Commencement

Date
Thursday, May 16, 2024 - 8:00 pm
Event sponsor
Office of Student Affairs
Audience
students, family, friends, faculty, staff
Location
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall

Full map

201 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102

Commencement celebrates a pharmacy student’s completion of the PharmD degree program, providing a special moment in the presence of family and friends to reflect upon their previous years and look ahead to their future careers.

All event details are subject to change in response to pandemic conditions. This page was last updated on January 29, 2024, and will be updated as new information becomes available.

Tickets and seating

Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. There is no charge to enter. A ticket will be required for every guest, and you can order as many as you need up until the event concludes on May 16.

Guests unable to adhere to the terms outlined when registering will be refused admission.

Graduating students do not need a ticket and will receive information from the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) about their check-in process.

Watch online

Watch on YouTube (opens in new tab).

View the program (opens in new tab).

The event will be streamed live starting at 8 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, May 16. The video will remain available to view after the event ends.

COVID-19 safety requirements

Subject to change based on UCSF and state/local guidelines. Updates will be posted here and on Eventbrite.

For the health of our UCSF community and guests, our event has the following guidelines:

  • Masking is strongly recommended, but not required, for all event attendees and participants inside the venue. Please note that masks differ in the degree of protection they provide. N95 respirators provide the highest level of protection, followed by KN95, surgical masks, and Cal/OSHA-accepted cloth masks.
  • UCSF faculty, staff, learners, and vendors must comply with the mandatory UC Vaccination Policy to attend in-person meetings or events.

Commencement speaker

Johnson

Julie A. Johnson, PharmD

Julie A. Johnson, PharmD, is the Dr. Samuel T. and Lois Felts Mercer Professor of Medicine and Pharma­cology at The Ohio State University’s Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy. She serves as the director of OSU’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science, associate dean for research in the College of Medicine, and associate vice president for research at OSU.

More about Johnson

Prior to joining Ohio State in fall 2023, she spent over 25 years on the faculty at the University of Florida, where she was distinguished professor of pharmacy and medicine (cardiovascular medicine). She was the first female dean of UF’s College of Pharmacy (serving from 2013 to 2022) and also served as a center and program director and department chair during her tenure at UF. She received her BS in pharmacy from The Ohio State University and her PharmD from the University of Texas at Austin and the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular pharma­cology​/​pharmaco­kinetics at Ohio State.

Johnson’s research focuses on cardiovascular pharmaco­genomics and implementation of precision medicine approaches into clinical practice. She is an interna­tionally recognized leader in clinical pharma­cology, pharmaco­genomics and genomic medicine, with over 330 peer-reviewed original publications and over $55M in research funding as principal investigator. In 2015, 2016, 2017 (each year in Pharma­cology and Toxi­cology) and 2018 (Cross Field), she was named a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher, indicating she published multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations in the previous decade, an accomplishment of about 1 in 1000 scientists globally.

Under her leadership as dean, the UF College of Pharmacy implemented a new PharmD curriculum, its faculty grew by 90%, the U.S. News and World Report ranking rose from #14 to #5, research funding grew 3.8-fold and research funding rankings rose from the high teens to #3, and it had the highest percentage of underrepresented minority (URM) students among professional degree programs at UF and among the top 40 colleges of pharmacy in the United States, with the percentage or URM PharmD students doubling in her time as dean. Johnson has had numerous service roles, including with the National Insti­tutes of Health (NIH), United States Food and Drug Admin­i­stra­tion (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Preven­tion (CDC), American Heart Associ­ation, American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), and American Society for Clinical Pharma­cology & Therapeutics (ASCPT), for which she served as president in 2016-2017. She is currently serving as president of the Pharmaco­genomics Global Research Network and is a past president of the Academy for Sciences, Engi­neer­ing and Medicine – Florida (ASEM-FL). Johnson has received numerous awards and honors.

Highly Cited Researcher is a trademark of Clarivate.

Arriving to the venue

For transportation options aside from ride sharing services, there are two nearby parking garages for attendees driving to the venue and public transportation options. For parking options near the venue, you may park at the Civic Center Plaza Garage or the Performing Arts Garage. Rates vary throughout the day. MUNI lines serving Davies Symphony Hall include #5, 21, 47, and 49. Underground MUNI metro and the F Streetcar line stop nearby at Market Street and Van Ness Avenue. BART lines serve the nearby Civic Center station at Market and Eighth Streets. For more information on Bay Area public transportation options and trip planning for the entire San Francisco Bay Area, please visit 511.org or by dialing 511.

Celebratory and decorative items

We understand that guests may want to bring celebratory or decorative items to commencement to celebrate their graduate. Per venue guidelines, balloons, bullhorns, and air horns are not allowed. Signage is allowed but may only be put up momentarily as your graduate crosses the stage to allow other audience members to view their graduate. We ask that you refrain from putting leis and flower arrangements around your graduate until after the ceremony to ease the hooding process.

CSHP Flower Sale

The California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) at UCSF is hosting their annual flower fundraiser to help celebrate your incredible graduate’s accomplishments. They offer single and double Dendrobium orchid leis, bouquets of roses, and Gerbera daisies. Each order also comes with the option to include a personalized message that will be attached to the flowers. Flower pick-up starts at 7:00 p.m. on commencement day outside of the venue (Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue). Can’t make it to commencement? They will hand-deliver orders to the grad following the ceremony. Don’t miss your last chance to show your favorite graduate some love! Orders close on Wednesday, May 1 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.

Place orders at CSHP at UCSF Commencement Flower Sale 2024. Questions? Contact Michael Nguyen ([email protected]).

Questions?

Contact the Office of Student Affairs ([email protected]).

Need accessibility accommodations?

Contact Student Affairs Project Specialist Leslie Chocano Solis ([email protected]) by May 1 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time to ensure proper accessibility arrangements can be made.