Pharmacy Celebrates 150 Years of Excellence From: University Currents Date: June 2, 2000 By: Tonya Brookshire Archive: Campus News As the College of Pharmacy marks its 150th anniversary this year, new changes are in the works to ensure a successful future in education and research. The college is preparing a new six-year curriculum which will be introduced in fall 2000 and will focus on communication skills and strong science-based learning. According to Daniel Acosta Jr., the college's dean, the focus will help ensure that the pharmacist of the future will be more involved as an effective communicator who translates prescription information from the physician to the patient. As the college moves forward into the millennium, Acosta is also looking to research as a growing area. "Recently, our faculty have made great efforts to develop interdisciplinary relationships with faculty from other colleges," he says. "Because of these relationships, our grant funding for research is on the rise and I am very proud of that." In 1996-97, the college received $284,000 in research funding. Acosta anticipates that funding will increase to $2.2 million in 2000-01. The college's history dates back to the spring of 1850, when the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy was chartered. As the sixth college of pharmacy established in the United States, and the first west of the Alleghenies, the College of Pharmacy provided instruction in chemistry and pharmacy to apprentices in the area. Nearly 40 years later, in 1887, the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy became affiliated with UC. This affiliation ended in 1897 but resumed in 1949, and in 1954 the college merged with UC. In the 1960's, the pharmacy curriculum went from a four-year bachelor of science curriculum to a five-year program. "This change was in response to feedback that the content was too extensive and challenging to be covered in four years," said Robert E. Lee, associate dean. Recently, the program has moved from a five-year bachelor's degree to a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum, which takes six years to complete. Lee acknowledges that the purpose of this change was to improve the education of pharmacists so that they are better equipped to provide pharmaceutical care. There have also been major changes in the selection of course offerings. For example, until 1974, a full year of coursework in pharmacognosy -- the study of active ingredients derived from natural sources like rhizomes and roots -- with a laboratory was required. Over time, this course was reduced to three quarter hours, and ultimately phased out in 1989. Recently, increased public interest in nutraceuticals renewed the need for inclusion of information on natural products and its integration with trade name products information. Another change in the curriculum is the decreased emphasis on training pharmacy students to prepare prescriptions extemporaneously. Due to the increased availability of pre-manufactured dosage forms, coursework in "compounding prescriptions" decreased from a full-year course to a single quarter. "Pharmacy has moved from a 'count-and-pour, lick-and-stick' profession that has been very product-oriented to a profession that puts the patient and their quality of life at the center," Lee concluded. To celebrate the sesquicentennial, Dennis Worthen, executive director of the Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati, and Michael Flannery, associate director of historical collections at Lister Hill Library, University of Alabama at Birmingham, are writing a book called Pharmaceutical Education in the Queen City: 150 Years of Service 1850-2000. The book is scheduled for release through the Pharmaceutical Heritage Series of Haworth Press in the spring of 2001.