Category: News
School climbs to No. 6 in 2021 QS World University Rankings
March 4, 2021This week, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy climbed to No. 6 in the 2021 QS World University Rankings for the Best World Universities in Pharmacy and Pharmacology – the School’s highest ever ranking from the organization. The School previously held the No. 9 position in the 2020 rankings and has improved year-over-year in standings. “This is spectacular news and a true reflection of the hard work being done by our faculty, staff, students and alumni to advance pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences around the world,” said Angela Kashuba, dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. “This is also a … Read more
Eshelman Institute for Innovation announces 2021 Rankin Innovator Acceleration Award recipients
March 3, 2021As part of the annual Eshelman Institute for Innovation (EII) student and postdoctoral grant process, the EII Rankin Innovator Acceleration Award is given annually to the student(s) with the highest rated, commercially focused proposal. The 2021 recipients of this award are Lida Ghazanfari and Chinomunso Ahanotu. Ghazanfari is a postdoc in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, and Ahanotu is a first-year medical student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Each student will receive $5,000 to support their participation in entrepreneurism and business training opportunities. The award is funded by The Lawson and Gisele … Read more
Ph.D. student Natalie Jasiewicz lands PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Delivery
February 26, 2021The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PHRMA) Foundation recently recognized UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Ph.D. student Natalie Jasiewicz with a 2021 Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Delivery. The fellowship will support Jasiewicz’s research for two years, which is centered around treating myocardial infarctions, more commonly known as heart attacks. “It feels amazing to receive this highly competitive fellowship, and it is an honor to be chosen to join this network of highly accomplished scientists. I’m thankful to be so publicly supported in my goal of creating novel and translatable drug carriers for the treatment of myocardial infarction,” Jasiewicz said. … Read more
Lafata awarded $750,000 grant to study virtual cancer visits, equity, disparities issues
February 24, 2021Genentech has awarded UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Jennifer Elston Lafata, PhD, a two-year, $750,000 Health Equity Innovations Fund grant to study how health care organizations are considering equity as they establish new virtual visit programs in cancer care, and how these programs can improve cancer care access, quality and patient outcomes. The research will be done in partnership with the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and in collaboration with community, patient and family advisors to enhance the relevance and usefulness of study findings. “The rapid scaling of virtual cancer visits during the pandemic has created an unprecedented need … Read more
Master’s student Autumn Petersen receives ASHP grant to pursue research involving pharmacists’ workload in health systems
February 19, 2021The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists recently awarded UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy master’s student Autumn Petersen, Pharm.D., MPH, BCPS, with a Pharmacy Resident Practice-Based Research Grant. Grant funding will aid Petersen’s project titled, “Development of a System-Wide Operational Weighted Workload Model,” which is a system-wide, prospective research project focused on operational weighted work of pharmacists in health care settings. Petersen said there are 25 operational areas and teams within the health care system who participated in subjective and objective workload weighting, and the implementation of time studies, to create a novel weighted workload model. The goal of her research … Read more
Meet alumna Kimberley Brown, National Field Director of Janssen Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
February 17, 2021In this alum spotlight, we chat with Kimberley Brown, Pharm.D. (Class of ’03), National Field Director for Janssen Infectious Diseases & Vaccines. In this role, she leads the development of medical strategy for field-based medical teams and oversees development for the broader organization. Q: Please describe your novel practice setting. What makes your career path unique? A: I have been in the pharmaceutical industry since 2007 and have been in various roles involving medical affairs and research and development. I joined the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson in 2007 as a Medical Science Liaison from the Rainbow Center … Read more
Tropsha, Muratov, partners identify potential drug candidates for COVID-19, land on National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 2020 Papers of the Year list
February 12, 2021The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) recently announced UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy faculty paper “Computational modeling identifies drug candidates for SARS-CoV-2” as one of the organization’s 2020 Papers of the Year. The publication, with Alex Tropsha, Ph.D. and Eugene Muratov, Ph.D., both in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, as senior authors along with co-authors at the NIEHS and members of the Tropsha lab, was selected as one of 27 from nearly 3,500 publications by NIEHS researchers and grantees in 2020, according to the organization’s website. “It is a great honor and … Read more
ASHP honors pharmacy, UNC Health Care team with Best Practices Award
February 10, 2021More than 25,000 people virtually attended the 55th American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting in December where the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy/UNC Health Care team was honored with the 22nd Annual ASHP Best Practices Award. The team was recognized for their program titled, “Development and Outcomes of an Innovative Partnership between a Health-System Department of Pharmacy and External Community Pharmacies.” The Best Practices Award was established in 1999 and recognizes pharmacists who demonstrate leadership and innovation in enhancing patient care and other areas of pharmacy practice. This year, four teams were honored with the Best Practices Award … Read more
Tang receives School’s Kathryne A. Brewington Graduate Research Award
February 5, 2021Zoey Tang, M.S., graduate student in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics (DPET) at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is the 2021 recipient of the School’s Kathryne A. Brewington Graduate Research Award. The School presents the award annually to the most outstanding doctoral student in pharmaceutical sciences in honor of the late Katherine Brewington’s commitment to public service and higher education. Brewington passed away while pursuing her doctoral degree at the School. “My Ph.D. research, which focuses on investigating therapeutic antibody dynamics at the site of action, requires a broad range of techniques and skills that I obtained … Read more
Master’s student receives Board of Pharmacy Specialties PGY-2 Residency Research Seed Grant
February 3, 2021UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Master’s student Charlie Summerlin, Pharm.D., BCPS, is a 2020 recipient of the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) PGY-2 Residency Research Seed Grants. Now in its third year, this program awards up to two $5,000 seed grants to PGY-2 pharmacy residents who design projects to evaluate the impact of pharmacist board certification on medication-related outcomes for patients, demonstrate the value of board certification for pharmacist specialists to key stakeholder groups, or contribute to credentialing or privileging of pharmacist specialists across practice settings. Summerlin, along with Assistant Director of Acute and Ambulatory Clinical Services at UNC Hospitals Kayla Waldron, Pharm.D., M.S., BCPS, created a proposal titled: “Development and Implementation of a Standardized Process … Read more