Category: Featured News
Tar Heel Bus Tour: Reflections on History and Connection
November 24, 2022The Tar Heel Bus Tour has a long and storied history of introducing faculty and senior administrators to North Carolina. It provides the opportunity to understand the interconnection of the University’s mission and the welfare of the state. In her first time on the 3-day, two-night expedition, Stefanie Ferreri, PharmD, BCACP, FAPhA, Chair of the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education (PACE) traveled to twelve locations on the East tour. While she said the long days were worth it, Stefanie’s reflections on the experience reinforce the value of tour participation for the individual and its lasting impact. Which … Read more
UNC-Chapel Hill Pharmacy professor receives 1.9M grant from NHLBI to develop a living drug depot to treat heart attacks
November 23, 2022Juliane Nguyen, an associate professor in the Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has recently received an $1.9M R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHBLI) to develop a non-invasive, living drug depot to treat heart attacks. “Cardiovascular disease is still the number one cause of death in the United States,” said Nguyen. “One bottleneck to achieving therapeutically relevant cell concentrations at the infarct site after myocardial infarction is the poor cell engraftment and retention of vehicles at the target site. Here we propose the first-of-its- kind, tunable, replenishable … Read more
QleanAir partnership, artificial intelligence to support work of UNC-Chapel Hill pharmacy professor aiming to reduce contamination in compounding pharmacies
November 21, 2022UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Stephen Eckel, Pharm.D., M.H.A. and Robert Hubal, Ph.D., a research scientist at RENCI, are working together to reduce occurrences of contamination in compounding pharmacies using artificial intelligence. A partnership with QleanAir, along with previous grant support from the Eshelman Institute for Innovation (EII), will drive their work forward. “As a Global company with a focus in healthcare, we are dedicated to protecting people, products, and processes. We are pleased to support the development of tomorrow’s technology to improve upon patient safety, drive operational compliance, and to enhance sterile compounding practices” said Amanda Myers, chief commercial … Read more
Roy Zwahlen, J.D. receives 2022 Fulbright Award
November 18, 2022The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Institute for Innovation are proud to announce Roy Zwahlen, J.D. has been selected for a 2022 Fulbright award to Australia. The grant is a reflection of his leadership and contributions to society. The Fulbright Program is the world’s largest and most diverse international education exchange program. Since its inception in 1946, it has been devoted to increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Fulbright alumni include Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, MacArthur Fellows, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients and thousands of leaders across the private, … Read more
UNC-Chapel Hill Pharmacy professor receives $2.4M grant from NIH to increase access to naloxone
November 17, 2022The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Delesha Carpenter PhD, MSPH, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy (DPOP) funding for her project “Creating a novel place-based measure to explain racial disparities in naloxone access to reduce opioid overdose deaths.” The NIH is providing four years of funding towards this project for a total of $2.4 million. “I wanted to pursue this project because approximately five years ago I lost two good friends to opioid overdoses,” said Carpenter. “I am passionate about increasing access to naloxone because it can save lives.” For … Read more
Jacob Ramsey Awarded Fellowship Grant for Cancer Research
November 14, 2022The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded PhD candidate Jacob Ramsey a fellowship grant for his project “Drug Retention and Tumor Distribution of Polymeric Micelles for Cancer Therapy.” Ramsey, the Lead PI on the project is aided by his mentor, Professor Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov. “The goal of this project is to understand how drug encapsulation in polymeric micelle nanoparticles improves the delivery of drugs to tumors,” said Ramsey. “Here we seek to understand what principles govern drug retention in polymeric micelles, which is essential to tumor delivery and will help ensure the efficient development and translation of these promising drug … Read more
UNC Pharmacy awarded funding for study of Malan Syndrome
November 11, 2022The Malan Syndrome Foundation awarded the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy a two-year grant totaling $30,000. Erin Heinzen, associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics with a joint appointment in the Department of Genetics, and Nate Hathaway, director of UNC’s CRISPR Screening Facility and associate professor of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry will lead this study. Christal Delagrammatikas, co-founder and director of science and research at the Malan Syndrome Foundation, is personally grateful for being connected to Heinzen soon after her son’s diagnosis in 2019. Speaking on behalf of the foundation, Delagrammatikas said, “Erin, and now … Read more
UNC Pharmacy professor leads glaucoma research team
November 9, 2022A large interdisciplinary team conducted a large randomized controlled trial to increase African American question asking during glaucoma visits and improve patient outcomes. The team was led by Betsy Sleath. Ph.D., George H Cocolas Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy (DPOP). In 2017, the team received a grant worth nearly $1.6 million from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to help reduce vision problems in African Americans caused by glaucoma. Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in African American patients. In prior work, the team found that African American patients were significantly … Read more
Professor Ronny Bell named the new Chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy
November 8, 2022Professor Ronny A. Bell, Ph.D., MS has been named the new Chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy (DPOP) at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, effective January 1, 2023 Dr. Bell is currently a Professor with tenure in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy in the Division of Public Health Sciences at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He also serves as Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement and Director of the Office of Cancer Health Equity at the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Bell completed his Bachelor of … Read more
Asheville campus students and faculty provide vaccinations to people experiencing homelessness
November 7, 2022On Friday, October 28, several students and faculty on our Asheville campus participated in a community outreach event in partnership with Buncombe County Health and Human Services. As part of their efforts, seventy vaccinations were given to the clients of the AHOPE Day Center. Vaccinations were given for Hepatitis A, Flu, Covid-19, and Monkey Pox. With 547 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in Buncombe County, AHOPE is often the only place that people who live outside can go for services, which makes it a powerful outreach and engagement tool in the community. Research has shown that people experiencing … Read more