News

Posted: March 23, 2021

Denouncing hate, racism and misogyny

Dear School of Pharmacy Community,

We are horrified at the murder of eight people in Atlanta this recently – a shocking crime that seems clearly motivated by hate, racism and misogyny. This news is particularly distressing given the rise in violence and racism targeting Asians, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. We recognize that many in t... Read more...

Posted: February 22, 2021

The School of Pharmacy Mourns the Passing of Dr. Joy Plein

Joy (Bickmore) Plein, ’51, ’57, a beloved UW School of Pharmacy colleague, mentor and true pioneer in the field of geriatrics, passed away peacefully at Virginia Mason Medical Center on February 19, 2021. She was 97.

“For 48 years, Joy was the heart of the UW School of Pharmacy,” said SOP Professor and Dean Sean Sullivan. “Everyone who... Read more...

Posted: February 9, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccination A Family Affair For SOP Student

A graduate student administers the COVID-19 vaccine

While recently volunteering at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic hosted by Kelley-Ross Pharmacy in Seattle, UWSOP’s Uyen Nguyen, a PY3 PharmD student, was assigned a very special patient: her husband, Albert Chan.

Albert, who works as a pharmacist at CVS Pharmacy, was one of many patients vaccinated by Uyen and her colleagues. So far this year, mo... Read more...

Posted: February 9, 2021

SOP Sends Local Team To 2021 National AMCP P&T Competition

Congratulations to the SOP’s first-place team comprised of Caitlyn Tung (PY3), Emma Cousin (PY3), Amelia Brown (PY3) and Melanie Busch (PY2), winners of the recent UW AMCP P&T competition. This year, 11 local teams presented (one short of last year’s record). If chosen among submissions from other pharmacy schools across the nation, SOP’s... Read more...

Posted: January 27, 2021

2021 Winners of the Elmer M. Plein Endowed Research Fund Announced

Congratulations to Rachel Wittenauer and Qingcheng Mao, 2021 recipients of the Elmer M. Plein Endowed Research Fund, an award established to encourage, promote and support research and innovative practice in pharmacy.

Rachel, a CHOICE Program PhD student originally from Palo Alto, California, says the fund will help her to continue pursuing her ... Read more...

Posted: January 22, 2021

Participate in 2021 PharmD Admissions Interviews

The PharmD office of Recruiting and Admissions is seeking volunteers to support virtual admissions interviews, particularly among recent alumni. PharmD interview days are the most important recruitment events that we host each year. While we are evaluating applicants on their fit for our program, we know that most applicants will use the interview ... Read more...

Posted: January 15, 2021

Ed Kelly Receives the 2021 MLK Community Service Award

UWSOP Pharmaceutics Associate Professor Ed Kelly has been presented with the 2021 MLK Community Service Award, an annual honor celebrating individuals or groups who exemplify Martin Luther King, Jr.’s principles. A champion of diversity, equity and inclusion in sciences for his entire career, Ed has served as a mentor for entering UW freshman in ... Read more...

Posted: December 22, 2020

Jennifer Bacci Selected as 2021 Recipient of the Albert B. Prescott Pharmacy Leadership Award

The Pharmacy Leadership and Education Institute has named UWSOP’s Jennifer Bacci the 2021 recipient of the Albert B. Prescott Pharmacy Leadership Award. Dr. Bacci is recognized for her outstanding leadership example in the Academia-CPESN Transformation (ACT) Pharmacy Collaborative Task Force by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AA... Read more...

Posted: December 22, 2020

UWSOP student nominated to take part in LCH Student Scholars Fellowship program

Roberto Rodriguez, a 4th-year UWSOP PharmD student, has been nominated to be a part of the 2nd Annual Latino Center for Health (LCH) Student Scholars Fellowship program. This program recognizes outstanding students who have demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting the health and well-being of Latinx communities in Washington State.

“T... Read more...

Posted: December 18, 2020

Zach Marcum authors a paper published in Neurology on dementia prevention

Plein Center Assistant Director, Zach Marcum, PharmD, PhD, served as co-first author on a paper published in Neurology, along with Plein Center Director, Shelly Gray, PharmD, MS, and Plein Center faculty member, Douglas Barthold, PhD, which compared different antihypertensive sub-classes in their association with incidence of dementia using data fr... Read more...

Posted: December 18, 2020

Douglas Barthold publishes paper on bladder antimuscarinics in Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety

Plein Center faculty member, Douglas Barthold, PhD, was first author on a paper published in Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety, along with Plein Center Director, Shelly Gray, Pharm D, MS, and Plein Center Assistant Director, Zach Marcum, PharmD, PhD, which compared risk of dementia for users of non-selective and M3-selective bladder antimuscar... Read more...

Posted: December 18, 2020

Laura Hart publishes report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society on fall-related drug risks

Plein Center postdoctoral fellow alumna, Laura Hart, PharmD, MS, along with Plein Center Director, Shelly Gray, Pharm D, MS, and Plein Center Assistant Director, Zach Marcum, PharmD, PhD, published a systematic review in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society to summarize literature on whether fall risk-increasing drug use is reduced follo... Read more...

Posted: December 18, 2020

Melissa Barker-Haliski publishes Alzheimer’s disease study in Neurobiology of Disease

Plein Center faculty member, Melissa Barker-Haliski, PhD, was senior author on a paper published in Neurobiology of Disease studying the relationship between Alzheimer’s disease genes and seizures in a mouse model. In this paper, investigators from the University of Washington’s Departments of Pharmacy and Neurology adapted a model of chronic s... Read more...

Posted: December 18, 2020

Abhi Nath co-authors paper in PNAS examining small heat shock proteins

Plein Center faculty member, Abhi Nath, PhD, was a corresponding author on a paper published in PNAS examining small heat shock proteins, which play a vital role in preventing protein aggregation that can otherwise lead to Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. In this paper, investigators from the University of Washington’s Departments of... Read more...

Posted: December 18, 2020

Lena Chaitesipaseut awarded scholarship from the UWRA

Lena Chaitesipaseut, a Plein Scholar and class of 2021 PharmD-MBA student, was recently awarded a $4,000 scholarship from the UWRA. In addition to this prestigious honor, Lena has been selected to complete an APPE rotation in August at the ASCP national office in Alexandria, VA. Her focus will be on professional association leadership and education... Read more...

Posted: December 18, 2020

Tesfahun Eshetie begins Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

Tesfahun Eshetie, PhD, MScClinPharm, began a 2-year fellowship with the Plein Center as of July 1, 2020. He received his PhD from the University of South Australia, School of Medical Sciences and his dissertation topic was on Medication Related Problems in People Living with Dementia. He has hit the ground running and has started several research p... Read more...

Posted: December 14, 2020

The Plein Center Welcomes New Assistant Director of Outreach, Abby Winter

For Abby Winter, the Plein Center’s new Assistant Director of Outreach, a passion for health care comes honestly. In addition to her mother being a retired registered nurse, the Chicago native has had a lifelong love of chemistry, which ultimately steered her into the pharmacy field. (READ MORE)

“My love of the profession has grown exponenti... Read more...

Posted: December 9, 2020

WE-REACH Executive Director Dr. Rodney JY Ho to be named NAI Fellow

The Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) is honored to announce that WE-REACH Executive Director and UWSOP Professor of Pharmaceutics Rodney JY Ho has been elected to the rank of NAI Fellow by the 2020 National Academy of Inventors Fellows Selection Committee and Board of Directors.

“Dr. Ho has de... Read more...

Posted: December 8, 2020

Steve White receives achievement award from AES

UWSOP Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacy H. Steve White has been honored with the Extraordinary Contributions to the Field of Epilepsy Award by the American Epilepsy Society (AES). The award was announced this week at the 2020 AES Annual Event.

The Extraordinary Contributions to the Field of Epilepsy Award is designated for those ... Read more...

Posted: December 3, 2020

UWSOP grad students represent state in national ASHP competition

ashp 2020 National Clinical Skills Competition

Congratulations to Camille Troyer and Jessica Bixby, who will be representing the state of Washington December 5 & 6 in the national American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Clinical Skills Competition.

The CSC, an interactive, team-based analysis of clinical scenarios for hospital and health-system pharmacists, provides PY2, PY3 and PY... Read more...

Posted: November 18, 2020

Out Of The Lab And On The Air

Podcast power-couple (L to R): Chalia Stallings-Ala'ilima and Kendan Jones-Isaac.

Department of Pharmaceutics student Kendan Jones-Issac has found his voice.
Third-year Department of Pharmaceutics graduate student Kendan Jones-Issac has participated in several ambitious projects during his tenure at UW, including working on the development of a bioengineered kidney tissue chip that will improve the safety and efficacy of drug... Read more...

Posted: November 17, 2020

Welcome (back) Dr. Elizabeth Brouwer to the CHOICE Institute!

We are excited to announce that Elizabeth (Lizzy) Brouwer, PhD, will be re-joining the CHOICE Institute as a research scientist. Lizzy will be working on our ICER project team as a lead modeler. In this role, she will develop cost-effectiveness models and participate in the development of ICER project reports. Her first project, topic TBD, is s... Read more...

Posted: November 16, 2020

UWSOP Alumna Deanna Kroetz Named Jere E. Goyan Presidential Chair At UCSF

UWSOP alumni legend Deanna Kroetz was recently named the inaugural Jere E. Goyan Presidential Chair for the Advancement of Pharmacy at the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy.

A professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, Deanna graduated from UWSOP’s Department of Pharmaceutics with a PhD in ... Read more...

Posted: November 13, 2020

Global Brigades Hosts Donut Fundraiser

PharmD students in the Global Brigades student group travels internationally every summer to provide medications, medical supplies and health services to rural and under-resourced communities. In the past, the club has traveled to Honduras, Ghana, Nicaragua, and Panama. They work alongside our student peers, faculty and other healthcare profess... Read more...

Posted: November 10, 2020

UWSOP graduates eclipse state and national averages in 2020 MPJE and NAPLEX Exams

Recent data from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) for both the Multi-State Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam (MPJE) and the North American Pharmacist Licensure Exam (NAPLEX) indicate that the UWSOP Class of 2020 led both state and national averages in first-time pass rates. For graduates who took the exam for the first time in 202... Read more...

Posted: November 3, 2020

Medicinal Chemistry Graduate Fellowship Support

Graduate students are at the heart of our most innovative and impactful work in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry — including mechanistic studies of infection by HIV and COVID19, cutting edge mass spectrometry studies, characterization of biologics used to treat cancer and autoimmune disease, and our continued leadership in drug metaboli... Read more...

Posted: November 3, 2020

The CHOICE Institute Graduate Fellowship Support

Graduate students are at the heart of our leading innovations and most impactful work — from developing models for value assessment in pharmaceuticals, to evaluating government policies and programs like the Generic Drug User Fee Act (GDUFA) to literally writing the textbook on drug-drug interactions. They are the inspired researchers who pro... Read more...

Posted: November 2, 2020

Pharmaceutics Graduate Fellowship Support

Graduate students are at the heart of our leading innovations and most impactful work — from modeling pharmacokinetic changes during pregnancy, to groundbreaking discoveries in drug transport, metabolism and drug-drug interactions that inform government policy and developing approaches to combat infectious disease globally. They are the inspi... Read more...

Posted: October 27, 2020

2020 WSPA Award Honorees Announced

The Washington State Pharmacy Association (WSPA) recently announced its 2020 Award of Distinction Honorees, and several members of the UWSOP family have been named as recipients. A virtual ceremony will be held November 19 to pay tribute to the honorees and install the 2021 WSPA Board of Directors.

Don Downing, UWSOP Clinical Professor, has been... Read more...

Posted: October 20, 2020

Bev Schaefer Receives Memorial Trailblazer Award From NCPA

UWSOP alumna Bev Schaefer, co-owner of Katterman’s Sand Point Pharmacy in Seattle, has received the Sharlea Leatherwood Memorial Trailblazer Award from the National Community Pharmacists Association Foundation.

The Trailblazer Award – named in honor of Sharlea Leatherwood, former NCPA and NCPA Foundation president – recognizes an outstandi... Read more...

Posted: October 19, 2020

UWSOP Dean Sean D. Sullivan Elected To NAM

University of Washington School of Pharmacy Dean and Professor Sean D. Sullivan has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, the election recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
“I’m tru... Read more...

Posted: October 15, 2020

Pharm 501 Seeking Volunteers

The first year students are currently completing a Friends and Family Assignment for PHRMCY 501: Foundations of Pharmacy I. Through this assignment, the students are working with a friend or family member who takes at least 3 medications daily to practice their clinical interviewing skills. We have a number of students who are experiencing difficul... Read more...

Posted: September 29, 2020

Gear Sales Benefit Student Conference Fees

Students in the Unified Professional Pharmacy Organizations of Washington (UPPOW) have opened their annual gear sale. Purchases of UW School of Pharmacy t-shirts and sweatshirts support student conference reimbursement and the annual Red Square Health Fair. Items can be shipped anywhere in the U.S. and sales are open until October 19th.

Posted: September 24, 2020

PAA Creates First Endowed Student Support Fund

Scholarships at the UW School of Pharmacy support 72% of current students. With over 4,900 alumni across the globe, the UW School of Pharmacy alumni community remains committed to supporting student scholarships. In celebration of the UW School of Pharmacy's 125th Anniversary, the Pharmacy Alumni Association (PAA) matched gifts from 95 alumni and ... Read more...

Posted: September 24, 2020

Volunteer Opportunity: CV Review with PharmD Students

The ASHP Student Chapter, Phi Lambda Sigma Pharmacy Leadership Society and Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity are holding a CV and Letter of Intent Workshop for PharmD students on October 13th. These groups are seeking support from current pharmacists and those in pharmacy administration to serve as reviewers as student prepare for future applicat... Read more...

Posted: September 24, 2020

2020 PAA Distinguished Alumni Award Nominations Open

The UW School of Pharmacy and the Pharmacy Alumni Association (PAA) invite you to recognize exceptional School of Pharmacy alumni by nominating one or more colleagues for the School's 2020 Distinguished Alumni Awards. Presented annually by the Pharmacy Alumni Association, these awards recognize graduates who demonstrate excellence in the profession... Read more...

Posted: September 18, 2020

CHOICE Institute Releases 2020 Annual Report

The 2020 Annual Report for the Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy & Economics (CHOICE) Institute is now available. Learn more about CHOICE’s extraordinary team and impactful work: https://lnkd.in/g6BFFYw... Read more...

Posted: September 2, 2020

UW Breaks Ground On New Health Sciences Education Building

On August 27, UW School of Pharmacy Dean Sean D. Sullivan, Washington State Senator David Frockt and other UW Health Sciences deans took part in the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Health Sciences Education Building. The state-of-the-art facility, scheduled to be completed in May 2022, will serve as an interdisciplinary environment for... Read more...

Posted: August 20, 2020

New research finds association between COVID-19 hospital use and mortality

Researchers at the University of Minnesota and University of Washington found a statistical relationship between the number of hospital beds (ICU and non-ICU) occupied by COVID-19 patients in a state and reported mortality. Published today in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, this research is believed to be the first to use actual, state-le... Read more...

Posted: August 3, 2020

Sean D. Sullivan accepts second term as UWSOP Dean

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Mark Richards announced this week that Sean D. Sullivan has accepted a second term as Dean of the UW School of Pharmacy. “I am honored and humbled to be able to continue serving as Dean for the School of Pharmacy,” said Sullivan, who has served as Dean since 2014. “The last five y... Read more...

Posted: August 3, 2020

UW HSEB website unveiled

This week the #UW debuted a website devoted to the construction of the new $100M+ Health Sciences Education Building, one of the few structures nationwide created to intentionally foster collaborative teaching and learning. Once completed, the building will be shared among the UW’s six health sciences schools and is expected to catapult those pro... Read more...

Posted: July 23, 2020

UWSOP Professor Allan J. Ellsworth Retires

After 39 years of distinguished service to the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, Professor Allan “Al” Ellsworth retired June 30, 2020. Over the course of his career, Professor Ellsworth made many notable contributions to the Department, School, University, profession and community. He has been an outstanding educator and colleague,... Read more...

Posted: July 17, 2020

UWSOP Dean Sean Sullivan meets with Washington State Senate Committee to discuss health care workforce challenges

Representing UW Health Sciences, UWSOP Dean Sean Sullivan spoke this week with the Washington State Senate Committee to discuss the state’s health care workforce pipeline.

Sullivan shared with the committee the UW’s plans to partner with the State to build a new Interprofessional education (IPE) learning facility. The $100 million project, w... Read more...

Posted: July 14, 2020

Sara Shum named winner of 2020 UWSOP Pharmaceutics’ Graduate Student Leadership Award

Congratulations to Sara Shum, a #UWSOP Department of Pharmaceutics graduate student who was awarded the 2020 UWSOP Pharmaceutics’ Graduate Student Leadership Award in May. Sara, who expects to graduate this fall with her PhD in Pharmaceutics, joined the Department of Pharmaceutics in 2016, and Dr. Nina Isoherranen's lab in 2017. Sara has demons... Read more...

Posted: July 14, 2020

Biomedical innovations win WE-REACH go-to-market awards

Seattle, WA (July 14, 2020)—The Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) is pleased to announce its first awards to facilitate early-stage product development for two biomedical innovations. WE-REACH invests up to $200,000 per awarded project. Funding comes from the NIH with matching support from our par... Read more...

Posted: June 22, 2020

Temporary license for pharmacy graduates approved

On June 19 the Governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, issued a proclamation allowing graduates from approved Schools/Colleges of Pharmacy to register for a 180-day temporary license through PQAC. This proclamation will cover residents coming into Washington state to participate in residency programs. The main purpose of the 180-day temporary lic... Read more...

Posted: June 16, 2020

Educating Our Seniors During A Pandemic

In an age of social distancing, ensuring our older adults have safe, convenient access to the medications they need is essential. In an effort to help educate seniors on best practices to consider when communicating with their providers and pharmacies, the Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Research, Education and Outreach is developing a new ... Read more...

Posted: May 30, 2020

A Message from UW Health Sciences Deans

Dear UW Health Sciences Community,

Our country is once again experiencing the tragic realities of the racism present in our society.

The slaying of Ahmaud Arbery while jogging in Brunswick, GA; the shooting death of Breonna Taylor by police in Louisville; the false and racist accusation of violence against Christian Cooper in New York City; a... Read more...

Posted: May 7, 2020

Estimating the Infection Fatality Rate among Symptomatic Covid-19 Cases in the U.S.

According to a study released today, Anirban Basu, Stergachis Family Endowed Director of The CHOICE Institute at the UW School of Pharmacy, has developed one of the first models that can estimate the COVID-19 Infection Fatality Rate among symptomatic cases (IFR-S).

The Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) is a critical parameter in understanding the CO... Read more...

Posted: April 23, 2020

UWSOP alum appointed Senior VP for Health Economics at ICER

In September, UW School of Pharmacy CHOICE alum Jonathan D. Campbell, PhD, will become Senior Vice President for Health Economics at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). Having collaborated with ICER closely over the past five years, Campbell will oversee the growth of ICER's health economics team and lead in the future innovation... Read more...

Posted: April 8, 2020

Medicinal Chemistry Student Named 2020-21 Magnuson Scholar

UWSOP would like to congratulate Amy Li, a 4th-year Medicinal Chemistry student in the UW XuLab, on being named a 2020-21 Magnuson Scholar! Amy studies the metabolism of cholesterol precursors, and how defects in that process relate to neurodevelopmental and metabolic diseases. She was selected on the basis of her excellent academic performance and... Read more...

Posted: March 17, 2020

UWSOP rises to #7 in U.S. News and World Report rankings

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The U.S. News and World Report today released the 2021 edition of its Best Graduate Schools rankings, and UWSOP has been named the No.7 pharmacy program in the nation.

The report, which is released every fo... Read more...

Posted: March 9, 2020

Welcome to our new class of CHOICE MS Fellows

We are pleased to announce the 2020-22 cohort of CHOICE MS Fellows.

