In the period from the fall of 1953 to June of 1971, the basic pharmaceutical sciences have come of age, to be recognized as sophisticated scientific disciplines. The role of the professional pharmacist has also come under study. No longer are the majority of pharmacists primarily involved with the preparation and compounding of drugs. A high percentage of their professional responsibilities now involve the distribution and control of medicinal agents. The College, under the direction of Dean Tom D. Rowe, has shown leadership in both the area of basic pharmaceutical sciences and the professional training of the pharmacist.
Curriculum and Professional Programs. — In the 1950s and early 1960s, Dr. Richard A. Deno was chairman of the Curriculum Committee. Much of the subsequent development of the new five-year and optional six-year curriculum reflect his insight and leadership in the problems of pharmaceutical education. Subsequent chairmen of the committee have been Dr. George Zografi and Dr. Ara G. Paul. Their leadership has been directed to the design of a curriculum, which will permit the pharmacist to become more patient oriented.
For many years this committee has invited student input on both an informal basis and through joint sponsorship with the student branch of the American Pharmaceutical Association of student-faculty meetings on curriculum. Starting with the academic year 1968-69, the curriculum committee was restructured to have two students elected by the student body to sit with four faculty members appointed by the Dean of the College.
Curriculum modification during the 1950s was mainly in the professional pharmacy areas. An introductory course in pharmacy was established, and the intermediate pharmacy courses placed a greater emphasis on physical-chemical principles rather than on preparative operations. The advanced courses in pharmacy were also modified to allow for greater professional practice in specialized areas. Hospital pharmacy practice under faculty supervision was made available to undergraduate students, as was a new course in manufacturing pharmacy. In the 1950s, biochemistry became a required course. Michigan was among those colleges of pharmacy, which showed leadership in changing its course work in pharmacognosy from the classical taxonomically-based course to one involving a chemical and biochemical basis.
In 1960 all American colleges of pharmacy were required to change to a five-year program leading to the B.S. in Pharmacy degree. Thus, only students already enrolled in a College of Pharmacy by September 1960 or transferring into the College with at least one year of advanced standing were permitted to complete the B.S. requirements in four years. The expansion into a five-year program allowed for further modification in the Michigan pharmacy curriculum. A primary objective at this time was to increase the number of elective hours of general University course work available to pharmacy undergraduate students. Also it was deemed important to establish a 15-credit hour per term requirement for a total of 150 hours for the degree as opposed to the former 130 hours in four years. Two five-year undergraduate curriculums were established: the general practice curriculum and a pre-graduate study program. The students in the latter program were not required to take courses in pharmacy management, public health and hospital pharmacy, but were required to take additional work in organic and biochemistry and were expected to elect the necessary courses in mathematics and languages for preparation for graduate work.
Other curriculum changes were effected with the advent of the five-year program and because of changes in the teaching staff at this time. This included the above noted three-course sequence in intermediate pharmacy. Undergraduate work in medicinal chemistry was concentrated from three courses into a two-course sequence. Course work in pharmacology for pharmacy students was expanded.
In 1960, at the time of the establishment of the mandatory five-year program, a new six-year program, leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy degree (Pharm. D.), was offered on an elective basis. The two programs were the professional practice program, which also included hospital pharmacy, and an industrial technology program. These programs not only replaced the former master's degree programs in hospital pharmacy and industrial pharmacy but also gave the student an opportunity to obtain additional work in the basic medical sciences.
In addition to the B.S. in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees, the College has a four-year program leading to a B.S. in Medicinal Chemistry. This degree was developed by Dr. Joseph H. Burckhalter and established in 1963. The program does not qualify a graduate for examination for licensure as a pharmacist.
In 1966 a pilot program for the training of a clinical pharmacist was explored, with Richard Hutchinson receiving basic medical science courses and joining the clinical rounds in internal medicine. The first formal course in clinical pharmacy was given in the winter of 1969, under the direction of Dr. Rosemary R. Berardi. The program was expanded that fall when Dr. John B. Young was appointed to direct the program in clinical pharmacy.
