March 2008

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Faculty     Spotlight On     Staff     Students

First off, I’d like to say thank you to the faculty, students, and alumni who worked so hard interviewing approximately 250 potential PharmD candidates for next year’s class. The time and effort they give are the backbone of an admissions process that ensures that the best students in the state and nation enroll here at the School. Special thanks go to Pam Goldston, Wendy Cox, and Pam Joyner as well as Amanda Corbett and all the members of the Admissions Committee.

Carolina Partnership

This month I would like to clarify what is meant by the Carolina Partnership and the Educational Renaissance, two terms I’m sure you’ve heard. Dr. Fred Eshelman directed that $9 million of his recent $10 million gift go to support School of Pharmacy research centers (he set aside $1 million to support our teaching innovation initiatives). A $9 million match from the University Cancer Research Fund created an $18 million fund called the Carolina Partnership. The Pharmacy Network Foundation matched the $1 million Dr. Eshelman gave to support teaching innovation. That $2 million fund will be used to create the new Center for the Educational Renaissance and Instructional Innovation.

Gary Pollack has agreed to assume the position of director of the new center, and Adam Persky will serve as assistant director. Mike Patil will assume broader duties to cover Gary’s former responsibilities over IT, finance, and HR as our new associate dean for integrated business management reporting to me. These changes are effective immediately, and I thank everyone involved for taking on these new responsibilities.

Leadership Team Retreat

The School’s Executive Committee joined the Full Professors Committee and the directors of our research centers to discuss strategies associated with execution of the Strategic Plan in light of recent opportunities created by the Carolina Partnership, the Clinical and Translation Science Awards grant, the Genetic Medicine Building, the University Cancer Research Fund, the expansion of the AHEC and community-based faculty, and the creation of the Division of Pharmacy Practice and Experiential Education.

The Executive Committee will review the recommendations and allocate resources to facilitate the further execution of the School’s Strategic Plan.

Faculty

	Rudy Juliano will serve as our new associate dean of research and graduate education. He was formerly the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine, where he served as department chair from 1987 to 2002. He is a highly regarded scientist in the field of nanomedicine.
	Peter Gal, PharmD, won the 2008 Richard A. Helms Award for Excellence in Pediatric Pharmacy Practice. Peter is an AHEC faculty member based at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro.
	Peter Koval, PharmD, an AHEC faculty member based at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, was selected as a John Payne Fellow, which comes with a $2,000 stipend for his project: Studying the Use of Virtual Patients in Training Pharmacy Students. In May Pete will be going to England to participate in an international conference on applying Second Life to pharmacy education.
	Jaya Rao, MD, is a new associate professor in DPOP. She comes to us from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, where she was also an adjunct professor of medicine at Emory University.
	Angela Mayo, PharmD, joins Eastern AHEC as assistant director for pharmacy education. She is a clinical staff pharmacist at Pitt County Memorial Hospital and a clinical assistant professor in the School.
	Paige Brown, PharmD, is a new member of the Eastern AHEC pharmacy faculty. She received her doctor of pharmacy from Campbell University and completed a geriatric residency there.
	Lisa Dinkins, PharmD, a 2006 graduate of the School, joined the faculty in the fall as a clinical instructor in the Pharmaceutical Care Lab. In addition to her responsibilities as a course coordinator for first- and second-year pharmacy students, she serves as the faculty adviser for Christian Pharmacy Fellowship International and Mobile SHAC.
	Leigh Foushee, PharmD, joined Wake AHEC as the associate director of pharmacotherapy services in June 2007. She completed her doctor of pharmacy and community practice residency at Campbell University.
	Luke Heuts, PharmD, joined Area L AHEC in June 2007. He graduated from Campbell University in 2002 and completed a residency in pharmacy practice at Duke University. In 2004, he earned board certification as a pharmacotherapy specialist through the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties.

I would also like to recognize Jian Liu, PhD, on the attention he has received and the service he has rendered by working with the media covering the recent allergic reactions to heparin. He has appeared on CNN and has been interviewed by a number of different writers for the New York Times and by major wire services such as the Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg News. You can view some of the coverage on the In the News section of the Web site.

Spotlight on: Angela Kashuba

Each month I’d like to use this spot to highlight the accomplishments of one of our faculty members. Angela Kashuba, PharmD, is an internationally recognized researcher examining the treatment of HIV. Most recently, her research group has generated data that provides a pharmacologic basis for selecting key antiretroviral drugs to move forward in clinical studies of HIV prevention. With the recent failures of the HIV vaccine program, her approach is critical to stemming the spread of HIV infection worldwide. You can read more about her and other faculty members at www.pharmacy.unc.edu/spotlight.

Staff

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Scarlett Jordan and Kristin Wright, who recently joined our staff. Kristin will be working part-time for Kim Deloatch, assisting in our program assessment efforts. Scarlett is the assistant to Carla White-Harris, director of diversity initiatives and the ECSU partnership.

Barbara Dearry has joined the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery as the assistant to Stephen Frye, PhD. She has spent more than twenty years in administration and operations management of biotech and pharmaceutical startup ventures.

I would also like to congratulate Wendy Mann on her appointment to the Staff Council and thank her for agreeing to serve.

Students

Congratulations to the Student Senate on their very successful semiformal event held February 22 at Spice Street in Chapel Hill. Maureen and I had a great time, and it was wonderful to see everyone.

Just as a reminder, Family Day is March 29 here at the School. The White Coat Ceremony is the following day at 4:00 p.m. in Memorial Hall. Commencement is May 10 at 2:00 p.m. in Memorial Hall.