Category: Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics
Faculty Leader Funds First Global Pharmacy Scholarships
April 30, 2015Dhiren Thakker, PhD, and Kailas Thakker, PhD, have pledged $100,000 to fund the first Global Pharmacy Scholarships at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dhiren Thakker is the Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor at the School and associate dean for entrepreneurial development and global engagement. Kailas Thakker is president and cofounder of Tergus Pharma, a contract-research company focusing on development of topical drug products. Their gift will create six Dhiren and Kailas Thakker Global Pharmacy Scholarships each year for five years that will cover travel and housing expenses for fourth-year students … Read more
Two DPET Grad Students Win ASCPT Presidential Trainee Award
March 6, 2015Akinyemi Oni-Orisan, PharmD, and Kevin Watt, MD, have been awarded a 2015 Presidential Trainee Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Oni-Orisan and Watt are PhD candidates in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The award is given to clinical pharmacologists in training that submit the most impressive research abstract each year. Only twenty-two awardees are selected out of more than 200 submissions. Oni-Orisan and Watt were recognized at the ASCPT Annual Meeting March 3–7 in New Orleans. A New … Read more
UNC and Duke Researchers Collaborate to Predict Drug Safety in Preemies
February 4, 2015A research duo from UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Duke University has received a $50,000 grant to develop a new method for predicting drug safety in pediatric patients. The award is part of an effort by the neighboring Clinical and Translational Science Award programs to promote collaborations that translate scientific discoveries into advances in patient care. Treating Premature Patients Daniel Gonzalez, PharmD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, and Christoph Hornik, MD, MPH, an assistant professor in the Duke School of Medicine, will combine their expertise in pharmaceutical sciences and pediatrics to address … Read more
Associate Professor Federico Innocenti Granted Tenure
January 20, 2015Federico Innocenti, MD, PHD, an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been granted tenure. He is associate director of the School’s Center for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy. Genes and Cancer Innocenti’s NIH-funded research program focuses on the search for genetic variations in patients that determine the efficacy and toxicity of cancer therapy. One of Innocenti’s notable research achievements is the discovery of the genetic basis for the neutropenia — or severe shortage of certain white blood cells — experienced by some patients being treated with the cancer … Read more
Tumor Microenvironment Is a Rough Neighborhood for Nanoparticle Drugs
January 13, 2015Researchers compared the amount of doxorubicin and its nanoparticle counterpart, Doxil, delivered to two tumor models of triple-negative breast cancer. Both tumors received much more Doxil than doxorubicin, which was expected. But one type of tumor received twice as much Doxil as the other, surprising the researchers. Doxil is a drug made up of nanoparticles that contain approximately 10,000 of molecules of doxorubicin. Nanoparticle drugs—tiny containers packed with medicine and with the potential to be shipped straight to tumors—were thought to be a possible silver bullet against cancer. However, new cancer drugs based on nanoparticles have not improved overall survival … Read more
Watkins Receives ASCPT Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award
October 31, 2014Paul Watkins, MD, is the recipient of the the 2015 Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award from the American Institute of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics for multiple contributions to the field of clinical pharmacology. Watkins is a professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and a professor of toxicology at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health. He is director of the Hamner–UNC Institute for Drug Safety Sciences. Established in 1978, the Rawls-Palmer award is given to those who contribute meaningful research that improves patient care. Watkins has been invited to give … Read more
Oni-Orisan Receives ACCP Best Resident and Fellow Poster Award
October 24, 2014Akinyemi Oni-Orisan, PharmD, was awarded the Best Resident and Fellow Poster Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy during the 2014 ACCP Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. Oni-Orisan is a PhD candidate in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, and his poster was competing against more than 400 other posters for the award. He received a plaque and a $350 gift card for winning the award. Oni-Orisan’s poster was titled “Initial Characterization of Cytochrome P450-Derived Eicosanoids as a Predictive Biomarker in Coronary Artery Disease Using Metabolomics” and presented research on molecular indicators in the blood that could give … Read more
UNC Uses Liver-Function Model to Solve Mystery of Deadly Diabetes Drug
September 29, 2014Using a computer model developed by the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, researchers at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy believe they have solved the mystery of why a diabetes drug introduced in 1997 caused liver failure and death in sixty-three patients. Their discovery makes it likely that similar drug-related deaths can be prevented in the future. Sixty-Three Deaths In 1997, troglitazone was approved for use in the U.S. as one of the first drugs designed to treat type 2 diabetes. It was withdrawn from the market in 2000 after sixty-three people died from liver failure after taking it. No … Read more
Rodgers Appointed to Heart Failure Guideline Committee
September 23, 2014Jo Ellen Rodgers, PharmD, has been appointed to the Guideline Committee of the Heart Failure Society of America. Rodgers is only the second pharmacist to join the committee, which oversees the development of guidelines for the management of patients with heart failure, develops the HFSA’s position on new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to heart failure, and updates existing HFSA heart-failure guidelines. The guidelines address the full range of evaluation, care and management of patients with heart failure, including acute heart failure, disease management, and heart failure in special populations. Rodgers serves as associate director of the Clinical Fellowship Programs at … Read more
Innocenti Receives R21 Grant to Personalize Angiogenesis Inhibitors to Individual Cancer Patients
August 20, 2014Federico Innocenti receives a $275,000 NCI grant to study the role a cancer patient’s genetic makeup plays in the effectiveness of angiogenesis inhibitors. Angiogenesis inhibitors stop or slow the spread of tumors by choking off the blood supply that feeds them. Angiogenesis inhibitors are a class of drugs commonly used in cancer therapy. However, there isn’t a way to identify patients who will benefit the most from treatment with these drugs. A new $275,000 grant could help Associate Professor Federico Innocenti, MD, PhD, and his team identify such patients based on their genetic profile. Angiogenesis is the formation of new … Read more