The Department of Pharmacology of the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy (until 1881, the Medical-Surgery Academy) was founded in 1798 among the first seven departments of the Academy, being referred to as the Chair of "Materia Medica" in terms of that time and having the present name since 1808. Generations of outstanding Russian pharmacologists used to work here, including A. P. Nelyubin, O. V. Zabelin, I. P. Pavlov, S. V. Anichkov, M. P. Nikolaeva, V. V. Zakusov, N. V. Lazarev, and V. M. Vinogradov. At present, the Department of Pharmacology successfully continues the search for new drugs producing antihypoxic, antioxidant, actoprotector, and nootropic action, develops basic concepts in the understanding of factors inducing drug dependence, and studies synaptic and hormonal mechanisms of reinforcement regulation.