Category: Faculty
Jackie Gerhart Wins BAHM Case Competition
February 27, 2019Jackie Gerhart, a Ph.D. student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, took first place at the Business School Alliance for Health Management Case Competition at Harvard Business School on Feb. 9. Gerhart and her partner, Aditi Borde, a dual MHA/MBA candidate, won a $10,000 first place prize for their pitch idea for a partnership with Walmart and Blue Cross Blue Shield NC to develop an incentivized diabetes management program for rural communities. Gerhart is a Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Daniel Gonzalez, Pharm.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Nearly 40 students … Read more
Anthony Hickey Named Director of UNC Catalyst for Rare Diseases
January 29, 2019Anthony Hickey, Ph.D., has returned to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy to head up the UNC Catalyst for Rare Diseases. Hickey, a professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics from 1993 until 2010, returns to the School after a stint at the Research Triangle Institute, where he was program director in inhaled therapeutics at the Center for Aerosol and Nanomaterials Engineering. Hickey earned his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from Aston University in Birmingham, U.K. After five years on faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he came to the School in 1993. Hickey is the founder … Read more
Sjoquist Wins ACCP Education and Training Poster Competition
January 28, 2019Laura Sjoquist, Pharm.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, won first place in the 2018 American College of Clinical Pharmacy Education and Training PRN poster competition. Sjoquist is the experiential programs academic fellow in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education at the School. She received the award after presenting at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Global Conference in Seattle in October. The research poster, entitled “An Exploration of Student Progression Toward Practice Readiness,” was co-authored by PACE faculty members Antonio Bush, Ph.D., Macary Marciniak, Pharm.D., and Nicole Pinelli Reitter, Pharm.D. The qualitative research … Read more
Skrajna Awarded American Cancer Society Postdoc Fellowship
January 24, 2019Aleksandra Skrajna, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded a three-year post-doctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society. The fellowship, worth over $150,000 over three years, supports the training of promising post-doctoral scientists in preparation for independent careers in cancer research. Skrajna works in the lab of Robert McGinty, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the School and an associate Lineberger member. Skrajna’s research is focused on how enzymes bind to our genetic material in cells to ensure that our genes are expressed appropriately. “By understanding how … Read more
CMO Summit Takes On Medication Mismanagement
January 22, 2019The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the School’s Center for Medication Optimization brought together leaders from across the health care industry to highlight the multi-billion dollar problem of medication mismanagement and develop collaborative medication optimization strategies that aim to transform health care. More than half of the U.S. population takes multiple medications daily to help treat one or more chronic conditions, such as hypertension and diabetes. Other serious conditions, like cancer and HIV, have extremely complex regimens that must be coordinated. And when these medication regimens are mismanaged by health care providers and patients, it can lead to unnecessary medical … Read more
Anselmo Wins Pharmaceutics Young Investigator Award
January 14, 2019Aaron Anselmo, Ph.D., has been named the 2018 Young Investigator Award winner by Pharmaceutics. Anselmo is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. His research focuses on developing pharmaceutics-based approaches to deliver therapeutic bacteria, combining pharmaceutics fundamentals to inform the engineering of new delivery systems for the microbiota. This work overlaps microbiology and microbe ecology, pharmaceutics, engineering and drug delivery to develop new strategies for treating microbiota-related disorders. Anselmo received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the … Read more
Alves Wins Lush Prize for Artificial Intelligence Chemical Toxicity Research
January 7, 2019Vinicius Alves, Ph.D., M.Sc., a postdoctoral research associate at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Catalyst for Rare Diseases, is a recipient of the 2018 Lush Prize Young Researcher award. The Lush Prize rewards initiatives across science and campaigning that work to end or replace animal testing, particularly in the area of toxicology research, and is accompanied by a £10,000 grant. Alves is developing an artificial intelligence-based web platform to assess the toxicity of mixtures present in major classes of industrial chemicals. He is one of four Young Researcher award winners from the United States and 13 worldwide winners and … Read more
$65 Million Pinnacle Hill Fund Opens for RFPs
December 12, 2018Pinnacle Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill’s new partnership with Deerfield Management, offers faculty at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy an opportunity to pursue funding to advance novel drug therapy projects. All UNC investigators are encouraged to submit therapeutic preproposals to Pinnacle Hill for potential funding, which may support studies to reach the IND-ready stage. Mark your calendar for these important dates: Monday, Jan. 7: Preproposal RFP opens Wednesday, Feb. 6: Preproposal RFP closes Which therapeutic areas will the RFP cover? This RFP is directed toward any and all therapeutic areas that address unmet medical needs. It includes any type of … Read more
Anselmo Authors Review of Biologics Delivery Strategies
December 5, 2018Biological pharmaceutical products are becoming increasingly utilized in the clinic, setting off corresponding changes in the development of drug delivery technologies, according to a new paper from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The review, written by Aaron Anselmo, Ph.D., and collaborators, was published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery on Nov. 30. Anselmo is an assistant professor in the School’s Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics. His paper, “Non-Invasive Delivery Strategies for Biologics,” assesses the academic and industry efforts to develop new delivery strategies for biologics. Biologics represent the cutting edge of biomedical research, and have a much broader range … Read more
Former Dean Robert Blouin’s Official Portrait Unveiled
December 3, 2018Robert Blouin, Pharm.D., who for 14 years served as dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, was honored Nov. 30 with the unveiling of his official portrait. Blouin served as dean from 2003 to 2017. During his tenure, the School increased external research funding by over 800 percent, doubled the number of full-time faculty, founded the Eshelman Institute of Innovation and various new research centers, opened its Asheville satellite campus, and forged numerous research partnerships — all of which contributed to the School’s ascension to the top-ranked pharmacy school in the country. “Throughout his 14-year tenure as Dean of … Read more