Category: Featured
PharmAlliance provides global experience for Ph.D. student
June 3, 2024Third-year Ph.D. student Ryan Woodring had never traveled internationally until attending the PharmAlliance conference in Italy in July 2023. He grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, and his high school graduating class was 63 people. Upon graduation he was ready to explore new opportunities. This desire led him to study chemical engineering and biomedical engineering at Pennsylvania State University. Through various internships and research projects, he knew that applying his passion for engineering to health sciences was his next step. “I’ve always been interested in the health sciences space, and I had several mentors encourage me to pursue … Read more
Triangle CERSI projects include advancements in clinical trial design along with addressing gaps toward mitigating consequences of opioid use
May 29, 2024Triangle CERSI has made great progress on the first set of funded research projects, including the impact of xylazine when added to fentanyl, efforts to reduce opioid misuse and how to account for data complexities in clinical trials. Triangle CERSI, awarded to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is a joint endeavor that includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, North Carolina State University and North Carolina Central University. It was launched in 2023 with an award from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for up to $50 million over five years and receives support … Read more
Mental Health Efforts
May 22, 2024May is Mental Health Awareness month, and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy underscores its commitment to improve well-being and resiliency in the first priority of the BEYOND strategic plan. Here are a few recent highlights of what School faculty, staff and students have done in the mental health space: Suzanne Harris, Pharm.D., director of well-being and resilience and associate professor, and Kathryn Fuller, Pharm.D., director of experiential education and assistant professor, served as co-faculty advisors for recent Pharm.D. graduate Paula Paseiro, Class of 2024, as part of her longitudinal research project in her Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) … Read more
Recruiting students to grow the rural health care workforce
May 20, 2024Inspire, recruit, train and retain. That’s one of the goals behind the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Rural Pharmacy Health Initiative.The initiative, launched by the School with support from Carolina Across 100, works with the School’s Pharm.D. recruitment team to attract students from rural counties in an effort to grow the rural health care workforce across North Carolina. Jana Thompson, director of Pharm.D. recruitment, and Hannah Amundson, assistant director of Pharm.D. recruitment, are typically the first faces prospective students see. “I’ve always been passionate about providing access to education to underrepresented populations,” Thompson said. “I come from a rural town … Read more
Research aims to help repurpose approved medications for rare diseases
May 16, 2024The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, in collaboration with the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is using data science and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and validate clinical new uses of existing drugs for rare diseases, also known as drug repurposing. The School and RENCI received a $3.2 million award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the first award in which Carolina is named by the agency. Being able to identify and validate new uses of drugs requires a critical initial step of hypothesis generation and computational validation, which … Read more
Closing the gap for statewide contraceptive services
May 15, 2024For Women’s Health Week, School leaders along with state and local leaders came together to mark the expansion of contraception services in pharmacies across North Carolina. Ninety-two counties across the state now have pharmacies that provide contraceptive services without a prescription from another medical provider, including counseling and education from a pharmacist, dispensing of contraception and connection to ongoing care if needed. Soon people in all 100 counties will have the option to receive these services. UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Regional Associate Dean Mollie Scott helped lead these efforts with support from a grant from The Duke Endowment. “I … Read more
The end of a fulfilling journey
May 13, 2024The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy celebrated the Class of 2024 on May 10 at Memorial Hall during commencement. The School honored 118 Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), 27 Master of Science (M.S.), and 12 Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) students. For one student, Taysir Chamem, Pharm.D., it marked the end of an unexpected journey. “I would have never guessed that I would end up pursuing pharmacy, but that shows how you never know where you’re going to end up and that everything works out how it’s supposed to,” Chamem said. Originally from Indiana, she grew up with a high value … Read more
Golden Mortar Awards: Honoring the Classes of 2024 and 1974
May 10, 2024The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Alumni Association and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Foundation hosted the Second Annual Golden Mortar Awards to celebrate student achievement, faculty and preceptor excellence and outstanding alumni. The Hollywood-style awards ceremony was held at the Varsity Theatre in downtown Chapel Hill and was emceed by Adam Persky, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Professional Education, and former student/alumni co-chair Sara Bosek. In addition to celebrating the graduating class of 2024, the class of 1974 was honored, marking their 50th reunion. Honorees from the class were inducted into the 50+ Club with a pinning ceremony. 2024 … Read more
Researchers Engineer Yeast to Deliver Drugs, Reduce Inflammation for Possible Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treatment
May 8, 2024Written by Kendall Daniels, UNC Health | UNC School of Medicine Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex condition that requires individualized care to meet the needs of the patient’s current disease state. With available medications sometimes causing serious side effects or losing their efficacy over time, many researchers have been exploring new, more targeted ways of delivering medications or other beneficial compounds, such as probiotics. To address pitfalls in IBD treatment and drug delivery, the labs of Juliane Nguyen, PhD, professor and vice chair of pharmacoengineering and molecular pharmaceuticals at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and Janelle Arthur, PhD, associate professor … Read more
Pharm.D. student completes rotation at the CDC
May 6, 2024First-generation college student, Stephanie Martin, Pharm.D. candidate, Class of 2024, has always been passionate about education and addressing health disparities. She grew up in Kernersville, North Carolina and her grandparents immigrated from Canada, Malta and Greece. “Growing up, I saw very quickly how health disparities played out and how important education was,” she said. Martin decided to pursue her undergraduate studies at Carolina and initially focused on education but learned more about the pharmacist role as educators in health care. It was the perfect combination of her passions, and she ended up studying biology and psychology. She then applied to … Read more