September 25, 2020
Today marks the 10th annual World Pharmacists Day – a day celebrating how the pharmacy profession is “transforming global health.”
With this year’s theme in mind, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy would like to recognize and thank all of its international pharmacy partners as they work to improve human health around the world.
The School’s international partners are on the front lines providing patient care, advancing the profession through research and outreach, and educating the next generation of pharmacists.
Not only are they educating their own student pharmacists, but they are also supporting the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy through the Global Pharmacy Scholars (GPS) and Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) Program.
The School’s GPS partners host more than 50 students annually through the GPS program in nine different countries. Through GPS rotations, students learn to provide high quality and culturally sensitive care for patients at home and abroad.
The School is proud to highlight some of the great work being done through the Office of Global Engagement in collaboration with international and local partners:
- In Lilongwe, Malawi, through collaborative efforts of the Office of Global Engagement, UNC-Project Malawi, and Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH), pharmacists continue to expand their scope of practice through direct involvement with patient care teams. Over the last year, KCH clinical pharmacists integrated into medical rounds for the first time to optimize patient care. Due to the success of this project, pharmacist roles are being further expanded into outpatient hypertension and diabetes clinics to provide tailored medication management services.
- PharmAlliance is UNC’s strategic international partnership with Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (Melbourne, Australia), and University College London School of Pharmacy (London, UK). Through this partnership, researchers, educators and students continue to collaborate in multiple areas including medication safety, practice advancement, drug discovery and optimization, and educational initiatives.
- Finally, through the new Global to Local initiative, the Office of Global Engagement is expanding its definition of global health to include service and engagement with local underserved communities throughout North Carolina. This program will address global and local health priorities affecting underserved populations by developing needs-based projects in collaboration with local partners.
The School would also like to recognize its outstanding faculty by highlighting several below for their significant contributions to transforming global health:
Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics: Kristy Ainslie is addressing the global threat of antimicrobial resistance by working on therapies that help the body fight against pathogens such leishmania, rabbit fever, and salmonella.
Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry: Lindsey James’ research is focused on developing potential therapeutic agents for cancer and HIV treatment in order to ease the global burden of these diseases throughout the world.
Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education: Sachiko Ozawa is a global health economist whose work focuses on generating evidence to improve access to vaccines and quality medications to ultimately improve the health of populations globally.
Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education: Stephanie Kiser’s work is transforming global health locally, bringing interprofessional teams together to care for patients in rural, Western North Carolina.
Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics: Dennis Williams’ collaborations in Japan and Asia help to enhance global pharmacy services that improve outcomes for patients.
Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy: Gang Fang collaborates with international partners to investigate real-world medication use patterns, risk of adverse side effects, and effectiveness to improve treatment outcomes for vulnerable populations, like those with diabetes and dementia, across different countries.
As seen through the great work highlighted above, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is committed to improving health both locally and around the world. On World Pharmacists Day, the School would again like to recognize all pharmacists working to serve patients and transform global health.