Category: Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics
As Hawke Retires, Jarstfer Steps in as Graduate Education Assistant Dean
March 26, 2018After serving as the assistant dean for graduate education with distinction since the position was created in 2011, Roy Hawke, Ph.D., is stepping down in conjunction with his decision to retire. Associate Professor Michael Jarstfer, Ph.D., succeeded Hawke as assistant dean effective March 1. “Our graduate students and faculty owe Roy a big debt of gratitude for his selfless and tireless service on their behalf,” said Dhiren Thakker, Ph.D., interim dean of the School. “On behalf of the students, faculty and staff of the School, I am happy to welcome Mike to his new role and thank Roy for providing … Read more
Olivia Dong Receives Brewington Award
February 28, 2018Olivia Dong, a doctoral student in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is the recipient of the School’s Kathryne A. Brewington Graduate Student Research Award for 2017. The School presents the award annually to the most outstanding doctoral student in pharmaceutical sciences in honor of Brewington’s commitment to public service and higher education. Under the guidance of her research adviser, Tim Wiltshire, Ph.D., Dong has been instrumental in the development of a new pharmacogenetic test, DNA2RxTM. She is investigating the health benefits of implementing this test for patients with coronary artery disease. … Read more
Persky Promoted to Clinical Professor
February 23, 2018Adam M. Persky, Ph.D., has been promoted to clinical professor. He served previously as a clinical associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Persky has been at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy since 2004. From 2011 to 2013 he was the director of the Center for Educational Excellence in Pharmacy where he worked to promote innovative teaching practices at the School. Persky was the first to introduce the flipped classroom model to the School, which became a core part of the School’s curriculum in 2015. He’s also credited with bringing the first multimedia tools to School … Read more
Patterson Named New Mentoring Director
January 31, 2018J. Herbert Patterson, Pharm.D., executive vice chair of the division of pharmacotherapy and experimental pharmaceutics, was named director of the Bill and Karen Campbell Faculty Mentoring Program on Jan. 1. He succeeds Dhiren Thakker, Ph.D., who held the post for three years and is now interim dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The Campbell Faculty Mentoring Program was started as a way to formalize senior faculty mentorship to junior faculty as the School and the practice of pharmacy began to expand. Its goals are to assist in the recruitment of junior faculty, help new faculty reach their full … Read more
Watkins Honored with 2018 ASPET Toxicology Career Award
January 11, 2018Paul Watkins, M.D., is the recipient of the 2018 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Division for Toxicology Career Award. Watkins is the Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and director of the Institute for Drug Safety Sciences at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, This award recognizes outstanding original research contributions to toxicology by an established investigator. Watkins was nominated by Alison Harrill, Ph.D., from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, who said that his “ability to see value in developing a variety of experimental … Read more
Postdoc Bezençon Receives University of Basel Thesis Award
December 15, 2017Jacqueline Bezençon, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, received the 2017 Irma Tschudi-Steiner Award for the best female pharmaceutical sciences Ph.D. thesis at the University of Basel in Basel, Switzerland. Bezençon is a postdoc in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at UNC. Her research interests are disease- and drug-mediated alterations in hepatic transport of drugs and endogenous compounds (e.g. bile acids) and the impact on drug disposition and toxicity. William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor and associate dean for research and graduate education Kim L.R. Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., is her postdoctoral mentor. … Read more
Carpenter, Corbett Win Chancellor’s Entrepreneurial Workshop
December 1, 2017UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy faculty members Amanda Corbett, Pharm.D., and Delesha Carpenter, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., were among the winners of this year’s Chancellor’s Faculty Entrepreneurship Workshop. The two-and-a-half day workshop, called “The Entrepreneurial Mindset – Maximizing Faculty Impact,” split participating faculty members into teams guided by entrepreneurship educators from across the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to create an innovative solution to a problem. At the end, the groups pitched their project to a panel of judges. Corbett is a clinical associate professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and associate director of global engagement at … Read more
Cao Receives R35 Outstanding Investigator Grant
November 16, 2017Yanguang “Carter” Cao, Ph.D., has received an R35 Outstanding Investigator Grant worth $1.85 million over five years from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to create a platform to optimize antibody-based therapy. “Therapeutic antibodies have achieved great success in a variety of autoimmune diseases and cancers; however, their full therapeutic potential has not yet been realized,” said Cao, an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Many FDA-approved antibodies now face high therapeutic hurdles, such as inadequate efficacy when used alone and high occurrences of resistance, and many of … Read more
Pharm.D. RASP Students Win National Research Grants
November 9, 2017Amy Lin and Kevin Straughn, both third-year Pharm.D. candidates, have won nationally competitive research grants. Both students are members of the Research and Scholarship in Pharmacy program, a pathway in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy built around a mentored, in-depth scholarly project. Lin was awarded the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education’s Gateway to Research Scholarship. Her project is titled, “Developing Hippeastrine Derivatives to Treat and Understand Zika Virus Infection.” Her mentor is Qisheng Zhang, Ph.D., and her award was $5,000. Straughn was awarded the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Research Institute’s Futures Grant Student and Resident Investigator Award. His … Read more
Brouwer Receives $2.6 Million NIGMS Outstanding Investigator Research Award
November 8, 2017Kim L.R. Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., has received an Outstanding Investigator Research Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The award is a National Institutes of Health R35 Senior Investigator Award worth $2.6 million over five years. Brouwer is the W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics and the School’s associate dean for research and graduate education. The project is titled “Mechanisms of altered hepatic transport: Impact on drug therapy” and will run through the end of March 2022. The study will answer key questions related to the hepatic transport of bile acids … Read more