Quick Facts

Founded in 1882

In 1881, the Medical College created a Department of Pharmacy that was the first of its kind in the Deep South. The School of Pharmacy admitted its first students in 1882, discontinued after two years, then resumed on a permanent basis in 1894, offering the degree of graduate in pharmacy (Ph.G.).The program leading to a degree of bachelor-of-science in pharmacy began in 1936. The doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program began in 1973 (post-baccalaureate) and a Ph.D. program in pharmaceutical sciences was initiated in 1982 (the latter administered through the MUSC College of Graduate Studies in collaboration with the University of South Carolina). MUSC transitioned to the entry-level PharmD degree in 1997. In 2004, with the approval of the MUSC and the University of South Carolina (USC) Boards of Trustees, the MUSC and USC Colleges of Pharmacy formed a joint program, the South Carolina College of Pharmacy (SCCP). The SCCP matriculated its first class in 2006 and graduated its first class in 2010. During the last 10 years the SCCP has been successful in educating and training student pharmacists. In 2013, the MUSC and USC campuses initiated an evaluation of the SCCP. In 2015, the MUSC and USC Boards of Trustees approved a joint resolution initiative for the MUSC and USC Colleges of Pharmacy to once again pursue individual accreditation. In 2017, the MUSC College of Pharmacy achieved full accreditation in 2017 and graduated a MUSC only Class in 2020. Today, the College of Pharmacy on the MUSC campus boasts a student body of more than 300 students in the PharmD program. The College offers a concurrent PharmD/MBA degree with The Citadel Graduate College, PharmD/Masters in Health Informatics with the College of Health Professions, and a PharmD/Ph.D. In addition, the College of Pharmacy collaborates with the MUSC Medical Center to offer one of the largest and most respected pharmacy residency programs in the country with 12 specialty tracks and typically 30 residents.