A Legacy of Innovation: The History of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (PCP) holds a distinguished position in North American history as the first college of pharmacy in the region, established in 1821. Throughout its existence, the institution has upheld its commitment to providing high-quality education to students aspiring to contribute to the sciences, health professions, and related fields. This article explores the rich history of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, from its founding to its evolution and eventual merger with Saint Joseph's University.
The Founding and Early Years
In February 1821, a group of 68 apothecaries convened in Philadelphia's Carpenters' Hall with the aim of elevating scientific standards and developing training programs for apprentices and students. This meeting led to the establishment of what would become the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. A year later, the state of Pennsylvania formally recognized the institution as a corporation. The founding group of 68 apothecaries, most of Quaker faith, aimed to improve safety and standards in the industry and practice of pharmacy by training practitioners in a science-based curriculum with a commitment to public health.
In March 1821, apothecaries and wholesale druggists in Philadelphia came together and formed the College of Apothecaries, the first pharmacy organization in the United States. Their plan for professional advancement was ambitious and included the establishment of the first American school of pharmacy.
The College's initial focus was on providing evening lectures to students who were also serving apprenticeships with pharmacists. This two-year program led to the awarding of a Graduate in Pharmacy (PhG) degree.
In 1825, PCP began publishing the first academic journal in the United States dedicated to pharmacy. For the period 1825-1834, the periodical was issued under the title Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.
Read also: HBCU Week in Philadelphia
Pioneering Education and Expanding Horizons
PCP's commitment to innovation and progress is evident in its early adoption of coeducation. Although matriculation was originally limited to men, the college became coeducational in 1876, when Dr. Clara Marshall, later dean of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, began attending lectures there. In 1883, Dr. Susan Hayhurst was conferred a degree in pharmacy, thus becoming the college's first female graduate, and the first woman in the United States to be granted a degree in pharmacy. In 1889, Dr. Hayhurst applied for and received a license to operate a retail drug business. By 1898, she was serving as the director of the pharmaceutical department of the Women's Hospital of Philadelphia.
In 1895, daytime classes were implemented and the PhG degree was replaced by two new three-year degrees: the Doctor in Pharmacy (PhD) and the Pharmaceutical Chemist (PhC).
In 1916, PCP substantially expanded its student enrollment and scope via a merger with another prominent Philadelphia pharmacy school. The Medico-Chirurgical College's assets included its schools of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy, and upon completion of the merger, PCP and Penn began discussions about Penn's newly acquired department of pharmacy. After some negotiation, Penn agreed to divest, and PCP agreed to absorb, Medico-Chirurgical College's School of Pharmacy. The merger combined the student bodies of both schools under the auspices of PCP. All of PCP's board of directors, administrators, and teachers were retained, and the former dean of the Medico-Chirurgical Pharmacy School was added to the PCP staff as associate dean. PCP's president at the time, Howard B.
While PCP initially emphasized the biological and chemical sciences as mainstays of the pharmacy curriculum, it later instituted separate curricula in three other areas: bacteriology, biology, and chemistry. Over the next 75 years, the college evolved and expanded, adding courses to its core curriculum, as well as courses to enhance the role of the humanities and social sciences in its science-based curricula.
Evolution and Transformation
As the field of pharmacy evolved, so did the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. In February 1997, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania approved the institution's application for university status. The additional space allowed the university to add a 1,000-seat event gymnasium, recreation gymnasium, natatorium, fitness areas, a 1/10 mile indoor track, and a new three-story, 78,000 sq. ft. academic building, the McNeil Science and Technology Center, which was a mixed-use facility housing classrooms, lecture halls, and teaching and research laboratories, was officially dedicated in September 2006. Named after alumnus Robert L. In 1998, the institution officially changed its name to University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP), to reflect its broad spectrum of new health and science programs.
Read also: Philadelphia Hotel Guide
In 2010, the university adjusted its name by dropping "in Philadelphia" from common usage (though the phrase remains a part of its registered name). According to the institution's president at the time, Philip P. In addition to referencing itself simply as University of the Sciences, the university also replaced the acronym, "USP", with the abbreviation, "USciences". Four years later, in 2014, the institution added to its campus another new 3-story building, known as the Integrated Professional Education Complex (IPEX).[17] Housing clinical spaces, exam rooms, and simulation labs in a 57,000 sq. ft. space, the IPEX gives students from a variety of disciplines the opportunity to learn in a hands-on environment as well as in the classroom.
In 2017 the university launched a marketing campaign after experiencing five years of declining enrollment. The following year the incoming freshman class increased but not enough to offset a $4.5 million budget deficit. In 2021, the University of the Sciences signed a formal Letter of Intent to begin exploratory merger conversations with Saint Joseph's University.
Merger with Saint Joseph's University
On June 9, 2021, the universities announced formal merger proceedings. In March 2022 the merger was approved by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. In November 2022, St. Joe’s announced plans to transfer undergraduate programs and students from the former USciences’ campus in University City to St. Joe’s main Hawk Hill campus. PCP merged with Saint Joseph’s University in June of 2022. Within Saint Joseph’s, PCP resides administratively in the School of Health Professions, which includes programs for preparing physical therapists, occupational therapists, physician assistants, and now, pharmacists.
In September 2022, the interim president of St. Joseph's informed the university community that all former USciences undergraduate programs would be transitioned to the main Hawk Hill campus. Graduate health sciences programs would be consolidated into the southwest section of the University City campus. However in February 2024 St.
Contributions to Pharmacy and Healthcare
The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy has made significant contributions to the advancement of pharmacy and healthcare throughout its history.
