History

Education in our Faculty has been fully devoted to pharmaceutical sciences, but slightly lacking in the teaching of practical clinical pharmacy. Therefore, the Medical Pharmacy Division was added to the master’s program of the graduate school in 1995. The Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FPS-OU) is composed of 18 chairs, and research is conducted in greatly varied areas. The projects and recent publications of the faculty are listed below. The high productivity of our faculty was attested to in Nature in 1994 (31:125). FPS-OU was established in 1969 as a department of the Medical School with seven chairs and was separated from that unit in 1976. The history of the Faculty is as follows:

1969	Department of Pharmaceutical Science (DPS) was added to the Medical School.
1970	Chairs of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Physiological Chemistry and Pharmacognosy were established in DPS.
1971	Chairs of Pharmacology, Health Chemistry were established in DPS.
1972	Chairs of Bioorganic Chemistry and Pharmaceutics were established in DPS.
1973	Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Okayama University (GSPS-OU) was established.
1975	Department of Pharmaceutical Technology (DPT) was added to the Medical School.
1976	DPS and DPT were separated from the Medical School and FPS-OU was established.
1976	Chairs of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Physical Chemistry were established in DPT.
1977	Chairs of Microbiology and Immunochemistry were established in DPT.
1978	Chairs of Synthetic & Medicinal Chemistry and Environmental Hygiene were established in DPT.
1994	Chair of Pharmaceutical Fundamental Science was established in DPT.
1995	Medical Pharmacy Division was added to the DSPS-OU and Chairs of Clinical Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Information Sciences, Hospital Pharmacy and Diagnostic & Therapeutic Chemistry were established in the division.
1999	Reorganization of DPS was completed. Two Departments (Pharmaceutical Science and Pharmaceutical Technology) were unified as the Department of General Pharmaceutical Sciences. GSPS-OU (master’s course) is unified with the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology (doctoral course) as the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology (master’s course; Divisions of Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Pharmaceutical Science).
2001	Reorganization of the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology (doctoral course) was completed. The Division of Biopharmaceutical Science was transferred to the Division of Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Science in the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology (doctoral course).
2002	Reorganization of the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology (master’s course) was completed. Two Divisions (Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Pharmaceutical Science) and five Departments (Medicine-Development Science, Molecular and Cellular Pharmaceutical-Science, Health Pharmaceutical-Science, Clinical Pharmacotherapeutic Science and Clinical Pharmaceutical-Science) were established in the reorganized master’s course.
2004	Okayama University became National University Corporation Okayama University.
2005	The Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences was established as a result of the reorganization of the Okayama University Graduate School. The master’s course was changed to the Drug Discovery and Life Sciences course, and the doctoral course was transferred to three majors: Biological Control Science, Social and Environmental Life Science, and Drug Discovery and Life Science.
2006	Due to the partial revision of the School Education Law, a 6-year pharmacy course was established with the main purpose of cultivating practical clinical skills for the purpose of training pharmacists. At the same time, the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences was established with a 4-year course period for the purpose of cultivating diverse human resources such as researchers.
2010	The first phase of renovation work for the main building of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences has been completed. Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences Master’s Program in Drug Discovery and Life Science was abolished, and Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences Master’s Program in Pharmaceutical Science was established.
2011	The second phase of the renovation of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences building and the construction of a new building have been completed.
2012	Due to the reorganization of the Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences doctoral course, the pharmacological research fields of the Department of Biophysiological Sciences and the Department of Social and Environmental Sciences were changed, and the pharmacological field was newly added to the Department of Biopathological Sciences. Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences Doctoral Program in Drug Discovery and Life Sciences was abolished and the Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences Doctoral Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences was established.