Category: Faculty
Caiola Named Chair of New Division
September 26, 2007Steve Caiola, MS, has been named chair of the new Division of Pharmacy Practice and Experiential Education at the UNC School of Pharmacy. Caiola, an associate professor, has served as interim chair of PPEE since it was established on July 1. He first came to UNC in 1969 as an instructor at the School and assistant director of pharmacy services at N.C. Memorial Hospital. He has held numerous positions during his time at UNC and currently serves as the director of the School’s Postgraduate/Continuing Education Program. “I cannot think of anyone more suited to this leadership position than Steve is,” … Read more
J. Liu Creates New Form of Synthetic Heparin
September 21, 2007Researchers at the UNC School of Pharmacy have patented a synthetic version of the drug heparin, called Recomparin, that is less complex chemically and should be easier to produce than previous forms. Led by Jian Liu, PhD, scientists in the UNC School of Pharmacy discovered that they could remove a complex element from the heparin molecule without altering the drug’s function. The component, a single sugar called iduronic acid, is difficult to replicate and was long thought to be an important contributor to heparin’s function as an anticoagulant, Liu says. “We proved we don’t really need that structure for the … Read more
Chemical Biology Expert David Lawrence Joins School Faculty
September 7, 2007David Lawrence, PhD, a leading expert in the field of chemical biology, has joined the faculty of the UNC School of Pharmacy. Before joining the School’s Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, Lawrence spent eleven years as a professor of biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York. Before that, he was at the State University of New York at Buffalo for ten years. He received his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. The School of Pharmacy collaborated with the Department of Chemistry, the School of Medicine, and the Lineberger Comprehensive … Read more
IPIT Study Questions FDA Genetic-Screening Guidelines for Cancer Drug
August 27, 2007Not everyone needs a genetic test before taking the cancer drug irinotecan, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should modify its prescription guidelines to say so, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Irinotecan, also known by its brand name Camptosar, is used mainly as a second-line treatment for colorectal cancer. The FDA recommends screening patients for a gene that could make them more susceptible to the harmful side effects of the drug, the most worrisome of which is neutropenia, an abnormally low number of white blood cells. In a paper published in the … Read more
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
UNC Students, Professor, SNPhA Chapter Honored at Convention
August 14, 2007Members of the UNC School of Pharmacy received numerous honors at the annual meetings of the National Pharmaceutical Association and the Student National Pharmaceutical Association in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 20-24. National Scholarships for Academic Excellence Five of the twenty $1,000 national scholarships for academic excellence went to students in the School’s doctor of pharmacy program. The students and their scholarships are: [table “” not found /]
SNPhA Boka Hadzija Scholarship Schaffer also was the recipient of the new $1,500 SNPhA Boka Hadzija Award. The SNPhA established the scholarship to honor Hadzija, PhD, a professor in the School’s Division … 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
Kappa Epsilon Honors UNC Faculty, Chapter
August 1, 2007Kappa Epsilon honored two UNC School of Pharmacy faculty members and the UNC Lambda chapter at the fraternity’s 46th annual national convention on July 25-29 in Charlotte. Jennifer Stegall-Zanation, PharmD, a clinical assistant professor in the Office of Professional Education, was recognized for her contributions as convention chair. Jo Ellen Rodgers, PharmD, a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, received the Unicorn Award, which recognizes Kappa Epsilon alumni members’ sustained service to the organization. The UNC Lambda chapter received the award for Outstanding Collegiate Chapter, as well as an honorable mention for the Best Service … 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