Sir James Whyte Black  (1924–2010) held the Chair of Pharmacology from 1973 to 1978.
Jim Black and Heinz Schild knew each other well because Schild had acted as a consultant to the then Smith, Kline & French company during the time when Black was leading the team that developed the histamine receptor antagonists, H antagonists, which reduce secretion of gastric acid and which, at the time, transformed the treatment of gastric ulcers. Schild's methods for quantitative methods for analysis of drug antagonists were crucial for this work.
Black introduced many changes to teaching in the department. One of the most important was the introduction of a BSc course in Medicinal Chemistry. His long experience in the pharmaceutical industry had convinced him that organic and physical chemists working on drug development with pharmacologists and biochemists would benefit greatly from a substantial knowledge of biology, certainly enough to allow them to understand and assess the kinds of measurements that their biological colleagues undertook.  Though the students were based in the Department of Chemistry, they took also courses in physiology and pharmacology, particularly its molecular aspects. This BSc course, like that in Pharmacology, also flourished and continues today. Another important change was a sharp reduction in the number of experiments with animal tissues undertaken by medical students during their course in pharmacology. At the same time, the emphasis on the importance of observations on human subjects was increased.
Black's appointment coincided with the onset of the straitened circumstances that all UK universities were to experience and that have continued in one form or another ever since. The changes he made helped the department to adjust to these harder times. To the regret of his Departmental staff, Black found that only the pharmaceutical industry could provide the facilities needed for the work he wished to pursue, and in 1978 he left to join the Wellcome Foundation.
Black was knighted in 1981 and in 1988 he got the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings for their work on drug development.