Category: Faculty
A heritage of inspiration
November 20, 2023As an enrolled member of the Lumbee tribe of Eastern North Carolina, Ronny Bell, Ph.D., M.S., believes American Indian Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate. “This month is a recognition and reminder of the popular phrase ‘we are still here’,” said Bell, Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor and chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy and senior advisor at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We often think of American Indians as being that invisible population because, relatively speaking, we only represent about 2-3% of the North Carolina population. We aren’t a large group of people, but there’s such … Read more
Former Dean Robert Blouin retires after 20 transformative years at Carolina
November 16, 2023On July 2, 2003, Robert “Bob” Blouin, Pharm.D., arrived at Carolina from the University of Kentucky looking for his new office as Dean, at what was the UNC School of Pharmacy at the time. It was his first day on the job and Beard Hall was in the beginning stages of renovation. He went to where he thought the Dean’s office was, but instead his administrative assistant led him out of the building to the parking lot where two 30-year-old double wide trailers were found. Marked, “Dean’s Office”, Blouin found his new home for over two years. Indeed, it was … Read more
Three faculty installed as Distinguished Professors
November 13, 2023Ronny Bell, Ph.D., M.S., Craig Lee, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and Timothy Willson, Ph.D., join fourteen other faculty members with distinguished professor titles at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Appointment to a distinguished professorship is one of the highest faculty honors the School can bestow. Ronny Bell ‘85, has been named the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor, he is also the Chair in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. His research focuses on health disparities in cancer as well as a concentration in chronic disease disparities with an emphasis on rural and underserved populations. “I am very grateful to Dean Kashuba … Read more
A new understanding of epilepsy in children
November 9, 2023In a recent study published in Nature Genetics, Erin Heinzen, Pharm.D. ‘01, Ph.D. ‘04, in collaboration with Nationwide Children’s Hospital, found a new cause of brain mosaicism and focal epilepsy, which could one day lead to better treatments. Dr. Heinzen is an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics (DPET) with a joint appointment in the UNC Department of Genetics. Her research broadly focuses on neurodevelopmental disease genetics. Most genetic variants present in the cells that make up our body are inherited from our parents. Although, as cells divide during … Read more
CBD effects on the liver
November 8, 2023Cannabidiol (CBD) has gained popularity in the U.S. and Europe and is widely consumed and promoted to improve a variety of health conditions. Although safe for most, in rare instances, people receiving high daily doses of CBD can develop abnormalities in liver blood tests consistent with liver toxicity. In a recent study led by Dr. Paul Watkins, Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, he and his colleagues looked at the risk of this potential liver injury when CBD was combined with Valproate (VPA), another medication … Read more
New center to help advance placenta and fetal health
October 23, 2023The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is partnering with Rutgers University, Tulane University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Rochester to launch the Integrated Transporter Elucidation Center (InTEC) supported by a $5 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The goal of InTEC is to better understand the placental transport proteins involved in the prenatal disposition of nutrients, drugs and toxic chemicals. This work will support drug development and post-marketing drug safety for medications used during pregnancy. “We will fill the knowledge … Read more
Kathryn Morbitzer promoted to associate professor
October 11, 2023Kathryn Morbitzer, Pharm.D., M.S., has been promoted to associate professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education (PACE) at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She is also the associate director of the Center for Innovative Pharmacy Education and Research (CIPhER) and assistant director of the M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a concentration in Health-System Pharmacy Administration program. “Being promoted to associate professor is not just a milestone in my career; it represents a profound commitment to pharmacy education. I am deeply honored to have reached this stage, and I am excited about the opportunities ahead,” said … Read more
First-of-its-kind nationwide analysis of children’s health care and neighborhood impact
October 9, 2023A new descriptive analysis from the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy (DPOP) at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy found that children living in lower opportunity neighborhoods, areas that lack the vital conditions necessary for health, wealth and well-being, had the highest rates of poor physical and mental health status and fewest ambulatory care visits but accounted for the highest share of emergency department visits. This is the first analysis of its kind to look at all children across the U.S. and included a variety of variables such as health status, healthcare utilization and expenditures, access to care, parents’ … Read more
New research to help fight tumor growth
October 4, 2023Leaf Huang, Ph.D., has spent much of his career researching gene therapy and targeted drug delivery. In his current research, he is targeting bacteria that feed tumor growth with liposomal antibiotics in order to generate neoantigens that induce anti-tumor immune responses that help stop the growth. This would influence cancer progression—specifically colorectal cancer. Huang is the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics (DPMP) at the UNC Eshleman School of Pharmacy. He, along with first author and former postdoc, Menglin Wang, Ph.D., had this research published by a top journal, Nature Biotechnology. “We are glad … Read more
Research on extracellular vesicles will help in the fight against cancer
October 2, 2023Juliane Nguyen, Ph.D., is studying how exosomal ribonucleic acid (RNA) cargo contributes to progression in cancer and other diseases. Nguyen is a professor and vice chair in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She also serves as director of graduate admissions. Nguyen will continue this research through a $1.6 million research project grant (R01) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This research project is in collaboration with Klaus Hahn, Ph.D., Ronald G. Thurman Distinguished Professor in Pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine. RNA is a molecule that is present in … Read more