Category: Divisions
Skrajna Awarded American Cancer Society Postdoc Fellowship
January 24, 2019Aleksandra Skrajna, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded a three-year post-doctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society. The fellowship, worth over $150,000 over three years, supports the training of promising post-doctoral scientists in preparation for independent careers in cancer research. Skrajna works in the lab of Robert McGinty, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the School and an associate Lineberger member. Skrajna’s research is focused on how enzymes bind to our genetic material in cells to ensure that our genes are expressed appropriately. “By understanding how … Read more
Anselmo Wins Pharmaceutics Young Investigator Award
January 14, 2019Aaron Anselmo, Ph.D., has been named the 2018 Young Investigator Award winner by Pharmaceutics. Anselmo is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. His research focuses on developing pharmaceutics-based approaches to deliver therapeutic bacteria, combining pharmaceutics fundamentals to inform the engineering of new delivery systems for the microbiota. This work overlaps microbiology and microbe ecology, pharmaceutics, engineering and drug delivery to develop new strategies for treating microbiota-related disorders. Anselmo received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the … Read more
Anselmo Authors Review of Biologics Delivery Strategies
December 5, 2018Biological pharmaceutical products are becoming increasingly utilized in the clinic, setting off corresponding changes in the development of drug delivery technologies, according to a new paper from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The review, written by Aaron Anselmo, Ph.D., and collaborators, was published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery on Nov. 30. Anselmo is an assistant professor in the School’s Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics. His paper, “Non-Invasive Delivery Strategies for Biologics,” assesses the academic and industry efforts to develop new delivery strategies for biologics. Biologics represent the cutting edge of biomedical research, and have a much broader range … Read more
Alan Kinlaw Joins DPOP as Assistant Professor
November 8, 2018Alan Kinlaw, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., has been hired as a tenure-track assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. Kinlaw joins the School after a post-doctoral fellowship at UNC’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, where he worked under Timothy Carey, M.D., M.P.H. He earned his Ph.D. in 2016 and his M.S.P.H. in 2012, both from the Department of Epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Kinlaw is also a graduate of N.C. State University, where he earned undergraduate degrees in textile engineering and French. Kinlaw’s research … Read more
UNC Researchers Develop Platform for Universal Flu Vaccine
November 5, 2018Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are developing a universal flu vaccine which could be effective against multiple influenza strains and in multiple flu seasons. In the United States, up to 35.6 million people become infected with the flu each year, resulting in up to 710,000 hospitalizations and 56,000 flu related deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The effectiveness of seasonal flu vaccines can vary from year to year — with some years, such as 2004, as low as 10 percent efficacy. In a study published by the Journal of Controlled Release, … Read more
Ainslie Awarded $1.89M NIH Grant to Develop Multiple Sclerosis Vaccine
October 16, 2018The National Institutes of Health awarded a grant of nearly $2 million to Kristy Ainslie, Ph.D., for a proposal to develop a therapeutic vaccine for multiple sclerosis. Ainslie is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, as well as an adjunct associate professor in the UNC Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. She said the project’s long-term goal is to design a biodegradable, tunable particle system to serve as a therapeutic vaccine to alleviate multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central … Read more
Ferreri Awarded $3M CDC Grant for Study on Opioid Use
October 10, 2018The Centers for Disease Control awarded a $3 million grant to Stefanie Ferreri, Pharm.D., for a study on screening older adults who use prescription opioids and are at risk for falls. Ferreri is the executive vice chair of the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and a clinical professor. Her study will engage patients within the UNC Health Care System who are 65 years of age or older and taking either an opioid or benzodiazepine, with the objective of implementing a de-prescribing medication protocol to protect older adults at risk of falls. … Read more
Gonzalez Receives $2M NIH Grant for Project on Childhood Obesity
October 9, 2018Daniel Gonzalez, Pharm.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, received a $2 million NIH Research Project Grant for research focused on drug dosing in children with obesity. Gonzalez’s proposal aims to find a systematic approach to the development and evaluation of physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models to help treat children with obesity. These models are mathematical constructs that incorporate physiologic and body composition changes during childhood. “The majority of drugs prescribed to children with obesity lack recommendations for appropriate dosing for size,” Gonzalez said. “Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models can be used … Read more
Kathleen Thomas Joins DPOP as Tenure-Track Associate Professor
October 2, 2018Kathleen Thomas, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been hired as an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She joins the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy and will work from the School’s Asheville satellite campus. Thomas comes to the School from UNC’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, where she serves as the associate director of the NRSA training program in health services research for pre- and post-doctoral fellows. Thomas earned her Ph.D. in health economics from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and her M.P.H. in health policy from Yale University. She completed her … Read more
Crona Awarded ACCP Research Institute Futures Grant
September 24, 2018Daniel Crona, Pharm.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, was awarded the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Research Institute Futures Grant Junior Investigator Award. Crona received the award and a $30,000 grant from the ACCP Research Institute for his proposal, “A Prospective Multi-Dose Study of Apixaban in Nephrotic Syndrome Patients.” “Currently, there is no established standard of care prophylactic for venous thromboembolic events in nephrotic syndrome patients,” Crona said. “However, direct oral anticoagulants, apixaban in particular, are appealing options for thromboprophylaxis. There is an unmet need to … Read more