Category: Divisions
Students Select 2019 Best Instructors; Phil Rodgers Wins Top Award
May 2, 2019Pharm.D. students at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy selected the Instructor of the Year award winners for 2018-19, honoring the winners at the annual awards ceremony on April 13. The Instructor of the Year award recognizes one course instructor from each year of the Pharm.D. curriculum who demonstrates the highest qualities of instructional ability and an interest in both the students and the educational programs of the school. Overall Instructor of the Year Award: Philip Rodgers, Pharm.D. PY3 Instructor of the Year Award: Kathryn Morbitzer, Pharm.D., M.S. PY2 Instructor of the Year Award: Suzanne Harris, Pharm.D. PY1 Instructor of … Read more
Beaudoin, Vogt Earn NIH Predoctoral Research Grants
March 27, 2019Two Ph.D. candidates at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy recently received National Research Service Awards from the National Institutes of Health. Jim Beaudoin, from the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, and Caleb Vogt, from the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, received the NRSA grants. Beaudoin is advised by Kim Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and Vogt is advised by Jeff Aubé, Ph.D. The NIH grant, known also as an F31, is awarded to promising predoctoral students so that they can obtain individualized, mentored research training while conducting dissertation research. Beaudoin’s research project will investigate organic solute transporter α/β, … Read more
UNC Study Reveals Precision Oncology Insights for Colorectal Cancer
March 25, 2019Next-generation sequencing of tumor DNA from patients with colorectal cancer revealed genetic alterations that were linked to different survival and treatment outcomes in an analysis led by a researcher at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, could help define strategies to more effectively treat colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. “This is an example of precision oncology, where using genetics, we are able to stratify tumor types that we once believed were homogeneous, and to identify new patient subgroups that might benefit from tailored therapies,” … Read more
Josh Guffey Named Director of Office of Continuing Education
March 22, 2019Josh Guffey, Pharm.D., has been named director of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Office of Continuing Education. Guffey is currently the director of pharmacy education at the Charlotte Area Health Education Center/Carolinas Medical Center, where he has extensive experience in pharmacy education and continuing education. He also holds a faculty appointment in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. Guffey will continue his work at the Charlotte AHEC and will spend part of his time as the director of the Office of Continuing Education at the School. In this new role, Josh will lead the vision, creation, implementation and assessment of … Read more
Mucommune Receives Over $3M to Advance Muco-Trapping Antibodies
March 20, 2019Mucommune LLC has been awarded over $3 million in five separate federal grants over the past several months to advance its muco-trapping antibody technology. The company was launched in 2016 by Sam Lai, Ph.D., an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The muco-trapping antibody technology advanced by Mucommune is based on engineering the Fc region of IgG antibodies to interact with mucins. Tuning the Fc region to combine with mucins enables antibodies to immobilize viral and bacterial pathogens in different mucosal secretions, including respiratory airways, GI tract and female reproductive tract. Once the pathogens are trapped in … Read more
Gurysh Receives NIH F32 Grant for Brain Cancer Research
March 18, 2019Elizabeth Gurysh, Ph.D., received a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health to support her brain cancer research. Gurysh is a postdoctoral researcher working in the lab of Kristy Ainslie, Ph.D., at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Ainslie is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics. Gurysh is researching a combination therapy of stem cells and drug-eluting scaffolds to prevent recurrence of glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. Glioblastoma is usually treated with surgery followed by radiation or chemotherapy. However, due to glioblastoma’s tentacle-like growth, it is extremely … Read more
Steeb, Urick Receive AACP New Investigator Awards
March 11, 2019Two professors from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy received New Investigator Awards from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. David Steeb, Pharm.D., M.P.H., and Ben Urick, Pharm.D., Ph.D., won 2019 New Investigator Awards from the AACP. Steeb is a clinical assistant professor and Urick is a research assistant professor, both in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. The New Investigator Award provides start-up funding for the independent research programs of early-career pharmacy faculty. Steeb’s research proposal, entitled Development and Assessment of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for Global Health, will survey global health experts in pharmacy, medicine, … Read more
Mariya Popova Awarded NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship
February 21, 2019Mariya Popova, a second-year Ph.D. student in the Laboratory for Molecular Modeling, is the recipient of the 2019-20 NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship. Popova is supervised by Alexander Tropsha, Ph.D., and Olexandr Isayev, Ph.D. Her research focuses on applications and development of deep learning methods for computational chemistry and drug design. Popova is developing deep learning algorithms to solve computational chemistry problems, such as the generation of novel molecules with desired properties and prediction of a synthesis path for a given chemical compound. “My research goal is to revolutionize drug design with artificial intelligence,” she said. “Having these problems solved will speed … Read more
Anthony Hickey Named Director of UNC Catalyst for Rare Diseases
January 29, 2019Anthony Hickey, Ph.D., has returned to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy to head up the UNC Catalyst for Rare Diseases. Hickey, a professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics from 1993 until 2010, returns to the School after a stint at the Research Triangle Institute, where he was program director in inhaled therapeutics at the Center for Aerosol and Nanomaterials Engineering. Hickey earned his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from Aston University in Birmingham, U.K. After five years on faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he came to the School in 1993. Hickey is the founder … Read more
Sjoquist Wins ACCP Education and Training Poster Competition
January 28, 2019Laura Sjoquist, Pharm.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, won first place in the 2018 American College of Clinical Pharmacy Education and Training PRN poster competition. Sjoquist is the experiential programs academic fellow in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education at the School. She received the award after presenting at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Global Conference in Seattle in October. The research poster, entitled “An Exploration of Student Progression Toward Practice Readiness,” was co-authored by PACE faculty members Antonio Bush, Ph.D., Macary Marciniak, Pharm.D., and Nicole Pinelli Reitter, Pharm.D. The qualitative research … Read more