Read also: Launch Your Engineering Career
First created in 1820, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) established, and has delineated since that date, the standards for manufacturing drugs across America. For the first decade, it was written by medical practitioners. Later, PCP professors Franklin Bache and George B. Wood compiled a comprehensive commentary on drugs, The Dispensatory of the United States of America, which was first published in 1833.
William Procter Jr., often described as "the father of American pharmacy", was a PCP professor from 1846 to 1874, as well as serving as an officer of the board. He and Daniel B. Smith were instrumental in the founding of the American Pharmaceutical Association, the national professional society of pharmacists.
In 1868, John M. Maisch, PCP professor (1866-1893) and dean (1879-1893), proposed the creation of a Pharmaceutical Board to be appointed by the governor of each state. He also established the term "registered pharmacist" to identify those who satisfied each Board's requirements. Soon after, Maisch began to share his proposal with each governor, and, by 1878, nine states had adopted pharmacy laws that licensed pharmacists.
In 1885, PCP professor Joseph P. Remington published The Practice of Pharmacy, which soon became established as the standard text in the field. Later renamed Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, this comprehensive reference work remains widely used throughout the world. For more than 100 years, Remington has been the definitive reference for all aspects of the science and practice of pharmacy and is used for pharmaceutics, therapeutics and pharmacy practice courses in primary curricula. Remington: The Science & Practice of Pharmacy is the most widely used textbook and reference work on pharmaceutical sciences in the nation. Publication of the text was begun as Practice of Pharmacy in 1886 by Joseph Price Remington, professor and later dean at the University. The 22nd edition of Remington offers a unique array of content in two volumes, covering pharmaceutical science and pharmaceutical practice.
Academic Programs and Campus
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy offered courses in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business, and Pharmacy Practice and Administration. Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy offered advanced degrees related to the business of health policy and public health.
The USciences campus covers approximately 24 acres of urban landscape in the section of West Philadelphia known as University City, which also encompasses the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. It is bordered on one side by Clark Park and on another by The Woodlands, an historic cemetery that now serves as a large urban park with walking and bicycle trails.
The Marvin Samson Center for the History of Pharmacy
The Marvin Samson Center for the History of Pharmacy, located in Griffith Hall, houses artifacts, objects and records associated with pharmacology, pharmaceutical manufacturing and the practice of pharmacy, as well as the history of USciences. The Marvin Samson Museum for the History of Pharmacy offers a holistic perspective on pharmacy practices and histories by integrating the health sciences with arts and humanities. Through exhibitions, programs, and object-based learning, the museum fosters engagement and education on the evolution of pharmacy in the Philadelphia region and in wider American society. The Marvin Samson Museum for the History of Pharmacy was established in 1995 to coincide with the 175th anniversary of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy’s birth. The Museum was named after benefactor Marvin Samson in recognition of his long-standing service to the institution.
Its permanent collection ranges from ceramic and glass apothecary jars, mortars and pestles, and tools and instruments for drug preparation, to pharmacy and drug advertising items, nursing and orthopedic equipment and paintings and sculpture. PCP’s Marvin Samson Center for the History of Pharmacy has a collection of more than 8,000 pharmacy and medical artifacts and documents dating back to the 1600s, including ceramic apothecary jars, pharmacy show globes, mortars and pestles, and other tools and instruments central to the pharmacist’s historical role in prescription compounding and drug manufacturing. According to Dean Foote, the Center has hired a half-time curator for a year to modernize its museum displays and its curatorial processes.
The J. W. England Library
The library of the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia was formed in 1821 at the second meeting of the board of trustees and collected significant works in pharmaceutical science from its inception. In 1973, the library moved into a free-standing building and was named the Joseph W. England Library. Small but specialized, the collection is particularly strong in pharmacy, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutics and foreign drug compendia. Other areas of specialization include toxicology, pharmacology and physical therapy.
Among its collection were the holdings of the Leopold Helfand Rare Book and Archives Room, which include seventeenth and eighteenth-century botanicals, books once belonging to Benjamin Franklin and Sir Isaac Newton, as well as the theses of Dr. Eli Lilly, Sir Henry S. Wellcome and Silas M. Burroughs, written in their own hand. Since the university and its graduates were of interest to anyone researching the origins of the pharmaceutical industry. As of January 2024 the library had closed and St. Also of note is PCP’s J. W. England Library, which has collected numerous historically important publications in the pharmaceutical field since its inception in 1821.
Notable Alumni
The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy has produced numerous influential figures in the fields of science and medicine. Alumni include John Wyeth, Joseph P. Remington, William Procter, Josiah K. and Eli Lilly, all of whom have left a lasting impact on pharmacy practice and related industries to this day.
- William R. Warner (Class of 1856) - founded a drugstore in Philadelphia the same year he graduated that became Warner Pharmaceuticals when he invented a tablet coating process.
- Silas M. Burroughs
- Josiah K. Lilly Sr.
- Dr. Gerald F. Rorer (Class of 1931) - president of William H.
- Robert L. McNeil Jr.
- William Procter Jr. (class of 1837), “the Father of American Pharmacy,”
- Joseph P. Remington (class of 1866)
- Charles H. LaWall (class of 1893)
- Eli Lilly (class of 1907)
- Robert L. McNeil, Jr. (class of 1938)
PCP became co-educational in 1876, with Susan Hayhurst, class of 1883, as the first woman graduate of the College. Though the College never prohibited matriculation based on race, records confirm that Pinckney Napoleon Pinchback was the first African American graduate, earning a PhG degree in 1887. He was followed by William F. Taylor, PhG in 1894 and Henry M. Minton, PhG in 1895.
tags: #philadelphia #college #of #pharmacy #history
