Department of Pharmacology of Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology is the cradle of modern pharmacology in China. It began to give lessons on pharmacology in 1912 and formally set up a teaching and research office in 1925 with Professor Kessler A, a well-known German pharmacologist, as the first dean. Pharmacology was listed among the first batch of disciplines eligible of awarding master's and doctoral degrees in 1979 and in 1981 respectively, as a key discipline in Hubei Province in 1994 and as a key discipline funded by "211 project" of the Ministry of Education in 2001. Department of Pharmacology was approved by Ministry of Health as The Institute of Clinical Pharmacology in 1979, was authorized to be a Postdoctoral Mobile Station in 1991, and recognized as a Laboratory of Herbal Pharmacology in 2002. It passed the assessment of "Division of Phase I Study, Drug Clinical Research Organization of Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, HUST" in 2005 and was elected as National Key Discipline in 2007. It led other units to set up "Institute of Biomedicine and Drug Research of HUST" that marks the first one of interdisciplinary integration in 2009. It was approved to build The Key Laboratory of Drug Target Research and Pharmacodynamic Evaluation, Hubei Province in 2011. Its courses were elected as Excellent Course of Hubei Province in 2004, as National Excellent Course in 2009, as National Excellent Resource Sharing Course in 2013, and as the brand course taught in English for international students in Hubei Province.
Department of Pharmacology has 24 staff members, 19 of whom are teaching staff. Ten of its faculty members are professors, nine associate professors, ten doctoral supervisors and 19 graduate student supervisors. Among its large pool of teaching talents, it has one awardee of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, one professor of Changjiang Scholars Program launched by the Ministry of Education, one Chief Scientist of 973 Program, one recipient of Excellent Young Scientists Fund, one New Century Excellent Talents recognized by the Ministry of Education, one recipient of "100 talents plan" of Hubei province, and three winners of CNPHARS-SERVIER Young Investigator Awards in Pharmacology. Its faculty members hold senior positions in academic organizations including Chinese Pharmacological Society (CNPHARS), Pharmacological Society of Hubei Province, Cardiovascular Pharmacological Society, Wuhan Pharmacological Society, etc.
The department conducts research on almost all fields of pharmacology and excels in four research fields, that is, neuropsychopharmacology, cardiovascular pharmacology, clinical pharmacology, and tumor pharmacology. A number of national and provincial projects have been accomplished including 973 project, key projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China, Innovative Research Group Project, NSFC-RGC, general programs, and international cooperation programs of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China. Over the past 5 years, its faculty has published more than 240 papers in famous journals, including 50 SC-indexed papers. Its scientific achievements enable the department to be awarded the second prize of National Award for Technological Invention, the first prize of Natural Science Award of Hubei Province, the first prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of Hubei Province, etc. The department has developed medicines including Dauricine, Benadryl, Neferine, DDPH, etc. and obtained over 10 national invention patents.
Editing more than 20 monographs and textbooks, Department of Pharmacology was awarded the prize of Textbook Excellence Award by National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. Goodman & Gilman, an internationally recognized pharmacological work, was translated mainly by the department. In addition, it won two second prizes of National Teaching Award and three first prize of Teaching Award of Hubei province.
Department of Pharmacology has laboratories covering an area of about 1600 m2 where 533 pieces of large experimental instruments are placed, with a total value of nearly ten million RMB. It has trained over 480 graduate students and 210 doctoral students since 1978, some of whom have become academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering or professors in well-known universities at home and abroad.
