Category: Faculty
Students Select 2019 Best Instructors; Phil Rodgers Wins Top Award
May 2, 2019Pharm.D. students at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy selected the Instructor of the Year award winners for 2018-19, honoring the winners at the annual awards ceremony on April 13. The Instructor of the Year award recognizes one course instructor from each year of the Pharm.D. curriculum who demonstrates the highest qualities of instructional ability and an interest in both the students and the educational programs of the school. Overall Instructor of the Year Award: Philip Rodgers, Pharm.D. PY3 Instructor of the Year Award: Kathryn Morbitzer, Pharm.D., M.S. PY2 Instructor of the Year Award: Suzanne Harris, Pharm.D. PY1 Instructor of … Read more
Virtual lab takes gold in international Hermes Awards
April 24, 2019The High-performance Liquid Chromatography virtual lab won gold honors in three categories in this year’s international Hermes Awards. The Hermes Awards honor the messengers and creators of traditional and emerging media and symbolize a mark of excellence in the marketing/communications field. The PharmAlliance development team’s project won gold in the following categories: E-Learning, Interactive Capabilities and Web-based Multimedia. The competition is set up with 200 categories distributed under the headings: Print Media, Public Relations/Communications and Electronic/Social/Interactive Media. The virtual lab is unique in that it combines 3D machines with simulated chromatogram software. It allows students to run experiments and familiarize … Read more
Three from UNC-Chapel Hill elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
April 24, 2019Three faculty members from UNC-Chapel Hill — Kathleen M. Harris, Jodi Magness and Bryan L. Roth — have been elected into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Harris (sociology) and Magness (religious studies) are in the College of Arts & Sciences. Roth (pharmacology) is in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the UNC School of Medicine. The academy announced the election of its 2019 fellows on April 17. This year, more than 200 individuals with compelling achievements in academia, business, government and public affairs were recognized. The academy was founded in 1780. Its dual mission remains essentially the same 239 years later with honorees … Read more
Beaudoin, Vogt Earn NIH Predoctoral Research Grants
March 27, 2019Two Ph.D. candidates at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy recently received National Research Service Awards from the National Institutes of Health. Jim Beaudoin, from the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, and Caleb Vogt, from the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, received the NRSA grants. Beaudoin is advised by Kim Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and Vogt is advised by Jeff Aubé, Ph.D. The NIH grant, known also as an F31, is awarded to promising predoctoral students so that they can obtain individualized, mentored research training while conducting dissertation research. Beaudoin’s research project will investigate organic solute transporter α/β, … Read more
UNC Study Reveals Precision Oncology Insights for Colorectal Cancer
March 25, 2019Next-generation sequencing of tumor DNA from patients with colorectal cancer revealed genetic alterations that were linked to different survival and treatment outcomes in an analysis led by a researcher at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, could help define strategies to more effectively treat colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. “This is an example of precision oncology, where using genetics, we are able to stratify tumor types that we once believed were homogeneous, and to identify new patient subgroups that might benefit from tailored therapies,” … Read more
Josh Guffey Named Director of Office of Continuing Education
March 22, 2019Josh Guffey, Pharm.D., has been named director of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Office of Continuing Education. Guffey is currently the director of pharmacy education at the Charlotte Area Health Education Center/Carolinas Medical Center, where he has extensive experience in pharmacy education and continuing education. He also holds a faculty appointment in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. Guffey will continue his work at the Charlotte AHEC and will spend part of his time as the director of the Office of Continuing Education at the School. In this new role, Josh will lead the vision, creation, implementation and assessment of … Read more
Mucommune Receives Over $3M to Advance Muco-Trapping Antibodies
March 20, 2019Mucommune LLC has been awarded over $3 million in five separate federal grants over the past several months to advance its muco-trapping antibody technology. The company was launched in 2016 by Sam Lai, Ph.D., an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The muco-trapping antibody technology advanced by Mucommune is based on engineering the Fc region of IgG antibodies to interact with mucins. Tuning the Fc region to combine with mucins enables antibodies to immobilize viral and bacterial pathogens in different mucosal secretions, including respiratory airways, GI tract and female reproductive tract. Once the pathogens are trapped in … Read more
Gurysh Receives NIH F32 Grant for Brain Cancer Research
March 18, 2019Elizabeth Gurysh, Ph.D., received a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health to support her brain cancer research. Gurysh is a postdoctoral researcher working in the lab of Kristy Ainslie, Ph.D., at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Ainslie is an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics. Gurysh is researching a combination therapy of stem cells and drug-eluting scaffolds to prevent recurrence of glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. Glioblastoma is usually treated with surgery followed by radiation or chemotherapy. However, due to glioblastoma’s tentacle-like growth, it is extremely … Read more
Steeb, Urick Receive AACP New Investigator Awards
March 11, 2019Two professors from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy received New Investigator Awards from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. David Steeb, Pharm.D., M.P.H., and Ben Urick, Pharm.D., Ph.D., won 2019 New Investigator Awards from the AACP. Steeb is a clinical assistant professor and Urick is a research assistant professor, both in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. The New Investigator Award provides start-up funding for the independent research programs of early-career pharmacy faculty. Steeb’s research proposal, entitled Development and Assessment of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for Global Health, will survey global health experts in pharmacy, medicine, … Read more
UNC Catalyst Hosts Rare Diseases Day Awareness Event
March 6, 2019The UNC Catalyst for Rare Diseases hosted a meet-and-greet in the Genetic Medicine Building on Feb. 27 for Rare Diseases Day. Catalyst scientists provided guests an overview of the research group’s mission and rare disease projects. UNC Catalyst is a research group focused on understanding and counteracting rare diseases. It creates high quality research tools to explore disease pathobiology, in order to accelerate the pace of drug discovery and help define options for therapeutic intervention. “There are very few centers like Catalyst that are solely dedicated to rare diseases, nationally or internationally,” said Catalyst director Anthony Hickey, Ph.D. “We benefit … Read more