Category: Faculty
UNC Nanomedicine Researchers Uncover High Potential for Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields
November 16, 2012A team of researchers led by scientists at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has discovered effects of low-frequency magnetic fields that might pave the way for new approaches to designing remote-control nanomedicines. In a paper published online October 18 in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the researchers describe an experiment in which they attached an enzyme to magnetic nanoparticles, exposed them to nonheating, low-frequency magnetic fields, and observed the resulting changes in the enzymes’ structure, conformation, and catalytic activity, which were different from changes induced by heating up the nanoparticles. The results demonstrated for the first time magneto-mechanical effects triggered … Read more
Ferreri, Shepherd Assume New Leadership Roles in PACE
November 9, 2012Stefanie Ferreri, PharmD, and Greene Shepherd, PharmD, have been named executive vice chair and vice chair respectively in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. As executive vice chair, Ferreri will manage operating budgets, oversee the division’s interaction with the School’s business cluster, and assist the division chair with duties such as annual reviews and reports and assigning course management and teaching responsibilities. Shepherd will serve as vice chair for faculty development and mentorship. He will develop and maintain an assessment of faculty development needs in the division, create personal faculty-development plans based around needs assessment and track those … Read more
Vaughan Receives ASIS&T Career-Achievement Award
November 1, 2012The prestigious Watson Davis Award, presented each year by the American Society for Information Science & Technology, has been awarded to K.T. Vaughan, pharmacy librarian at UNC’s Health Sciences Library and adjunct professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Established in 1975, the Watson Davis Award commemorates the memory and legacy of ASIS&T founder Watson Davis. It is given yearly to a single ASIS&T member who demonstrates outstanding continuous contributions and dedicated service to the Society. Vaughan has been an active member of ASIS&T since 1999 and has taken on many leadership roles. She received her master’s degree in library … Read more
NCPA Honors School Preceptors Moose, Branham
October 19, 2012Joe Moose, PharmD, and Ashley Branham, PharmD, preceptors for the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, received three awards at the National Community Pharmacists Association Annual Convention and Trade Exposition in San Diego, California, on October 13-17. Moose was named the Next Generation Pharmacist Entrepreneur of the Year and the Overall Next Generation Pharmacist of the Year. Branham received the NCPA Outstanding Adherence Educator Award, which recognizes a pharmacy educator who has made significant contributions to the education of pharmacy students in the area of medication adherence. “These are outstanding accomplishments and a true reflection of not only Joe and Ashley, … Read more
Kabanov Leads Nanomedicine Team from Nebraska to UNC Pharmacy
October 4, 2012A group of twenty researchers from the University of Nebraska moved halfway across the country this summer to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to join the Center for Nanotechnology and Drug Delivery in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Led by Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, PhD, who will direct the center, the group comprises Elena Batrakova, PhD, and a team of eighteen that includes three research faculty, postdoctoral fellows, research managers, and technicians, along with five graduate students who transferred to Carolina to continue their education. Kabanov’s group brings to UNC a research program that will receive more … Read more
Health-Outcomes Researcher Joel Farley Promoted to Associate Professor
October 1, 2012Joel Farley, PhD, has been promoted to the rank of associate professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, where he is also the director of graduate studies. Farley is a pharmaceutical-outcomes researcher specializing in the assessment of pharmaceutical policy changes on clinical, economic, and epidemiologic outcomes in vulnerable patient populations. He is a licensed pharmacist and the author of thirty-eight published articles. “Dr. Farley is widely regarded for his work in the field of pharmaceutical policy and outcomes research, particularly his focus evaluating the effect of drug policies on patient health outcomes,” says Bob Blouin, dean of the … Read more
Preceptor Lee Named Community Care Pharmacist of the Year
October 1, 2012Jessica Lee, PharmD, a preceptor for the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, was named the 2012 Community Care Pharmacist of the Year by the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists during the organization’s Community Care Practice Forum Meeting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on August 3-4. “I am very honored to receive this award from such an important organization and group of people in our profession,” says Lee, a 2003 graduate of the School and currently the manager of patient care services at Kerr Drug in Chapel Hill, where she precepts UNC PharmD students and PGY1 residents. “I feel that this … Read more
Genetically Engineered Model Best Predicts Carboplatin Response
September 21, 2012New cancer drugs must be thoroughly tested in preclinical models, often in mice, before they can be offered to cancer patients for the first time in phase I clinical trials. Key components of this process include pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies, which evaluate how the drug acts on a living organism. These studies measure the pharmacologic response and the duration and magnitude of response observed relative to the concentration of the drug at an active site in the organism. A new comparison by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill of four different methodologies for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic … Read more
Roth, Jin Receive NIH Grant to Develop New Schizophrenia Drugs
September 17, 2012Two faculty members at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy are part of a multi-investigator team that has received a five-year, $7.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to create novel drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia and related disorders. Bryan Roth, PhD, MD, a Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor in the UNC School of Medicine and the pharmacy school, is one of the lead investigators on the grant. Jian Jin, PhD, an associate professor and the associate director of medicinal chemistry at the pharmacy school’s Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, is the principal investigator for … Read more
UNC Study: Caregiver Input Helps Asthmatic Kids Stick to Their Meds
September 3, 2012Asthmatic children do a better job of taking their meds if they and their parents are included in the decision-making when the doctor and child are discussing medications, according to a new study from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Work we’ve done previously showed that physicians rarely ask for input from the child or the parents when creating an asthma-treatment plan,” says Betsy Sleath, PhD, lead author on the study. “In our study, less than 10 percent of the health-care providers did. That’s a missed opportunity.” The National Asthma Education … Read more