Category: Divisions
Auman Named to UNC Institute
September 10, 2008Todd Auman, PhD, has joined the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy as a member of its research team. Auman, a research assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is an expert in using genomic technologies to understand a patient’s response to gastrointestinal cancer therapy. He holds a doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology from Duke University and conducted postdoctoral research at the National Center for Toxicogenomics, located at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. The UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy, a research center within the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is a unifying, programmatic structure … Read more
Dupuis Named ACCP Fellow
September 4, 2008Bob Dupuis, PharmD, BCPS, a clinical associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has been elected as a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. The newly elected fellows will be recognized during a special ceremony on October 19 at the ACCP’s Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Recognition as a fellow is awarded to ACCP members who have demonstrated a sustained level of excellence in clinical pharmacy practice and/or research. Dupuis is a member of the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. His responsibilities include teaching and coordinating courses in immunology and immunotherapeutics, nephrology pharmacotherapeutics, and clinical … Read more
Vaughan Named Senior Member of AHIP
September 3, 2008K. T. Vaughan, MSLS, an adjunct clinical associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has been admitted as a senior member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals, the credentialing body for medical and health sciences librarians and information specialists. Admission to AHIP is a challenging, peer-reviewed process that involves demonstrating excellence in academic preparation, professional experience, and professional accomplishments, including teaching, publishing, membership and leadership in professional societies, continuing education, and participation in scholarly conferences. The senior member level is the highest for professionals with five to ten years of experience in medical/health sciences libraries. In addition … Read more
Long to Lead IPIT’s Pharmacoinformatics Facility
August 27, 2008The UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy has named Kevin Long as the director of its pharmacoinformatics facility. The new pharmacoinformatics facility, which is based in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has been created to develop resources for assessing drug-gene relationships, performing computational pharmacology analysis and providing IT platforms for pharmacogenomics studies. As the director, Long will provide overall strategic leadership and management in planning and directing applications development and also design and implement physical databases. Long received his bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering technology at the DeVry Institute of Technology and has more than 15 years of … Read more
Cho Receives $1.5 Million Grant to Deliver a False Infection to Cancer Tumors
August 19, 2008Cancer cells are deadly traitors; good cells gone bad. They evade the body’s defense systems, passing themselves off as organisms that pose no threat. Moo J. Cho, PhD, an associate professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, is working on a way to blow their cover. Cho is creating a delivery system that would infect a cancer tumor with bacterial elements in order to encourage the body’s immune system to recognize and attack the tumor. “It’s like planting a big red flag on the tumor to attract the attention of the body’s immune system, which normally ignores cancerous cells,” Cho … Read more
Jarstfer Receives Two Grants Totalling $750K
August 14, 2008Mike Jarstfer, PhD, an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received two grants. One of the grants, “The Structure of Telomerase RNA Attending Catalysis”, is from the National Science Foundation. It is worth $556,000 for three years and will support Jarstfer’s study of telomerase structure. The other grant, on which Jarstfer is the coprincipal investigator, is from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The project is titled “Development of Non-Peptide Human Oxytocin Receptor Agonist and Potentiator Drugs” and aims to discover new therapeutics for treating diseases characterized by social deficits, such as autism. The grant provides $215,863 … Read more
Graduate Student in Jarstfer Lab Receives NIH Fellowship
August 5, 2008Daud Cole, a graduate student in Associate Professor Mike Jarstfer’s lab at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received a predoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. The fellowship is worth $27,481 per year for five years. Cole’s research project, titled “The structure of telomerase RNA during catalysis”, studies the structure of telomerase, an enzyme that plays a key role in cell division and aging. Cole is a 2005 graduate of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. He is pursuing his PhD in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics … Read more
Sassano Receives GSK Fellowship
August 5, 2008Flori Sassano, a graduate student in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, will receive the GlaxoSmithKline Fellowship for the 2008-09 academic year. The GSK Fellowship is awarded annually to a full-time graduate student in the pharmaceutical sciences. The fellowship covers tuition for the year and provides a $22,500 stipend. The nomination for the fellowship is made by the School’s Graduate Student Organization and endorsed by the Graduate Education Committee. The nominee is selected based on outstanding contributions to the graduate program, the GSO, and the local area scientific community. Sassano is the GSO student representative for the Division of Medicinal … Read more
Ives Receives Grant from DHHS
July 28, 2008Timothy Ives, PharmD, MPH, an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received a grant from the Department of Health & Human Services for a study on using clinical pharmacist practitioners to improve care. The grant, titled “A Study to Assess the Impact of a Primary Care Practice Model Utilizing Clinical Pharmacist Practitioners (CPP) to Improve the Care of Medicare-Eligible Populations in North Carolina,” is worth $95,305.
Katie Theken Receives AFPE Fellowship
July 18, 2008Katie Theken, PharmD, a third-year graduate student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received a pre-doctoral fellowship from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education for the 2008-09 academic year. The award provides Theken with a $6,000 annual stipend and is renewable for a total of three years. Theken’s research project is titled “The Role of Cytochrome P450-Mediated Eicosanoid Metabolism in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease.” Cytochrome P450 are a metabolic enzyme family that is present throughout the body. Theken is studying the cytochrome P450 pathways responsible for forming epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and 20-hydroxyeicosateraenoic acid (20-HETE). “EETs dilate blood vessels and … Read more