Category: News
Four students selected for summer internship to aid local underserved communities
June 24, 2019A student-designed, service-oriented internship for rising UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy PY3 students through the Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC) is starting its second summer. SHAC is a collaboration between UNC students focused on health sciences and aims to provide free health services to uninsured and underinsured patients in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Durham. The SHAC Ambulatory Care in Underserved Populations Summer Internship, developed by a group of UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy PY3 and PY4 students, selected four individuals to participate in this summer’s internship program: Dani Youmans, Jessica Newman, Kandace Elder and Lauren Burton. “Due to the limited … Read more
Creativity Hubs Awards Accelerate Solutions to Societal Challenges
June 21, 2019What if data on the devastating impacts of extreme storms and floods could inform and predict future problems for people who live along a coast? What if scientists could develop a therapeutic capable of suppressing a wide variety of viral infections, saving lives and billions of dollars in direct medical and economic costs? What if powerful chemical and genetic tools are combined to alter how genes are modified to treat human disease? And what if artificial intelligence could help identify the best way to harness solar fuels? These are the questions being explored by the winning teams of this year’s … Read more
School honors life of former Dean Tom Miya
June 18, 2019The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy reflects on the extraordinary life of former Dean Tom Miya, who passed away on May 30, at the age of 96. Dean Miya, born in Hanford, California, led the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy from 1977 to 1992. During his tenure, the growth of pharmacy education at the School began to unfold, the North Carolina AHEC program began, and the Pharmacy Foundation of North Carolina undertook aggressive action in developing its assets. Dean Miya had a powerful story of perseverance that included surviving Japanese internment camps during WWII, pushing to be accepted into pharmacy … Read more
Community pharmacy staff frequently encounter patients who are at risk for suicide, study finds
June 17, 2019A new survey from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy showed while many community pharmacists have interacted with patients who are at-risk for suicide at some point, there is a need for additional training programs so they can properly intervene in these situations. Delesha Carpenter, Ph.D., MSPH, from the School’s Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, was the study’s corresponding author. Carpenter said as far as the research group is aware, the survey is the first to quantify how often community pharmacists encounter patients who exhibit suicide risk behaviors. Carpenter surveyed 501 community pharmacy staff members in North Carolina to … Read more
PharmD candidate inducted as American Society of Health System Pharmacists Student Forum Executive Committee member
June 12, 2019UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy student Sara Scott wants to be an advocate for pharmacy students and the pharmacy profession. To do so, Scott joined the American Society of Heath System Pharmacists (ASHP) in 2016 to be able to work with student pharmacists from across the country and to support the growth of student members as advocates of the pharmacy profession, she said. On June 8, Scott, a Pharm.D. candidate ’20, was inducted as an ASHP Pharmacy Student Forum Executive Committee member on a national level to serve a one-year term. She is one of five executive committee members. ASHP … Read more
MEDIA team members’ work honored during 40th annual Telly Awards
June 10, 2019Kevin Robinson and Joel Floyd, Jr., of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Modeling, Educational Design, and Interactive Arts (MEDIA) office received high honors during this year’s international Telly Awards. The Telly Awards, now in its 40th year, annually showcases the best work created across video and television, and highlights works from publishers around the world. The Awards receive more than 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents, according the organization. Robinson took home four awards this year for work done on a Ph.D. program video, as well as a Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics (DPET) video. … Read more
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Selects New Dean
May 30, 2019The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has selected Angela Kashuba, B.Sc.Phm., Pharm.D., DABCP, FCP, to be the next dean of the School. Kashuba, who currently chairs the School’s Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics (DPET), will assume her new position as dean on October 1, pending final approval by the University’s Board of Trustees. “It has been my great honor to be a part of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to build upon the School’s success and culture of innovation,” Kashuba said. “I look forward to working with our brilliant students, … Read more
Building Something Great
May 30, 2019When Neal Fowler ’84 (B.S. Pharm.), ’88 (M.B.A.) rang the closing bell on the Nasdaq trading floor in August 2018 — marking Liquidia’s initial public offering from the prior month, he thought about the people around him. The CEO of Liquidia Technologies thought about the patients whose lives would benefit from the products his company was developing. He also thought about the scientists who had dedicated nearly 20 years to the nanotechnology they helped develop as post-doctoral researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “It was a moment of great academic work coming out of Carolina,” Fowler … Read more
Eshelman Institute for Innovation awards $3.5 million across 24 research projects
May 29, 2019On June 1, the Eshelman Institute for Innovation (EII) awarded $3.5 million across 24 projects to support research and education at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The EII, created in 2014 with a $100 million gift from alumnus and pharmaceutical executive, Fred Eshelman, serves as an engine for innovation within the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Continuing on the previous theme, in this cycle the Institute is funding innovative solutions to address society’s pressing problems in healthcare, such as developing therapeutics for cancer, utilizing 3D approaches to treat osteoporosis, developing artificial intelligence to predict adverse drug events, and implementing … Read more
Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure grants researchers $170,000
May 24, 2019Goal to develop tumor-homing stem cell beacons for immune-based cancer therapy Shawn Hingtgen, Ph.D., Gianpietro Dotti, Ph.D., and Samir Mitragotri, Ph.D., had an idea – collaborate to create a cell therapy unlike any other to target hard-to-treat cancers. The three researchers from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Harvard University, are utilizing each of their strengths to develop a new approach to cell therapy for brain cancer. Hingtgen said their team is developing a hybrid cell therapy that begins by loading neural stem cells with nanoparticle “backpacks”. When released into the brain, the cells … Read more