The CHOICE Institute has partnerships with four pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that sponsor two-year fellowship programs for recent PharmD graduates. The trainee spends a year with us at UW earning an MS degree, and then one year gaining on the ground experience ... Read more...

Posted: March 4, 2020

Chaitesipaseut awarded UWRA scholarship

Posted: February 27, 2020

Novel Coronavirus – How the UWSOP is responding to the outbreak, helpful resources and latest news.

An emerging infectious respiratory disease or new coronavirus, now called COVID-19, was identified in Wuhan, China, in December. Public health officials across the globe are closely monitoring the outbreak and spread of the disease. Below, you will find:

How the UWSOP is assisting in drug research response
Links to the latest information on... Read more...

Posted: February 19, 2020

Pharmacists can help solve our overmedication problem — if we let them

Imagine that your local grocery store announced they would start employing several nutritionists, each of whom had years of training to help people improve their diets and health. Excited, you go to the store to get your personalized diet plan. But when you get there, you discover that the nutritionists are all busy filling customers’ carts with ... Read more...

Posted: January 31, 2020

UW’s new WE-REACH center to accelerate development of the ‘most exciting’ biomedical discoveries

With well over a billion dollars in research funding annually, the University of Washington is an engine of discovery and generates more than $15 billion in the state’s economy. Now, with a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, UW has created a new integrated center to match biomedical discoveries with the resources needed to b... Read more...

Posted: January 28, 2020

UWSOP welcomes Gaurav Bhardwaj to Med Chem faculty

Join us in welcoming Gaurav Bhardwaj, PhD, to the Faculty as Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. Gaurav earned his doctoral degree in Integrative Biosciences from the Pennsylvania State University. During his graduate work at Pennsylvania State University, he developed computational methods for studying evolution of highly... Read more...

Posted: January 24, 2020

Faculty Legend Wendel Nelson Retires

After over 50 years of distinguished service at UWSOP and wide-ranging contributions to the profession of pharmacy, Professor Wendel Nelson retires this month.Wendel joined the School as an Assistant Professor in 1965 in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, prior to its split into the current Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceut... Read more...

Posted: January 24, 2020

Xu and Kelly receive SOP Faculty Innovation Award

Libin Xu and Ed Kelly take a novel approach to investigate toxicity of common household cleanersLibin Xu and Ed Kelly were selected as this year’s recipients of the UW School of Pharmacy Faculty Innovation Award for their proposal “Assessing the Toxicogenetics of Benzalkonium Chlorides Using “Liver-Kidney-on-Chips.” Libin and Ed, from UWSOP... Read more...

Posted: January 17, 2020

Pharmaceutics student, Kendan Jones-Isaac honored at the UW Health Sciences Martin Luther King Tribute

Kendan Jones-Isaac Community Service Award

The award honors individuals or groups who exemplify Martin Luther King’s principles: a commitment to the needs of communities, particularly communities of color and low income; to programs that improve the human condition; and efforts to protect and empower all individuals.

Kendan Jones-Isaac was honored with a service award at this year’s ... Read more...

Posted: January 16, 2020

UWSOP CHOICE create Novel New Framework for Valuing Health Outcomes in Cost-Effectiveness Analyses

Introducing “Health Years in Total:” A Novel Framework for Valuing Health Outcomes in Cost-Effectiveness Analyses. CHOICE Researchers Introduce a New metric that provides a robust and feasible approach that overcomes specific limitations of the QALY

Lawrenceville, NJ, USA—January 20, 2020—Value in Health, the official journal of ISPO... Read more...

Posted: December 20, 2019

CHOICE Institute Researchers Find that Rural Hospital Closures Increase Patient Mortality

About 15% of hospitals have closed since 1990, and rates of hospital closure—particularly in rural areas—have increased over the last decade.

Dr. Kritee Gujral and Dr. Anirban Basu’s recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper, “The Impact of Rural and Urban Hospital Closures on Inpatient Mortality,” which used Cal... Read more...

Posted: December 19, 2019

The CHOICE Institute is pleased to welcome Dr. Jens Grueger, PhD, to the School of Pharmacy as an Affiliate Professor

Jens Grueger, PhD is the 2019-2020 President Elect for the Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) and current Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group in Zurich, Switzerland where he is the senior expert for pricing and market access in the life sciences. Previously, Dr Grueger was Head of Global Access at F... Read more...

Posted: December 19, 2019

Recap from SMDM 2019

The Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) brings together researchers, clinicians, educators, managers, and policy makers from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. SMDM is the leading society for studying and advancing decision sciences in health, including incorporation of patients’ values and preferences. It promotes scientific and methodo... Read more...

Posted: December 19, 2019

CHOICE Alum Will Canestaro recognized for health innovation

CHOICE alum Will Canestaro was selected as a 2019 Seattle Health Innovator of the Year in Collaboration.

This award recognizes individuals who are exhibiting extraordinary talent in the four attributes that contribute to successful innovation: collaboration, customer focus, imagination, and perseverance. Recognized for collaboration, Will is cur... Read more...

Posted: December 19, 2019

Doug Barthold Explores Diagnostic Patterns of Dementia

CHOICE faculty member Doug Barthold has expanded his research program that studies risk factors and care for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). In a recent publication, he and his co-authors examined diagnosis patterns to understand how different types of dementia are diagnosed, and the degree to which specialist physicians offer mor... Read more...

Posted: December 19, 2019

CHOICE Team presents at the ICER CEPAC Meeting on Type 2 Diabetes

UW Cost-Effectiveness Modeling Team, Ryan Hansen and Greg Guzauskas, were recently presenters at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review's (ICER) New England CEPAC Meeting on Type 2 Diabetes at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

The UW Team created a cost-effectiveness microsimulation model to evaluate the value of oral semaglu... Read more...

Posted: November 14, 2019

Invara: A new kind of rural pharmacy

Alumnus Simeon Roth, ’17, opens a new rural pharmacy based on a business plan he worked on as a student in pharmacy school. Today, his pharmacy is providing much needed services to rural communities with little access to health care.

Nancy Kildahl is allergic to everything that isn’t nailed down.

“And I’m allergic to the nails,”... Read more...

Posted: November 7, 2019

Teams at UWSOP and Fred Hutch look at emerging sickle cell disease therapies

The National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded a unique collaborative, The Sickle Cell Clinical and Economic Impact Consortium that brings together The CHOICE Institute at the UW School of Pharmacy (UWSOP), Fred Hutch, NHL... Read more...

Posted: October 20, 2019

Find the CHOICE Institute at SMDM 2019

The 41st Annual North American Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM) is just down the road in Portland this year (Oct 20-23) and we hope to connect with you there. To find the posters and presentations of CHOICE students, staff, alumni, and faculty, please refer to the PDF attached here. See you in Portland!

>> 2019 SMD... Read more...

Posted: September 24, 2019

Marcum first pharmacist to receive prestigious Beeson Award

Zachary Marcum, PhD, PharmD was recently awarded the Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award (K76) from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and The John A. Hartford Foundation.

Notably, Zach is the first pharmacist to receive the grant, which is typically awarded to physician-investigators. This initiative is focused on clinic... Read more...

Posted: September 18, 2019

Professor Larry Bauer retires from UW School of Pharmacy

After 39 years of distinguished service to the students, faculty and staff at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, Professor Larry Bauer retired June 30, 2019. Over the course of his academic career, Larry made many notable contributions to the department, school, university and broader community. Larry is among the most recognized ... Read more...

Posted: September 18, 2019

Professor Gail Anderson retires from UW School of Pharmacy

After 31 years of distinguished service to the students, faculty and staff at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, Professor Gail Anderson retired Spring 2019. Over the course of her academic career, Gail made many notable contributions to the Department, School, University and epilepsy community.

Gail received her Bachelor of Scie... Read more...

Posted: September 18, 2019

Associate Professor Stan Weber retires from UW School of Pharmacy

After 22 years of distinguished service to the students, faculty and staff at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, Associate Professor Stan Weber retired July 5, 2019. Over the course of his academic career, Stan made many notable contributions to the department, school, university and broader community. Stan received his Bachelor o... Read more...

Posted: September 18, 2019

Promoted UWSOP faculty tackling tough problems facing population health with novel approaches

Recently promoted faculty are finding news ways to solve significant population health problems from Alzheimer’s and related dementias to kidney disease to cancer to MRSA. These preeminent researchers were all recently awarded promotions. Learn more about their research and read stories about their innovative research below.
Abhinav Nath, PhD, A... Read more...

Posted: September 13, 2019

Using Data and Economics to Transform Health | Celebrating 25 Years

CHOICE faculty and students at the 2019 retreat

Celebrating 25 years, The CHOICE Institute continues to grow and transform, expanding its impact on population health.
“At CHOICE, we work to advance the study of health economics, pharmaceutical outcomes research, and policy to improve population health in the U.S. and around the world.”—Anirban Basu, Stergachis Endowed Director, Choice Ins... Read more...

Posted: September 13, 2019

A Tradition of Reinventing Pharmacy

Never doubt the profound impact that our faculty and alumni have had on health care nationwide through decades of advocacy for increased access to patient care.
“Pharmacists are the medication experts on the health care team and in the community. Thanks to our work, in addition to improved care at hospitals and clinics, busy people can just pop ... Read more...

Posted: September 13, 2019

Inventing Blistex

A chance meeting on a train between a Seattle pharmacist and Chicago businessman turned an ointment created in L.D. Bracken’s pharmacy into an international brand.
“Many people don’t realize how inventive pharmacists have been throughout history. L.D. Bracken’s story is a great example of the kinds of transformative products and entrep... Read more...

Posted: September 13, 2019

A Commitment to the End of HIV/AIDS

Shiu-Lok Hu’s work began decades ago in utter frustration with a powerful and unknown virus and continues today...with promising new leads and a novel approach to creating an HIV vaccine.
“I began this work 30 years ago and have seen the diagnosis of AIDS change from a certain death sentence to a manageable chronic condition. My dream is to se... Read more...

Posted: September 13, 2019

Improving Care for Alaska Native People

Ken Thummel, Milo Gibaldi Endowed Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutics, with Katrina Claw who was honored for her service to the community at the 2019 Martin Luther King Tribute

One of the University of Washington’s significant population health projects began ten years ago with a collaboration led by Pharmaceutics Professor Ken Thummel and Wylie Burke, professor of Bioethics and Humanities in the UW School of Medicine. The multidisciplinary research group with faculty from the Departments of Bioethics and Humanities, Ep... Read more...

Posted: September 12, 2019

Using Genetics to Decode Warfarin

The potential impact of personalized medicine launched here at UW School of Pharmacy about twenty years ago, when Dave Veenstra’s graduate student Mitch Higashi,‘01, assembled a 200-member cohort of warfarin patients to study genetic factors influencing their drug response. They partnered with Allan Rettie in Medicinal Chemistry to go deeper.
... Read more...

Posted: September 12, 2019

Small Molecules, Big Health Solutions

Bill Howald (pictured center) in the Mass Spec lab with then graduate student Shimako Oishi and former Dean Sid Nelson.

The story of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry is of a multi-generational approach to solving big problems in population health.
“Our network of faculty, alumni, and students is working to solve problems that affect millions of people worldwide: dementia, HIV, influenza, and other therapeutic areas. We train people to work at the molecular l... Read more...

Posted: September 12, 2019

A Tradition of Innovation and Impact

UW School of Pharmacy has always been ahead of its time—right back to our founding in 1894 as the first school of health sciences at the University of Washington.
“The University of Washington School of Pharmacy is absolutely and resolutely dedicated to improving population health here in Seattle and around the world. Everyone talks about inno... Read more...

Posted: September 12, 2019

Enhancing the way epilepsy is managed by engaging community pharmacists

The University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy today announced a collaboration with global biopharmaceutical company UCB to improve access to care for people living with epilepsy.This interdisciplinary project will explore ways in which community pharmacists can better support people living with this neurological disorder.

The roughly 3.4 m... Read more...

Posted: September 10, 2019

Training to practice at the top of their license

Our student pharmacists train in the Bracken Pharmacy Learning Center

UWSOP implements the Purple Curriculum with new Wednesdays in Practice, Provider Readiness Training and more
UW School of Pharmacy’s PharmD program trains pharmacists to think critically and be prepared for a future of health care that requires the advanced skills and knowledge of the Husky Pharmacist.
“The UW School of Pharmacy is one of the... Read more...

Posted: September 10, 2019

The Future of Pharmacy

Celebrating 125 Years of Impact & Innovation
Our mission is to develop exceptional pharmacy leaders and researchers, discover solutions to improve population health, and serve the health and well-being of the public, locally and globally...even in space.
“We aren’t waiting for the future to happen. We are proactively accounting for what... Read more...

Posted: July 22, 2019

Nina Isoherranen named Chair of Pharmaceutics Department

On July 1, 2019, UW School of Pharmacy Professor and Dean Sean D. Sullivan appointed Professor Nina Isoherranen to the Milo Gibaldi Endowed Chair of Pharmaceutics. Her appointment makes her the first woman to chair the department.
“From her first days here as a post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Isoherranen demonstrated the standard of excellence and inn... Read more...

Posted: July 17, 2019

Ken Thummel returns to faculty after 13 years of success as Chair

After thirteen years leading the Department of Pharmaceutics to international success, Professor Kenneth Thummel will return to faculty full time and Professor Nina Isoherranen will become the Milo Gibaldi Endowed Chair of Pharmaceutics.

Dr. Thummel was appointed Chair of the Pharmaceutics Department in 2006. He assumed that role from the Depart... Read more...

Posted: July 6, 2019

Supporting cancer survivors

Assitant Professor Aasthaa Bansal’s team will look at care for colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and chronic myeloid leukemia. Their approach will extend to other diseases, including pediatric cancers.

Aasthaa Bansal leads an NIH MERIT award-winning team to develop decision-making frameworks to guide post-treatment care for cancer survivorsDespite receiving effective primary treatment, many cancer survivors remain at risk of relapse and associated morbidity and mortality. Surveillance testing using biomarkers and imaging may detect disease recurr... Read more...

Posted: July 1, 2019

Gray receives AGS Editor’s Choice Award for dementia research

Congratulations to Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Director Shelly Gray who received the The American Geriatrics Society Editor's Choice Award for her paper that showed Protein Pump Inhibitors (PPI) are not linked to higher dementia risk.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are medicines commonly prescribed to treat acid-related digestive problems... Read more...

Posted: July 1, 2019

Congratulations to our recent Pharmaceutics PhD alumni!

We are so proud of our Pharmaceutics PhD alumni who completed their dissertation research in academic year 2018-2019.

Ryan Cheu

Dissertation: Impact of the Vaginal Microbiome on HIV Transmission

Savannah McFeely

Dissertation: Clinical Significance and Regulatory Framework for the Evaluation of Organic Anion Tran... Read more...

Posted: June 21, 2019

Meet the Plein Certificate Preceptors: Jason Rusk, PharmD, BCGP

Plein Center Preceptor Jason Rusk, PharmD, BCGP

Jason Rusk, PharmD, BCGP, has been a UWSOP Preceptor for many years. Earlier in his career (2010-2013), he precepted UW students while working in community pharmacy at Bartell Drugs. And for the past two and a half years, he has been a Geriatrics Pharmacy Preceptor for our Plein Geriatric Certificate students. Jason works in Skilled Nursing Facilit... Read more...

Posted: June 21, 2019

Meet the Plein Certificate Alumni: Grant Walker, PharmD

Grant Walker, PharmD, ’10, is a pharmacist at Mercury Pharmacy Services where he staffs the pharmacy and works as a consultant. He earned his Plein Certificate in Geriatric Pharmacy in 2010

Grant told us he chose to specialize in geriatrics because of the aging population and, “my awesome relationship with my grandparents. I like old people!... Read more...

Posted: June 21, 2019

Meet the Plein Certificate Faculty: Melissa Barker-Haliski, PhD

Melissa is a Research Assistant Professor specializing in translational epilepsy research. She develops and implements preclinical models to support the early evaluation of novel investigational pharmacotherapies for epilepsy in discrete patient populations, including elderly patients with epilepsy and those with comorbid seizures associated with a... Read more...

Posted: June 21, 2019

Meet the Plein Certificate Faculty: Nagham Ailabouni, PhD, Senior Fellow

Nagham Ailabouni, BPharm, PgCertPharm Res (Dist), RegPharm NZ, PhD

Nagham earned her BSPharm, Postgraduate Certificate in Research Pharmacy, and PhD at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Her dissertation focused on deprescribing in older New Zealanders.

Nagham began geriatric pharmacy as a specialty early in her career during her practice as a registered pharmacist in New Zealand. “I felt overwhel... Read more...

Posted: June 21, 2019

Hart’s research shows risk in older adults with dementia taking CNS-active medications

While competing the postdoctoral fellowship in geriatric pharmacy here at the UWSOP, alumna Laura Hart, PharmD, MS, BCPS, BCGP,’14, ’17, was awarded a research grant by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Research Institute Futures Grants program. Her research focused on the impact central nervous system (CNS)-active medications ... Read more...

Posted: June 21, 2019

Congratulations to this year’s class of Plein Geriatric Certificate graduates!

We are so proud to celebrate this year’s class of Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Certificate graduates! Everyone was recognized at a special ceremony on Friday, July 14, 2019. Congratulations to the graduates on all their hard work!

Emily Archer

Kyle Bigham

Mackenzie Bredereck

Alex Chang

Jennifer Durand

Justin Fernando

Michael Fish... Read more...

Posted: June 19, 2019

Nath Faculty Innovation Award leads to student publications

Abhi Nath, '08, and Medicinal Chemistry graduate student Eleanor Vane discuss research

In 2018, Abhi Nath, ’08, was named recipient one of that year’s UWSOP Faculty Innovation Awards. The awards provide financial support of up to $20,000 each for high-risk, innovative research projects.

Abhi proposed to look at new ways to predict how the body metabolizes biologics, also known as “large-molecule” drugs or protein-based th... Read more...

Posted: June 19, 2019

Goulet and Maldonato presented UWSOP Med Chem graduate student awards

Congratulations to UWSOP Outstanding Dissertation Award winner Dennis Goulet, Medicinal Chemistry, and Graduate Student Leadership Award for Medicinal Chemistry, Benjamin Maldonato.

The UW School of Pharmacy Graduate Program Awards offer special recognition of our preeminent graduate students and faculty.
Outstanding Dissertation Award: Den... Read more...

Posted: June 18, 2019

Allan Rettie named 2019 UWSOP Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor

2019 Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor: Allan Rettie, Medicinal Chemistry

Professor Allan Rettie, Medicinal Chemistry, was nominated for and selected at the 2019 Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor by colleagues and current and former students.
“Allan encouraged his students to critically analyze internally and externally generated data,” said one former graduate student. “When students started to ask interesting ... Read more...

Posted: June 18, 2019

Lopez receives 2019 UWSOP Pharmaceutics’ Graduate Student Leadership Award

Pharmaceutics PhD Graduate Student Antonio Lopez

The UW School of Pharmacy Graduate Program Awards offer special recognition of our preeminent graduate students and faculty. We are pleased to share that Antonio Lopez, a graduate PhD student in Pharmaceutics, was recognized for the department’s 2019 Graduate Student Leadership Award.

We learned from his nominators that Antonio demonstrates le... Read more...

Posted: June 17, 2019

Pharmacological Sciences Summer Diversity Program brings undergrad students to UWSOP

In summer 2019, we welcome two undergraduate student scientists taking part in the Pharmacological Sciences Summer Diversity Program.Sierra Napoleon, a junior from Louisiana Tech University, who will receive her BS in Chemistry in 2020. Her goal is to become an interdisciplinary researcher in pharmacology and drug deliver innovations. She will be w... Read more...

Posted: June 14, 2019

Celebrating our 2019 Plein Student Scholars!

Plein Center Assistant Director of Research Zach Marcum with Plein Scholar Sarah Tu, '19

The goal of the Plein Student Scholarship is to foster student interest in geriatrics-related research. Research areas may include but are not limited to, translational research projects that move evidence-based, aging research along the continuum from laboratory findings to treatment of disease and maintenance of health and well-being of communi... Read more...

