Dr. Theodore Cooper served as the founding chair of the former Department of Pharmacology from 1966-1967. He received a BS degree from Georgetown University in 1949, and MD and Ph.D. degrees from St. Louis University in 1954 and 1956, respectively. He trained in surgery at the National Heart Institute, joined the faculty of the St. Louis University School of Medicine and became professor of surgery in 1964. He returned to the National Heart Institute in 1968 as director of the NIH Artificial Heart Program and the National Heart and Lung Institute. As a heart surgeon and researcher, Dr. Theodore Cooper made many major scientific contributions, especially on cardiac transplantation and artificial hearts, ventricular innervation and function, and myocardial infarction.

Dr. Cooper served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1974-1977 where he helped shape policy on heart disease, nutrition and AIDS. He served as Dean of the Cornell Medical College from 1977-1980. He subsequently joined the Upjohn Company as Executive Vice President in 1980 and became Chairman of the Board, president and Chief Executive Officer in 1990, until his death in 1993. Dr. Cooper was the recipient of the Borden Award in 1954, the Albert Lasker Award in 1978, the Allen Browning Scripps Medal in 1980 and the Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 1985.