Category: Faculty
Sleath Study: Doctors Should Watch for Depression in Arthritis Patients
February 1, 2008Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the most common chronic inflammatory arthritis, are twice as likely as individuals without rheumatoid arthritis to experience depression but aren’t likely to talk to a doctor about it, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In a study published in the February issue of Arthritis Care & Research, researchers found that patients whose activities were more restricted due to their arthritis were more than twice as likely to have moderately severe to severe symptoms of depression. They also found that not many depressed patients discussed their condition with their rheumatologists, and, … Read more
Sleath, Vaughan Win AACP Posts
January 1, 2008Two faculty members from the UNC School of Pharmacy have been elected to posts with the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Betsy Sleath, PhD, a professor in the School’s Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, was elected as chair of the Social and Administrative Sciences section. K.T. Vaughan, MSLS, a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacy Practice and Experiential Education, was elected as secretary for the Libraries Educational Resources section. Founded in 1900, the AACP is the national organization representing the interests of pharmacy education and educators. It comprises all 105 colleges and schools of pharmacy in … Read more
Sleath Promoted to Full Professor
January 1, 2008The UNC School of Pharmacy has promoted Betsy Sleath, PhD, to full professor. Sleath joined the School’s Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy in 1995 and has been an associate professor since 2000. She is also an adjunct associate professor in the UNC School of Public Health and a research fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. After earning doctorate degrees in pharmacy and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sleath spent two years as an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico before coming to UNC. Her research examines the impact of communication between … Read more
Brouwer Receives Award from Alma Mater
December 11, 2007Kim Brouwer, PhD, the George H. Cocolas Distinguished Professor at the UNC School of Pharmacy, has received the Paul F. Parker Award from the University of Kentucky and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The annual honor recognizes a former resident of the UK Pharmacy Residency Program or someone intimately associated with the success of the program for the individual’s contribution to the profession via teaching or research. Recipients must show commitment to high ideals and excellence in their chosen field and encourage the personal and professional growth of others. Brouwer, who chairs the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, … Read more
Three Faculty Members Receive Awards
December 4, 2007Three junior faculty members at the UNC School of Pharmacy have received awards from the University. Craig Lee, PhD, and Qisheng Zhang, PhD, each received a $7,500 Junior Faculty Development Award from the Committee on Faculty Research and Study Leaves. X. Simon Wang, PhD, received a $4,500 University Research Council Award. Lee is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Pharmaceutics. He received both his doctor of pharmacy degree and his PhD from the School, and he has been a member of the faculty since 2006. His research examines the role of genomics in the development, progression, … Read more
Patterson Promoted to Full Professor
December 1, 2007The UNC School of Pharmacy has promoted J. Herbert Patterson, PharmD, FCCP, to full professor. Patterson joined the School in 1981. He has been an associate professor since 1988 and currently serves as the vice chair of the School’s Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, where he also directs the division’s graduate program. Patterson holds a joint appointment as a research associate professor in the Division of Cardiology at the UNC School of Medicine, and he has served as co-chair of the UNC Biomedical Institutional Review Board since March 2005. Patterson received his bachelor’s and doctor of pharmacy degrees from … Read more
UNC Spin-Off Company Receives $26.5M Commitment
November 16, 2007Oriel Therapeutics, an inhaled drug-delivery company cofounded by UNC School of Pharmacy professor Anthony Hickey, PhD, has received a $26.5 million commitment from a group of venture capital firms. The commitment comes from a group led by New Leaf Partners, a New York venture capital firm. The money will fund the company’s development of drugs that use its patented dry-powder inhaler technology, which was developed at the School. Based in Research Triangle Park, Oriel was founded in 2001 and holds four U.S. patents. It began as a company that develops inhalers for use with other companies’ medicine, but has since … Read more
Abdelnaser Rezk Promoted to Research Assistant Professor
October 18, 2007The UNC School of Pharmacy has promoted Abdelnaser Rezk, PhD, to research assistant professor. Rezk has been working as a research associate and research instructor in the School’sDivision of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Pharmaceutics since 2004. He also is a research associate and associate director for the Clinical Pharmacology and Analytical Chemistry Core at the UNC Center for AIDS Research, as well as the Verne S. Caviness General Clinical Research Center Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. Rezk develops ways to measure drugs and metabolites in biological fluids to answer important questions in the treatment of HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The data he generates … Read more
Former GSK Exec to Lead UNC Drug Discovery Center
October 12, 2007Stephen Frye, PhD, former worldwide head of discovery, medicinal chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline, will lead the new Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The days when large pharmaceutical companies could be solely relied on to effectively translate basic research into new medicines are passing,” Frye said. “Academic science will have to rise to the challenge.” Frye is co-inventor of GSK’s Avodart, a drug used to shrink an enlarged prostate gland that is also under study for prevention of prostate cancer. Prior to his most recent role at GSK, his department … Read more
Sleath Appointed to FDA Risk Communication Advisory Committee
October 11, 2007Betsy Sleath, PhD, an associate professor at the UNC School of Pharmacy, has received a three-year appointment to the Food and Drug Administration Risk Communication Advisory Committee. The committee was formed in June 2007 to advise the agency on ways to improve communication with the public about the risks and benefits of FDA-regulated products. The establishment of the advisory committee was one of the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s 2006 report, “The Future of Drug Safety: Promoting and Protecting the Health of the Public.” The committee’s responsibilities include helping the FDA better understand the public’s communication needs and priorities, … Read more