Posted: June 7, 2019

UWSOP at ISSX 2019 in Portland

Don’t miss out on these UWSOP alumni and faculty presenting at ISSX!

This meeting will also mark the last meeting with Dean Emeritus Tom Baillie presiding as President of ISSX. Join us for the UWSOP alumni and friends reception at ISSX to toast Dr. Baillie and celebrate and reconnect with friends and colleagues.

Jashvant Unadkat

Cyrus Kh... Read more...

Posted: June 3, 2019

Congratulations to all awarded a Certificate of Merit in Precepting!

Certificates of Merit in Precepting

Our Experiential Education team recently completed our annual preceptor review process as part of our quality assurance program. This review process allowed us to identify preceptors who have demonstrated excellence in the following major areas:

Active participation, as measured by the number of students pre... Read more...

Posted: June 3, 2019

Wong named Introduction to Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) Preceptor of the Year

Candice Wong, Introduction to Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) Preceptor of the Year
The Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) Preceptor of the Year Award is given annually to one outstanding IPPE preceptor. For 2019, Candice Wong, PharmD, '02, Inpatient Pharmacist Educator at Harborview Medical Center and UWSOP alumna, was named... Read more...

Posted: June 3, 2019

Casanova named 2019 Wayne A. Kradjan Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award Recipient

Tony Casanova: 2019 Wayne A. Kradjan Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award Recipient
The Wayne A. Kradjan Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award is presented annually to one outstanding UWSOP Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE) preceptor. Congratulations to Tony Casanova, Emergency Department Pharmacist Specialist at CHI Franciscan St. J... Read more...

Posted: May 14, 2019

Where to find CHOICE Students, Alumni, & Faculty at ISPOR 2019

To find the posters and presentations of CHOICE students, alumni, and faculty, please refer to the PDF attached here.

CHOICE at ISPOR 2019

Posted: May 14, 2019

Class of 2018 scores 98.8% initial pass rate on NAPLEX exam

Congratulations to the UWSOP PharmD class of 2018!

Congratulations to the UW School of Pharmacy’s PharmD class of 2018 for distinguishing themselves with a 98.8% initial pass rate--putting our alumni in the Top 5 for initial pass rates in the United States.

The NAPLEX, or North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination, measures a candidate’s knowledge of the practice of pharmacy. It is just... Read more...

Posted: May 13, 2019

Dean Sullivan named OSU Icon of Pharmacy

On the evening of May 4th, 2019, Oregon State University College of Pharmacy alumni and friends gathered at Portland City Grill to honor the recipients of the 2019 Icons of Pharmacy Award including Sean D. Sullivan, a truly dedicated leader in the pharmacy profession.

Sean was recognized for his leadership at the UW School of Pharmacy whe... Read more...

Posted: May 13, 2019

Brouwer and Ko each win Garrison Prize in 2019

Lou Garrison presents the Garrison Prize to Lizzy Brouwer at the 2019 CHOICE retreat.

Congratulations to the 2019 winners of the Louis Sr. and Marilyn Garrison Endowed Prize in Health Policy and Economics, Elizabeth Brouwer (4th year CHOICE PhD student) and Gilbert Ko (3rd year PharmD/MBA student)!

CHOICE Professor Emeritus, Dr. Lou Garrison, is seen here presenting Lizzy with the award, named in honor of his parents, at the CHOI... Read more...

Posted: May 10, 2019

CHOICE students travel abroad to research cervical cancer and test a TBI screening app

Two CHOICE graduate students were recently awarded global health travel fellowships. Erik Landaas received the Global Opportunities (GO) Health fellowship for his work in Thailand. Enrique Saldarriaga received the Stergachis Endowed Fellowship for International Exchange for his work in Kenya with Dr. Ruanne Barnabas, Associate Professor in Global ... Read more...

Posted: May 10, 2019

Welcome new Research Project Manager Anthony Morgan to CHOICE

CHOICE Research Project Manager, Anthony Morgan

Please join us in welcoming Anthony Morgan (who goes by Morgan) to The CHOICE Institute! Morgan is serving as CHOICE's first Research Project Manager. Prior to joining us here at UWSOP, he was at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Morgan will be supporting CHOICE Director Anirban Basu and other CHOICE investigators, including Aasthaa Bansal. In ... Read more...

Posted: May 10, 2019

Brouwer receives UW Population Health Initiative Travel Award

Congratulations to CHOICE PhD student Elizabeth Brouwer who received conference travel funds from the Population Health Initiative at the University of Washington! Elizabeth will use the funds to attend the American Society of Health Economists conference (ASHEcon) in June 2019.

Elizabeth will be speaking on a panel titled, “Impacts of Federal... Read more...

Posted: May 10, 2019

Lauren Strand named 2019-2020 UWSOP Magnuson Scholar

Magnuson Scholar Lauren Strand with CHOICE faculty (right to left) Ryan Hansen, Josh Carlson, and Beth Devine

Congratulations to third-year PhD student in the CHOICE Institute, Lauren Strand who was named the UWSOP Magnuson Scholar for 2019-2020. Magnuson Scholars are selected for their excellent academic performance and outstanding potential for research in the health sciences; they receive $30,000 to support their research, education, and training. ... Read more...

Posted: May 6, 2019

Rodney Ho recognized with AACP Volwiler Research Achievement Award

We are so proud to learn that Professor Rodney Ho has been named the recipient of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Volwiler Research Achievement Award.

The research prize in academic pharmacy was established in honor of the late Ernest H. Volwiler, former president and research director of Abbott Laboratories.

Each year... Read more...

Posted: May 6, 2019

Brain cholesterol, SLOS, & autism

From left to right: Libin Xu with Acting Instructor Hideaki Tomita and MedChem PhD student Amy Li.

The UW Medicinal Chemist studied neural chemistry and biology to understand the underlying mechanism that cause birth defects, behavioral problems, and autismYou probably know about good and bad cholesterol as it relates to your heart—but did you know that your brain needs cholesterol too? The brain’s cholesterol is essential to fetal developme... Read more...

Posted: May 6, 2019

But is it safe for my baby?

Mary Hebert and research nurse Maggie Leahy, RN, meet with an expectant mother as part of their study.

Mary Hebert and the Obstetric-fetal Pharmacology Research Unit (OPRU) team are exploring how to optimize care for pregnant and lactating womenHow do medications for high blood pressure, depression, and even cancer affect pregnant women and their babies? Mothers and health care providers face a daunting challenge of making health care decisions abou... Read more...

Posted: May 6, 2019

Licit and illicit drugs and maternal health

Visiting student Xin Chen (left),and Pharmaceutics PhD Lyrialle Han (center) look at cell samples with Qingcheng Mao.

Qingcheng Mao collaborates with colleagues across UWSOP to gain insight into how pregnancy affects drug disposition in expectant mothers and their fetusesAbout 80% of pregnant women take at least one medication to treat everything from high blood pressure to depression to diabetes and more. The risks for mother and child vary from drug to drug. Wi... Read more...

Posted: May 6, 2019

Kidney on a Chip has gone to outer space..and returned to Earth!

What did it take to send delicate kidney cells into space to be studied by astronauts wearing big, clunky gloves who may, or may not, have a background in biochemistry? We popped into the lab to talk to Ed Kelly and Cathy Yeung to find out.
Dawg Scripts: Why did you put kidney cells on a chip?

Associate Professor Ed Kelly: As a Toxicologist, we... Read more...

Posted: April 23, 2019

Henderson wins poster award at national AsPET Conference

Congratulations to PharmD and Pharmaceutics PhD student Lindsay Henderson who received the 2nd place graduate student poster presentation award for the Drug Metabolism and Disposition Division of ASPET (American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics).Her poster titled, “Functional Characterization of Novel CYP2C9 Variants Found i... Read more...

Posted: April 23, 2019

5/3 UPDATE: 5/3 11:48 PM PDT launch for Kidney on a Chip project to the International Space Station!

PHOTO DATE: July 06, 2018 LOCATION: Bldg. 2 Lobby SUBJECT: NIH Tissue Chip. PHOTOGRAPHER: Josh Valcarcel

Updated May 3, 11:29 am Pacific: NASA has pushed back the launch to Friday, May 3 at 11:48 PM Pacific time...weather dependent. May 3 update:

Welp. It seemed like it was going to go and then about 15 minutes before launch, the flight was scrubbed. It's rescheduled for tonight 11:48 PM Pacific Time. Here is an update on NASA's blog.

May 2 up... Read more...

Posted: April 12, 2019

Fuller named PAA Distinguished Alumni Award for Pharmacy Practice recipient

Tim Fuller, 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award Winner for Pharmacy Practice

Fuller has been instrumental in establishing collaborative practice agreements that enable pharmacists to practice to the top of their license in Washington state
Congratulations to University of Washington School of Pharmacy alumnus, Tim Fuller, ’69, who has been named this year’s UW Pharmacy Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award Pha... Read more...

Posted: April 12, 2019

Watanabe named PAA Distinguished Alumni Award for Pharmaceutical Science & Research recipient

Recently named the first pharmacist to the National Academy of Medicine (former Institute of Medicine) Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Scholars Program, Jonathan continues his national-level leadership in pharmaceutical research

Congratulations to University of Washington School of Pharmacy alumnus, Jonathan H. Watanabe, PharmD, PhD, �... Read more...

Posted: April 4, 2019

UWSOP team wins the AMCP 2019 National Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) Competition

Michael Sporck, ‘20, Eunice Kim, ‘20, Hanna Kleiboeker, ‘20 and Erin Ichinotsubo, ‘21 won first place at the National AMCP P&T competition

Congratulations to our PharmD students, Michael Sporck, ‘20, Eunice Kim, ‘20, Hanna Kleiboeker, ‘20 and Erin Ichinotsubo, ‘21, who won first place at the highly competitive Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Foundation 19th Annual National Student Pharmacist Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) Competition. The team's advisors were UW... Read more...

Posted: March 27, 2019

Advice from UW pharmacists on senior use of marijuana

Marijuana use among older adults has soared in recent years despite little being known about the effectiveness and safety of the drug in people 65 and older. That’s resulted in more seniors asking health care providers about marijuana use: Is it safe? How much to use? Where to buy?

Now, a group of University of Washington professors has go... Read more...

Posted: March 25, 2019

Bacci, White, and Zaraa awarded UW Population Health grant to study integrated care models for people living with epilepsy

Congratulations to Jennifer Bacci, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy; H. Steve White, Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacy; and Sabra Zarâa, CHOICE PhD student, Pharmacy on receiving one of the 2019 pilot research grants awarded by the UW Population Health Initiative. The interdisciplinary team's project is titled, "Community ph... Read more...

Posted: March 21, 2019

HECOR certificate expands program into Saudi Arabia

This year, the CHOICE Institute’s Certificate in Health Economics and Outcomes Research program has been reaching a wide audience.

In addition to offering the traditional distance learning program to US and international students, engaging 40 students from 4 countries this year, CHOICE is running a separate program sponsored by AbbVie for 24... Read more...

Posted: March 21, 2019

Doug Barthold was awarded the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Pilot Award

CHOICE faculty member Doug Barthold was awarded the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Pilot Award, for a proposal titled “Alzheimer’s disease related neuropathology among patients with medication treated type 2 diabetes in a community-based autopsy cohort.”

The award is for one year. His study will look at the relationship between use ... Read more...

Posted: March 21, 2019

Chuck Phelps delivers keynote at 2nd Annual CHOICE Symposium

The CHOICE Institute welcomed Professor Emeritus Charles E. Phelps, PhD, for the 2019 CHOICE Institute Annual Symposium. Dr. Phelps provided an overview of multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods.
"The CHOICE Institute was delighted to host Professor Emeritus Charles Phelps at the keynote speaker for the CHOICE Annual Symposium. Profess... Read more...

Posted: March 19, 2019

Stergachis helps veterans by serving on a National Academies of Sciences committee

Andy Stergachis, UWSOP Professor & Associate Dean

Associate Dean Andy Stergachis was appointed to a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study sponsored by the Veterans Administration, to assess the long-term health effects of antimalarial drugs used by adults, in particular mefloquine, for the prophylaxis of malaria.

The National Academies was... Read more...

Posted: March 18, 2019

Landaas presents PupilScreen app at Dawg Days in the Desert

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. CHOICE PhD student Erik Landaas has partnered with PhD students at UW School of Nursing, Kwankaew Wongchareon and Ana Carolina Sauer Liberato, along with students at UW Computer Science, UW Engineering, and UW Neurosurgery to create a new mobile health ... Read more...

Posted: March 18, 2019

CHOICE Alumnae Bennette and Adamson to lead ISPOR short course

CHOICE Alumnae Carrie Savage Bennette and Blythe Adamson, recent CHOICE alum, will be presenting/co-leading one of the short courses, Tools for Reproducible Real-World Data Analysis. This course will focus on the concepts and tools of reproducible research and reporting of modern data analyses. The need for more reproducible tools in health economi... Read more...

Posted: March 18, 2019

12 UWSOP students to present posters at ISPOR

Congratulations to the twelve UWSOP students, comprised of eleven CHOICE Students and fellows and one PharmD student (co-authored with a CHOICE student), who were selected to present posters the annual ISPOR conference in May. Several students had multiple abstracts accepted, making a total of 15 research posters from UWSOP to be represented by CHO... Read more...

Posted: March 15, 2019

Alumnus Jeff Rochon named APhA-APPM Fellow

The American Pharmacists Association announced this week that it has selected Washington State Pharmacy Association (WSPA) CEO Jeff Rochon, PharmD, '99, as one of the 2019 APhA-Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management’s (APhA-APPM) fellows.

The APhA Fellow Award was established to honor APhA members for exemplary professional achievements... Read more...

Posted: February 15, 2019

Marina Gano joins Department of Pharmacy and The CHOICE Institute

Please welcome Marina Gano, the new Department of Pharmacy/CHOICE Institute Graduate Program and Operations Manager.

Marina grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, after first living in Germany and Maryland. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages and Literature (Spanish and German) from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).

Her career ... Read more...

Posted: January 23, 2019

Undaunted by setbacks, Jash Unadkat and his lab team search for new therapies to fight Alzheimer’s

Tot Nguyen and Jash Unadkat collaborate to find new therapies against Alzheimer’s—now with quantitative proteomics (not shown here).

It’s called an experiment for a reason. The secret in science—what world-class researchers know—is that you don’t let the failures stop you. You think of the failures as more data, part of your larger body of work.

For scientists as creative and productive as Jash Unadkat, learning to move past the failures, to learn from them and contin... Read more...

Posted: January 22, 2019

Jash Unadkat named Outstanding Faculty Mentor

Congratulations to Jash Unadkat, the Milo Gibaldi Endowed Professor of Pharmaceutics, named Outstanding Faculty Mentor at this year’s Commencement. The Outstanding Mentor Award recognizes and encourages outstanding mentorship of graduate students by our School’s faculty.

The criteria for this Award include extraordinary commitment and effect... Read more...

Posted: January 22, 2019

Nath lab makes progress against neurodegenerative conditions

Hope Barnes Fellow and graduate student Hannah Baughman continues to discover more about molecular chaperones and their potential in treating Alzheimers

We revisited Abhi Nath and his lab team to see how their work to improve the diagnosis and treatments of neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) was progressing.

The team hopes to discover improved diagnostic tools and therapies by learning how brain proteins such as Tau, �... Read more...

Posted: January 16, 2019

Claw honored for service at Martin Luther King Tribute

We are thrilled that Pharmaceutics’ post doc Katrina Claw, PhD, will be honored with a service award at this year's UW Health Sciences Martin Luther King Tribute on Thursday, January 17, 12:30 pm-2pm in Hogness Auditorium. The event will include a panel discussion.
To be recognized for my outreach and mentorship of Native American and other his... Read more...

Posted: January 12, 2019

Werth and Xu awarded $1.86M NIH grant to continue MRSA investigation

Pharmacy's Brian Werth and grant coinvestigator UWSOP Medicinal Chemistry’s Libin Xu will continue their novel research into antibiotic resistance mechanisms in the superbug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The team were recently awarded a 4-year, $1.86 million NIH R01 grant as principal investigator, which is an exceptional ... Read more...

Posted: December 28, 2018

Leah Ruggerone and Richard Lee named to Husky 100

Leah Ruggerone, ’18, and PY3 student Richard Lee were both selected for the UW Husky 100 from the School of Pharmacy in 2018. Each year, the Husky 100 recognizes 100 UW undergrad and grad students who are making the most of their time at the UW.Leah grew up in Kenmore, WA, and attended UW as an undergrad, majoring in biology and spent
summers wo... Read more...

Posted: December 18, 2018

Devine and Chen debut Real-world Evidence Assessments and Needs Guidance (READi) Tool

CHOICE faculty member Beth Devine and CHOICE PhD student Shuxian Chen led an invited workshop last month at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Nexus Meeting in Orlando Florida.

There, they presented their newly developed framework and tool that guides users in evaluating real world evidence (RWE) to inform health technology adopti... Read more...

Posted: December 17, 2018

CHOICE director Anirban Basu and collaborators receive NIH grant to study costs of dementia care

Team seeks to improve the projections of the future burden of the disease.Anirban Basu, director of the CHOICE Institute at UWSOP, and professor in the schools of Pharmacy and Public Health at the University of Washington, received more than $230,000 from the National Institutes of Health to measure the current and future costs of care for people w... Read more...

Posted: December 14, 2018

CHOICE PhD student Landaas studies PupilScreen app in Thailand

Erik Landaas, current CHOICE PhD student pictured with CHOICE alumnus, Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk, PhD, in Thailand

CHOICE PhD student Erik Landaas received funding to conduct a mobile health validation study in Thailand. The study is funded by Washington Research Foundation (WRF) and his primary co-investigators include two UW School of Nursing PhD candidates.

PupilScreen a newly developed smartphone app that screens for traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and c... Read more...

Posted: December 13, 2018

Kai Yeung receives grant for project looking at value in prescription drug benefit design

Congratulations to CHOICE Institute alumnus and Affiliate Assistant Professor, Kai Yeung, PharmD PhD, `15, who received a research grant from the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation's Greater Value Portfolio program.

Kai's project is entitled, "Value-based Formulary-Essentials: Testing and Expanding on Value in Pres... Read more...

Posted: December 7, 2018

Anirban Basu awarded Mid-Career Excellence Award by HPSS

At the 2018 International Conference on Health Policy Statistics (ICHPS) held in Charleston, South Carolina, Anirban Basu was awarded the Mid-Career Excellence Award from the American Statistical Association Section on Health Policy Statistics (HPSS). Anirban was exceptionally and uniquely qualified for this award. Highlights include his pr... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2018

Barthold uses economics methods to improve dementia diagnosis and treatment plans across race, ethnicity, and sex

“Economists have a knack for identification strategies—using data in innovative ways to isolate the role of one specific drug and separate it from other confounders that may affect the outcome of interest,” said Doug (pictured right, with CHOICE PhD graduate student Erik Landaas).

The newest researcher in The CHOICE Institute at UWSOP, Doug Barthold is taking a couple of approaches that use data and economic modeling to find potential treatments and trends in care of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD).
At press time, there are no known drugs that can prevent or delay the onset or progression of ... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2018

Collaboration with UWSOP results in health benefits against flu for Era Living residents

UWSOP PharmD student presents to Era Living residents

Last year’s flu season was one of the worst in nearly a decade. The people most susceptible to the flu are our most vulnerable people: infants and children, older adults, and people who are chronically ill or have suppressed immune systems.

As alarming reports about how virulent last year’s virus was, Era Living, a top-rated group of local s... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2018

Meet our Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Preceptors: Neris Palunas

Neris M. Palunas, PharmD, BCGP, is a Consultant Pharmacist with Consonus Pharmacy, serving people in the Seattle area. Neris consults as a clinical pharmacist to senior living communities at all levels of care. "I love teaching and have been a preceptor in all my roles as a pharmacist, specifically as a Geriatric Pharmacy Preceptor for 4 years,"... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2018

Meet our Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Alumni: Cara McDermott

Alumna Cara McDermott, PharmD, PhD, MSc, '11, '12, 16, is a K12 Scholar in the UW Implementation Sciences Training Program and Acting Instructor, Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence, UW School of Medicine.

