Category: Divisions
UNC’s Ferreri Elected APhA-APPM Section Chair
August 24, 2007Stefanie Ferreri, PharmD, CDE, a clinical assistant professor at the UNC School of Pharmacy, has been elected the chair of the Clinical/Pharmacotherapeutic Practice Section of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management. Ferreri’s tenure as section chair will last from March 2008 until March 2010. Her primary responsibilities will be to promote the professional practice interests of the APhA-APPM members, to establish programs and activities that serve the pharmacy practitioner, and to provide a means for members to participate in the APhA’s policy-making process. Ferreri, who also directs the School’s Community Pharmacy Residency Program, says she ran … Read more
Jarstfer Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure
August 6, 2007The UNC School of Pharmacy has promoted Michael Jarstfer, PhD, to associate professor with tenure. He joined the School in 2001 as an assistant professor in the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products. Before coming to UNC-Chapel Hill, Jarstfer was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado. He earned his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Utah and his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Jarstfer’s research focuses on the enzyme telomerase, which keeps cellular DNA from degrading during replication. He currently has more than $210,000 annually in funding from the National … Read more
School’s New Division Focuses on Practice, Education
July 26, 2007The UNC School of Pharmacy has created a fifth academic division to focus on the needs of pharmacy practitioners at the point of care. The Division of Pharmacy Practice and Experiential Education will house the School’s Professional Experience Program, the Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory, the Postgraduate/Continuing Education Program, and the Master of Science in Health System Pharmacy Program, which will begin in the fall of 2008. The division will be a home for faculty who focus primarily on teaching and clinical practice. “The new division grew out of the in-depth discussions we had while creating the School’s strategic plan. Its purpose … Read more
Craig Lee Receives Grant from American Heart Association
July 17, 2007Craig Lee, PhD, an assistant professor at the UNC School of Pharmacy, has received a $132,000 beginning grant-in-aid from the American Heart Association. Lee will use the two-year grant, titled “P450 Epoxygenase Pathway and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease”, to study the relationship between genetic variation in the cytochrome P450 epoxygenase pathway and mechanisms underlying the risk of cardiovascular disease. Cytochromes P450 are a metabolic enzyme family present throughout the body. The pathway Lee is studying is active in the cardiovascular system and forms epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (also known as EETs), which dilate blood vessels and have anti-inflammatory effects. About ten to twenty-five … Read more
NIH Funds Paine’s Search for a Cranberry Juice Effect
July 17, 2007Mary Paine, PhD, has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore interactions between foods and drugs. “We know a great deal about drug-drug interactions but comparatively little about how foods and other natural products interact with drugs,” Paine says. “Typically, the only thing patients are told about food and their medicine is whether or not they should take their pills with a meal.” Paine is interested in foods that can contribute to what has come to be called “the grapefruit juice effect.” Since the early 1990s, researchers have known that chemical compounds in grapefruit … Read more
Nanomedicine Expert Russell Mumper Joins School Faculty
July 12, 2007Russell Mumper, PhD, an internationally recognized leader in the pharmaceutical applications of nanotechnology, has joined the UNC School of Pharmacy as the John A. McNeill Distinguished Professor. Mumper, an expert in vaccine and cancer drug delivery systems, will serve as the director of the School’s new Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery. The CNDD is part of a larger nanomedicine initiative at UNC that bridges disciplines in medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy. The center’s central mission is to quickly and safely translate new nanotechnologies into human clinical trials to improve the quality of life. The CNDD will bring together scientists to … Read more
DPET Recognizes Long-Time Faculty
July 1, 2007The Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics honored two faculty members at the Division’s annual retreat in June. Associate Professor Ralph Raasch, PharmD, was recognized for thirty years of outstanding service to the division and the field of pharmacy. Associate Professor Wayne Pittman, MS, also a clinical associate professor of medicine, was recognized for thirty-five years of exemplary service and leadership in pharmacy.
Morieux Awarded NIH Predoctoral Fellowship
June 20, 2007Pierre Morieux, a graduate student in the School’s Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, has been awarded an NIH Predococtoral Fellowship. Morieux’s project, “Chemical Probes to Discover the Lacosamide Drug Targets: Synthesis and Evaluation,” was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for up to three years at $27,000 a year. “These awards are highly competitive, and it is a real honor for Pierre and the School to receive this fellowship,” says Harold Kohn, the Kenan Chair in Medicinal Chemistry.
Kashuba, Corbett Honored for Work in Fight against AIDS
June 1, 2007Two professors from the UNC School of Pharmacy—Amanda Corbett and Angela Kashuba—have received the Pam Herriott Award from the UNC Center for Infectious Diseases and the UNC Center for AIDS Research in recognition of their contributions in the fight against AIDS. “They have been devoted partners to our HIV team,” says Charles van der Horst, a professor in the UNC School of Medicine who is a member of the CFID and the director of the Developmental Core at the UNC CFAR. “They always say yes when e-mailed or called, no matter what time or day, always stepping up to the … Read more
Joyner Selected for AACP Academic Leadership Fellows Program
June 1, 2007Pamela Joyner, EdD, MS Pharm, the associate dean for professional education at the UNC School of Pharmacy, is one of twenty-nine nominees selected to participate in the 2007-08 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Academic Leadership Fellows Program. The program was developed to address the stated needs of AACP members for an intensive leadership and management development program. It is designed to help promising individuals at member institutions develop into future leaders in pharmacy and in higher education. “This program provides opportunities for more interaction with leaders in pharmacy education and can broaden my understanding of the issues facing both … Read more