The UCL School of Pharmacy (formerly The School of Pharmacy, University of London) is the

pharmacy school The basic requirement for pharmacists to be considered for registration is often an undergraduate or postgraduate pharmacy degree from a recognized university. In many countries, this involves a four- or five-year course to attain a bachelor of ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL). The School forms part of UCL's Faculty of Life Sciences and is located in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The School was founded by the

Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) existed from its founding as the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1841 until 2010. The word "Royal" was added to its name in 1988. It was the statutory regulatory and professional ...

in 1842 as the College of the Pharmaceutical Society. It was renamed The School of Pharmacy in 1949 when it became independent of the Pharmaceutical Society and was incorporated into the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

as a

constituent college A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...

. The School was granted a royal charter in 1952 and merged with UCL in January 2012.

History

The School was founded in 1842 by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The School began offering University of London degrees in 1925 and joined the university as a specialist school in 1949. It received a Royal Charter in 1952. Construction of the School's current main building, designed by Herbert Rowse, began in 1938, although work was stopped on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and the building was not completed until 1960. To its

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

and colleagues in the profession it is known as "the Square", which refers to the fact that it was originally located in

Bloomsbury Square Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Be ...

and now in

Brunswick Square Brunswick Square is a public garden and ancillary streets along two of its sides in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is overlooked by the School of Pharmacy and the Foundling Museum to the north; the Brunswick Centre to the w ...

. It was decided on 13 May 2011, after a consultation and development process, that the School would merge with

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL). The merger was completed on 1 January 2012, and the School was renamed the UCL School of Pharmacy.

Departments

The School is organised into four academic departments, each with one or more associated specialist research centres.

Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry

The Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry is the largest of the School's departments. Its research is focused on cancer, natural products and phytomedicines, molecular neurosciences and biopharmaceutical analysis. The department's staff help teach the undergraduate MPharm degree in the areas of drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacognosy/medicinal plants, and an MSc in Pharmacognosy is offered.

Pharmacology

The Wellcome Department of Pharmacology is one of the oldest departments of pharmacology in the UK. The department has played a major role in the development of Pharmacology in the UK and many pharmacologists who trained here are to be found in academies and in industries all over the world. The department's research focuses on the nervous system, and a wide range of approaches are used to study normal brain function and the causes of many neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Pharmaceutics

The Department of Pharmaceutics is home to a wide range of research activities, such as in Materials Science and Processing and Clinical Pharmaceutical Science. The department's research in Materials Science and Processing is centred on the fundamental properties of materials and their adaptation to optimise processing and enhance drug delivery. It operates a number of joint ventures, including the Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy Research, a joint venture with Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Institute of Child Health, and in the Clinical Pharmaceutics with University College Hospitals and Camden and Islington's NHS Trust. The Microbiology Research Group is also well-established, with work focusing mainly in overcoming antibiotic resistance and obtaining new actives from natural sources. The Group has been particularly successful in investigating new approaches to the treatment of the 'superbug'

MRSA Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' (MRSA) is a group of Gram-positive bacteria that are genetically distinct from other strains of ''Staphylococcus aureus''. MRSA is responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. ...

Practice and Policy

The Department of Practice and Policy focuses upon making the use of medicines safer and more effective through teaching, service and research. The department has collaborations with organisations including Imperial College London, the London School of Economics, the Institute of Education and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as several major London hospitals including Guy's and St Thomas's, University College Hospital, Hammersmith, Barts and the London, and Great Ormond Street. The department's staff are involved in curricular development and teaching across all four years of the MPharm course. Its student body includes hospital pharmacists studying for a range of Certificate, Diploma and MSc qualifications.

Courses

The School offers a number of

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

programmes, including

Drug Discovery In the fields of medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered. Historically, drugs were discovered by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by ...

Drug Delivery Drug delivery refers to approaches, formulations, manufacturing techniques, storage systems, and technologies involved in transporting a pharmaceutical compound to its target site to achieve a desired therapeutic effect. Principles related to d ...

Pharmacognosy Pharmacognosy is the study of medicinal plants and other natural substances as sources of drugs. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical, and biological properties of drug ...

and

Pharmacy Practice Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

, and PhD research degrees. The only

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

which it currently offers is the four-year MPharm,

Master of Pharmacy The Master of Sciences of Pharmacy (MPharm) is the standard master's degree program in Pharmacy. It is the oldest honorable Diploma (Degree) authorized from the European Faculties of Pharmacy as it takes five years to complete. It is based on a c ...

. The School offered BSc degrees in

Toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expo ...

and

Pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

until 2001.

Research and rankings

In 2010/11 the School had a total research income of £8.13 million. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 90 per cent of the research activity at the School was deemed "internationally significant" and 25 per cent "world-leading". The School's research focuses on advancing and understanding medicines and health care, and in creating new medicines. It is organised into four divisions: * Drug Discovery; * Formulation Sciences; * Neurosciences; and * Medicines Use and Health. The School is home to the following research centres: * Cancer Research UK Biomolecular Structure Group; * Cancer Research UK Gene Targeted Design Research Group; * Molecular Neuroscience Research Group; Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy; * Centre for Pharmaceutical Analysis; Centre for Drug Delivery Research; * Centre for Toxicology; * Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy Research; and * Centre for Behavioural Medicine; and Centre for Cancer Medicines. In the 2015 ''QS World University Rankings by Subject'', UCL is ranked 5th in the world (and 3rd in Europe) for Pharmacy & Pharmacology.

References

External links

UCL School of Pharmacy website
{{Authority control Former colleges of the University of London Educational institutions established in 1842 Scientific organizations established in 1842 1842 establishments in England Pharmacy schools in the United Kingdom