A three-time alumna of the UW School of Pharmacy, Cara said she chose to pursue the Plein Certificate in Geriatric Pharmacy in 2011 ... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2018

Meet our Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Faculty: Leigh Ann Mike

Learn the latest about the deprescribing education and outreach UWSOP faculty member Leigh Ann Mike provides to older adults and providers.

Leigh Ann Mike, PharmD, is Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy and Assistant Director for Education, Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Research, Education and Outreach at the UW School of ... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2018

Marcum takes a multi-prong approach toward developing a dementia prevention strategy

Zach Marcum, Plein Center Assistant Director of Research and Bailey Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of Pharmacy

The prospect of developing dementia is terrifying for most people, particularly for those with family members who have had the disease. Many wonder what they can do to prevent the onset of dementia—which is where the research of the Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy has some answers.
Experts know there are healthy habits that will make a diffe... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2018

Plein Center students and faculty research highlighted at ASCP’s annual meeting

Plein Certificate students Julia Yunkyung and Jina Yun, pictured with Julia's ASCP poster

Our School’s faculty and students presented two posters at the ASCP Annual Meeting, and the abstracts are in the October issue of The Consultant Pharmacist.

Julia Yunkyung, Laura Hart, and Shelly Gray presented a poster titled, “Definition of fall risk-increasing drugs in the literature: Challenges and implications.” We know falls in olde... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2018

Barker-Haliski’s novel research looks at the under-studied problem of epilepsy in patients with Alzheimer’s

Melissa is a neuropharmacologist with a passion for understanding how drugs work in the body. Her research is supported by the UW Royalty Research Fund and the UWSOP Plein Fund Endowment. She and her team will present findings in December 2018 at the American Epilepsy Society meeting. Melissa works in collaboration with Suman Jayadev, associate professor of neurology at UW Medicine and the clinical core director of UW’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

People with Alzheimer’s disease can have up to an 87-fold increased risk of seizures. Patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s have the highest risk for seizures, but even patients with late onset Alzheimer’s disease are at high risk.

Despite the risks, little is known about how genes associated with Alzheimer’s disease may affect a per... Read more...

Posted: November 20, 2018

Werth receives prestigious Young Investigator Award from SIDP

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Brian Werth who received this year's Young Investigator Award from the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacist (SIDP). The prestigious award is given to a young investigator who shows research promise in the broad area of infectious diseases.

Brian has demonstrated tremendous research productivity over ... Read more...

Posted: November 15, 2018

UW Researchers Gray and Phelan to study the impact of deprescribing to reduce falls in older adults

UW Pharmacy’s Shelly Gray and UW Medicine’s Elizabeth Phelan are teaming up to identify ways to prevent falls in older adults. Their study, “Reducing Central Nervous System (CNS)-active Medications to Prevent Falls and Injuries in Older Adults (STOP-FALLS),” will identify medication safety improvements to reduce fall-related injuries an... Read more...

Posted: November 7, 2018

UW Husky Pharmacists receive awards for leadership in practice

Congratulations to our Plein Certificate, BSPharm, and PharmD alumni and affiliate faculty who were recognized by the Washington State Pharmacy Association!

Holly Henry, Plein Certificate alumna, received the Distinguished Leadership Service Award that pays tribute to a member who has, over his or her career been instrumental in the developm... Read more...

Posted: November 1, 2018

Researchers at UW and USC find a type of medication used to treat high blood pressure may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers Doug Barthold of the University of Washington and Julie Zissimopoulos of the University of Southern California published the first study to compare multiple types of blood pressure medications and the beneficial effect they may have on different populations. Unlike other studies, they looked at how Alzheimer’s disease risk was reduced... Read more...

Posted: October 11, 2018

Lou Garrison named 2018 Value Assessment Challenge Award recipient

The PhRMA Foundation and the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) announced that Lou Garrison is one of the first place recipients of the 2018 Value Assessment Challenge Awards. These awards are designed to encourage innovative approaches in defining and measuring value in health care. Lou and the other award recipients were recognized for submitt... Read more...

Posted: September 28, 2018

CHOICE faculty member, Aasthaa Bansal, awarded highly coveted NIH Merit Award

Aasthaa Bansal and Erik Landaas writing on whiteboard at the School of Pharmacy

Assistant Professor Aasthaa Bansal at the CHOICE Institute was recently awarded a $2.5M+, seven-year Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) (R37) award from the National Cancer Institute to develop a dynamic decision-making framework for identifying personalized risk-adaptive surveillance strategies for cancer survivors. This research seeks to s... Read more...

Posted: September 12, 2018

UW ranks 4th world wide for pharmacology and toxicology

The UW ranks 4th worldwide in Pharmacology and Toxicology, a subject that includes pharmacy, pharmacology, substance abuse, and toxicology, according to National Taiwan University's criteria.

The list provides overall rankings; rankings by six fields; and by 14 selected subjects, including Pharmacology and Toxicology. Overall the UW is No. 4 in ... Read more...

Posted: September 10, 2018

King County offered naloxone kits and training at health fair organized by UW Pharmacy students

Students at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy have partnered with King County Department of Community and Health Services to offer free naloxone kits and training at the May 22, 2018,health fair on UW's Seattle campus.

Naloxone is an antidote for opioid and heroin overdose. With the use of opioids and heroin on the rise, more and m... Read more...

Posted: September 10, 2018

UW/KRI Kidney-on-a-chip will travel to International Space Station

NASA astronaut Jack Fischer tweeted this photograph from the International Space Station on June 3, 2017

UW Pharmacy and UW Medicine team to study how weightlessness accelerates kidney damage
In 2019, a rocket carrying a payload that includes 24 microfluidic chips about the size of credit cards will transport an extraordinary University of Washington kidney research project to the International Space Station.University of Washington School of Pharmac... Read more...

Posted: July 26, 2018

Researchers at UW bolster study of how austerity devastated Greece’s health

A new study by dozens of researchers from the University of Washington and around the world has found that Greece’s population health declined markedly and death rates rose sharply after harsh austerity measures were imposed on Greece by the European Union and the International Money Fund in 2010.

“This study is important because it provides... Read more...

Posted: July 11, 2018

Preceptors of the Year, Daniel Kim and Kate Atienza, honored by UWSOP

Preceptors of the Year Daniel Kim and Kate Atienza were recognized at our 2018 Commencement ceremony

Kim and Atienza were recognized for their excellence in clinical training of our students at the 2018 UWSOP Commencement CeremonyDaniel Kim of the Safeway in Pinehurt/Lake City was named Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) Preceptor of the Year for 2018 and Kate Atienza of QFC in Kirkland was named Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experien... Read more...

Posted: June 29, 2018

Unadkat, Shoner, and team make drug glow to watch it move in the body

The blue-green (liver) and pink (kidney, above, and bladder) denote different levels of radio-labeled rosuvastatin in two subjects.

UW Medicine’s radiology team last month created a novel imaging agent and, in an expansive team effort, performed a first-in-human PET/CT imaging study to observe how a statin drug distributes and accumulates in the body.

Spoiler alert: It’s mostly in the liver, kidneys and bladder.

The statin – rosuvastatin (Crestor), a cholesterol-low... Read more...

Posted: June 13, 2018

In finding a different linking protein, Plotnik and Hu Lab open new possibilities for HIV therapies & treatments

David’s paper, “Extracellular Matrix Proteins Mediate HIV-1 gp120 interactions with α4β7,” found new insights to HIV and T cell interactions.

Pharmaceutics graduate student David Plotnik is first author on a paper published in the Journal of Virology with his mentor Shiu-Lok Hu as senior author. David discovered that the HIV virus does not bind to intestinal T cells the way previously thought.

Why is that important? HIV causes disease by killing the immune system’s protective T cell... Read more...

Posted: June 12, 2018

Baughman investigates a natural defense against Alzheimer’s

Hannah Baughman is a PhD student in Medicinal Chemistry, shown here working in the Nath Lab

Hannah Baughman, graduate student in Abhi Nath’s lab, is first author on an article looking at molecular chaperones, which may unlock keys in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, which seem to be caused by buildup of the protein tau. Hannah was also selected as the Hope Barnes Fellow this year.
“I am honored to rec... Read more...

Posted: June 12, 2018

Meet our Plein Center Faculty: Doug Barthold

Research Assistant Professor Doug comes to The CHOICE Institute at UWSOP from the University of Southern California, where he was a post-doctoral scholar with the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. He received his BBA in Management, Economics and Mathematics in 2007 from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and then received h... Read more...

Posted: June 12, 2018

Meet our Geriatric Pharmacy Preceptors: Judy Mar-Burbidge

Being semi-retired does not seem to have slowed down Judy Mar-Burbidge! She earned her BS in Pharmacy in 1982 and returned to earn her PharmD in 2000. She remains a Clinical Assistant Professor at the UW School of Pharmacy, Associate Part Time Faculty at Edmonds Community College in the Allied Health Program for Pharmacy Technicians, Costco Wholesa... Read more...

Posted: June 12, 2018

Meet our Geriatric Pharmacy Certificate Alumni: Nancy Lee

Nancy J Lee, PharmD, BCPS, CDE is the Lead Clinical Pharmacist for Swedish Medical Group’s clinical pharmacist practitioner program, embedded in the Issaquah Primary Care Clinic.

Seeing that older patients tended to take multiple medications and that the older adult population was growing, Nancy pursued the Plein Certificate in Geriatric Pharm... Read more...

Posted: June 4, 2018

APhA honors Project VACCINATE, led by Bacci and Odegard

Members of the Project VACCINATE team (L to R): Michelle Bonjour, Lara Popovich, James Lin, ’17, Marci Reynolds, ’04, Christina Ree, Jennifer Bacci, Jenny Arnold, ’06, Peggy Odegard, ’85, ’90,

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) presented the National APhA Immunization Champion Award (Partnership) to Project VACCINATE at their 2018 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Nashville. Likely the largest partnership effort to improve adult immunization care in Washington state, Project VACCINATE created a real-world immunization neighborhoo... Read more...

Posted: May 30, 2018

Organs-on-chips: Tiny technology helping bring safe new drugs to patients faster

Researchers from UW School of Pharmacy and UW Medicine collaborate to advance kidney care (from left to right: Dr. Phavan Bhatraju, Pulmonary Fellow; Ranita Patel, Pediatric Nephrology Fellow; Elijah Weber, newly-minted PhD, Pharmaceutics; Kirk Van Ness, Research Scientist, Pharmaceutics; Christina Kim, Undergraduate Researcher; and Ed Kelly, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics and Kidney Research Institute Investigator)

It doesn’t look like a kidney, but this ‘kidney-on-a-chip’ is a breakthrough for new drug testing.
Alex Levine, CC BY-ND
Catherine Yeung, University of Washington; Edward Kelly, University of Washington, and Jonathan Himmelfarb, University of Washington

Getting a new pharmaceutical from an idea in the chemistry lab to market takes many y... Read more...

Posted: May 24, 2018

Shum and collaborators unveil new maternal and fetal health risks associated with shellfish toxin

Pharmaceutics graduate student Sara Shum with her award-winning ASPET poster

Pharmaceutics graduate student Sara Shum recently presented and won an award for the preliminary results from a study of the shellfish toxin domoic acid. The project is a collaboration with Professor Tom Burbacher and Senior Research Scientist Kimberly Grant of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the UW School of Pub... Read more...

Posted: May 15, 2018

Neumann presents at joint HICOR/PHEnOM Seminar and PAA Katterman Lecture

The CHOICE Institute & the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR) Joint Seminar
On Wednesday, May 2nd, Peter Neumann, Sc.D. joined our PHEnOM seminar to discuss whether the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is becoming the U.S.' counterpart to England's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE... Read more...

Posted: May 10, 2018

Strand awarded 2018 Garrison Prize in Health Policy & Economics

Congratulations to 3rd year, PhD student Lauren Strand who received the Louis Garrison Sr. And Marilyn Garrison Endowed Prize in Health Policy and Economics prize! Lauren's paper is titled "New Statin use and left ventricular structure: Estimating long-term associations in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)."

Laurent's research lo... Read more...

Posted: May 8, 2018

Remembering Dean Emeritus Jack Orr

It is with sadness we report that Dean Emeritus Jack Edward Orr passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 6, 2018, surrounded by his family.

Born in Delphi, Indiana in 1918, Jack’s father and grandfather were both pharmacists. Like so many of our alumni, he began his pharmacy career dusting shelves and sweeping the floor of the family pharmacy. He... Read more...

Posted: April 27, 2018

Wienkers is keynote speaker at June 2018 AAPS-RMDG meeting at UW

Keynote speaker Larry Wienkers is also a UWSOP Distinguished Alumni Award winner.

Abstracts are due Friday, May 18, 2018The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists – Rocky Mountain Discussion Group (AAPS-RMDG) Annual Meeting will be held at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, on June 12-13, 2018. The deadline for abstract submission is May 18, 2018.

The RMDG provides a forum for interacting with scientists ... Read more...

Posted: April 25, 2018

Certain drugs for muscle conditions may be linked to increased risk of dementia

Shelly Gray editorial in The BMJ underscores importance of avoiding long-term use of anticholinergic drugs in older adults
UWSOP Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Director Shelly Gray authored an editorial in support of new research about potential dangers of anticholinergic drugs for that help to control involuntary muscle movements for condi... Read more...

Posted: April 24, 2018

Marcum study finds metformin has mortality benefits even with low kidney function

Collaborative research between UW School of Pharmacy and VA Puget Sound looked at 175,000 patientsIn a recent study, researchers at the University of Washington and the VA Puget Sound Health Care System have found that an important diabetes drug can be used safely among a high-risk patient population – those with poor kidney function. They conclu... Read more...

Posted: April 17, 2018

Basu trains Indian government and health leaders in health economics

2018 International Health Technology Assessment Fellowship Cohort

With India rolling out the one of the largest public health insurance initiatives in the world, it became more important than ever for government, university, and health care leaders to understand key aspects to health economics. Dr. Jitendra Sharma, Advisor on Health and Medical Technology to the Government of Andhara Pradesh invited UWSOP's CH... Read more...

Posted: April 9, 2018

Huang, ’17, named UWSOP Magnuson Scholar for 2018-2019

Weize Huang, PharmD, '17, and graduate student in Pharmaceutics

Congratulations to Weize Huang who was named UWSOP's Magnuson Scholar for 2018-2019! Weize graduated with a Pharm.D. degree from UWSOP in 2017, and is currently a second year PhD student at the Department of Pharmaceutics. He is passionate about the field of pharmacometrics, a discipline that uses mathematics and computer science to illustrate, qua... Read more...

Posted: April 6, 2018

Medchem Chair Kent Kunze Retires

It's bittersweet to announce that our long-time colleague, Dr. Kent Kunze, has stepped down as Departmental Chair and retired from the faculty. Kent has been a valued member of the faculty since 1990, and for the past 4 years he has served as 'the Chair.' During his time on the faculty, Kent played a critical role in the research activities tha... Read more...

Posted: March 27, 2018

Barker-Haliski advances research in antiseizure therapies in patients with Alzheimer’s

When a project is moments away from completion, or a new question arises during the experiment, a little bit of extra funding can go a long way. This is the inspiration behind the ITHS Catalyst program. This pilot award is designed to provide investigators with “just-in-time” resources of up to $5,000. For Melissa, the ITHS ... Read more...

Posted: March 26, 2018

Our CHOICE PhD students continue to advance research to improve health outcomes

From all of us at CHOICE, we hope your year is off to a good start. Our PhD students have been busy since last year and we wanted to take the time to highlight a few of their key accomplishments.
Meng Li
Meng Li, a 5th year CHOICE PhD candidate, along with Kai Yeung (CHOICE Alum), and Josh Carlson (CHOICE Faculty) won Journal of Managed Care &... Read more...

Posted: February 21, 2018

Meet Our Newest Faculty Member, Doug Barthold

We welcome Dr. Doug Barthold, PhD., Research Assistant Professor, to the faculty of the Department of Pharmacy and to The CHOICE Institute!

Doug comes to us from the University of Southern California where he was a post-doctoral scholar with the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Doug received his BBA in Management, Economics and ... Read more...

Posted: February 6, 2018

Nath lab team takes aim at Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s disease affects about 5 million Americans, a number projected to roughly triple by 2050. The urgency of this grave population health challenge is with Abhi Nath and his team of researchers every day as they seek new options to treat and manage Alzheimer’s and related diseases. The key appears to lie with a process called prot... Read more...

Posted: February 6, 2018

New fellowship will advance thoughtful health care innovation in Washington state

Partnership between Washington Research Foundation and The CHOICE Institute at UWSOP creates opportunities for students and researchers at non-profit research institutions in Washington state
The CHOICE Institute at UWSOP is pleased to announce a partnership with the Washington Research Foundation (WRF) that will create four new fellowships per ... Read more...

Posted: February 5, 2018

CHOICE alumnus Scott Strassels moves into leadership role at Ohio State U

The University of Washington School of Pharmacy congratulates Scott Strassels, PhD, PharmD, on his new position as assistant professor in the Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Burn and scientific director of the Center for Surgical Health Assessment, Research and Policy (SHARP). He previously served as a clinical pharmacist, providing recommend... Read more...

Posted: January 10, 2018

Libin Xu and Brian Werth Receive Royalty Research Fund Award

Libin Xu, Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, and Brian Werth, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, have received a Royalty Research Fund award of $38,175 for their project, "Targeting Altered Lipid Metabolism in Antibiotic-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus."

The RRF is funded from royalty and licensing fee income generated by the UW technolog... Read more...

Posted: January 2, 2018

PharmD student leads shift from triage to evidence-based health care provider training in Ghana

David Nguyen (front, 5th from the left) and the UWSOP team that trained Ghanaian nurses and physician assistants in recognizing signs of hypertension, the #1 killer in Ghana.

David Nguyen, President of the UWSOP Global Brigades team, led a team of students, along with Institute for Innovation in Pharmacy Practice (I2P2) Endowed Clinical Professor Don Downing, to return to Ghana and advance the training program begun last year.

Historically, Global Brigades programs bring health sciences students to under-resourced co... Read more...

Posted: December 16, 2017

Alumnus Glen Schumock, ’89, named Dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy

Glen Schumock, '89, The CHOICE Institute at UWSOP alumnus

Congratulations to University of Washington School of Pharmacy alumnus Glen Schumock, '89, who will become Dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy! His appointment is effective January 1, 2018, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Schumock earned his baccalaureate in pharmacy from Washington St... Read more...

Posted: December 16, 2017

UWSOP Curricular Innovation Fall 2017 PDF

Click through to see the PDF:

Curricular Innovation Fall 2017 v6 SLIDE... Read more...

Posted: December 15, 2017

What are our Plein Center faculty researching?: Joanne Wang

Learn the latest about the research of Plein Center of Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy faculty member, Joanne Wang, Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics.

Joanne, along with a postdoctoral trainee previously supported by a Plein Endowed Research grant, published a paper demonstrating a direct effect of selective serotonin reuptake i... Read more...

Posted: December 15, 2017

Meet our Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Certificate Alumni: Annie Lam

We like to check in with our Plein Geriatric Certificate Alumni and find out what they are up to now? How did the Certificate make a difference in their career? This issue, we spoke with Annie Lam, '95.
What is your title? Where do you work/study now?
My title at UW is Clinical Associate Professor. Currently, I am a self-employed consultant pharm... Read more...

Posted: December 8, 2017

Meet our Geriatric Pharmacy Preceptors: Karen Dawson

Karan Dawson, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy; Consulting Pharmacist, UW Pharmacy Cares
Following an internship at Valley Medical Center, Karan worked as a clinical pharmacist at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Seattle and completed a residency.

She returned to the UW for an MS in Pharmacy to explore teaching a... Read more...

Posted: December 8, 2017

Launch of The CHOICE Institute at UWSOP promises leadership in health economics and outcomes research

We are witnessing a period of renaissance, as current advances in medical technology and breakthroughs are unprecedented in human history. There is a cure for Hepatitis C that works in weeks. Polio used to afflict thousands around the world; today, there are only twelve cases in just two countries. We are within years—not decades—of personalize... Read more...