As part of its celebration of the Sesqui centennial anniversary of the University, the College, with U.S. Public Health Service support, sponsored a national Pharmacy-Medicine-Nursing Conference on Health Education in Ann Arbor in February 1967. This conference served as a basis for the training of a more "patient oriented" pharmacist at other institutions.
Concurrent with its patient-care responsibilities, the University Hospital Pharmacy has firmly established itself as a teaching unit. Teaching functions are carried out in cooperation with the College, with senior members of the University's Hospital Pharmacy staff having academic appointments in the College. Dr. Don E. Francke served as director of Pharmacy Services from 1943 to 1963. During this time he initiated a pharmacy residency program and academic training leading to a master's degree. These academic objectives were further developed by George L. Phillips, who succeeded Dr. Francke as Director, and by Vern F. Thudium, Associate Director, who joined the staff in 1964.
A major renovation in the University Hospital Pharmacy area was completed in January 1966 at a cost of half a million dollars. This not only allowed for an improved patient-care facility, but permitted an expansion of the educational program of the Hospital Pharmacy. On November 10, 1967, a Unit Dose Drug Distribution System was established in one area of the Hospital. This system improved patient care in that it provided a pharmacist on the floor to verify medication orders, which reduced nursing manpower and minimized medication errors. It also offered a unique opportunity to train students in small groups under close supervision. A Drug Information Center was established in the pharmacy in December 1967 and was expanded in subsequent years to include subunits in hospitals across the state.
Since 1964 the staff of the College, first under the direction of Dr. Richard A. Deno and later Dr. Ara G. Paul, has conducted a summer Drug Science Seminar for high school students. This program has been in cooperation with the Bureau of School Services and included lectures and laboratory work in the development, use, and abuse of drugs. Starting in 1970, the program was expanded from one two-week session to two two-week sessions to permit enrollment of more minority group students.
Members of the staff of the College have taken an active interest in their professional organizations. Dean Rowe and Dean Richards have made extensive contributions to the State Pharmaceutical Association and have made significant contributions also to the revision of the State's Pharmacy Act of 1961. On the national level, Dr. Francke was a former president of the American Pharmaceutical Association. Vern F. Thudium, Dr. Francke, and George Phillips have been active in the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, with the latter two attaining the office of president of that organization. Dean Rowe was president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy from 1957 to 1958, president of Rho Chi Society in 1947-48 and Vice-President of the American Pharmaceutical Association in 1952-53. He was President-Elect in 1971 of the Michigan State Pharmaceutical Association, the first educator to hold this position.
Graduate Study and Research. — Research has been an important component of the College since its establishment. It was not until the appointment in 1926 of Dr. Frederick F. Blicke that an active program in graduate education was firmly established. Seventy-eight students completed the requirement for the Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry under Dr. Blicke's direction. Research in organometallic diarylphthalides, anthrone, local anesthetic, analgetic, antihistamenic, spasmolytic and hypnotic medicinal compounds, as well as studies in the chemistry of thiophene and thionaphthene and the Mannich and Ivanof reactions were among the areas investigated by Dr. Blicke and his graduate students. These studies resulted in 177 publications, 30 patents, and the marketing of three spasmolytic compounds. Dr. Blicke was among the first to voluntarily enter into a patent agreement with the University's Board of Regents so that the income from his marketed research could be used in support of future research in the areas of his interest. Until the 1950s, graduate education in the pharmaceutical sciences in the College was essentially confined to organic pharmaceutical chemistry, or as it is presently called medicinal chemistry.
