Robert A. Blouin, PharmD, dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, was one of four inducted into the inaugural class of the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy Hall of Distinguished Alumni March 19–20.
Blouin was among those UK College of Pharmacy graduates recognized for their lifetime professional contributions to pharmacy. He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1978 and spent more than twenty-five years there as a faculty member until he was appointed dean at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2003.
The UK College of Pharmacy created the Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2014 to honor graduates who have left a mark on health-care and pharmacy.
“This hall of distinguished alumni provides us a new avenue to shine a positive light on our alumni who have meant so much to this college, our profession and the scientific community over the years,” says Kelly Smith, PharmD, interim dean of the UK College of Pharmacy.
Building on Success at UNC
Since Blouin became dean, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has seen significant growth and has undertaken a number of innovative initiatives.
The doctor of pharmacy program is currently ranked second in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Enrollment has increased by 23 percent since 2005 to approximately 650 students. A number of those students study at the School’s satellite campus in Asheville, North Carolina, which was launched in 2011.
The research enterprise has expanded greatly during Blouin’s tenure. The School’s total research funding stood at approximately $2.2 million in 2002. By 2013, funding had grown to more than $22.6 million, and the School is currently second among the nation’s pharmacy schools in total research funding. The size of the School’s facilities has nearly doubled to 315,000 square feet with the opening of the Genetic Medicine Building in 2008 and Marsico Hall in 2014. Most of the space in the new buildings is dedicated to research.
The number of faculty at the School has grown by more than 70 percent since 2005 to nearly 110, and there are more than 100 graduate students enrolled, an increase of more than 25 percent since 2005.
The School launched an initiative known as the educational renaissance to transform the way pharmacy is taught. Many faculty worked to “flip” their classes by moving lecture material online and delivering it to students outside of class. This allows class time to be spent on more engaging activities that focus on application, problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork.
The School established an Office of Educational Technology Research and Development to support its efforts in the classroom, followed by the creation of the Academy, a unit within the School designed to create and nurture a community of faculty educators dedicated to enriching professional, graduate, and postgraduate learning and advancing education. The School plans to roll out a re-engineered PharmD curriculum in the fall of 2015.
Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of business operation has also been a priority for Blouin. Infoporte is a system developed at the School to gather and transform accounting information of legacy University systems and present it in a way that was useful to faculty and staff. Infoporte has since been adopted by and rolled out across the University. The School also reorganized its operation into a business-cluster model, which relies on centralized subject-matter experts and specialists servicing the entire School rather than many generalists embedded in different units.
The Kentucky Years
Blouin began his pharmacy career in 1978, when he was appointed assistant professor at the UK College of Pharmacy and director of the UK Chandler Medical Center’s clinical pharmacokinetics program.
In 1984, he was promoted to associate professor and was named associate director of the drug product evaluation program at the UK College of Pharmacy. In 1989, Blouin became a professor within the college’s division of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics.
From 1997 to 2003, Blouin served as associate dean for research and graduate education at the UK College of Pharmacy. As associate dean, he oversaw the development and expansion of the college’s Center for Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, a multimillion-dollar drug formulation and manufacturing facility.
He also acted as the executive director of the college’s office for economic development and innovations management, where he acted as a representative on issues relating to economic development of the pharmaceutical sciences. He represented the college on several statewide biotechnology initiatives and has worked to advance faculty-based intellectual property.