Posted: December 1, 2017

SPECIAL EVENT: A talk with NPR’S Richard Harris

Richard Harris, NPR Science Correspondent

Panel Discussion: "From Rigor to Rigor Mortis–Good Science, Bad Science, and Patient Care"
Noon-1:20pm, Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Health Sciences Building, T-435
Light refreshments will be served

Panel Discussion:

Richard Harris, NPR Science Correspondent and author, Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hop... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2017

Mao and Unadkat presented AAPS Journal High Impact Article Award

At the annual meeting in November, UW School of Pharmacy professors Qingcheng Mao and Jashvant Unadkat were presented the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Journal High Impact Article Award. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences as demonstrated by the authors in the q... Read more...

Posted: November 27, 2017

Alumna Kroetz named AAAS Fellow

We are so proud of our Pharmaceutics alumna, Deanna Kroetz, PhD, '90, who was among the 396 new fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, announced this week. Election as a fellow of AAAS is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its application... Read more...

Posted: November 16, 2017

Veenstra weighs in on genetic testing in Science Magazine

DNA sample for gene sequencing at Debbie Nickerson Lab, University of Washington.

The question about the benefits and pitfalls of genetic testing is discussed in, "Is health care ready for routing DNA screening? A massive new trial will find out" in Science Magazine. Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy faculty member and associate director, David Veenstra was interviewed for the story.

"In about 5 years I think we are... Read more...

Posted: November 14, 2017

UW/Kaiser study finds taking Proton Pump Inhibitors not linked to higher dementia risk

Plein Center Director and Bridge Endowed Professor Shelly Gray opened the Plein Symposium

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are medicines commonly prescribed to treat acid-related digestive problems, including gastroesophageal reflux disease. Up to one in five older adults said they used a PPI as of 2011, and recent studies have linked PPIs to greater risk of fractures and kidney disease. Some studies also have linked PPIs to an increas... Read more...

Posted: November 5, 2017

Wallace family presents historic gift to UWSOP

“We always knew our family was going to make a gift to the University of Washington School of Pharmacy,” said Cheri Ryan. “My Aunt Bette and Uncle Bryan always talked about this gift. It was so important to both of them to give back to his school.”

Bryan and Bette Wallace’s gift is one of the largest in the history of the UW School of ... Read more...

Posted: November 1, 2017

Xu Lab Awarded NSF Grant to Study Lipid Peroxidation

Lipid peroxidation is the process in which a reactive atom or group of atoms (free radicals) capture electrons from the lipids in cell membranes, resulting in cell damage. This process plays an important role in the pathophysiology of many human conditions – aging, atherosclerosis, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases – so it is critically im... Read more...

Posted: October 20, 2017

Stergachis co-edited maternal immunization roadmap for Gates Foundation & GAPPS

UWSOP Associate Dean Andy Stergachis co-edited the "Maternal Immunization Safety Monitoring in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Roadmap for Program Development" for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth, which was featured on the Gates Foundation blog, Impatient Optimists.

The first ... Read more...

Posted: October 20, 2017

Bounthavong receives UWSOP Graduate Leadership Award

The UWSOP Graduate Student Leadership Award honors graduate students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and service and have had a positive impact on the School of Pharmacy, UW, the Northwest community, scientific and/or professional community. This year, the award goes to three students: Mark Bounthavong, Ryan Seguin, and Elijah Web... Read more...

Posted: October 10, 2017

Steve Davis, CEO & President of PATH, to give UWSOP Nudelman Lecture on Nov. 9, 2017

The Phil and Sandra Nudelman Lecture will feature Steve Davis, President and CEO of PATH, who will share his approach to changing the global health system. The lecture and reception will take place Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 at 6 PM in the Lyceum in the Husky Union Building (HUB) on the UW Seattle campus.

Steve Davis, President and CEO of PATH, co... Read more...

Posted: October 4, 2017

Cyrus Khojasteh receives Distinguished Alumni Award

Scott Herzog and Gary Harris of PAA present the Distinguished Alumni Award to Cyrus Khojasteh

CYRUS KHOJASTEH, ’98, chose to study Medicinal Chemistry at UWSOP after serendipitously attending a lecture by then Professor, now Dean Emeritus, Tom Baillie on acetaminophen mechanism of hepatotoxicity, drug induced liver injury, in the early 1990s. That lecture began a career in pharmaceutical science inspired by an interest in discovering inno... Read more...

Posted: October 4, 2017

Roger Woolf receives Distinguished Alumni Award for Pharmacy Practice

Roger Woolf, ’85, is passionate about the leadership role pharmacists can have in the U.S. health care system.

Growing up, many of his family members were in healthcare professions, including pharmacy. “My uncle was a pharmacist in Yakima,” he reflected. “Talking with him about his work helped me to see the potential impact pharmacists c... Read more...

Posted: October 3, 2017

Devine named to AcademyHealth Methods Council

Dr. Emily B. Devine compared the effectiveness of a medical program against a procedural intervention, focusing on outcomes of greatest importance to patients with Intermittent Claudication.

PORPP Associate Professor Beth Devine was selected to serve on the AcademyHealth Methods Council in 2017. The Council, comprising 21 members from multiple disciplinary perspectives in health services and policy research, advises the Board and AcademyHealth leadership on the priorities and trends in new methods and trainings for members and the fie... Read more...

Posted: October 2, 2017

Aliwarga invited to present at Gordon Research Conference

Theresa Aliwarga, a Medicinal Chemistry graduate student and researcher in Rheem Totah’s lab, was invited to give a podium presentation of her research on CYP2J2-mediated epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) as potential markers for cardiovascular disease at this summer’s Gordon Research Conference in Drug Metabolism.

“I was able to show that... Read more...

Posted: October 1, 2017

John Amory MD, MS, and grad student Faith Stevison find breakthrough treatment for male infertility

Infertility can be a physically, emotionally, and financially painful experience for couples wanting to have biologically-related children. If a couple has been unable to conceive naturally in a 12-month period, they are considered infertile. Next steps are typically expensive and painful tests for women to determine the cause of the problem, befor... Read more...

Posted: October 1, 2017

Remembering Bill Howald, UWSOP Mass Spec Director

William “Bill” Howald passed away August 14, 2017 in Salem, Oregon at the age of 76 after a brief illness. After retirement, Bill and his wife Carole moved to Oregon to be closer to family.

Bill joined the School of Pharmacy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry as a Research Technologist working in the Mass Spectrometry Facility. He became the... Read more...

Posted: September 7, 2017

Lou Garrison was named a Change Agent in the 2017 PharmaVOICE 100 Honorees

UW School of Pharmacy Professor Emeritus Lou Garrison was named a Change Agent in the 2017 PharmaVOICE 100 honorees. A global thought leader and teacher in the field of health economics and outcomes research, Lou is committed to advancing how healthcare decisions are made both in the United States and globally.

Lou retired from full-time teachin... Read more...

Posted: August 25, 2017

Don Downing receives major American College of Apothecaries Award for his contributions to pharmacy practice

We are proud to announce that the American College of Apothecaries presented the 2016-17 Albert E. Rosica, Jr. Memorial Award to UWSOP Institute for Innovation in Pharmacy Practice (I2P2) Clinical Professor Don Downing at the College’s 2017 Fall Pharmacy Conference at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The award, established in memory of Albert E. Ros... Read more...

Posted: July 5, 2017

Sager, Bounthavong, Seguin, Weber, & Shen receive inaugural UWSOP Graduate Program Awards

To recognize extraordinary excellence among our graduate students and faculty, UW School of Pharmacy established three new award programs in 2017. This first class of award recipients include Jennifer Sager, Outstanding Dissertation Award; Mark Bounthavong, Ryan Seguin, and Elijah Weber, Graduate Student Leadership Awards; and Danny Shen, Outstandi... Read more...

Posted: June 28, 2017

Student support fund named after award-winning PORPP administrator Penny Evans

Award-winning PORPP administrator Penny Evans retired in 2017

In the spring 2017 PORPP alumni newsletter, director Anirban Basu announced the establishment of The Penny Evans UW International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Student Chapter Support Fund.

This fund, named in honor of our highly-esteemed, award-winning program administrator, Penny Evans, will support student activi... Read more...

Posted: June 6, 2017

Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Certificate alumni profiles: Laura Hart

After all their hard work, we wanted to learn more about our Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Certificate alumni and to learn: Where are you now?

Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Certificate alumna Laura Hart, PharmD, BCPS, is the Geriatric Pharmacy Fellow with UWSOP and is finishing up M.S. degree through Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Progra... Read more...

Posted: June 2, 2017

Pharmaceutics lab team learns why HIV prevention drug is not as effective in some women

UW Pharmaceutics Klatt Lab's graduate student Ryan Cheu, Associate Professor Nichole Klatt, and post-doc Alex Zevin

Klatt lab team’s findings published in Science offer solutions to increase efficacyMore than 1 million women are infected with HIV annually, and the majority of these new infections occur in young women in sub-Saharan Africa, with South Africa having among the highest incidence rates. Tenofovir is an antiretroviral drug that is used to prevent HI... Read more...

Posted: May 30, 2017

Inaugural Plein Symposium advances geriatric pharmacy

2017 Plein Symposium audience members begin the day

"Celebrating Today, Planning Tomorrow" brought together a host of disciplines to discuss healthy aging
Decades ago, geriatric pharmacy pioneers Joy and Elmer Plein foresaw the need to research the effects medications have on older adults. The Inaugural Research Symposium for the Plein Center held in February 2017 provided the opportunity to learn ... Read more...

Posted: May 24, 2017

A conversation at the College Inn leads to Faculty Innovation Award, possible breakthrough in combating MRSA

Medicinal Chemistry Assistant Professor Libin Xu (left), Pharmacy Assistant Professor Brian Werth (right), are pictured in conversation with Medicinal Chemistry’s Senior Fellow, Kelly Hines (center). Their research earned them the inaugural award from the UWSOP Faculty Innovation Fund, which provides financial support for one to two awards of up to $20,000 each for high-risk, innovative research projects.

There is a rich tradition of stories that begin with…“we were sitting in a bar talking, when we got this idea.”

From the Marine Corps, to the Ironman Triathlon, and even Quidditch, all have their roots in legendary stories about beginning in a conversation in a bar. We may one day come to tell stories of the breakthrough in antibiotic resi... Read more...

Posted: May 24, 2017

Team finds no adverse risk to use of common antimalarials in first trimester

Women and their children await medical care at a clinic.

UW and international researchers publish the most comprehensive international analysis on artemisinin combination antimalarials safety in pregnancy
Malaria is more common and severe in pregnant women, increasing their risk of miscarriage and other adverse outcomes. The adverse consequences of malaria in pregnancy require prompt, safe, and effectiv... Read more...

Posted: May 24, 2017

Hu and Lee combine forces to design novel HIV vaccine

Pharmaceutics Professor Shiu-Lok Hu and Kelly Lee, Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, received funding for research to create a vaccine against HIV. This research builds upon decades of research by these investigators funded by the National Institutes of Health and more recently by the Gates Foundation.

HIV is a highly lethal virus that... Read more...

Posted: April 30, 2017

Roger Woolf receives Distinguished Alumni Award

Scott Herzog and Gary Harris of PAA present the Distinguished Alumni Award to Roger Woolf

ROGER WOOLF, ’85, is passionate about the leadership role pharmacists can have in the U.S. health care system. Growing up, many of his family members were in healthcare professions, including pharmacy. “My uncle was a pharmacist in Yakima,” he reflected. “Talking with him about his work helped me to see the potential impact pharmacist... Read more...

Posted: April 30, 2017

Richard Lee’s team takes home grand prize for EpiForAll

Richard Lee, the PharmD member of Team EpiForAll

PharmD student Richard Lee’s team, EpiForAll, took home the $15,000 Hollomon Family grand prize at the Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge (HIC) hosted by UW Foster School’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship. The HIC featured 20 student teams seeking to address problems in health, wellness, and healthcare through innovation. This was EpiForA... Read more...

Posted: April 29, 2017

UWSOP places second in AMCP P&T competition

UWSOP’s student team Iris To, Nina Kim, Derek Louie, and Andrew Nguyen (third year PharmD students) came in second at the national Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Pharmacy & Therapeutics Competition. Competition is keen with 60 teams participating nationwide. Teams must review drugs for their hypothetical patients and create a dossier... Read more...

Posted: April 4, 2017

Med Chem’s Mike Guttman Receives Royalty Research Fund Award

The Royalty Research fund (RRF) is sponsored by UW's Office of Research to help faculty establish new research programs. The program is funded from royalty and licensing fee income generated by the UW Technology transfer program. These one-year awards have been offered semi-annually since 1992.

Med Chem Assistant Professor Mike Guttman was r... Read more...

Posted: April 3, 2017

Scott Grimm Scholar Dennis Goulet is named UWSOP’s Magnuson Scholar 2017-2018

Scott Grimm Scholar and Medicinal Chemistry graduate student Dennis Goulet (Bill Atkins lab) has been awarded the prestigious Magnuson Scholarship for 2017-2018, receiving the $30,000 award on the basis of his outstanding academic performance and potential contributions to research in the health sciences. The scholarship is funded from a $2 million... Read more...

Posted: March 31, 2017

UW bestows Distinguished Retiree Excellence Award to UWSOP Alumna and Professor Emerita Joy Plein

UWSOP Faculty Emerita and 2017 UW-UWRA Distinguished Retiree Excellence in Community Service Award recipient, Joy Plein

We are thrilled to announce that our very own Professor Emerita Joy Plein, ’51, ’56, has been named the recipient of the 2017 UW-UWRA Distinguished Retiree Excellence in Community Service Award!

This award is designated to honor a retiree for excellence in service that exemplifies the University’s values with special distinction and is cho... Read more...

Posted: March 31, 2017

UW Team develops an HIV therapy dose that lasts two weeks in test model

Collaboration between UW School of Pharmacy and UW Medicine leads to promising breakthrough to ease daily regimen
An interdisciplinary team led by Professors Rodney JY Ho of the UW School of Pharmacy and Ann Collier of the UW School of Medicine has been working to develop a long-lasting (7-day) therapy for HIV and are already making advances into ... Read more...

Posted: February 27, 2017

Class of 2016 Alumni Rank No. 1 in Initial NAPLEX Pass Rate in the U.S.

The Class of 2016 were tops in initial NAPLEX pass rates in the U.S.

UW School of Pharmacy’s class of 2016 distinguished themselves by earning the No. 1 spot in the NAPLEX pass rate in the United States. 99% of our alumni passed the exam the first time they took it last year.The NAPLEX, or North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination, measures a candidate’s knowledge of the practice of pharmacy. It is just on... Read more...

Posted: February 13, 2017

Little-known disease has major economic impact

An 1918 illustration showing blood vessels in the head and face. The drawing is from Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body

Giant cell arteritis is estimated to cost U.S. health-care system $1 billion in first year of treatment
PORPP faculty members, Joseph Babigumira, Louis Garrison, Denise Boudreau, Jennie Best, and grad student, Meng Li, published a research paper about the cost impact of giant cell arteritis in the open-access journal Rheumatology and Therapy.
... Read more...

Posted: February 13, 2017

UWSOP alumni legend Alice Ball, Class of 1914, solved leprosy therapy riddle

Alice Ball, UW School of Pharmacy class of 1914

Just over 100 years ago, as World War I raged in Europe, a chemistry professor named Alice Ball was demonstrating the use of a gas mask when something went tragically wrong. The brilliant, young chemist died a few months later at age 24, likely from accidentally inhaling chlorine gas.

The riddles she had solved may be different from what our sci... Read more...

Posted: January 30, 2017

McDermott researches value of insurer-provided care coordination

UWSOP alumna Cara McDermott, PharmD, Ph.D., M.Sc. and UW Medicine T32 Post Doc

Pharmacy alumna and UW Medicine post doc receives 2017 AcademyHealth New Investigator Award to study benefits of end-of-life care planning in palliative care
UWSOP alumna Cara McDermott, Pharm.D., Ph.D., M.Sc.  was named to the 2017 cohort of New Investigators by AcademyHealth. The AcademyHealth New Investigator Small Grant Program is designed ... Read more...

Posted: January 24, 2017

Dennis Goulet receives first Scott Grimm Memorial Scholarship

Scott W. Grimm was a long-time friend of Medicinal Chemistry and the School of Pharmacy. A Corporate Advisory Board member who enthusiastically supported our students and programs, he was also a leader in drug discovery and development via his 27-year career with AstraZeneca. When Scott died in 2014, his family and colleagues established a perm... Read more...

Posted: January 4, 2017

Pharmacy Professor John Horn raises concerns about drug safety

Chicago Tribune investigation shows problems in drug interaction communications to patientsUW School of Pharmacy Professor John Horn and UWSOP alumnus Dan Malone were part of an investigative report, “Pharmacies miss more than half of dangerous drug combinations,” published in the Chicago Tribune on December 15, 2016. The Tribune spent months i... Read more...

Posted: January 4, 2017

Drug delivery device invented in UW Ho laboratory receives $36M

Venture funding to support clinical development of the company’s lead compounds
Impel NeuroPharma, Inc., a Seattle-based clinical stage biotechnology company announced a $36 million Series C round to develop a pipeline of drug-device combination products built upon its Precision Olfactory Delivery™ (POD™) nasal delivery platform.

The POD�... Read more...

Posted: November 7, 2016

Get to know the Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Center leaders

Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Center leadership (L to R): Assistant Director for Research Zach Marcum, Assistant Director for Training Leigh Ann Mike, and Director Shelly Gray

Over the summer, Dean Sullivan announced the leadership for the Plein Geriatric Pharmacy Center and some of the early planning activities.

Plein Center Director and Shirley and Herb Bridge Endowed Professor for Women in Pharmacy Shelly Gray will assume responsibility for oversight, direction and vision of all aspects of the Center, including the... Read more...

Posted: November 7, 2016

Navajo genetic scientist Katrina Claw bridges cultures to advance research and underrepresented scientists

Dr. Katrina Claw’s research builds on a six-year UW Northwest-Alaska Pharmacogenomics Research Network (NWA-PGRN) and University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) collaboration.

As a Navajo scientist trained in genomics, UWSOP post doctoral researcher Katrina Claw is on a two-fold mission to make a difference: As a scientist, she seeks to understand the role genetics play in Vitamin D insufficiency in Alaskan Native populations.
“I am like a bridge. I connect Native knowledge and Western science, but I am also walked ov... Read more...

Posted: November 7, 2016

UWSOP, Era Living Partner for Patient-Centered Care

In 2016, we celebrated the the 30th class of UWSOP Plein Certificate in Geriatric Pharmacy graduates!

UW School of Pharmacy offers a novel approach to student training and patient care in Era Living residential communities. The program is a mutually beneficial one: in addition to their regular pharmacy services, residents receive supplemental medication expertise for which UW pharmacy faculty and students are well-known and student pharmacists have... Read more...

Posted: October 31, 2016

Amy Li awarded ARCS Fellowship

UWSOP Medicinal Chemistry department chair Kent Kunze with ARCS Fellow Amy Li

Congratulations to Medicinal Chemistry graduate student, Amy Li, who was recently awarded an ARCS Fellowship.

The Seattle Chapter of ARCS Foundation contributes to the advancement of science and technology by funding PhD fellowships for academically outstanding scholars in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math at th... Read more...

Posted: October 31, 2016

Common genetic disorder linked to increased death rate from cancer drug

Researchers recommend ‘caution’ when using the chemotherapy busulfan in patients with Gilbert’s syndrome
By Susan Keown, Staff Writer, Fred Hutch News Service, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Research published Thursday shows that a common genetic disorder ― one that many people don’t even know they have ― is linked to a mor... Read more...

Posted: October 31, 2016

Med Chem & Pharmaceutics faculty, alumni well-represented at MDO Symposium

Guoying Tai, Allan Rettie, and Leslie Dickmann

The University of Washington was well-represented at the 21st International Symposium on Microsomes & Drug Oxidations (MDO) held at UC Davis from October 2-6, 2016. Our faculty and alumni researchers presented drug metabolism and related area research during the Parallel Symposia:

Allan Rettie* (UW Medicinal Chemistry) - CYP2C9 and 4F gene... Read more...

