UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley have launched a joint program to develop the frontier of AI and biomedicine to accelerate advances in clinical care. James Fraser, PhD, a professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, is among the program's leaders.
Researchers at the UCSF Quantitative Biosciences Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Institut Pasteur, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, report that a single amino-acid change alters how a coronavirus protein interacts with the human and bat immune systems, shifting the body's response to infection.
James Fraser, PhD, Brian Shoichet, PhD, and Balyn Zaro, PhD, have all been selected to join the Collaborative Research Network (CRN), an international consortium supported by Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) in partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research that aims to better understand Parkinson's disease and speed the development of future treatments.
Postdoctoral scholars, specialists, and researchers (PSRs) from across the UCSF School of Pharmacy gathered at the Wayne and Gladys Valley Center for Vision on the Mission Bay campus on June 24, 2026, for the third annual PSR Symposium, an inspiring day of scientific exchange, career development, and community building hosted by the Center for Collaborative Innovation (CCI).
Researchers in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry’s Altschuler-Wu Lab have developed a robotic platform capable of tracking and testing thousands of miniature tumors simultaneously, revealing shared weaknesses that could be exploited by future cancer therapies.
Brian Komoto has become an innovative and influential pharmacy leader, growing what began as a four-employee community pharmacy into Komoto Healthcare which employs 180 people across five companies dedicated to helping underserved communities across California.
No single discovery is likely to cure Alzheimer's and related dementias, but Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Professors Charles Craik and Jason Gestwicki are making progress on multiple fronts, from detecting disease earlier to developing therapies that target the biological processes driving neurodegeneration.
Watch a recording of the June 3, 2026 Town Hall.
A study authored by Jonathan Watanabe, PharmD, MS, PhD, chair of the UCSF Department of Clinical Pharmacy, shows that aligning approval across countries could make it easier for biosimilars to reach the market — and hopefully lower costs for all patients, just like generics.
For many aspiring pharmacists, the path to a PharmD begins with a moment of realization: They need more time, more preparation, or more confidence before taking the next step. For Jay Samson, PharmD ’26, Mariah Foley, PharmD ’21, RPh, and Sara Shaikh, PharmD ’21, that turning point was the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Post-Baccalaureate Program.
On May 19, the UCSF School of Pharmacy celebrated 118 new pharmacists at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, honoring a class defined by perseverance, leadership, and a commitment to advancing patient care across every corner of the profession.
Scholarships play a vital role in supporting PharmD students, helping to remove financial barriers so students can flourish in their academic journeys and in their professional goals after graduation. See this year's list of scholarship recipients.
Leslie Benet, PhD ’65, professor emeritus in the UCSF School of Pharmacy Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, spent 61 years reshaping how medicines are dosed worldwide and mentoring budding scholars. Yet in a career marked by nearly every major award in pharmaceutical science, he's most excited about what he's doing today.
Dallon Barfield, PharmD candidate in the Class of 2026, was working in his family’s construction business while taking classes when a visiting emergency department pharmacist at Sonoma State University changed his trajectory. What had been a general interest in medicine became a clear career path that many pharmacy students never consider: the Indian Health Service (IHS).
Bani Tamraz, PharmD, PhD, associate professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Clinical Pharmacy, played a key role in the launch of the UCSF Clinical Pharmacogenomics Program, California’s first program to test gene-drug interactions launched in 2023.
A UCSF research team led by Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences Chair and Professor James Fraser, PhD and Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Professor William DeGrado, PhD, has pioneered a breakthrough approach to designing proteins with targeted functions, which could lead to simpler ways to improve enzymes and medications, among other uses, according to a new study published in Nature Chemistry.
Selected by students to deliver UCSF’s 14th annual Sumner and Hermine Marshall Endowed Last Lecture, Jennifer Cocohoba, PharmD ’01, MAS, professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Clinical Pharmacy, reflected on how the meaning of time evolves over the course of a career, and offered a message about the power of connection.
Michelle Arkin, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the UCSF School of Pharmacy, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most influential learned societies.
For Liseli Mulala, RPh, PhD, MPH, being a preceptor is more than teaching clinical skills. It’s about shaping how future pharmacists see and serve their patients.
New research led by Kathryn Phillips, PhD, professor of health economics and health services research in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, is drawing attention to a critical but often overlooked gap in modern health care: without the right diagnostic tests, even the most advanced therapies can’t reach their full potential.