Student News:
- This fall, first-year PharmD students will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with pharmacogenetic testing through knowledge of their own genes. Read more about the unique partnership between the College of Pharmacy and Kailos Genetics, a HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology resident company.
- College of Pharmacy students were featured as part of the Duluth News Tribune story, “Making history’: Duluth’s college students aid COVID-19 vaccinations.”
- PharmD students Josiah Allen, ‘22; Kailey Meyer, ‘22; and Yuqi Zhou, ‘22, were 2021 recipients of the UMN President's Student Leadership and Service Awards recognizing the accomplishments and contributions of outstanding student leaders at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
- Pharmacy student Eva Carlson, ‘22, was featured in the KSTP5 story “Minnesota's only medication repository opens.”
- Yingbo Huang, graduate student in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology; Pooja Hedge, graduate student in Medicinal Chemistry; and Ibrahim Abdelgawad, graduate student in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, allreceived the Bighley Graduate Fellowship, awarded to full-time College of Pharmacy PhD graduate students who have great potential and are conducting research in basic and applied pharmaceutical sciences.
- Caitlin Jokipii Krueger and Josh Shirley, both graduate students in Medicinal Chemistry, received the Ted Rowell Graduate Fellowships, awarded to full-time College of Pharmacy graduate students who are conducting research in basic pharmaceutical sciences with an emphasis in nutrition or drug delivery systems.
- Md Abdullah Al Noman, a graduate student in Medicinal Chemistry, received the Biruta K and Peter A Olstein Fellowship, awarded to a full-time College of Pharmacy PhD graduate student with exceptional potential in their field.
- Siddhee Sahasrabudhe, a graduate student in the Center for Orphan Drug Research, along with several other fellow graduate students, is featured in the College of Pharmacy story, "Using Art to De-Stress in a Global Pandemic." The group used a Hennepin County CHIP grant to help their community during the pandemic.
- College of Pharmacy PharmD students Loan Tran, ‘23; Rachel Moniz, ‘23; and Minjong Kim, ‘23, who comprised the college’s AACP Clinical Research Challenge Team this year. The team took home a first place win out of 82 teams. The college also took home first place in 2018 and placed in the top seven in 2016. This year’s team was guided by co-advisors Dr. Ann Philbrick and Dr. Caity Frail.
- Pharmacy students deliver COVID-19 vaccine to rural Minnesota
- 2021 Student and Teaching Awards
Faculty News
- The University of Minnesota Board of Regents on May 14, 2021 approved promotions for the following College of Pharmacy faculty:
- Dr. Daniel Harki, Northrop Professor, director of Graduate Studies and co-leader of the Masonic Cancer Center Cellular Mechanisms Program, was promoted to professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry.
- Dr. Beshay Zordoky, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the Department of Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology.
- Dr. Olihe Okoro, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
- Dr. Diana Langworthy, was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Care and Health Sciences.
- Dr. Sarah Schweiss, was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Dr. Liqiang Chen was promoted to Associate Professor in the Center for Drug Design, College of Pharmacy.
- The work of Dr. Elizabeth Ambrose, associate professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, and Connor McDermott, a graduate student in Dr. Ambrose's lab, reported their research on paleopharmaceuticals from baltic amber at the spring 2021 meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). They have extracted and identified several compounds in Baltic amber that show activity against gram-positive, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
- Dr. Kerry Fierke, associate professor and associate department head for the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences, has received the AACP Leadership Development Special Interest Group, Innovation in Leadership Award.
- Dr. R. Stephanie Huang, associate professor in the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, who has been named a 2020-2021 Council of Graduate Students Outstanding Advisor.
- Dr. Olihe Okoro was also named to the Campus Contact 2021-2022 cohort of the Engaged Scholars Initiative. Dr. Okoro was interviewed for the Duluth News Tribune story, “Inside a grassroots effort to vaccinate Black people in Duluth.” Additional information about Dr. Okoro’s research can be found in the College of Pharmacy story, “Unveiling Racial Disparities in Health Care
- Dr. William Elmquist and Dr. Todd Sorensen have received the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education as part of the University of Minnesota 2020-2021 Distinguished Teaching Awards.
- Dr. Carston “Rick” Wagner has been named the 2021 recipient of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s (AACP) Volwiler Research Achievement Award.
- Dr. Christian Pereira, associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems, was named the 2021 Preceptor of the Year by the college's residency program. There are more than 60 preceptors in this program. The award is resident-nominated and -selected. It is the second time Dr. Pereira has received it.
- A research collaboration of Dr. Peter Dosa, associate program director of the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy’s Institute for Therapeutics Discovery & Development (ITDD) and research associate professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry; and professor Michael Fautsch of the Mayo Clinic, a drug that shows promise for glaucoma patients has moved to Phase I/II clinical trials.
- Dr. Carolyn Fairbanks and Dr. George Wilcox were featured in the NewsMD wellness forum, “Health Fusion: The search for opioid alternatives for chronic pain.”
- Dr. Gunda Georg gave her Gilead Alfred Burger Award Lecture at the 2021 ACS Spring meeting on April 6, 2021. Dr. Georg is the first female award recipient. The Alfred Burger Award recognizes outstanding contributions to research in medicinal chemistry. Professor Portoghese received the same award in 2000.
- Dr. Pamala Jacobson and team have received notification that their proposal for workforce education (Health Professional Clinical Training Expansion Grant Program) in PGx was funded. The work will begin this summer.
- Dr. Kristin Janke is the winner of the Team-Based Learning Collaborative’s 2021 Best Paper Award in the “Research Category.”
- Dr. Jon Schommer was interviewed for the KSTP story, “Minnesota to launch COVID-19 vaccine information campaign.”
- Dr. Stephen Schondelmeyer recently testified at the Senate Hearing of the Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee on “COVID-19 Part II: Evaluating the Medical Supply Chain and Pandemic Response Gaps.” Dr. Schondelmeyer’s work was also cited by the Star Tribune Editorial Board in their opinion piece, “'Fail and fix' doesn't work as Rx for drug supply chain.”
- Dr. Lindsay Sorge, Dr. Kristin Janke and Dr. Todd Sorensen were all honored with the 2021 Innovations in Continuing Professional Development Award for their work, “Instituting CPD in a Performance Improvement Collaborative to Strengthen Practice Development” by the AACP Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Award Section Committee.
- Former senior associate dean, Dr. Mike Swanoski was featured in the KBJR6 story, “Newly eligible Duluthians celebrate after months of waiting,” and the Duluth News Tribune story, “Retired Northland medical workers follow the call a second time to help vaccine clinics.”
- Dr. Jason Varin was interviewed for the KARE11 story, “Full FDA approval may be key to COVID vaccine acceptance, but the timeline is murky”
- A conversation with Dr. Jakub Tolar, vice president for clinical affairs and Dean Lynda Welage about “Collaborative Health Sciences COVID Vaccination Efforts.”
- Dr. Jakub Tolar discusses the expansion of pharmacists’ roles during the global pandemic with Dr. Sarah Westberg, the co-associate dean of clinical affairs in the College of Pharmacy.
Staff News
Brittany Stampohar has accepted the position of chief of operations for the Duluth campus, effective July 12, 2021. This is a new position for the College of Pharmacy and one that will add to the strong leadership team within the college.
Preceptor News
- Dr. Kimberly Boeser has been recognized by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) as part of their 2021 Master Preceptor Recognition Program.
- Meet the 2021 Preceptors of the Year.