Pharmacy education at Soochow University can be traced back to the founding of the Specialized Department of Pharmacy at Soochow University in 1949. In 1993, the Department of Pharmacology of Suzhou Medical College was established based on the former Department of Pharmacology of Suzhou Medical College. In 2000, Soochow Medical College was merged into Soochow University, and the College of Pharmaceutical Science of Soochow University was established in 2005. Relying on the disciplinary advantages of a comprehensive university and taking advantage of the rapidly developing Suzhou economy and the highly developed pharmaceutical industry in Jiangsu Province, the university has now become a training base for high-end pharmacy talents in China.
The college has a complete training system for undergraduates, masters, doctors, and postdoctoral fellows. There are three undergraduate majors: pharmacy, traditional Chinese medicine, and biopharmaceuticals. The pharmacy major has been selected as the national first-class professional construction site. Since 2014, an English program for pharmacy majors has been set up, and the Pharmacology course was recognized by the National Ministry of Education as the featured English teaching course for international students. There are 922 students in the school currently, including 654 full-time undergraduates, 219 master students, 38 doctoral students, and 11 postdoctoral students.
The College is equipped with outstanding faculty.There are 131 faculty members and 99 full-time teachers, including 46 professors, 33 associate professors, and 20 lecturers. Most teachers have learning or working experience abroad.
The college has sufficient research funds and first-class research facilities. In recent years, the College has been awarded many research funds, including over 30 provincial funds and over 100 national funds, such as the National Key Basic Research (973) program, the National High Technology (863) program, the Key Project of Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Support Plan Program, and National Natural Science Foundation. There are three national scientific research platforms, four Jiangsu key laboratories or research centers, two Suzhou key laboratories, and two University scientific research institutions. The pharmacy discipline has been listed as the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutes (PAPD) and the key discipline of Jiangsu Province during the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan. The Essential Science Indicator (ESI) of Pharmacology and Toxicology discipline of the college ranked in the top 1.17‰ of the world.
The College pays great attention to international collaborations, trying to enhance its international impact. So far, the College has established scientific research cooperation and academic exchange programs for faculties and students with Harvard Medical School, University of Mississippi, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Tohoku University, Yeungnam University, and Kyungpook National University, etc. The College has set up four joint laboratories with Nihon University, Toho University, Kyoto University, and Osaka University. The College has also established a production-study-research alliance with quite a few domestic enterprises to strengthen the relationship between industry, academia, and the research community.