of the Graduate School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, which promotes collaborations between the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the School of Medicine especially in the education. The existing Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences focuses on the research now. We will actively incorporate research areas which are needed to respond to social needs of 21st century. We will pursue new reseach and enthusiastic education under innovative visions extending more than 120 years history of the faculty.

(*1)The former Inohana school building was built in 1918 in Inohana-cho, and was used until 1966 when the faculty moved to the Nishi-Chiba Campus. When the faculty moved to the Inohana Campus in 2011, it was transferred as a symbol of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.