In 1873 when affiliation with the University of California took place, Toland became the "Medical Department of the University of California." This "medical department" soon expanded beyond the boundaries of medicine per se, and it is important to recall the institutional beginnings of the various schools that eventually merged into the fully developed Health Sciences campus that we are familiar with in the twenty-first century. Although this website history primarily provides the reader with a history of the School of Medicine, the Affiliated Colleges: Schools of Pharmacy, Dentistry and later, Nursing, were a constant influence in the life of the medical school. Together they form the historical basis for the Health Sciences campus known in the present as UCSF.
The School of Pharmacy began as the California College of Pharmacy,
College of Pharmacy building as it appeared on Parnassus in 1931
organized by the California Pharmaceutical Society in 1872. As such it was the first school of pharmacy west of the Mississippi. The following year the College of Pharmacy affiliated with the University of California and a first class of twenty-seven students pursued the UC degree of "graduate in pharmacy." Two decades later, when the affiliated colleges were constructed to meet the professional training needs of California, one of the four main buildings was designed expressly as a college of pharmacy.
Throughout the 1870s the medical faculty encouraged students to attend pharmacy classes, and also supported the development of a dental college and in 1881 the Regents approved joint lecture courses for both dental and medical students.
The Donohoe Building at the corner of Market and Taylor.
The College of Dentistry was located in the Donohoe Building on Market Street and the dentistry clinics remained there while the instructional programs moved into new quarters in the Affiliated Colleges on Parnassus in 1898. In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake destroyed the dental facilities downtown and the clinics were consolidated with the instructional programs at Parnassus.
The final crucial affiliation with the Medical Department of the University of California occurred in 1907
The White Mortar Board
when a Training School for Nurses was established at the Parnassus campus under the leadership of Margaret Crawford. In 1917 the nursing curriculum was expanded to five years, leading to a baccalaureate degree in nursing.
Other Resources:
History section on the School of Dentistry website
History section on the School of Nursing website
History section on the School of Pharmacy website
Historical Overview of UCSF from the University of California History Digital Archives
Print archives of UCSF and its affiliated schools are available from the UCSF Archives.
