General Information

The School of Pharmacy of the University of Puerto Rico, originally established as a Department of Pharmacy, and in 1925 organized as the College of Pharmacy, was founded on September 22, 1913 at the Río Piedras Campus. It was the first health professional program to be offered at a higher education level in Puerto Rico, and the first to be accredited.  In 1989, the College changed its official name to School of Pharmacy.

The first twelve pharmacists graduated in 1915 from a two-year program.  In 1928, it began offering a four-year pharmacy program leading to the degree of Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences.  In the early thirties, the College moved to a building of its own, named after Dr. Agustín Stahl, an eminent Puerto Rican botanist and scientist.  In 1932, it was accepted as a member of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.  In 1949, the School began its five-year Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences program, being the second school in the nation to adopt such a program, and eleven years before it was a requirement for accreditation.  The program was first accredited by the American Council for Pharmaceutical Education in 1952, and it has been accredited ever since.

The new shift in pharmacy practice and education to clinical pharmacy required the transfer of the College from the Río Piedras Campus to the Medical Sciences Campus (MSC) of the University of Puerto Rico.  In 1977, the College was physically transferred to the MSC.  The Bachelor in Sciences in Pharmacy program was offered from 1981 to 2003, based on a clinically oriented curriculum.  A Master of Science in Pharmacy program with options in Industrial Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (Medicinal Chemistry) was established in 1988, providing highly trained individuals for the pharmaceutical industry in the Island.

The development of new roles for pharmacists in patient care, in which they assume responsibility of overseeing the effectiveness and safety of the pharmacotherapy, required significant changes in pharmacy education.  This led the School of Pharmacy to the implementation of the Doctor of Pharmacy program (Pharm.D.) in 2001.  The program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). The curriculum focuses on the development of general and professional abilities, the integration of theory and practice, as well as active and collaborative learning.

In 2001, a Pharmacy Practice Residency program was established as a joint effort with VA Caribbean Healthcare Center in San Juan. It is accredited by the American Society for Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) as a postgraduate one year  pharmacy residency program.

The School of Pharmacy is also a provider of continuing education since 1979.  Its Continuing Education and Professional Studies Division is accredited by the Health Professional Examining Boards of Puerto Rico as a continuing education provider for most health professionals in the Island.  The University of Puerto Rico - School of Pharmacy is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmacy education.