Brian Shoichet Named Chair of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department

Brian Shoichet, PhD, a nationally recognized biochemist in computational drug discovery, has been named chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry in the UCSF School of Pharmacy. The appointment begins Aug. 1, 2025.

As chair, Shoichet will develop and implement a strategic plan for the department; promote faculty professional development, research endeavors, and scholarship; and represent the department within UCSF and externally, among other responsibilities.

“Brian has worked with colleagues at our school, across UCSF and in industry to accelerate drug discovery in bold and innovative ways,” said Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm. “His leadership skills coupled with his collaborative mindset and commitment to the school will enable him to craft and execute a long-term vision that will advance the department in the areas of chemical biology, structural biology, proteomics, and computational chemistry.”

After earning his PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF in 1991, Shoichet joined the faculty of Northwestern University before being recruited back to UCSF in 2003.

In addition to mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, Shoichet leads groundbreaking research that focuses on developing new methods for drug discovery to treat pain, depression, behavioral disorders, and other conditions. His lab seeks to discover chemical reagents that can illuminate biological problems. His current projects include developing novel pain therapeutics and battlefield-ready anesthetics.

To support the broader scientific community, he and his colleagues introduced free computational and experimental tools such as DOCK Blaster, a web-based tool for molecular docking, and SEA, a chemoinformatics method for predicting targets for ligands.

Shoichet’s portfolio includes launching two pharmaceutical companies and one research organization as well as securing nine patents, with three more pending.

He has won numerous awards including the DeLano Award for Computational Biosciences from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; the Society for Biomolecular Sciences’ Accomplishment Award; and the National Science Foundation Career Award.

He also has held many leadership roles including co-vice dean of graduate pharmacy education programs at our school, vice chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and director of QB3 at UCSF.

Shoichet succeeds Michelle Arkin, PhD, who concluded her term as chair on June 30, 2025, and is taking on the role of vice dean of research technologies and entrepreneurship.