Posted: October 26, 2016

Sid Nelson’s legacy lives on in science and collaboration

Busulfan is one of our oldest anticancer drugs. Today, it is often used to prepare a patient’s body for a bone marrow transplant (hematopoietic cell transplant [HCT]) to fight various cancers. Busulfan kills some of the patient’s blood cells to ensure the donor cells will be accepted.

But busulfan is toxic.

The work to mitigate that toxic... Read more...

Posted: October 26, 2016

UW improves to #4 worldwide for pharmacology & toxicology

UWSOP ranks #4 in the world according to US News and World Report

The UW, including the School of Pharmacy’s scientists, improved to 4th overall, up from 7th last year, and 3rd among U.S. public universities for research accomplishments in U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities list. Institutions from the U.S. and nearly 50 other countries were ranked based on 10 indicators that measure their ac... Read more...

Posted: October 17, 2016

UWSOP Alumnus Watanabe named National Academy of Medicine Fellow

University of Washington School of Pharmacy alumnus, Jonathan H. Watanabe, PharmD, Ph.D., ’08, ’12, has been selected as one of three outstanding health professionals for the class of 2016 Fellows National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

The NAM fellows were chosen based on their professional qualifications, reputations as scholars, professional... Read more...

Posted: October 17, 2016

Pharmacies provide more than meds and flu shots

A local pharmacist counsels a client on the monitoring of blood sugar and the appropriate use of glucose tablets as part of diabetes self-care.

UW School of Pharmacy faculty highlight the important role of pharmacists as part of the healthcare team
Autumn brings back sweater weather, pumpkin spices—and health check ups for kids. UW School of Pharmacy Clinical Assistant Professor Rachel Firebaugh likes to remind people that, “Fall is also the perfect time for adults to get their health... Read more...

Posted: October 5, 2016

Class of 2017 Honors Professor Doug Black

UW School of Pharmacy's PharmD class of 2017 announced their class gift this week. They will work together over the coming year to make a P4 Class Giving Fund donation to the Doug Black Endowed PharmD Award, a scholarship that is given each year to a UW School of Pharmacy student who exemplifies an outstanding commitment to learning and the profe... Read more...

Posted: August 19, 2016

UW researchers find revascularization provides greater improvements for patients with peripheral arterial disease

Peripheral arterial disease can cause pain in the legs and make walking uncomfortable.

Study published in JAMA Surgery compares effectiveness of two ways to treat intermittent claudication by evaluating outcomes that are important to patients
UW researchers found that patients with intermittent claudication, a form of peripheral arterial disease, who had procedures to restore circulation called revascularization had better quality ... Read more...

Posted: August 19, 2016

Costs outlined of health plans that exclude contraception

A positive pregnancy test. Women ages 18 to 24 and those over 40 years old were most affected by having to pay out of pocket for birth control, the researchers found.

Pharmacy study links lack of coverage to more unintended pregnancies, greater health expenses for employers
At companies whose health insurance plans exclude contraception coverage, female employees experienced 33 more unintended pregnancies per 1,000 women, and more unintended births and terminations. Such plans might also result in higher overal... Read more...

Posted: August 16, 2016

UW team finds key piece to HIV drug-effectiveness puzzle

Pharmaceutics researchers detect bacteria that counteracts protective drug
Increasingly, people at risk for HIV infection are turning to preventive drug measures to help stave off the virus. Researchers from the University of Washington School of Pharmacy found that one such drug, Tenofovir, in the form of a topical vaginal gel, is metabolized, or... Read more...

Posted: August 16, 2016

NACDS Launches Initiative to Improve Immunization Rates through Collaboration between UWSOP, Bartell Drugs, and QFC Pharmacy

Three demonstration projects aim to fulfill goals of $800,000 CDC grant to NACDS
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) announced that the University of Washington School of Pharmacy (UWSOP), Bartell Drugs, and QFC Pharmacy will partner with Washington State Health Care Authority in a unique demonstration project that aims to foster... Read more...

Posted: July 13, 2016

Lou Garrison to retire from UW School of Pharmacy

UWSOP Dean Sean D. Sullivan announced Dr. Lou Garrison's retirement from the UW School of Pharmacy’s Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Research Policy Program (PORPP) effective July 1, 2016. "Lou has been a pivotal member of the PORPP faculty and will continue to be a world-class thought leader in health economics as President of the International Soci... Read more...

Posted: July 13, 2016

UWSOP faculty and alumni elected to ISPOR leadership

UWSOP faculty and alumni past, present and future leaders of ISPOR (From left to right): Past President (2003-2004) Sean D. Sullivan, President Lou Garrison, President-elect Shelby D. Reed, Immediate Past President Daniel Malone, Past President (2010-2011) Scott Ramsey

Five UWSOP faculty and alumni have led ISPOR over the past 20 years
UW School of Pharmacy faculty and alumni are again recognized as leaders in health care. The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) announced the election of the Society’s 2016-2017 Board of Directors that assumed office on July 1, 2016. Many o... Read more...

Posted: July 12, 2016

Lingtak-Neander Chan elected Fellow of the American College of Nutrition

Professor of Pharmacy Lingtak-Neander Chan

UW School of Pharmacy congratulates Professor Lingtak-Neander Chan on his election as a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition (ACN) in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of nutrition science. Being selected as a Fellow is unusual for pharmacists. “I am honored to represent UW and the profession of pharmacy in this f... Read more...

Posted: July 6, 2016

Marcum named K12 Scholar for research on dementia and cardiac medications

UWSOP Assistant Professor and K12 Scholar Zachary Marcum

UWSOP researcher will investigate the impact medication adherence has on patient health outcomesUW School of Pharmacy (UWSOP) Assistant Professor Zachary Marcum was named to the University of Washington Patient Centered Outcomes (PCOR) K12 Career Development Program. This program supports the career development of post-doctoral and junior research... Read more...

Posted: July 6, 2016

Celebrating Nanci Murphy’s 25+ year career at UWSOP

On behalf of the PharmD 2016 class, Cameron Garner, Linda Blake, and Rory Cavaille presented a special gift to Nanci Murphy

Faculty member Dr. Nanci Murphy will retire from her full time position at UW School of Pharmacy on July 1, 2016. Dean Sean D. Sullivan shared the announcement earlier this spring saying, “Nanci’s personal and supportive style have meant a great deal to students and her influence and effectiveness have been honored nationally with several awa... Read more...

Posted: July 1, 2016

Student’s enterprise yields 3 “essentially paid” for degrees

Pharmacy Ph.D. candidate shares tips for self-funding success
You would think three degrees from the University of Washington would take an enormous financial toll, but School of Pharmacy grad student Blythe Adamson, one of the UW's Husky 100, has been energetic and enterprising about finding funding.
“I will graduate with all three of my degre... Read more...

Posted: July 1, 2016

UW and Teva partner to increase provider access to critical drug interaction data

Personalized medicine will make drug interactions more complex, said Isabelle Ragueneau-Majlessi, who oversees the UW School of Pharmacy drug-interactions database.

Clinical content from UW School of Pharmacy’s Drug Interaction Database to be integrated into Teva’s DDI+ platform to help improve health care delivery
The University of Washington (UW) announced today an exclusive partnership that will allow the university's unique, comprehensive and high-quality pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenetic Drug Inter... Read more...

Posted: June 15, 2016

New UW dual-campus PharmD-MBA concurrent degree program to launch Fall 2016

UWSOP Professor Jen Danielson, PharmD, MBA

Unique collaboration between UW and UW Bothell brings together the top of executive education value with the top pharmacist training program in the region
Student pharmacists at the University of Washington now have a tremendous opportunity to earn their PharmD and MBA degrees in just five years. The unique partnership between Schools at two diffe... Read more...

Posted: June 7, 2016

2016 Highlight: UW PharmD students organize health sciences Interprofessional Education Health Fair

2016 Highlight Stories: These stories highlight showcase the great work, service and achievements of our preeminent faculty and students in 2016.

In November 2015, student leaders in Phi Lambda Sigma met with Director of Student Leadership Programs, Nanci Murphy, to brainstorm how best to use a $2000 leadership grant awarded to create opportunit... Read more...

Posted: June 3, 2016

Anirban Basu Elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association

UW School of Pharmacy and UW Department of Economics congratulate Anirban Basu on his election as a 2016 Fellow of the American Statistical Association in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the statistical profession. For more than 100 years, the ASA has recognized exemplary statisticians, quantitative scientists, and users of statisti... Read more...

Posted: May 26, 2016

Lee lab uses 3D electron microscopy to visualize influenza virus invasion

For the first time, researchers have images showing how a virus pries its way past host membranesThree to five million people worldwide suffer from the flu each year—and it’s deadly. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 250,000 to 500,000 people a year die from the flu. The people most at risk are those with compromised immune sys... Read more...

Posted: May 10, 2016

UWSOP Announces Groundbreaking Plein Center for Geriatric Pharmacy Research, Education & Outreach

Research shows that medication-related problems are one of the top reasons for hospitalizations and for older adults losing the ability to live independently, either due to competing side effects, falls, over prescribing, or improper adherence. Increasingly, people are living longer with chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, high cholester... Read more...

Posted: May 2, 2016

Bennette, Sullivan find cancer drug prices rise rapidly after market launch

UW School of Pharmacy researchers’ found large increases in oral anticancer drugs even in the face of increasing market competition
A new study published in the May issue of Health Affairs and authored by UW School of Pharmacy’s faculty members, Caroline Bennette and Sean Sullivan, illuminates the complexity of anticancer drug pricing and seve... Read more...

Posted: April 15, 2016

UW Symposium on Past Present and Future of ADME Sciences Dedicated to Deans Sid Nelson and Tom Baillie

(L to R): Juan Cantu, Dean Sid Nelson, Rene Levy, and Dean Tom Baillie

“Thanks to the strong academic programs in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Washington, I have been well prepared for an exciting career in the pharmaceutical sciences,” said alumnus Ian Templeton. “Because of these strong programs, I now have classmates spread across many institutions, both public ... Read more...

Posted: April 4, 2016

“When you really want something, you don’t give up.”

A look back at legendary pharmacist, civic and women’s advocate, Shirley G. BridgeAs we near our 125th Anniversary in 2019, we continue to remember our history and the alumni legends in science and pharmacy practice who laid the groundwork for our collective success.

BORN IN 1922 at Swedish Hospital in downtown Seattle, Shirley (Selesnick) B... Read more...

Posted: March 16, 2016

UWSOP ranks #9 in U.S. News & World Report

UW continues its consistent record by ranking in the top ten nationally
of Schools of Pharmacy. One of the smallest Schools at the UW, Pharmacy has been well-known for providing transformative training to pharmacy practitioners and researchers since its founding as one of the first three colleges at the UW.

“I am so pleased that our peers hav... Read more...

Posted: February 24, 2016

Pelletier wins AFPE Fellowship renewal

The American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education's Pre-Doctoral Award in Pharmaceutical Science has been awarded again to Med Chem graduate student Robert Pelletier (Kent Kunze lab). Pelletier has received a renewal of this Fellowship through August 2017, with another stipend of $10,000, to support his thesis project, "Mechanism of CYP2E1 Inhib... Read more...

Posted: February 2, 2016

Professor and Dean Emeritus Thomas Baillie announces retirement from UWSOP

Dr. Thomas Baillie, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Dean Emeritus for the UW School of Pharmacy, has announced that he will be officially retiring from the University of Washington in March of 2016. Tom has had an enormous positive impact on the School of Pharmacy. He has been a tireless and highly effective advocate for our research, teaching... Read more...

Posted: January 28, 2016

UWSOP and ICER form collaboration to model the clinical and economic impact of new medications

The University of Washington School of Pharmacy (UWSOP) and the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) have formed a partnership to leverage UWSOP’s expertise in economic modeling of pharmaceutical interventions to support ICER’s growing body of work in new drug assessments. UWSOP’s Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Progr... Read more...

Posted: January 25, 2016

Totah and CHRU collaborate to find novel treatments for cardiovascular disease

Rheem Totah, Associate Professor, Medicinal Chemistry, UWSOP

UW School of Pharmacy and UW Medicine bring population and basic science together for novel approach to drug research
Heart disease remains a leading cause of death in the United States. While there have been advances in treatments, it is hard to know if someone is at risk for a heart attack until they show symptoms—which for many is too late. R... Read more...

Posted: January 21, 2016

Award season comes to UWSOP!

Don Downing is presented the Community Service award at the 2015 Martin Luther King, Jr., Recognition Ceremony

It's award season--not just for film, also for the UW School of Pharmacy!
Many of our School's faculty, students, post docs and alumni have been recognized in the past few months for their accomplishments.
Don Downing, Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award
Institute for Innovative Pharmacy Practice (I2P2) Endowed Clinical Professor D... Read more...

Posted: January 14, 2016

UW PharmD students to host New Year health fair on Jan. 24th, 2016

Map of Magnuson Community Center: The Brig

FREE health services Sunday, January 24, 9:30AM - 1:30PM at Magnuson Community Center: The Brig
Student health professionals & mentors from UW Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine, & Dentistry, Physical Therapy Program, and Speech & Hearing Sciences have teamed up to offer a range of health services to the Seattle community. The event is ope... Read more...

Posted: December 22, 2015

The Art of Science: “Human Kidney Tubule Cells” by Jenna Voellinger

Jenna L. Voellinger with her art work in T-473

In addition to being a newly-minted Ph.D., Jenna L. Voellinger is also an exhibiting artist.

Her image, “Human Kidney Tubule Cells,” created as a graduate student in the laboratory of Edward J. Kelly, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, graces one of the classrooms in the T-Wing of the UW Health Sciences Building.

Sel... Read more...

Posted: December 17, 2015

Steve White Named Chair of UWSOP’s Dept of Pharmacy

UW School of Pharmacy's Department of Pharmacy's chair, Dr. Steve White

The UW School of Pharmacy is pleased to announce the appointment of H. Steve White, RPh, Ph.D. as the new chair of the School’s Department of Pharmacy, effective January 18, 2016.

White earned his baccalaureate degree in Pharmacy and a M.S. in Pharmacology at Idaho State University and began his career as a practicing pharmacist in the small t... Read more...

Posted: December 16, 2015

Kelly Hines Named USP Global Fellow

Kelly M. Hines, Ph.D., senior fellow in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry (Libin Xu lab), is one of three recipients of the 2015-2016 Global Fellowship by the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP). This award, in the amount of $30,000, will support Dr. Hines's project, using Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry (IM-MS) to screen standards of a... Read more...

Posted: December 8, 2015

Pharmaceutics welcomes six new students with a passion for discovery

Pharmaceutics graduate students (L to R): Ryan Cheu, Olena Anoshchenko, Jessie Yu, Antonio Quinones-Lopez (not pictured here: Marc Vrana and John Amory).

UWSOP’s Department of Pharmaceutics welcomed six new students this fall, here to join a great tradition of life-changing research. These researchers share a passion for discovery and come to our school from all over the world, and from all sorts of backgrounds: from English majors to chemists and biologists.

Originally from the Ukrai... Read more...

Posted: November 19, 2015

Pharmaceutics’ Carol Collins part of drug risks in pregnancy mobile app team

A pregnant woman considers the medication she is about to take.

Carol Collins, Clinical Associate Professor in Pharmaceutics, will bring her expertise in drug safety information and the design of drug safety databases to this important project that seeks to create a mobile app that will help convey information about drug risks for pregnant women in collaboration with faculty from UW Medicine, UW HCDE and right... Read more...

Posted: November 14, 2015

Odegard and Diabetes Education team win UW award

Principle Investigator and Associate Dean Peggy Odegard

Train the trainer program empowering clinic teams sees significant improvements in outcomes
The UW School of Pharmacy is proud to celebrate Associate Dean Peggy Odegard, PharmD, CDE’s, recognition with the Golden Eddy Award as part of a Diabetes Education team of outstanding patient educators awarded in Fall 2015. UW Medicine Patient and Family ... Read more...

Posted: November 2, 2015

Intercollegiate team will study natural product-drug interactions

Green tea is one of the products in the drug-interaction center's initial study set.

Herbal remedies are a multi-billion dollar industry. Sales of natural product supplements have nearly tripled in the past twenty years since passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in 1994. Fueled in part by the assumption that “natural” means “safe,” as well as rising costs for conventional health care, many people turn ... Read more...

Posted: October 20, 2015

Geri and Lynn Brady Preserved Medicinal Garden Legacy

As a community, we were deeply saddened to learn that Geraldine “Geri” (Walcott) Brady, the widow of Professor and former Associate Dean, Lynn Brady, ’60, passed away in March.

The legacy she and Lynn left through planned giving will live on at the UW and School of Pharmacy for decades to come. The Lynn R. Brady Endowed Scholarship Fund ha... Read more...

Posted: October 14, 2015

Are you a #HUSKYPHARMACIST?

Student Pharmacist in UWSOP’s Bracken Pharmacy Learning Lab

Celebrate American Pharmacists Month and share your #HUSKYPHARMACIST pride this October!
Whether you are an alum, student, faculty member, preceptor, graduate, friend, parent, patient or supporter, we want to see your #HUSKYPHARMACIST pride!
Pharmacy Practice Changes in Washington
2015 was a big year for Pharmacists in Washington state. Under n... Read more...

Posted: October 12, 2015

Rettie Seeds the Future of Precision Medicine

The Rettie Lab team in the Mass Spectrometry Center. From L to R: MedChem grad students John Kowalski and Amanda Johnson, Professor Allan Rettie, and Senior Fellow Sutapa Ray. (Missing: Matt McDonald, Research Scientist)

“It’s a micro-farm,” said Allan Rettie recently, talking of the home where he and his wife, Shannon, nurture a menagerie of creatures great and small. “If I was not doing science, I might have been a farmer” he said tongue-in-cheek. But it’s impossible to imagine Rettie “not doing science.” For 30 years he has been at the forefront ... Read more...

Posted: October 5, 2015

The Chiba Morio Family: Undaunted in the Face of Adversity

Bain Chiba with his father Yasukichi, '17, at Bain's graduation from UW School of Pharmacy in 1937.

Second year PharmD student Beau Chiba comes from a long line of UW School of Pharmacy pharmacists. When he graduates in 2018, it will be 101 years since his great-grandfather, Yasukuchi Chiba graduated. Beau is the sixth member of his family to attend UWSOP and his family’s story echoes the social, political, and economic ups and downs of t... Read more...

Posted: October 2, 2015

Med Chem Welcomes 2015 Students

At a combined 2015 orientation event with the department of Pharmaceutics, Medicinal Chemistry chair Kent Kunze welcomed four new students into our graduate program: Modestas Filipavicius, Lorela Paco, Dylan Ross, and Eleanor Vane. Pharmaceutics has four students entering their graduate program and one student entering their masters program. We... Read more...

Posted: September 23, 2015

2015 Summer Diversity Program Wraps

It was a summer of hard work and discovery for four undergrads who participated in the Pharmacological Science Summer Diversity Program (PSSDP). Hector Caldera (Fort Lewis College), Brianna Morgan (Southern Oregon University), Monica Pengshung (Southern Oregon University), and Hannah Rudolph (Agnes Scott College) recently presented posters at Mar... Read more...

Posted: September 21, 2015

Benhaim Appointed to Molecular Biophysics Training Program

Medicinal Chemistry graduate student Mark Benhaim (Lee lab) has been accepted into the NIH-supported Molecular Biophysics Training Program. His proposed research thesis, "Deciphering the Antiviral Activity of Human Defensins: Inhibiting Influenza Virus Fusion," won him a two-year tenure on this predoctoral training grant. Benhaim's mentor, Me... Read more...

Posted: September 15, 2015

Celebrating 20 Years of Excellence for the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program (PORPP)

“Great scientists and great surfers share a common trait. They don’t position themselves where the big wave is now; they position themselves where the next big wave is going to be. PORPP teaches students to read the patterns in scientific methods, to understand the history that built up behind the last big waves, and to prepare for the ride o... Read more...

