How did people first get into drug development?

Question: How did people first get into drug development?

Asked by stephaniej to Darren, Deuan, Duncan, Lori-An, Michelle on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
- Duncan Hull answered on 17 Jun 2010:
  
  Drug development is a very broad discipline, that attracts people from a range of different backgrounds.
  
  The most common entry point would probably be studying some kind of Science at university, such as chemistry, pharmacology, biochemistry, biology etc but mathematicians and physicists also get involved too.
- Darren Nesbeth answered on 17 Jun 2010:
  
  Back in the day village shamen had to justify why they didn’t help with hunting or harvesting. They did this by finding medicinal herbs, counselling and rituals.
- Deuan Jones answered on 17 Jun 2010:
  
  I was already working on parasites that cause disease cos I i though parasites were cool and I knew it was an area that would eventually help to understand diseases. Then my university got lots of funding to setup drug discovery for neglected diseases (diseases that kill lots of people but don’t get much attention) and I moved into that area.
- Michelle Hudson-Shore answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  I guess it started with the tribes in the jungles eating plants and finding out that they helped to make them feel better.
- Lori-An Etherington answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  The medicinal value of plants has been recognised by almost every society in history but it was not until the late nineteeth century that chemicals started to be isolated for medicinal use. More recently people have recognised that drug development needs to be regulated in order to produce safe and effective medicines and these regulation laws concerning drug development started in the 1960s
  Hope this helps

Question: How did people first get into drug development?

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