Coit Museum of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Plans Grand Opening

What: Grand Opening of the Coit Museum of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
When: Saturday, Oct. 29, 10-11:30 a.m.
Where: Skaggs Pharmaceutical Sciences Center, 1703 E. Mabel St., Room 260, Tucson

Reporters and editors: To attend or arrange interviews, contact Jeffrey Javier at jjavier@pharmacy.arizona.edu. 

The University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy is celebrating the grand opening of the Coit Museum of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, a unique museum featuring interactive exhibits showcasing thousands of pharmaceutical artifacts.

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University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, Coit College of Pharmacy Dean Rick Schnellman, PhD, and alumnus and donor R. Ken Coit head the list of speakers for the grand opening, which is free and open to the public.

Visitors can experience:

• A recreation of an old-time drug store with period-appropriate displays and pharmaceutical artifacts
• Pharmacy's history told through the Great Moments in Pharmacy exhibit, a 2021 Telly Awards Silver Winner production featuring 40 digitized and animated paintings
• A new exhibit for the UpJohn Pharmacy Collection from Disneyland
• A hands-on opportunity to create "snake oil" labels for medicine bottles to display at home.

The museum, originally established in 1966, features one of the largest collections of its kind in the country. It outgrew its space over the years, but thanks to a $50 million gift from Coit in 2021, a dedicated space for the museum was created and additional exhibits were developed.

A life-size bronze statue of Coit will also be unveiled during the grand opening. The making of the 9-foot, 800-pound statue was documented by award-winning film maker Doug Reid, who has worked with Coit for many years and played a major role in the design and creation of the new museum space.

“I’m elated to lead the Coit Museum through the coming years in its new space,” said Alexis Peregoy, director of the Coit Museum of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. “I believe visitors will be surprised by the uniqueness of the collection, as well as its range, and I hope they will walk away excited about the history and contemporary practices of pharmacy and health sciences.”

For more information or to register to attend, visit the event webpage.