Posted: August 30, 2015

Zhang named inaugural Ji-Ping Wang Endowed Fellow

Ji-Ping Fellow Faye Zhang with donor Si Luo

The inaugural Ji-Ping Wang Fellow is Faye Zhang in the Department of Pharmaceutics. Faye Zhang (pictured left) received her B.S. in Pharmaceutics from China Pharmaceutical University and M.S. in Biostatistics from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She entered the UW Pharmaceutics Ph.D. program in 2010 and joined Dr. Jashvant D. Unadkat’s lab ... Read more...

Posted: August 27, 2015

Med Chem Student Interns with Janssen Pharmaceuticals

Dennis Goulet (Atkins lab), graduate student in Medicinal Chemistry, is completing a summer internship with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company headquartered in New Jersey. Janssen wanted someone with a background in biophysical characterization and an interest in antibody scaffolds (proteins that bring other proteins tog... Read more...

Posted: August 14, 2015

Med Chem Student Receives Barnes Fellowship

Medicinal Chemistry graduate student Mavis Li (Atkins lab) has received an award from the Hope Barnes Fellowship Fund. Hope Barnes was a Med Chem graduate student who died in a climbing accident in 1991. Hope’s family established The Hope Barnes Graduate Fellowship to support and encourage talented graduate students in medicinal chemistry. The F... Read more...

Posted: August 11, 2015

Examining the Economic Consequences of Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Therapy (ACTH) in Infantile Spasms and Multiple Sclerosis Relapse

PORPP Faculty Member Ryan Hansen and Research Team Present Findings at the 12th World Congress on Inflammation in Boston, Massachusetts
UW School of Pharmacy Research Assistant Professor Ryan Hansen, along with Patricia Schepman, John Niewoehner, Michael Philbin, and Kavitha Damal of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, are presenting study findings in t... Read more...

Posted: August 7, 2015

Med Chem Group Attends P450 Conference in Japan

Cytochrome P450 enzymes are found in all living organisms and are essential in metabolizing a wide range of substances including steroids, fatty acids and the majority of pharmaceuticals. They control the elimination of most drugs and therefore strongly influence drug-drug interactions that can cause adverse side effects. P450s are also capable of ... Read more...

Posted: July 30, 2015

UW-led team to develop innovative HIV treatment lasting at least 7 days

New regimen would make it easier for patients and potentially clear residual virus

An interdisciplinary team led by Professors Rodney JY Ho of the UW School of Pharmacy and Ann Collier of the UW School of Medicine received $14M from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a long-lasting (7-day) therapy for HIV. The two co-Princ... Read more...

Posted: July 30, 2015

Ragueneau-Majlessi named UW CoMotion Presidential Innovation Fellow

UW School of Pharmacy Pharmaceutics Clinical Professor Isabelle Ragueneau-Majlessi has been named a UW CoMotion Presidential Innovation Fellow for 2015. The prestigious fellowship program debuted in 2011 to foster entrepreneurial thinking across UW.

Ragueneau-Majlessi is the co-author of the Drug-Drug Interaction (DIDB) and Pharmacogenetic (e-PK... Read more...

Posted: July 30, 2015

Maldonato wins TL1 research grant

Ben Maldonato is busier than usual this summer. The Medicinal Chemistry grad student is one of the 2015 cohort of predoctoral students chosen to receive a summer TL1 grant from the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS). During this 3-month research experience, Ben is conducting independent research with faculty mentor Rheem Totah, atten... Read more...

Posted: June 19, 2015

Innovative Pharmacy Training Does a World of Good in Malawi

Pharmacy Assistant student attending to patients during practicum training in rural pharmacies in Malawi

New Pharmacy Assistants Graduate, Improving Patient Care at Critically Understaffed Rural Health CentersWhen most of us think of our local pharmacy, we take certain things for granted. We expect that the medications prescribed to us will be in stock and that the well-educated pharmacist staff will give us clear instructions on how to take them, alo... Read more...

Posted: June 17, 2015

Scenes from Commencement 2015

Associate Dean Peggy Odegard presents Adrian Hughes with the Dean's Club Humanitarian Award

Friday was a day of recognition and celebration! Over 100 graduate and PharmD students received their degrees and began a new phase in their professional careers.Associate Dean Peggy Odegard welcomed the graduates telling them, "We are so proud of each of you. Completing a post-graduate degree at the University of Washington is not for the faint ... Read more...

Posted: June 11, 2015

Hansen study finds for new users, sleeping pills may double car crash risk

UW School of Pharmacy Research Assistant Professor Ryan Hansen, PhD, PharmD

Three prescription sleeping aids are associated with an increase in motor vehicle crashes, according to a study by the University of Washington School of Pharmacy and the Group Health Research Institute. The research was published today in the American Journal of Public Health.

The research, led by Ryan Hansen, ’03, ’12, UW assistant pro... Read more...

Posted: June 2, 2015

SB 5557 Expands Patient Access to Care in Washington

UW School of Pharmacy Faculty and Students at the Governor’s Signing of SB 5557 on May 11, 2015

An Historic Day in Washington
Washington will be the first state in the country to require that pharmacists are included in health insurance provider networks under new legislation (SB 5557) signed by Governor Inslee on Monday, May 11, 2015. This law will increase patient access to medical care from pharmacists practicing within their scope of pra... Read more...

Posted: May 29, 2015

PORPP Researchers Receive $3 Million Grant to Develop VOI methods to Prioritize NHLBI trials

Three faculty members from the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program (PORPP) and two faculty from the Division of Cardiology received a $3 million grant to develop a comprehensive toolkit of pragmatic value of information (VOI) approaches and the corresponding software that can readily be used by clinical researchers and funders to es... Read more...

Posted: May 29, 2015

PORPP Alumnus Joseph Babigumira Featured on Whole U Faculty Friday

Image of PORPP Alumnus and UW faculty member Joseph Babigumira

We are so proud of University of Washington School of Pharmacy PORPP alumnus Joseph Babigumira, featured today in the The Whole U Faculty Friday profile!

Learn more about how he brings together his medical training, outcomes research, and passion for public health in resource deprived areas. He's able to make a difference teaching here at Univer... Read more...

Posted: May 28, 2015

Students Duong and Heeney Receive National Recognition for Script Your Future Campaign

image of PharmD students Arianne Duong and Stephanie Heeney

Earlier this year, PharmD students, Arianne Duong and Stephanie Heeney, collaborated with other health sciences students and created a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of medication adherences.

Their campaign, which included radio spots (listen), UW Health Science bus ads, individual outreach, video, and social media, was named ... Read more...

Posted: May 28, 2015

James Lin Wins NCPA Outstanding Student Member of the Year

Image of I2P2 Endowed Clinical Professor Don Downing with NCPA Student of the Year James Lin

Congratulations to James Lin, PharmD, '16, on being selected as the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Outstanding Student Member of the Year for 2015!

I2P2 Endowed Clinical Professor Don Downing presented the award to James at the May meeting of the UW School of Pharmacy Practice Board. James represents a great tradition in UW Ph... Read more...

Posted: May 21, 2015

Anirban Basu Named Director of PORPP

In May 2015, Anirban Basu, PhD, was named the next Stergachis Family Endowed Director of Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy Program (PORPP) in the Department of Pharmacy at the UW School of Pharmacy.

Dr. Basu was a Professor of Health Services and an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy and Economics, and will maintain the affiliations with... Read more...

Posted: May 19, 2015

Lou Garrison voted President-elect of ISPOR

We congratulate Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy Program (PORPP) Professor Lou Garrison who was voted President-elect for the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). He will serve a three year term."The growth in numbers and the geographic and disciplinary diversity of ISPOR over the past 20 years h... Read more...

Posted: May 18, 2015

Joshua Roth Awarded 2015 ISPOR Applied Paper of the Year

On Tuesday, May 19, 2015, PORPP PhD and Current K12 Scholar, Joshua A Roth, will receive the ISPOR Applied Paper of the Year. The award for his paper titled "Economic return from the Women's Health Initiative estrogen plus progestin clinical trials modeling study" (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2014 May 6;160:594-602) will be presented at the Seco... Read more...

Posted: May 11, 2015

State of Washington first in pharmacy, again

Washington will be the first state in the country to require that pharmacists are included in health insurance provider networks under new legislation (SB 5557) signed by Governor Inslee on Monday, May 11, 2015. Pharmacists will be compensated for the patient care they provide within their scope of practice, just like nurse practitioners and physic... Read more...

Posted: May 7, 2015

Lee lab pursues clues to HIV, flu in the moment of infection

Proteins attached to the HIV virus membrane attempt to fuse with host cells.

In a basement lab deep within the Magnuson Health Sciences Building, a group of scientists works to decode the mysteries of two deadly viruses: influenza and HIV. Led by Kelly Lee, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry in the School of Pharmacy, they examine the viral fusion proteins found on the outside of “enveloped viruses” – viruses ... Read more...

Posted: May 1, 2015

Pelletier Wins AFPE Award to Study Acetaminophen Toxicity

Robert Pelletier left a career in industry to pursue his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and follow his passion for teaching and research. The American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE) has recognized Pelletier’s potential for leadership, and awarded him their 2015 Pre-Doctoral Award in Pharmaceutical Science. The award period begins in S... Read more...

Posted: April 13, 2015

Solving Bietti’s Crystalline Dystrophy is mission of Pharmaceutics Prof Kelly

Department of Pharmaceutics Associate Professor Ed Kelly and graduate student Cate Lockhart (UW PharmD, '13) are undaunted by the challenge of researching the rare blinding eye disease, Bietti’s Crystalline Dystrophy (BCD). “Only one in 70,000 people has the disease and no one is doing basic research on BCD except our lab,” Kelly said. As he'... Read more...

Posted: April 8, 2015

Pharmaceutics Ph.D. Student Alenka Jaklic Named Magnuson Scholar

Image of Pharmaceutics Ph.D. Graduate Student Alenka Jaklic

We are so proud of Pharmaceutics third year Ph.D. student, Alenka Jaklic, this year's School of Pharmacy Magnuson Scholar!

Alenka has had the unique opportunity to join the start-up of an NIH-funded project aiming to develop a novel microphysiological system (MPS) that recapitulates key aspects of human kidney function, including drug transport ... Read more...

Posted: April 3, 2015

Three Pharmaceutics Graduate Students Selected for Prestigious ITHS TL1 Scholar Award

Congratulations go to Brian Chapron, Cate Lockhart and Savannah Kerr and who were selected as Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) TL1 scholars starting Summer 2016. They will be participating in curriculum and interdisciplinary clinical and translational training in the program.

Cate will be conducting a pilot study of int... Read more...

Posted: March 27, 2015

New center to use novel method to screen chemicals’ toxicity

Image of pharmaceutics scientist preparing cell cultures for toxicity testing

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will provide $6 million in seed funding for a Predictive Toxicology Center at the University of Washington, enabling researchers, including Department of Pharmaceutics Associate Professor Edward Kelly, to develop more accurate in vitro models – organ-mimicking cell cultures – to test chemicals for thei... Read more...

Posted: February 25, 2015

UW PORPP and Fred Hutch Researchers Receive $7.75M PCORI Award to Study Cancer Treatment

Image of Electron Microscopy of Human Neutrophils

A research team, led by Scott Ramsey, director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR), that includes UW Department of Pharmacy’s Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program (PORPP) faculty members Sean Sullivan, Jeannine McCune, Aasthaa Bansal, and Gary Lyman, who also serves as a co-director at HICOR, ... Read more...

Posted: February 23, 2015

Klatt Receives NIDA/NIH Award to Research Cannabis Impact on HIV

Image of Pharmaceutics Assistant Professor Nichole Klatt

Pharmaceutics Assistant Professor, Nichole Klatt is one of five scientists selected to receive the prestigious 2015 Avant-Garde Award for HIV/AIDS Research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Klatt proposes development of HIV cure strategies by using non-psychoactive cannabinoids as poten... Read more...

Posted: February 6, 2015

UW student team discovers stories behind ‘super-utilizer’ patients

Photo of PharmD student Kelsey Rasmussen, left, and Liza Hutchinson

UW Pharm.D. student, Kelsey Rasmussen, serves as a member of an interprofessional team of students who received a grant to research why some people return multiple times for hospital services. UW's Health Science NewsBeat originally reported on their research and the student team's fascinating findings are shared in this follow up story.

&nbs... Read more...

Posted: January 26, 2015

Higher dementia risk linked to more use of common drugs

Image of UW School of Pharmacy Professor Shelly Gray

Dr. Shelly Gray et. al. found a persistent link between dementia and some medications in a University of Washington/Group Health study published in JAMA Internal Medicine on January 26, 2015. The large study links a significantly increased risk for developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, to taking commonly used medications with antich... Read more...

Posted: December 29, 2014

Joy & Elmer Plein Scholars Advance Geriatric Research

JOY AND ELMER PLEIN CREATED A LEGACY by establishing two funds for geriatric pharmacy research: the Elmer Plein Research Fund in Pharmacy and the Plein Endowment for Geriatric Pharmacy Research, in addition to a fund to support faculty development.

The Plein Endowment for Geriatric Pharmacy Research is awarded to students engaged in geriatrics r... Read more...

Posted: December 29, 2014

Dr. Libin Xu Joins Med Chem Faculty

LIBIN XU, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. He graduated with a B.Sc. from Nakai University, Tianjin, China, completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at University of Illinois at Chicago, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt University. His current research focuses on investigating the role of 7-dehy... Read more...

Posted: December 29, 2014

Dr. Gary Lyman Joins PORPP Faculty

GARY H. LYMAN, M.D., M.P.H., is Adjunct Professor in the School of Pharmacy and the School of Public Health at the University of Washington as well as Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine in the University of Washington School of Medicine. He also is Co-Director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research and Member of t... Read more...

Posted: December 12, 2014

UW PharmD Students Aid Hundreds in Nicaragua

The day after final exams ended in June, 43 UW pharmacy students met before dawn at SeaTac. Seventeen hours later they landed, bleary-eyed but eager, at Managua's airport. They queued through customs, bearing certifications from Nicaragua's Ministry of Health, and met their in-country coordinator. Then they set out for Esteli, a small village t... Read more...

Posted: December 12, 2014

Why the Bad Taste? Dr. Joanne Wang’s Team Finds a Reason

TAKING A MEDICATION AS PRESCRIBED IS CRITICAL to a drug’s effectiveness. But for some people, taking medications literally turns their stomach – and if a medication leaves a persistently bitter taste, many people, especially children and elderly patients, will take it inconsistently or not at all. In the online Journal of Biological Chemistry... Read more...

Posted: December 12, 2014

Fulbright Scholar Researches Experiential Pharmacy Education at UW

IT’S NOT OFTEN A PROMINENT RESEARCHER FROM SERBIA comes to UW Pharmacy as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar. Dr. Jelena Parojcic is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Belgrade In Serbia. Her areas of research include Biopharmaceutical aspects of Drug Delivery; Drug Release Mechanisms In Vitro and... Read more...

Posted: November 1, 2014

UW School of Pharmacy Researchers Ranked #7 in the World

U.S. News & World Report debuted a new ranking called Best Global Universities last week. It measures the academic research performance and global/regional reputations of universities around the world. The UW School of Pharmacy’s scientists came in 7th overall, and 5th among U.S. public universities for research accomplishments – and 3rd am... Read more...

Posted: October 29, 2014

Klarissa Hardy Receives Major NIH Grant

Congratulations to former UW School of Pharmacy Department of Medicinal Chemistry post-doctoral fellow, Klarissa Hardy, who received a $660,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to fight breast cancer! Hardy worked with Dean Sidney Nelson to study the affects of the anti-cancer drug lapatinib on the liver. “I learned a lot from Dr. Nels... Read more...

Posted: October 16, 2014

Congratulations Prof McCune!

Jeannine McCune, PharmD, was announced as the newest Associate Editor of the Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics the official scholarly publication of the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT). Additionally, Dr. McCune was elected a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and will be recognized duri... Read more...

Posted: October 15, 2014

North American ISSX Meeting will award two of our faculty.

Not one, but two of our faculty were selected to receive the only awards given by The International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX). Dean Emeritus Tom Baillie was selected for the North American Scientific Achievement Award and faculty member Dr. Nina Isoherranen, was selected for the North American New Investigator Award. Both awar... Read more...

Posted: September 30, 2014

PORPP Faculty Member Garrison Named Interim Director

PORPP Interim Director Lou Garrison, Ph.D.

LOU GARRISON, PH.D., HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS INTERIM DIRECTOR for the Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Research Policy Program (PORPP). With a background in economics, Garrison has said he plans to continue to build on the success PORPP has accrued over fifteen years, including the selection of a new director. “Lou’s ten years as Associate Director of... Read more...

Posted: August 28, 2014

How do you teach when the topic changes so fast? A Q&A with Dr. Doug Black

Dr. Doug Black talks with students in the Bracken Lab.

Doug Black, UW associate professor of pharmacy practice, confers with students in the Bracken Pharmacy Learning Center. From left are Zsolt Hepp, Mitul Patel and Tulip Younes.
With the Ebola virus grabbing headlines, we sat down to talk with UW Pharmacy professor Dr. Doug Black, an infectious-disease specialist, to learn more about how he teache... Read more...

Posted: August 11, 2014

On-demand intravenous fluids questioned

Have you heard about the critical shortage of IV products? We sat down with UW Pharmacy Professor Lingtak-Neander Chan to learn more about this dangerous shortage and the rising wave of so-called “hangover cure” businesses opening in Las Vegas, New York, LA, and South Florida offering vitamin and drug “cocktails” that are delivered intrav... Read more...

Posted: July 21, 2014

Announcing our new Dean of Pharmacy: Dr. Sean D. Sullivan

Provost Ani Mari Cauce announced the appointment of Dr. Sean D. Sullivan as our next Dean of the School of Pharmacy, effective September 15, 2014.

Sean came to the University of Washington in 1992 and was promoted to full professor in 2001 and associate dean for research in 2010. A pharmacist by training, Sean has held numerous leadership ro... Read more...

Posted: July 14, 2014

Dean Emeritus Baillie Is Top Cited Researcher

Dean Emeritus Thomas Baillie was recognized as one of the topmost cited researchers in the area of Pharmacology & Toxicology. The Thompson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers list identifies over three thousand researchers worldwide whose research was among the top 1% most cited for their subject field and year of publication. Baillie’s research... Read more...

Posted: July 1, 2014

Snoqualmie Valley Hospital Awarded IPPE Preceptors of the Year

Ron Bennett, one of the 2014 IPPE Preceptors of the Year

We asked our students about their favorite preceptors at Snoqualmie Valley Hospital – Ron Bennett (pictured), Elizabeth Fuchs, and Candy Naderi – and this is what we heard.

“They are wonderful preceptors. They involved me in everything an institutional pharmacist does from distribution to clinical pharmacy. They were very receptive to ques... Read more...

Posted: June 26, 2014

UW Pharmacy Huskies Lead the Pack

As a School of Pharmacy consistently in the Top 10 nationally, we’ve come to expect our students, faculty, and alumni to excel. We are just through the busy season of springtime conferences and we find, yet again, our students continuing to lead the pack. As always, we ask that you hold your applause until the end.

[one_third][/one_third][two_... Read more...

Posted: June 23, 2014

Professor Thummel elected President of ASPET

The Chair of Pharmaceutics, Ken Thummel will take office July 1, 2014. The 4,800- member society was founded in 1908 to further the growth of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics in the United States.

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news... Read more...

Posted: June 22, 2014

Vineet Kumar: Graduate Student, Unadkat Lab, winner of the 2013/14 Simcyp Fellowship

The response received to the first call was tremendous but only a select number of applications were forwarded to the second stage. All of the full proposals received were of a very high standard and it was difficult for the judging panel (consisting of a 50:50 split of Simcyp executive team members and individuals from Consortium member companies)... Read more...

Posted: June 21, 2014

UW researchers win grant to study effects of drugs during pregnancy

University of Washington faculty members from the School of Pharmacy and School of Medicine will study the effects of drugs on pregnant women with a $4.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.UW pharmaceutics professor Jashvant Unadkat will lead the five-year study, which will work on finding ways to predict how pregnant women and ... Read more...

