Category: General
Gonzalez Receives $2M NIH Grant for Project on Childhood Obesity
October 9, 2018Daniel Gonzalez, Pharm.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, received a $2 million NIH Research Project Grant for research focused on drug dosing in children with obesity. Gonzalez’s proposal aims to find a systematic approach to the development and evaluation of physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models to help treat children with obesity. These models are mathematical constructs that incorporate physiologic and body composition changes during childhood. “The majority of drugs prescribed to children with obesity lack recommendations for appropriate dosing for size,” Gonzalez said. “Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic models can be used … Read more
Pharmacy Students Host Medication Take Back Day
October 8, 2018Students from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy partnered with Generation Rx to host Medication Take Back Day on October 2. The event, co-hosted by the UNC School of Dentistry and the UNC Hospital Police, collected expired or unused prescription drugs from the Chapel Hill community in order to combat drug abuse. Maurice Horton, Pharm.D., a third-year Ph.D. student at the School, said the accumulation of unused prescriptions can lead to drug abuse and threaten the safety of children and pets. “This event is just an opportunity for patients and citizens of Chapel Hill to bring their medication back, clean … Read more
Kathleen Thomas Joins DPOP as Tenure-Track Associate Professor
October 2, 2018Kathleen Thomas, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been hired as an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She joins the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy and will work from the School’s Asheville satellite campus. Thomas comes to the School from UNC’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, where she serves as the associate director of the NRSA training program in health services research for pre- and post-doctoral fellows. Thomas earned her Ph.D. in health economics from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and her M.P.H. in health policy from Yale University. She completed her … Read more
In First-of-Its-Kind Partnership, China Scholarship Council Sends Three Pharm.D. Students to UNC
October 1, 2018Three Pharm.D. students from China began classes at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy this September, thanks to a first-of-its-kind scholarship partnership. The students are supported financially by the China Scholarship Council, which signed a five-year agreement with the School last year. The partnership is the first the CSC has had with any pharmacy school. Feiyun Ma, Xiaorui Fu and Lirong Yang are the first of as many as 35 Pharm.D. students who can earn scholarships from CSC to attend the School over the next five years. The organization will also offer up to 25 Ph.D. scholarships during this timespan. … Read more
UNC’s Phi Delta Chi Raises Over $14,000 for St. Jude, Most in Country
September 26, 2018The UNC chapter of the co-ed pharmacy fraternity Phi Delta Chi raised more money for philanthropy than any other chapter in the country. The Alpha Gamma chapter from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy raised $14,048.12 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during the 2017-18 academic year. The chapter was honored by the national Phi Delta Chi organization at its annual Leader-Development Seminar, held in Virginia Beach from Aug. 1-4. Seven students from the School attended the seminar, including 2017-18 Philanthropy Chairs Lauren Branson and Amanda Mintz. The chapter was able to raise the money through letter-writing, Venmo campaigns and … Read more
Pharm.D. Students Advocate for Pharmacy Profession in Washington
September 25, 2018Four students from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy were among the 240 student pharmacists advocating for pharmacist provider status in Washington, D.C. UNC Pharm.D. students Karin Abernathy, Jennifer Sato, Jennifer Schweiger and Sarah Steinert attended the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists Summer Leadership Institute, held from July 13–15 in Washington, D.C. The APhA-ASP leadership institute participants had the opportunity to speak with over 140 members of Congress in support of the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act, which would allow pharmacists to provide services to Medicare patients in underserved areas and be reimbursed under Medicare Part … Read more
Crona Awarded ACCP Research Institute Futures Grant
September 24, 2018Daniel Crona, Pharm.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, was awarded the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Research Institute Futures Grant Junior Investigator Award. Crona received the award and a $30,000 grant from the ACCP Research Institute for his proposal, “A Prospective Multi-Dose Study of Apixaban in Nephrotic Syndrome Patients.” “Currently, there is no established standard of care prophylactic for venous thromboembolic events in nephrotic syndrome patients,” Crona said. “However, direct oral anticoagulants, apixaban in particular, are appealing options for thromboprophylaxis. There is an unmet need to … Read more
UNC AAPS Chapter Receives National Award
September 21, 2018The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists awarded the 2018 AAPS Student Chapter award to students at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The award, which comes with a $1,000 prize, recognizes student AAPS chapters that have provided exceptional service and outreach over the course of the year. The UNC student chapter has nearly 200 members in both the Pharm.D. and Ph.D. programs, said chapter president Daisy Zhu, Pharm.D. “AAPS hopes to bridge the gap between Pharm.D. and Ph.D. students at the School,” Zhu said. “We encourage contact and communication between students, because talking and learning about others’ research and being … Read more
UNC to Apply Machine Learning, AI to Improve Battlefield Medicine
September 10, 2018The University of North Carolina will use machine learning and artificial intelligence to help ensure that military health care providers are better prepared to handle the evolving conditions and traumatic injuries seen on the battlefield. The Department of Defense has awarded a grant of $1.6 million to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy to fund the two-year project. The military has asked the research team for an analytical tool that can evaluate real-world patient data to predict the skills, training and patient care guidelines that military health care workers will need in different scenarios. The project is being led by … Read more
In Memoriam: Alan Forrest, Pharm.D.
August 27, 2018Alan Forrest, Pharm.D., 66, a clinical professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and expert in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics modeling, died Saturday, Aug. 25, at UNC Hospitals. “Alan contributed to the field of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling for well over 30 years as a highly productive and innovative researcher and an educator,” said Dhiren Thakker, Ph.D., interim dean of the School. “He was world-renowned for his work on the use of quantitative approaches and mathematical modeling to optimize patient therapy, and he significantly impacted drug development and pharmacotherapy through his contributions in evolving the field of pharmacometrics. “Alan will … Read more