Category: Divisions
Joel Farley Promoted To Full Professor
June 3, 2016Joel Farley, Ph.D., has been promoted to full professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. Farley joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2006 as an assistant professor in the department and was named an associate professor in 2012. He was elected and inducted into the American Pharmacists Association as a fellow in 2014. Farley’s principal research interest focuses on how prescription medications are managed by the evolution of public policies. His other research concentrates on pharmacoepidemiology and pharmaceutical outcomes. “Dr. Farley has contributed consistently and strongly to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in research, teaching, … Read more
Lei Miao Is First Recipient of Feng Liu Award
June 1, 2016Lei Miao, a graduate student in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, is the first recipient of the Feng Liu Graduate Student Award. Maio’s thesis topic is the “Role of Tumor Desmoplasia in Nanoparticle Delivery of Drugs and Genes.” She has had eleven papers published in scholarly journals with seven more in review and is co-holder of a patent for delivering drugs to tumor using nanoparticles coated with polylactic co-glycolic acid. Miao earned a B.S. in pharmaceutics from Shandong University in 2012. Her research interests include drug delivery and tumor microenvironment. Her adviser is Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor Leaf Huang, Ph.D. The Feng … Read more
Promise of Almost a Year More of Life for Targeted Drug Not Reality for All Liver Cancer Patients
May 16, 2016For advanced liver cancer, there’s a single approved drug shown to offer patients a chance at longer life. But a new study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found that this drug was notably less effective in a group of Medicare patients who likely had more extensive cancer and serious liver disease than patients included in clinical trials. In the journal the Oncologist, researchers report that the median survival for a group of Medicare patients on the drug sorafenib was three months, which is significantly lower than the median survival of nearly 11 months for patients treated … Read more
Students Select 2016 Best Instructors, Anksorus Tops Overall
May 16, 2016The Doctor of Pharmacy classes at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy selected their favorite instructors for this past year. The winners were presented with an instructor of the year award at the 2016 annual Awards Ceremony held April 24. The overall and the PY3 instructor of the year is Heidi Anksorus, Pharm.D. The PY2 instructor of the year is Robert Shrewsbury, Ph.D. The PY1 instructor of the year is Michael Jarstfer, Ph.D. The experiential faculty member of the year is Josh Guffey, Pharm.D. Heidi Anksorus Anksorus is a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical … Read more
Pharmacists Missing Chance to Counsel Children, UNC Study Finds
May 12, 2016Children receiving a prescription medication should be counseled directly by a health care professional, recommends the Institute of Medicine and United States Pharmacopeia. But that’s not happening, according to a new study led by the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Pharmacy researchers observed 97 families pick up 116 prescriptions for children at three community pharmacies over a two-week period. Two-thirds of the time, the child was not present when a parent or caregiver picked up the prescription. Pharmacists counseled the child’s caregiver 20 percent of the time but never counseled the children separately. Children and caregivers were counseled together twice. … Read more
CBMC Grad Student O’Banion Wins ASBMB Poster Award
May 9, 2016Colin O’Banion, a Ph.D. student in the lab of David Lawrence, Ph.D., at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, was awarded the best poster award in the area of cell signaling, kinase and chemotherapy by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. O’Banion’s poster was selected by the Program Planning Committee at the recent ASBMB meeting in San Diego, California. His presentation, “An Optogenetic Toolkit for Spatial and Temporal Control of the cAMP Dependent Protein Kinase,” was also selected for an ASBMB oral presentation. Originally from Rochester, New York, O’Banion studied neuroscience at the University of Rochester. He then … Read more
Mucommune Is Newest Resident of UNC Eshelman Institute MicroIncubator
May 2, 2016Mucommune, LLC, is the fourth company spun out of the research enterprise at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy to take up residence in the Eshelman Institute for Innovation MicroIncubator located at the School. Mucommune was born in 2015 from the work of Assistant Professor Sam Lai, Ph.D. Its core focus is the engineering of antibodies and biologics that have precisely tuned affinity to mucins, enabling them to work in tandem with protective mucus to facilitate the elimination of microbes at all mucosal surfaces, including those in the lung airways, GI tract, female reproductive tract and the eye. “Catalyzing the … Read more
Mollie Scott Named ASHP Fellow
May 2, 2016Mollie Scott, Pharm.D., has been named a fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in recognition of the excellence she has achieved in pharmacy practice. Scott is the School’s regional associate dean for the Asheville satellite campus and a clinical associate professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. “Mollie is most deserving of this recognition. She has been a leader in ambulatory care practice and has played an important role in promoting provider status for pharmacists. She has also served in leadership positions both on a state and national level,” said Pam Joyner, Ed.D., M.S.Pharm, executive … Read more
Costs for Orally Administered Cancer Drugs Skyrocket
April 28, 2016New cancer drugs taken in pill form have become dramatically more expensive in their first year on the market compared with drugs launched 15 years ago, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study has found. The findings call into question the sustainability of a system that sets high prices at market entry in addition to rapidly increasing those prices over time. The researchers report April 28 in JAMA Oncology that a month of treatment with orally administered cancer drugs introduced in 2014 was, on average, six times more expensive at launch than cancer drugs introduced in 2000 after … Read more
K.H. Lee Receives Hong Kong Baptist University Award for Advancing Chinese Medicine
April 22, 2016Kuo-Hsiung Lee, Ph.D., was chosen to receive the Third Cheung On Tak International Award for Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Medicine from Hong Kong Baptist University’s School of Chinese Medicine. Lee is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and director of the Natural Products Research Laboratories in the School’s Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Cheung On Tak Award is given every two years to scientists and scholars with groundbreaking and internationally recognized achievements in advancing the internationalization of Chinese medicine or … Read more