Posted: June 21, 2014

WELCOME New Students

New Students (from left to right) Faith Stevison, Gabriela Patilea, Jake Kraft, David Wagner and Savannah Kerr

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news... Read more...

Posted: June 20, 2014

Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching Goes to Dr. John Watkins

Teresa O’Sullivan presents Kradjan Award to John Watkins

OUR PRECEPTORS CONTRIBUTE TIME AND EXPERTISE, opening their practice to teach and mentor our students. The Wayne A. Kradjan Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award is named for our former Associate Dean, an exemplary clinical teacher and role model and awarded annually to honor one of our preceptors.

John Watkins, ’79, ’93, ’11, was selected... Read more...

Posted: June 17, 2014

2013 Gibaldi Picnic

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news
... Read more...

Posted: June 15, 2014

Congratulations to the class of 2013!

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news... Read more...

Posted: June 10, 2014

News digest: Recyclemania results, professor speaks on career journey, Honor: Rodney Ho

Professor Ho to receive award at National Biotechnology Conference later this month. Professor Rodney Ho will receive the Research Achievement in Biotechnology Award from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He is receiving this honor for the high quality of his work and its impact. Full story...

Link to ... Read more...

Posted: June 8, 2014

Congrats to pharmaceutics grad students

Congrats to pharmaceutics grad students Jessica Tay and Jenna Voellinger for winning second and third place respectively for their poster presentations in the Predoctoral Awards Competition at the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics conference in Dallas!

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news

Posted: June 6, 2014

Alumnus Mitch Higashi Speaks at Uppsala Health Summit

University of Washington School of Pharmacy alumnus Mitch Higashi addressed the topic of innovation in healthcare at the Uppsala Health Summit this week. A graduate of the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program (PORPP), Mitch is GE Healthcare's Chief Economist. Full story...

Link to Department of Pharmacy archived news... Read more...

Posted: June 2, 2014

UW Pharmacy Alumnus Ryan Oftebro Innovates Method for Opioid Overdose Rx

The pain of losing a cousin who mixed methadone with alcohol inspired pharmacist Ryan Oftebro to turn his attention to preventing others from suffering the same fate. Oftebro, ’03, ’12, one of three pharmacist-owners of Seattle’s Kelley-Ross Pharmacy, is participating in a partnership between Public Health-Seattle & King County, the U... Read more...

Posted: June 1, 2014

Nasal Drug-Delivery System Noted as a Seattle Innovation

Magazine article highlights the work of a company that markets an invention made at our School.
Impel Neurophama, a company started by Professor of Pharmaceutics Rodney Ho, John Hoekman, PhD, ’10, and a UW business school alumnus is showcased in a ‘Pacific Northwest’ magazine article about Seattle’s booming invention market. Impel is dev... Read more...

Posted: May 29, 2014

Dr. Beth Devine Leads Study Showing Electronic Records Cost Savings

Dr. Beth Devine Leads Study Showing Electronic Records Cost Savings
The age-old joke about physicians’ bad handwriting is no laughing matter. An illegible prescription can have dire consequences. Beth Devine’s research with Everett Clinic showed the dramatic impact electronic prescribing could have in both small (1-20 providers) and midsiz... Read more...

Posted: May 26, 2014

Dr. Ed Kelly, a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutics received a Jaconetter L. Tietze Yong Scientist Award

for his project “Identification of MicroRNA Regulators of Hepatocyte Development“. The monies provided by the award will be of great assistance in terms of generating preliminary data for a future grant submission and will help with support of graduate student research activities.

Link to Pharmaceutics Archived News... Read more...

Posted: May 25, 2014

2010 graduate, Dr. John Hoekman received the UW Graduate School’s 6th Chapter Award

2010 graduate, Dr. John Hoekman received the UW Graduate School’s 6th Chapter Awardfor his dissertation “The Impact of Enhanced Olfactory Deposition and Retention on Direct Nose-to-Brain Drug Delivery.”

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news... Read more...

Posted: May 23, 2014

Dr. Shiu-Lok_Hu is awarded with Milo Gibaldi Endowed Professorship in Pharmaceutics.

The fund was created in 2008 in honor of the late School of Pharmacy Dean Milo Gibaldi. He was dean from 1978 to 1998 and was renowned for his work in pharmacokinetics. He helped make the UW School of Pharmacy one of the nation’s premier pharmacy institutions. For full article click here.

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news... Read more...

Posted: May 22, 2014

Nora Lee, a graduate student at the Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy is one of the recipients of this year’s Warren G. Magnuson scholarships.

The award will provide the scholar with financial support of up to $25,000 for her research needs. Ms Nora Lee is currently in her third year of studies toward her PhD and she works as a Graduate Research Assistant in Dr. Joanne Wang’s laboratory. Ms Lee demonstrates academic excellence and is highly promising in becoming a productive research ... Read more...

Posted: May 20, 2014

PGRN received grant to study underserved populations

Ken Thummel, chair and professor of pharmaceutics, and Wylie Burke, chair and professor of bioethics and humanities, and colleagues, recently learned they have received a five-year, $10 million grant from the NIH’s Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN) to create a Northwest-Alaska... Read more...

Posted: May 17, 2014

Li Liu, a PhD candidate in Dr. Jashvant D. Unadkat’s labrom Dept of Pharmaceutics, was awarded 1st place

Li Liu, a PhD candidate in Dr. Jashvant D. Unadkat’s lab from Dept of Pharmaceutics, was awarded 1st place in the poster presentation competition at the ISSX-17th North American Regional Meeting, for her work on the clinical PET study “Can P-glycoprotein at the Human Blood-Brain Barrier be Induced by Rifampin? A PET Imaging Study”. Li was a... Read more...

Posted: May 14, 2014

Dr. Allan Rettie Steps Down as Chair

Dr. Allan Rettie has decided to step down as Chair of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, effective June 13, 2014, after serving the School for almost 15 years in that capacity. During this period, Dr. Rettie has effectively guided the department through many curricular and organizational changes, as well as economic challenges. "It is to hi... Read more...

Posted: April 22, 2014

AACP Honors Med Chem PhD Brendan Stamper

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) recently honored Dr. Brendan Stamper and his colleagues at the 2014 AACP annual meeting. Dr. Stamper is a former Med Chem graduate student who received his Ph.D. in 2010 and is now an Assistant Professor in the School of Pharmacy at Pacific University in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Dr. Stamper direc... Read more...

Posted: April 21, 2014

Eric Evangelista Appointed to Clinical Research (TL1) Training Grant

The Institute of Translational Health Sciences TL1 Multidisciplinary Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Grant is a year-long training experience funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Center for Research Resources. The program allows grant recipients to work as part of an interdisciplinary team doing research that focuse... Read more...

Posted: April 20, 2014

Nath Lab Welcomes New Student

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry is pleased to announce that Hannah Baughman, a graduate student in the Biological Physics, Structure and Design program, has joined the Nath lab and the Klevit lab (UW Biochemistry) as a joint advisee. Hannah earned her B.S. in Biochemistry from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, in 2012. Her research focuses on... Read more...

Posted: April 20, 2014

Brianne Raccor to Teach at Campbell University

Dr. Brianne Raccor, Senior Fellow in the Rheem Totah laboratory and a Elmer M. and Joy B. Plein Fellow, has taken a position as Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. “I am delighted to be a new member of the faculty at Campbell,” said Brianne. “My excellent training in the Totah ... Read more...

Posted: April 19, 2014

Congratulations, Med Chem Class of 2014

Nick Au, Jean Dinh, and Eri Nakatani-Webster wait for their moment on the stage during graduation exercises at Meany Hall. (Photograph courtesy of Meg Running.)

Congratulations to the following students, who received the Doctor of Philosophy in Medicinal Chemistry during commencement exercises held at Meany Hall on June 13, 2014:

Nichol... Read more...

Posted: April 18, 2014

Med Chem Alumnus Appointed Dean at Campbell University

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry is proud to congratulate alumnus Michael Adams, Ph.D. for his recent appointment as Dean of the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. Michael did his graduate work in Medicinal Chemistry with the late Sid Nelson and graduated in 2003. His research inter... Read more...

Posted: April 17, 2014

Ryan Seguin is Magnuson Scholar 2014-2015

Ryan Seguin, PhD, Medicinal Chemistry and UWSOP Graduate Award Recipient

Medicinal Chemistry graduate student Ryan Seguin (Kent Kunze lab) has been awarded the prestigious Magnuson Scholarship for 2014-2015. The University names six Magnuson Scholars annually, one from each of the health sciences schools. Awardees are selected based on their academic performance and potential contributions to health sciences research.
... Read more...

Posted: April 16, 2014

Klarissa Hardy Receives AACP Award

Former Medicinal Chemistry postdoctoral fellow Klarissa Hardy has received a 2014 New Investigator Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). Klarissa, now an Assistant Professor at Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy in Nashville, TN, was one of 17 award recipients for 2014. The New Investigator program provides start-... Read more...

Posted: April 15, 2014

Med Chem Welcomes New Faculty Member

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry welcomes Abhinav “Abhi” Nath, PhD, as its newest faculty member. Dr. Nath joins the department as an Assistant Professor, coming from Yale University where he did postdoctoral work in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.

“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Nath to Med Chem,” said Allan Rettie, PhD,... Read more...

Posted: April 14, 2014

Bill Atkins and the Legacy of Sid Nelson

Dr. William Atkins has been named the first Sid Nelson Endowed Professor in Medicinal Chemistry. Bill joined the Med Chem faculty in 1991. His research focuses on the biochemical nature of detoxification enzymes and on drug metabolism, with emphasis on biophysical mechanisms. He has been awarded several NIH grants for his research on enzyme systems... Read more...

Posted: April 14, 2014

Nick Au on Winning Team for Business Plan Contest

Med Chem student Nick Au (Allan Rettie lab) was recently part of a team of UW graduate students who won a “Best Innovation Idea” prize in the 16th annual UW Business Plan Competition. The team is developing a “smart” polymer contact lens as an alternative delivery platform for people with diabetes.

The UW Business Plan Competition is pro... Read more...

Posted: April 13, 2014

Medicinal Chemistry Hosts International P450 Conference

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry is excited to host the “18th International Conference on Cytochrome P450s: Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structure,” to be held at the UW from June 18-22, 2013. This biennial conference has been bringing Cytochrome P450 scientists together in interesting locations for over three decades.

The series was e... Read more...

Posted: April 12, 2014

Congratulations to Alice Ke, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pharmaceutics and ORISE fellow in the FDA Office of Clinical Pharmacology

Congratulations to Alice Ke, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pharmaceutics and ORISE fellow in the FDA Office of Clinical Pharmacology, who received the 2011 OCP Science Day Poster Presentation First Prize Award in October in Maryland. Her poster title was “Refinement and Validation of a PBPK Model to Predict Disposition of Drugs in Preg... Read more...

Posted: April 12, 2014

Med Chem Professor Wins MLK Volunteer Award

Carlos is camera-shy, but Nanci Murphy makes great cookies!

Dr. Carlos Catalano, Professor in Medicinal Chemistry, was awarded a Volunteer Recognition Award during the Health Sciences Center’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration on January 17 in the HSB lobby. The award winners are named by the UW Health Sciences deans.

Among oth... Read more...

Posted: April 7, 2014

Dr. Sean Sullivan Honored with Steven G. Avey Award for Distinguished Service

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Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) and the AMCP Foundation recently recognized more than a dozen distinguished members of the Academy for their significant contributions to AMCP, managed care pharmacy and the health care system. The honored members were announced Wednesday evening, April 2, at th... Read more...

Posted: April 3, 2014

Pharmaceutics graduate students Diana Shuster and Jenna Voellinger received (ITHS) training awards

Pharmaceutics graduate students Diana Shuster and Jenna Voellinger received Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) TL1 Multidisciplinary Predoctoral Clinical Research Training awards for the upcoming 2012-13 academic year. The ITHS TL1 Multidisciplinary Predoctoral Clinical Research Training Program sponsors a year-long intensive cli... Read more...

Posted: April 3, 2014

Nora Lee and postdoc Cara Nelson won the graduate student category of the poster competition

Pharmaceutics graduate student Nora Lee and postdoc Cara Nelson did an outstanding job at the recent American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Annual Meeting. Lee (Adviser Joanne Wang) won the graduate student category of the poster competition in the Drug Metabolism Division. Her poster was from a study in our Obstetric-F... Read more...

Posted: January 9, 2014

New Research Institute Co-Director is Affiliate Faculty

The Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research has hired Gary Lyman to serve as the institute's co-director. Lyman is also an affiliate faculty member in our Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy Program (as is the institute's co-director Scott Ramsey). The Daily article The Business Journal article

Link to Department of... Read more...

Posted: January 9, 2014

Diabetes-Education Project Honored for Community Impact

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At the UW Medical Center Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute event on January 16th, a UW School of Pharmacy project will receive a Community Volunteer Recognition Award. The award-winning project is a diabetes-education program for homeless and low-income populations at UW Medicine Harborview Medical Center. It h... Read more...

Posted: December 12, 2013

Sullivan Shares Expertise with Maryland Students

The University of Maryland's International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research student chapter recently hosted a lecture by Sean Sullivan. In it, he gave a behind-the-scenes look at the steps involved in making an economic evaluation of pharmaceuticals. Read more.

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Posted: December 9, 2013

Professor Emeritus Gets Lifetime Achievement Award

The American Epilepsy Society (AES) has announced that Rene Levy, professor and chair emeritus of our Department of Pharmaceutics, will receive the William G. Lennox—Cesare T. Lombroso Award during this week's AES 67th annual meeting and scientific conference in Washington, D.C. Levy is a pharmaceutical chemist and the developer and director ... Read more...

Posted: December 2, 2013

Report Profiles Student Scholarship Recipient

The UW Report to Contributors features a story about fourth-year pharmacy student Blaze Paracuelles. In the piece, Paracuelles talks about why he chose pharmacy, what he hopes to do in his career and what scholarship support means to him.

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Posted: December 2, 2013

Bracken Family Expands Legacy with Scholarship

L.D. Bracken, a UW School of Pharmacy alumnus, was the original creator of the Blistex ointment. The School of Pharmacy has long benefitted from the generosity of L.D. and his family over the years, as noted in this UW Report to Contributors story.

Click here for an archive of School of Pharmacy news stories.... Read more...

Posted: November 19, 2013

A Closer Look: Q&A with Jashvant Unadkat

In this Q&A, Professor of Pharmaceutics Unadkat discusses his new National Institute on Drug Abuse grant and its goals of making treatment and medications safer for pregnant women. Read more.

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news... Read more...

Posted: November 7, 2013

UW Faculty, Alums Receive Awards for Innovation

This past weekend at its annual meeting, the Washington State Pharmacy Association (WSPA) announced its 2013 award winners — all of whom are individuals who demonstrate a commitment to the quality of patient care. Among this year's honorees were UW School of Pharmacy faculty members Andy Stergachis and Ryan Hansen and clinical faculty member... Read more...

Posted: November 4, 2013

Faculty Members Receive $1.9 Million Grant to Study Personalized Medicine Print

Many healthcare and research experts predict that the era of personalized medicine is fast approaching. Soon, individual patients could have their entire genome sequenced as part of routine doctor's visits. Patients could face the possibility of receiving tens or even hundreds of genomic results with important clinical ramifications — from su... Read more...

Posted: October 30, 2013

Understanding Methadone Treatment in Pregnancy

Clinical Professor Michaelene "Micki" Kedzierski was interviewed for this radio story about how women who struggle with addiction can best ensure they have a stabilized pregnancy. Read more.

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Posted: October 25, 2013

Working Together Across Healthcare Settings

In the Foundations of Interprofessional Practice curriculum, health sciences students are working together to solve real health challenges. Faculty member Jennifer Danielson is quoted in this article. Read more.

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Posted: October 21, 2013

IPSF Welcomes Another Exchange Student

Finnish pharmacy student Arto Heinonen poses in the front of this photo,
which was taken during a social event with UW students this past summer.
This past spring and summer, our School's chapter of the International Pharmaceutical Students' Federation welcomed another exchange student. Arto Heinonen came to the UW School of Pharmacy from the U... Read more...

Posted: October 15, 2013

Initiative Increases Focus on Collaborative Healthcare

The six UW health sciences schools have formed a new interprofessional education initiative to improve the teaching and delivery of healthcare across disciplines—using a team-based approach to make health care more efficient and effective. Read more.

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Posted: October 8, 2013

Grant to Study Drug Disposition in Pregnancy

A new, $4.7 million NIH grant will study how certain drugs are absorbed, distributed, metabolized and excreted in the body among pregnant women and their babies. Professor of Pharmaceutics Jashvant Unadkat is the principle investigator. Read more in the 'Puget Sound Business Journal' or 'UW Today.'

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news
... Read more...

Posted: September 2, 2013

‘Columns’ Faculty Profile: Professor Shiu-Lok Hu

The September issue of 'Columns,' the UW alumni magazine, profiles faculty member Shiu-Lok Hu. He is part of an international network of scientists dedicated to bringing promising new HIV vaccine candidates to clinical trials.... Read more...

Posted: August 29, 2013

Garrison Contributes to ‘Value in Health’ Report

Lou Garrison, assistant director of the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research & Policy Program (PORPP), co-chaired a task force whose new report makes recommendations for implementing and evaluating schemes that pay for health outcomes achieved. Read more.

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Posted: July 24, 2013

Grad Student’s Research in Uganda Gets Boost

PORPP Affiliate Professor Andy Stergachis and his wife, JoAnn, have create the Stergachis Endowed Fellowship for International Exchange in the School of Public Health. The first recipient? PORPP graduate student Solomon Lubinga. Read more.

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Posted: July 18, 2013

Professor’s Startup Highlighted in UW Showcase

Professor of Pharmaceutics Rodney Ho's new startup, Nova TheraNostics, has developed a brighter, longer lasting and safer MRI contrast agent. It is among 17 companies that the UW launched this fiscal year. Read more in 'UW Today' and the 'Seattle Times.'

Link to Pharmaceutics archived news... Read more...

Posted: July 11, 2013

Garrison Contributes to Report on State of Personalized Medicine

LONDON, UK, July 12, 2013 — The development of personalized medicine in the United Kingdom and internationally is being thwarted by regulation and pricing systems that are not set up to enable its widespread adoption, according to a new report — "Realizing the Potential of Stratified Medicine" — from the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS),... Read more...

Posted: June 26, 2013

Students Get Certified in Tuberculosis Screening

Screening for TB is one of the best tools to prevent the disease and its spread. Pharmacists throughout the region and state have been increasing their TB screening efforts. Our School and its students are part of those efforts. Read more.

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Posted: June 5, 2013

PORPP Grad Students Named Global Health Fellows

Graduate students Solomon Lubinga and Marita Mann have received Thomas Francis, Jr., Global Health Fellowships from the UW Department of Global Health. Francis Fellowships provide financial assistance to graduate students who would like to gain practical global health field experience in international settings. Read more.

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Posted: June 3, 2013

A Prescription for Healthy Aging

'Columns' magazine, in its UW Foundation section, profiles PharmD student Laura Hart. The piece highlights the role that Professor Emeritus Joy Plein and the Plein Endowment have played in supporting Laura's impressive work in geriatric pharmacy.

Link to Department of Pharmacy archived news... Read more...

Posted: June 3, 2013

A Conversation with the Border-to-Border Founder

'Columns,' the UW alumni magazine, interviewed Patrick Gallaher, '95, founder of the School of Pharmacy's Border-to-Border relay race that since 1995 has raised money for cancer research in honor of his late father.
Link to Department of Pharmacy archived news... Read more...

Posted: May 23, 2013

Student on Winning Team for Business Plan Contest

PharmD/PhD student in medicinal chemistry Nick Au was recently part of a team of UW grad students to take the Best Innovation Idea prize in the UW Business Plan Competition. Their plan? To start a company to develop a "smart" polymer contact lens to provide an alternative delivery platform for people with diabetes. Read more.

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