Category: Grants and Awards
PhD Student O’Leary Receives NIH Award to Help Develop Synthetic Heparin
August 13, 2013Tim O’Leary, a graduate student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received a National Research Service (F31) Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. The award provides $32,042 per year for three years to support O’Leary’s research, which aims to help develop synthetic versions of the popular anticoagulant heparin. Natural heparin is extracted from animal tissues, a process that creates safety problems such as difficulties with quality control and the lack of a structurally homogeneous product. In 2008, more than eighty people died and hundreds of others … Read more
Grad Student Lauffenburger Receives PEO Scholar Award
May 16, 2013Julie Lauffenburger, a graduate student in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, has received a PEO Scholar Award from the Philanthropic Educational Organization. Lauffenburger is beginning her fourth year of graduate studies at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy with Assistant Professor Gang Fang, PhD, as her adviser. Her research focuses on pharmacoepidemiology and health-services research, specifically on the use, adherence, and health outcomes of medications for cardiovascular diseases using large administrative health-care databases. She completed her PharmD at the University of Pittsburgh in 2010. The PEO Scholar Award was established in 1991 and provides a $15,000 merit-based award for women … Read more
Impact Award: Dan Hertz Predicts Paclitaxel-Induced Neuropathy
May 9, 2013Paclitaxel is a drug commonly used to treat breast, ovarian and lung cancer that can cause a progressive loss of dexterity and balance, known as peripheral neuropathy, in some patients. Currently there are no proven methods for predicting, preventing, or treating this common side effect. Discovery of a predictive biomarker could enable clinicians to identify patients at high risk of neuropathy prior to initiation of treatment. Working with a cohort of patients derived from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Carolina Breast Cancer Study database, graduate student Dan Hertz, PharmD, PhD, analyzed genetic and demographic data to establish that paclitaxel-treated … Read more
Impact Award: Desai Identifies Transition to Nursing Homes As a Key Source of Medication Errors
May 8, 2013North Carolina’s nursing homes are required to report data to the Medication Error Quality Initiative, and 28,000 medication errors were among the information reported from fiscal 2007 to 2009. Rishi Desai, a graduate student in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, examined these data, finding that 11 percent of reported medication errors involved an individual’s transition into nursing home care. In further analysis of the data, it was observed that these errors occurring during patient transitions had a higher likelihood of resulting in patient harm compared to errors occurring later. Desai received a Graduate Education Advancement Board Impact Award … Read more
Impact Award: Byrne’s Device Better Delivers Gemcitabine to Solid Tumors
May 7, 2013Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in North Carolina, and chemotherapy has shown very limited effectiveness in treating it, one main reason being that the current standard therapy cannot penetrate tumor tissue. James Byrne, a graduate student in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, designed and fabricated an electric field-assisted delivery device that would administer gemcitabine directly into the tumors. His preliminary evaluations of the device’s effectiveness in a mouse model with patient-derived pancreatic tumors indicate a greater reduction in tumor volume using the device compared to gemcitabine delivered intravenously. Byrne received a Graduate Education Advancement Board … Read more
Lloyd Receives School’s Burrus Community Service Award
April 15, 2013Hillsborough pharmacist Evelyn Lloyd received the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s highest award for community service at the School’s April 14 awards ceremony. Lloyd received the 2013 Samuel B. Burrus Family Award for Community Service, which is presented to alumni and students who exhibit outstanding and unselfish civic, community, or church volunteer service outside the scope of regular pharmacy practice. The award is funded by the Pharmacy Foundation of North Carolina and is given by the Burrus family in memory of Samuel B. Burrus, a 1915 graduate of the Southern College of Pharmacy in Atlanta. One award is presented annually … Read more
Awards Day 2013
April 15, 2013The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy held its annual Awards Day ceremony on Sunday, April 14, recognizing some of the best and brightest among its students and faculty. UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Distinguished Service Award Shelton Earp, MD Shelton “Shelley” Earp is the director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and director of UNC Cancer Care. This award is given to an individual whose accomplishments and contributions have enhanced the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as well as the profession of pharmacy at the local, state, national, or international level. In particular, the recipient has provided distinguished service … Read more
Caiola Receives UNC’s Brooks Award for Public Service
April 4, 2013The Carolina Center for Public Service awarded the 2013 Ned Brooks Award for Public Service to associate professor Steve Caiola, MS, in a ceremony on March 26. The center states that, for more than four decades, Caiola has promoted public service through his work with UNC Hospitals and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. After establishing the clinical pharmacy program at UNC Hospitals, he worked with Orange Chatham Comprehensive Health Service to move UNC into the community to improve the health care needs of the underserved. During that time, he also involved pharmacy students as charter members of the Student … Read more
Fourches Receives Development Award to Find New Cancer Drug Candidates
February 4, 2013Denis Fourches, PhD, a research assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received a $7,500 Junior Faculty Development Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to support his search for small-molecule inhibitors that selectively target p70S6, an enzyme that has been shown to play a critical role in the development of tumor cells. There is a need to identify potent and selective inhibitors of p70S6 for use in biomedical research, Fourches says. He plans to analyze and model all known p70S6 kinase inhibitors with advanced cheminformatics technologies. He will then use the most predictive … Read more
Mumper Receives University Distinguished Teaching Award
February 2, 2013Russ Mumper, PhD, is the 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mumper was recognized along with other recipients during a half-time ceremony at the men’s basketball game against Virginia Tech on Saturday, February 2. The award will be formally presented by Chancellor Holden Thorp at a banquet at the Carolina Club in April. Mumper is the School’s vice dean and the John A. McNeill Distinguished Professor. “Both his students and his faculty colleagues were enthusiastic in their praise of Dr. Mumper’s commitment to the highest standards of … Read more