Category: Divisions
Many N.C. Pharmacists Have Not Offered or Dispensed Naloxone, UNC Study Finds
August 13, 2018Nearly one-third of North Carolina community pharmacists have never offered patients the opioid reversal agent naloxone, and approximately 20 percent have never dispensed it according to a survey conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. More than 80 percent of pharmacists who responded to the survey worked in pharmacies that stocked naloxone. However, many pharmacists never offered or dispensed naloxone despite the drug’s wide availability and the existence of a statewide standing order that allows pharmacists to dispense naloxone to patients and caregivers who may benefit from it, according to the study led by Delesha … Read more
Fake, Low-Quality Medicines Burden Developing World, UNC Study Finds
August 10, 2018More than 13 percent of essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries are substandard or fake, according to recent findings from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sachiko Ozawa, Ph.D., M.H.S., an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, led a meta-analysis of 96 studies that examined the problem of substandard or falsified medicines in low- and middle-income countries. The researchers found that 13.6 percent of medicines were substandard or falsified, including 18.7 percent of medicines in African countries. “The prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines is a substantial public health problem,” she said. “Our study … Read more
White Promoted to Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion
August 7, 2018Carla White has been promoted to associate dean of organizational diversity and inclusion at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. White is a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education and has served as assistant dean for innovative leadership and diversity since 2015. White established the School’s primary diversity initiative in 2007 as the head of the Office of Leadership and Diversity. Her flagship projects launched during this time include the Recruitment Ambassadors Program; the Leadership, Excellence and Development Program; M-FLIP; the Leadership Academy; Undergraduate Students for Diversity in Pharmacy; and the Cross-Cultural Leadership Development … Read more
McLaughlin Named Director of CIPhER
August 6, 2018Jacqui McLaughlin, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has been named director of the School’s Center for Innovative Pharmacy Education and Research. McLaughlin was appointed to the position after Thomas Angelo, Ed.D., the founding director of CIPhER, retired. Before her promotion, McLaughlin was the director of education research at CIPhER. She is an assistant professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education, and from 2014 to 2017, she served as the director of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Office of Strategic Planning and Assessment. CIPhER offers services aimed at enhancing the effectiveness, … Read more
Megan Roberts Joins DPOP as Assistant Professor
August 2, 2018Megan Roberts, Ph.D., has been hired as a tenure-track assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. Roberts earned her Ph.D. in health policy and management from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in 2015. She received her undergraduate degree from Davidson College, where she studied biology and Spanish. Roberts is joining the School after a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. There, she worked as a cancer prevention fellow in the institute’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. Roberts has also worked as a predoctoral fellow … Read more
Self-Taught UNC AI System Designs Drugs from Scratch
July 31, 2018An artificial-intelligence approach created at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can teach itself to design new drug molecules from scratch. ReLeaSE is an algorithm and computer program developed at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. It comprises two neural networks: a teacher and a student. The teacher knows the syntax and linguistic rules behind the vocabulary of chemical structures for about 1.7 million known biologically active molecules, said K. H. Lee Distinguished Professor Alexander Tropsha, Ph.D., one of the creators of the new AI system. “After learning the molecular alphabet and the rules of the language, the … Read more
Sokolsky Awarded St. Baldrick’s Hero Grant to Target Brain Tumors
July 30, 2018Marina Sokolsky-Papkov, Ph.D., a research assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is the recipient of a Hero Fund grant from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to support her research into more effective methods of treating medullosblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor seen in children. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants, awarded 76 new grants totaling $19.1 million in its summer grant cycle to support research in pediatric cancer. Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor of children. New approaches to treatment are needed, because current treatment can cause brain injury … Read more
Phil Rodgers Selected as Director of Interprofessional Education and Practice
July 27, 2018Phil Rodgers, Pharm.D., a clinical associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has been selected to serve as the director for interprofessional education and practice. Rodgers coordinates several courses in the School, including the Patient Care Experience 2 course (PHCY 718) and the Integrative Pharmacotherapy 2 course (PHCY 732), and teaches in several others. He also serves as a faculty adviser for the Carolina Association of Pharmacy Students and Kappa Psi. He participates in the practice collaborative between the School and the School of Dentistry clinics. In his new role, Rodgers will help create and implement interprofessional education, … Read more
Sanders Wins AHEC Innovation Grant for Opioid Stewardship Training Program
July 25, 2018The North Carolina Area Health Education Centers awarded an Innovation Grant to Kimberly Sanders, Pharm.D., a clinical assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, to develop a training program for acute-care opioid prescribing. The $43,398 grant will allow Sanders and her team of collaborators from across the UNC health sciences programs to create and disseminate an interdisciplinary educational toolkit for health-care providers. Patients receiving opioids for pain control after surbery are particularly vulnerable to dependence due to excessive prescribing of opioids, gaps in follow-up and inadequate disposal of excess supply of pills, Sanders said. Tens of millions of … Read more
Seyerle Joins DPOP as Assistant Professor
July 23, 2018Amanda Seyerle, Ph.D., has been hired as a tenure-track assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, starting July 30. Seyerle will join the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. Seyerle earned her Master of Science in Public Health in 2013 and her Ph.D. in epidemiology in 2016, both from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she studied anthropological and molecular genetics, as well as history. Seyerle has spent the last two years as a postdoctoral research fellow in cardiovascular disease epidemiology at the University of Minnesota … Read more