Gift of $500,000 honors Jere E. Goyan, late UCSF School of Pharmacy dean

A $500,000 gift commitment from Linda Lloyd Hart, PharmD—matched by the University of California Office of the President with $500,000—recently established the endowed Jere E. Goyan Presidential Chair for the Advancement of Pharmacy. This is the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s first presidential chair.

Hart, a former and longtime member of the School of Pharmacy faculty, named the chair in honor of her late husband, Jere E. Goyan, PhD, who joined the School’s faculty in 1963 and led the School as its longest-serving dean from 1967 to 1992, taking a 15-month leave from 1979 to 1981 to serve as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under President Jimmy Carter. Funds derived from the chair will support the recipient’s teaching, research, and service activities toward the advancement of pharmacy.

From childhood interest to nationwide influence

Goyan’s interest in pharmacy was sparked in his childhood when, at age 12, he began delivering items and running errands for a local pharmacy in Eureka, California. He earned a BS in pharmacy from UC San Francisco in 1952 and a PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1957. Goyan went on to dramatically impact pharmacy education and research. His then-radical view that pharmacists were integral to the work of the health care team resulted in the development at UCSF of the first clinical pharmacy curriculum in the United States.

Aided by Goyan’s efforts, the UCSF School of Pharmacy is consistently recognized as one of the top pharmacy schools in the United States, a melting pot of faculty leaders in research, patient care, and education whose expertise ranges from pharmacy to bioengineering, and from chemistry to health policy.

“Jere really had such an impact,” said Hart. “He transformed the direction for the School of Pharmacy and also helped the careers of many colleagues. I don’t know if there was one specific thing he loved most about working at UCSF—he just really did love it.”

Goyan’s professional influence reached far beyond UCSF as well. In the early 1970s, he chaired a California commission that recommended pharmacists be required to provide written or oral instructions to each patient about how a prescription should be used. The recommendation became law. As the first pharmacist to be appointed FDA commissioner, he approved—against strong opposition from the pharmaceutical industry—patient-centered legislation requiring that drug information inserts be included in all prescription-drug packages. He was the first pharmacist elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1978 and was chosen by the American Pharmacists Association in 1992 to receive the Remington Honor Medal, which recognizes distinguished service on behalf of U.S. pharmacy. Goyan served as president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy from 1978 to 1979 and as president of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists from 1990 to 1991. In 1996, he received the UCSF Medal, the University’s highest honor.

A rare leader

“Jere was a rare leader—prescient as well as charismatic,” said UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean B. Joseph Guglielmo, PharmD. “His impact on science and on pharmacy education has been indelible. I can think of no one more deserving than Jere Goyan to be remembered in such a prestigious way. It is with the deepest appreciation that we sincerely thank Dr. Hart for making this honor possible.”

The endowed Jere E. Goyan Presidential Chair for the Advancement of Pharmacy will support Goyan’s legacy of positive change by providing a stable source of funding that will enable the recipient to focus on applying new knowledge aimed at delivering breakthroughs in therapeutics-related research, education, and patient care.

“Private support of this magnitude is critical for the School to quickly seize opportunities to innovate, with improved patient health and well-being being the result,” added Guglielmo.

“A fitting memorial for my late husband Jere was always a part of my plan,” Hart said. “If the recipient of the chair position can make an advancement for pharmacy that is similar to what Jere did, the profession of pharmacy and ordinary people that it serves will benefit greatly.”

This gift was donated as part of UCSF: The Campaign.

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About the School: The UCSF School of Pharmacy aims to solve the most pressing health care problems and strives to ensure that each patient receives the safest, most effective treatments. Our discoveries seed the development of novel therapies, and our researchers consistently lead the nation in NIH funding. The School’s doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree program, with its unique emphasis on scientific thinking, prepares students to be critical thinkers and leaders in their field.