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DEPARTMENTAL HISTORY
Our Department is as
old as McGill University and its Faculty of
Medicine. At its founding in 1824, there were five
Professors of the Faculty. One of them was Dr.
Andrew F. Holmes who was also the first Chairman
(1824 – 1838) of this Department, known at that time
as the Discipline of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Materia
Medica. The current name, Department of Pharmacology
and Therapeutics, was adopted in 1887, during the
chairmanship of Dr. James Stewart (1883-1891).
At this time, the
Department had only one teacher. In 1896 the staff
increased from one to two. During the first half of
the last century, the number of staff fluctuated
between 5 and 10. In the fifties, there was a marked
decrease in the staff position down to two with a
subsequent gradual increase in the early sixties.
Originally, the
Department was located in the lower campus in the
building now known as the F. Cyril James
Administration Building. It moved to the newly
constructed McIntyre Medical Sciences Building in
1965.
The Department was
significantly strengthened during the chairmanship
of Dr. Mark Nickerson (1967 – 1975). There were 16
full-time members of the academic staff, who
broadened the scope of research in classical organ
system pharmacology and especially in receptor
pharmacology. During this period, close links with
the clinical departments were established. Major
advances in medical teaching occurred.
Significantly, the graduate training program was
consolidated and formalized under the auspices of
the Department rather than left to the individual
thesis supervisors.
The next expansion of
the Department occurred with the arrival of Dr. A.
Claudio Cuello as the Chairman in 1985. Within four
years, the number of academic staff had increased to
34, many bringing new research expertise, notably in
imaging (e.g. immunohistochemistry, electron and
confocal microscopy), molecular biology and
pharmacogenomics. Affiliation of some of the staff
members at other centres, Montreal General Hospital,
Douglas Hospital, Montreal Children’s Hospital,
Montreal Heart Institute and Merck-Frosst Canada
research laboratories broadened in an unprecedented
degree the opportunities for research collaboration
as well as graduate and postgraduate training.
During the past decade,
the Department has enjoyed a further phase
of expansion. The number of undergraduate courses was
increased and a Minor in
Pharmacology was initiated in 1997. A full undergraduate program with Major and Honours degrees started in 2009. Under
the leadership of Dr. Hans H.
Zingg, Chair from 2002 - 2011,
five new professors were recruited as
full time tenure track members as well as eight new
associate members and two new adjunct professors
with
expertise in receptor pharmacology,
neuropharmacology, imaging, signal transduction,
endocrinology and x-ray crystallography.
Currently, our faculty
members and trainees are engaged in a large spectrum
of research areas that range over a number of
diseases, including cancer, degenerative nervous
system disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease,
psychiatric disorders and chronic pain, and stretch
over a large number of disciplines, including
toxicology, nanoscience, epigenomics, reproductive
biology and development as well cellular functions
such receptor signalling, cell cycle control and
synaptic function. |