The program of research in the physical pharmacy-pharmaceutics area was advanced with the addition in 1957 of Drs. John Autian and Jere E. Goyan. Dr. Autian's research interest was in the effects of plastics in drug systems. Dr. Goyan developed work in the application of chemical kinetics to pharmaceutical problems. Dr. George Milosovich took Dr. Autian's position in 1960 and, until his departure in 1964, conducted research in physical pharmacy with special interest in polymorphism. Since 1962 Drs. William I. Higuchi, Anthony P. Simonelli, George Zografi, Norman F. H. Ho, and John G. Wagner have given acknowledged leadership in pharmaceutics research. The program is characterized by the application of physical, chemical, and mathematical analysis to pharmaceutical and biological problems.
A graduate program in pharmacognosy was established in the College when the Graduate School approved a Ph.D. in this area in 1958. Dr. Ara G. Paul developed the program, with the support of Dr. Richard A. Deno. His research interests include the mechanisms of biosynthesis and isolation of the alkaloids of ergot, peyote, and mushrooms. Currently, Dr. Paul's research is being supported by grants from the National Institute for Mental Health. Dr. Paul also holds an appointment as Curator of Medicinal Plants at the University's Botanical Gardens.
In 1964 Dr. Raymond E. Counsell joined the medicinal chemistry program with a joint appointment in the College and in the Department of Internal Medicine in the Medical School. Dr. Counsell has been sponsored by the Faculty Research Associate Awards from the American Cancer Society. His research interests include the synthesis of useful agents, including catecholamines and steroid hormones possessing hypocholesterolemic, anabolic, and anti-ovulatory activity. He also directs a program of synthesis of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Two significant patents assigned to the University are pending for agents for the diagnosis of malignant melanoma and adrenal disorders.
The interdisciplinary nature of the field of medicinal chemistry was recognized in 1967 by the approval of the Graduate School for an interdepartmental program in medicinal chemistry. While modest support for it has come from individual and industrial contributions, as well as government fellowships, its major support has been from the College and from the N.I.H. training grant awarded in 1969.
In the academic year 1969-70, over 50 research papers, with ten different faculty members as senior authors, were published, with most of the research described being supported by over $500,000 received in research grants and contracts. This amount is among the largest received by any college of pharmacy. From the fall of 1952 to the spring of 1971, over 100 Ph.D. degrees in the pharmaceutical sciences were granted.
Facilities. — With the expansion of staff and programs in the 1950s, lack of space became a critical problem. Remodeling of the College's space in the Chemistry-Pharmacy Building and acquisition of some additional space did permit more efficient use of facilities for the graduate programs, the housing of new staff, and the remodeling of the pharmacognosy laboratory. During this period, however, the limitation in space forced a restricted graduate enrollment.
In 1960 the Pharmacy Research Building was completed. It is a four-story structure, with an area of nearly 38,000 square feet, containing graduate student laboratories and such specialized facilities as product development and manufacturing laboratories, sterile solution, radioisotope, animal, instrument, and drug milling rooms. Funds for the construction and equipping of this building included $339,500 from a Public Health Service Health Research Facilities grant, more than matching funds from pharmaceutical industry, alumni, and friends of the College, and University funds. The total cost of the building and its equipment was more than $1 million.
In the spring of 1971 the College completed another major modernization of its physical plant with the remodeling of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors of the Washtenaw Avenue wing of the C.C. Little Building (formerly the East Medical Building). Pharmacy was allotted about 23,000 net square feet in this building in an area contiguous to the Pharmacy Research Building. A highlight of the new quarters is the Walgreen Pharmaceutical Center, made possible by a generous gift from Mr. Charles R. Walgreen, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Walgreen Drug Stores and an alumnus of the College. This area includes a modern professional practice laboratory, a library-conference room, and service facilities. The total space now available to the College is more than four times what it was in 1953. Thus, while in 1953 the College of Pharmacy was completely housed in the Chemistry-Pharmacy Building, it now only retains its holdings in the Chemistry-Pharmacy Library in this building.
Joseph E. Sinsheimer
Tom D. Rowe
The University of Michigan, an Encyclopedic Survey Supplement, Pages 242 - 247.
