The year 2021 marked the 100^th anniversary of the inception of the Department of Medical Chemistry at the University of Debrecen. The Department’s history goes back to December 15^th, 1921, when the Dean of the Medical Faculty Frigyes Verzár proposed to the Faculty Council the establishment of a „Chemistry Department”. Although the Council only approved this proposal in 1922, the Department was established retroactively with a foundation date of 1921. The Department was led by a few short-term and four long-term professors (János Bodnár, János Straub, György Bot and Pál Gergely) and each of them left their marks on the department. They should be credited for the constant development of a department that - besides teaching basic chemistry, introductory biochemistry and molecular biology to generations of medical students – has also pioneered biochemistry-oriented research deeply rooted in medicine.