Category: General
School Kicks off the Campaign for Carolina
October 9, 2017The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy will raise $175 million by the end of 2022 to support students, faculty, buildings, innovation and global initiatives as part of the Campaign for Carolina. “As the number one school of pharmacy in the nation, our mission is to create and apply new knowledge to drug development, pharmacy practice and health-care policy,” said Dhiren Thakker, Ph.D., interim dean of the School. “Through the Campaign for Carolina, we will inspire innovation and foster bold endeavors that push the boundaries of our field to help people live longer, healthier lives. “ The School’s priorities during the … Read more
Beta Blockers Not Needed after Heart Attack if Other Meds Taken, UNC study finds
September 18, 2017A new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds beta blockers are not needed after a heart attack if heart-attack survivors are taking ACE inhibitors and statins. The study is the first to challenge the current clinical guideline that heart-attack survivors should take all three drugs – beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and statins – for the rest of their lives. Heart-attack survivors are usually prescribed all three drugs to help prevent a second attack and death. However, the beta blockers offer no additional benefit for patients who take the other two drugs as prescribed, according to … Read more
Steve Caiola Receives Eckel Award
September 15, 2017Steve Caiola, M.S., professor emeritus in and former chair of the School’s Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education, received the Fred M. Eckel Pharmacy Leadership Award for 2017. The award in honor of Fred M. Eckel, M.S., is jointly given by the School and UNC Hospitals. Eckel created the UNC Hospital Pharmacy Residency Program in 1967 and the award is meant to honor someone associated with UNC Hospitals and Clinics post-graduate pharmacy training programs who has remained dedicated to pharmacy practice throughout his or her career. “I am not sure that you could name a single legacy for Steve … Read more
Rhoney, Cox Named to New Associate Dean Roles
August 29, 2017Denise Rhoney, Pharm.D., has been named associate dean for curricular innovation at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and Wendy Cox, Pharm.D., is now the associate dean for professional education. Rhoney is the Ron and Nancy McFarlane Distinguished Professor and currently chairs the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. Stephen Eckel, Pharm.D., M.H.A., clinical associate professor and associate dean for global engagement, will step in as interim chair of PACE as Rhoney assumes her new responsibilities. “The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is in a unique position to pursue extraordinary and unprecedented opportunities,” said Bob Blouin, Pharm.D., dean of … Read more
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Ranked Sixth in the World
August 22, 2017The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been ranked sixth in the world in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences by the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, an independent organization that has been the official publisher of the Academic Ranking of World Universities since 2009. In the United States, the School ranks below only Harvard University, the University of California, San Francisco and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Also in the top 10 are Yale and the University of Washington. The ARWU ranks universities across the globe based on six indicators: The number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, … Read more
Dean Bob Blouin to Succeed Jim Dean as UNC-Chapel Hill Provost
August 22, 2017The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has named Robert “Bob” Blouin, longtime dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, to serve as provost and executive vice chancellor of the University. Blouin will succeed Jim Dean, who will step down in September after serving four years in the position. “When I thought about who could fill this role, it was clear that we already had the best candidate at the University, Bob Blouin, who could begin working immediately to ensure we maintain momentum as we enter the new academic year,” said Chancellor Carol L. Folt, Ph.D.. “As director … Read more
$10 Billion in UNC Startup Revenue Delivers Economic Boost to NC
August 17, 2017Falcon Therapeutics, a company spun out of Assistant Professor Shawn’s Hingtgen’s work treating brain cancer, is one of the ventures contributing to a rise in the economic value of startups connected with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to a biannual report on Carolina’s commercial and social ventures. Falcon Therapeutics is advancing a new approach using tumor-homing stems cells to treat glioblastoma cancer, the most common form of primary brain cancer and also one of the deadliest. The company recently raised $700,000 in a private equity stock offering, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It … Read more
Alumna Meg Powell Talks with Young Innovators about Clinical Trials
August 10, 2017Meg Powell, Pharm.D., M.B.A., a 2000 graduate of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, visited the Young Innovators Program on Monday, July 17, to talk about her work as CEO of TARGET PharmaSolutions and her journey as a pharmacist. Powell spoke to the interns and answered their questions for about 75 minutes. Her presentation focused on clinical trials, offering insight into their history and the way they operate today under Food and Drug Administration regulation. Specifically, she discussed the fourth phase of clinical trials and the new model her company created for it. Powell said she was excited to share … Read more
UNC Reaches Milestone in Development of Kinase Chemogenomic Set
August 2, 2017The Structural Genomics Consortium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partnership with the DiscoverX Corporation has reached the halfway point in developing a set of selective and potent inhibitors that will be made freely available to explore the human kinome, a family of more than 500 enzymes. The kinome is made up of enzymes called kinases, and it provides a tremendous opportunity for drug discovery, said David Drewry, Ph.D., a research associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and a principal investigator of the SGC-UNC in the School. More than 30 kinase inhibitors have … Read more
Faculty and Students Lead the Way at AACP 2017
July 28, 2017At the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy held in Nashville, Tennessee, July 15 to 19, faculty and students from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy led more than a dozen symposia and workshops and collected a number of significant awards. “It is extremely gratifying to see our faculty and students playing such a central role in this key event, and I congratulate them all on the prominence of their contributions to the AACP meeting,” said Bob Blouin, Pharm.D., dean of the School and the Vaughn and Nancy Bryson Distinguished Professor. “This level of leadership … Read more