VCU School of Pharmacy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Medicinal Chemistry is the chemistry of medicines. But, it is far more than mixing reagents to create a molecule that may be a “drug”. The medicinal chemist is a crucial part of a multidisciplinary research team that must understand, really understand, the biology of health and disease from the body and organ level down to cells and ultimately to the detail of single molecules and their interactions. In fact, the starring role is often played by the medicinal chemists who designed the molecules, synthesized them and rationalized the results from biological and activity assays in order to improve their designs. This is the essence of the graduate degree programs in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) – to develop collaborative scientists that will substantively contribute to health discovery research.

Are you a Medicinal Chemist? In the invention of a single new drug molecule that makes it to the shelves of your pharmacy, many hundreds of scientists played roles small and large; in particular synthetic chemistry, molecular modeling, computational and structural biology, genomics and proteomics, and pharmacology are all elements of modern medicinal chemistry. Students who pursue graduate education in medicinal chemistry at VCU have the option of pursuing one, two, or more of these exciting, cutting-edge disciplines in their research, but all of our graduates have the breadth of knowledge to be valued in industry or academia. Do you want to be a part of this? Please explore our Facebook and web pages and see If you are a Medicinal Chemist!