An Introduction of School of Pharmacy of Nanchang University

The history of the School of Pharmacy of Nanchang University (SOP) dates back to the year of 2000 when pharmacology major was inaugurated at Jiangxi Medical College. In the course of development, it was once named the Department of Pharmacy of Jiangxi Medical College in 2002 and Department of Pharmacy of Nanchang University in 2005 on the merger between Jiangxi Medical College and Nanchang University. Through years of growth and expansion, SOP came into being in 2012.

SOP consists of seven teaching-and-research departments, namely Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Analysis, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy & Pharmaceutical Management, and Biopharmaceutics. In addition, it boasts a New Drug Research and Development Center, a Provincial Pharmaceutical Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, and a Provincial Graduate Training Demonstration Center.

Capable of offering whole-process programs of pharmacology and clinical pharmacology, and an undergraduate-graduate-doctoral integrated program, SOP features an important base in Jiangxi province for multilevel talent training. There are currently 660 undergraduate and 307 graduate students studying in SOP.

The discipline construction of SOP stems from the establishment of the first batch of master-degree programs on pharmacology in Jiangxi Province, ushered in 1984 by the older generation of pharmacologists like the late prestigious professor Feng Gaohong. Through decades’ forging ahead, SOP has been ramping up its comprehensive strength — It offers pharmacology first-level discipline master and doctorate programs and a master professional degree program, and boasts a pharmacy mobile station for postdoctoral research; pharmacology and toxicology have entered the top 6.29‰ in ESI world rankings; pharmacology major has been listed among the first batch of national first-class professional construction points and passed the national pharmacy undergraduate professional certification in 2021.

SOP is committed to the strategy of strengthening itself through talents. Ding Jian, a prestigious alumnus and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is an honorary professor of SOP. It has a staff of 73, with 50 full-time teachers, doctorate holders representing 76%, 23 holding professorship (4 holders of second-grade professorship included), 13 holding associate professorship, 2 holding a state-level talent title and 23 holding a provincial-level talent title.

SOP adheres to reconciling knowledge-imparting with character-cultivating in educational practice, attaching great importance to fostering a high-level teaching staff, and devoting itself to cultivating well-trained and innovative talents who have a good command of pharmacology while having a good knowledge of medicine. The last five years have witnessed abundant fruits garnered by SOP — with 1 Teaching Achievement Award conferred by the educational authority of Jiangxi Province; 2 state-level first-class undergraduate courses, 5 provincial-level first-class or quality online open courses, and 1 provincial-level virtual simulation experiment teaching project approved to operate; 19 teaching reform projects, provincial-level and beyond, chaired; 4 state-planed textbooks compiled with SOP teachers serving as the editor-in-chief; 144 awards secured by SOP students in competitions university-level and beyond (35 state-level awards included). To date, SOP has established long-term and stable cooperative relationships with many a prestigious university and research institutes worldwide, such as Harvard Medical School, Boston University School of Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Lushan Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences and so forth.

SOP sticks to powering development with innovation. It boasts 15 high-level pharmaceutical research and technology platforms, including 8 Province Key Laboratories. SOP has made great strides in scientific research and development in the last five years —with 227 various research projects undertaken (2 national science and technology major projects, 2 sub-projects and incubation projects of national key R&D plans, and 45 horizontal projects included), scientific research funds adding up to more than 72 million Renminbi; 15 scientific and technological awards, provincial-level and beyond, conferred by authorities national or provincial (1 second prize for National Scientific and Technological Progress included); 340 SCI papers published; 3 hospital preparations developed, and 37 invention patents granted.

SOP embraces the philosophy of “Four Orientations” , implementing the fundamental task of “nurturing morality and fostering talents”, further advancing the development strategy of “spurring development with Talents, innovating with characteristics, integrating production and education”, and zooming in on driving clinical-value-oriented innovative drug research and intensifying original basic research ushered by pharmaceutical services. It has been relentlessly expanding channels for talent introduction and cultivation and resources for external cooperation, and persisting in optimizing the talent-training system, scientific research organizing model, and education evaluation mechanism.

SOP is advancing vehemently towards the goal of building a “distinctive and nationwide renowned” first-class school of pharmacy to make new and greater contribution to build Nanchang University into a “world-class university with both Chinese characteristics and Jiangxi local features”.