Category: Divisions
Sleath Receives APhA-APRS Research Achievement Award
January 24, 2018Betsy Sleath, Ph.D., is the recipient of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science 2018 Research Achievement Award. The award recognizes outstanding, meritorious achievement in any of the pharmaceutical sciences. Sleath is the George H. Cocolas Distinguished Professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. She is the co-director of the NCTRACS Community Engagement Core and director of the child and adolescent health program at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. She is also an adjunct professor in epidemiology and health policy and management … Read more
Honkakoski Delivers Nuclear Receptor Short Course at UNC
January 22, 2018Paavo Honkakoski, Ph.D., professor of the School of Pharmacy and Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland presented a short course on nuclear receptor regulation at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in January. In two-hour sessions held over three days, Honkakoski covered the basics of nuclear receptors, including receptor structure and function, measurement of receptor activation, their importance in human physiology, disease and drug therapy, the development of selective NR modulators, and examples for diseases of the central nervous system. He then discussed nuclear receptors and absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, and the regulators PXR and … Read more
UNC Researchers Create Light-Activated Version of a Ubiquitous Protein Kinase
January 12, 2018In a lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a tiny blue light flashes, and a protein switches on in a cell. Light directs the protein to the mitochondria of the targeted cell. Alternatively, by a bit of genetic tweaking, the protein can be directed to the cell membrane or the cytoskeleton of the cell. This selective targeting and activation allows scientists to see exactly what the protein is doing in a single place and time. This technology is possible due to the efforts of a team at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy led by Fred … Read more
Watkins Honored with 2018 ASPET Toxicology Career Award
January 11, 2018Paul Watkins, M.D., is the recipient of the 2018 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Division for Toxicology Career Award. Watkins is the Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and director of the Institute for Drug Safety Sciences at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, This award recognizes outstanding original research contributions to toxicology by an established investigator. Watkins was nominated by Alison Harrill, Ph.D., from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, who said that his “ability to see value in developing a variety of experimental … Read more
UNC Scientists Take a Big Step toward a Better Opioid
January 10, 2018For the first time, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and collaborators solved the crystal structure of the activated kappa opioid receptor bound to a morphine derivative. They then created a new drug-like compound that activates only that receptor, a key step in the development of better pain medications. The research, published in the journal Cell, shows a route toward creating opioids that relieve pain without causing the severe side effects at the heart of the opioid epidemic. Currently, most opioids bind to several opioid receptors on the surface of cells, and this is one of the main reasons … Read more
UNC Medical Center Receives ASHP Award for Excellence in Medication Safety
December 16, 2017On Dec. 3, an interprofessional team led by pharmacists at UNC Medical Center received the 2017 Award for Excellence in Medication Safety from the ASHP Foundation and the Cardinal Health Foundation for its work improving the care of patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. The award is the only one of its kind for pharmacist-led interprofessional teams and offers $50,000 for first place. Kalynn Rohde, Pharm.D., medical ICU clinical pharmacist, was the project lead. HIT is a rare and serious complication of heparin administration. People with HIT who continue to receive heparin can enter a hypercoagulable state where the blood clots more … Read more
Postdoc Bezençon Receives University of Basel Thesis Award
December 15, 2017Jacqueline Bezençon, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, received the 2017 Irma Tschudi-Steiner Award for the best female pharmaceutical sciences Ph.D. thesis at the University of Basel in Basel, Switzerland. Bezençon is a postdoc in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at UNC. Her research interests are disease- and drug-mediated alterations in hepatic transport of drugs and endogenous compounds (e.g. bile acids) and the impact on drug disposition and toxicity. William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor and associate dean for research and graduate education Kim L.R. Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., is her postdoctoral mentor. … Read more
Kamakshi Rao Receives ABMT Lifetime Achievement Award
December 13, 2017Kamakshi Rao, Pharm.D., clinical manager at UNC Hospitals and Clinics, is the recipient of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Pharmacy Special Interest Group Lifetime Achievement Award, which she will accept at the annual Blood and Marrow Transplant Pharmacist Conference in February. The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an ASBMT Pharmacy SIG member who has made a significant impact to the field of pharmacy in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and has been in practice for at least 10 years not including postgraduate or residency training, according to the ASBMT. “It is a privilege to be able to … Read more
Kabanov to Lead Russian-American Science Society
December 13, 2017Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, Ph.D., Dr.Sci., is the president-elect of the Russian-American Science Association. Kabanov was elected to his new post at the organization’s annual meeting at Northwestern University in Chicago on Nov. 4 and 5, where he also received the George Gamow Award for his work in drug delivery. He is the Mescal Swaim Feruguson Distinguished Professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, director of the School’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and co-director of the Carolina Institute for Nanomedicine. Kabanov will take office as president of the association one year from now and will serve a two-year … Read more
Ives to Lead Opioid De-Prescribing Study with $9 Million PCORI Grant
December 13, 2017Timothy Ives, Pharm.D., M.P.H., is leading one arm of a joint study between UNC, Duke, Vanderbilt and RTI International focusing on opioid de-prescribing that is funded by a $9 million grant from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute. The study will start Feb. 1. Ives’ part of the study will recruit 300 or so patients who were prescribed opioids for chronic pain. Half will be examined by the pain management clinic at UNC and the other half will be treated according to the pain management regimen they’ve already been prescribed. Ives said his work at the clinic differs from other pain … Read more