Paul L. Schiff, Jr.
President (1983-1984)
University of Pittsburgh
Paul Schiff was born in Columbus, Ohio. He received his B.S. degree in pharmacy from The
Ohio State University in 1962, and his M.S. (1964) and Ph.D. (1967) degrees in pharmacognosy/
natural products chemistry from the same institution. He became interested in pharmacognosy
after his first class with Jack Beal as an undergraduate student in 1959,
later studying for his graduate degrees with Jack and Ray Doskotch. He
joined the ASP in 1962, attended his first meeting in 1967, and later served
as a member of many ASP committees and as president. After holding
positions at Butler University and the Univ. Mississippi, Paul joined the
faculty at the Univ. Pittsburgh in 1970, where he chaired the Department
of Pharmacognosy until 1985 and the Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences
(1985-1996). His research focused upon the isolation and identification of benzylisoquinolinederived alkaloids from medicinal plants. He is a fellow of both the APhA Academy of
Pharmaceutical Sciences and of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS),
serving as chair of the Medicinal and Natural Products Section of AAPS (1986-1987). He served
as chair of the Section of Teachers of Biological Sciences (1989-1990) and of the Section of
Teachers of Chemistry (1998-1999) of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. He
received the Jack L. Beal Post-baccalaureate Award in 1990 from his alma mater in recognition
of outstanding contributions made to the pharmaceutical sciences and professional practice of
pharmacy. Most recently he has served with colleagues at the United States Pharmacopeia (USP)
in the development of botanical dietary supplement monographs. He was an elected member of
the USP Subcommittee on Natural Products (1995-2000) and a member (2000-2010) and chair
(2000-2005) of the Dietary Supplements-Botanicals Expert Committee. (PLS)