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 Don Downing was honored with the 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award by UW Health Sciences for his commitment to service. The awards are given to students, faculty or staff in each Health Sciences school to honor Dr. King’s commitment to addressing community needs. Don “embodies a service attitude for his students and his peers, encouraging everyone to become involved to improve access to services for those who are less fortunate,” the presenter noted. Don began his career as a pharmacist in tribal health care here in Washington and continues to give time on weekends and evenings to numerous community-based health fairs. In addition, he developed the nation’s first pharmacist-provided flu shots, vaccines, and emergency contraception programs, pharmacist-initiated ongoing hormonal contraception services, and most recently was a key advocate for patients gaining increased access to pharmacists as members of their health care team.
ITHS announce KL2 Scholar award winner from MedChem
Eri Nakatani-Webster, PhD, a research associate in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, has been named to the 2016 cohort of KL2 Scholars. The Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) KL2 Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career Development Program, funded by the NIH, provides the time, funding, and rigorous mentorship necessary to foster the early career development of clinical and translational researchers. The ITHS KL2 program is a multidisciplinary program, up to three years in length, tailored to the research and career development needs of each scholar. Investigators are trained in-depth in a specific area of research, while also gaining knowledge of the full spectrum of clinical research. Nakatani-Webster’s research project is, “Staphylococcus aureus biofilm regulation from a protein folding perspective: exploring amyloid disruption as a novel therapeutic strategy.”
Students and faculty shine at Washington State Pharmacy Association (WSPA) award ceremony
UWSOP was very well represented at this year’s WSPA Award Ceremony. Congratulations to our alumni and faculty winners including:
Gregory Hovander, ’72, RPh – The Bowl of Hygeia Award recognizes an exemplary pharmacist who has made outstanding contributions in the area of community service. In the mid-1970s, Greg started the first Class A pharmacy and implemented clinical pharmacy services for the Farm Workers Family Health Center in Toppenish, Washington. He also served as the chair of the first task force considering prescriptive authority for pharmacists. Greg continues his 43-year career as a pharmacist as the sole proprietor of Sultan Pharmacy & Natural Care, which specializes in natural, dietary, and self-care in conjunction with medical care.
Glenn Adams, ’97, ’98, PharmD – The Pharmacist of the Year Award honors a pharmacist who possesses qualities of excellence in routine practice and association activities, is an exemplary role model and who has contributed to the service and skill of WSPA during the past year. Glenn has been an outspoken advocate for pharmacists and was involved in pharmacy rules and legislation to ensure pharmacists can continue to provide high quality care to patients and the community.
Steven Erikson, ’72, ’94, PharmD – The Bill Mueller Outstanding Mentor Award recognizes a pharmacist or technician who has been an outstanding mentor in the field of pharmacy. Steven worked collaboratively with colleagues to establish a clinically focused community pharmacy in Monroe, Washington, where he has practiced for the past 34 years. He was one of the first pharmacists in the state of Washington to practice under a collaborative practice agreement. His pharmacy has been a community residency site for UWSOP students since the late 1980s and is now the longest continuously operating pharmacy residency program in the country.
Sean D. Sullivan, BScPharm, PhD, Dean and Professor, UWSOP – The David Almquist Award recognizes outstanding work in the endeavors of WSPA and the community in general. In addition to his career as professor and dean at UWSOP, Sean has been a strong advocate for the WSPA and demonstrated his support in efforts such as SB5557 and multiple WSPA events, including its annual scholarship fundraiser.
Don Downing, ’75, RPh, I2P2 Endowed Clinical Professor, UWSOP – The Rodney D. Shafer Award acknowledges a pharmacy professional who has made pioneering and sustaining contributions to the profession. Don has long advocated for pharmacists as covered providers to increase patient access to care. In June 2015, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) recognized his role in this effort here in Washington state and named him a Pharmacists Provide Care Champion.
Sheila Shapouri, UWSOP PY4 – The Pharmacy Student of the Year recognizes a student member who made consistent, sustained and outstanding contributions toward the growth and development of pharmacy student participation on both a local and state level. Sheila has been very active in UWSOP and WSPA student groups, including serving as the Student Director on the WSPA Board of Directors and the UWSOP Dean’s Student Experience Advisory Committee. Her extensive involvement in community outreach and student organizations has inspired her peers to go beyond the classroom.
Steve Singer, ’81, RPh – The Generation Rx Champions Award recognizes a pharmacist who has demonstrated excellence in community-based prescription drug abuse prevention. Steve is actively involved in the pharmacy community, serving on advisory panels and as a member of the WSPA Board of Directors. Steve is an advocate for pharmacists and their role in Opioid Overdose Rescue and will assist any trained pharmacist in obtaining a CDTA for Opioid Overdose Rescue.
American Society for Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Award
ASHP Chapter President Nick Larned won the Outstanding Professional Development Project Award at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in New Orleans. His poster showcases the chapter’s Multi-Institutional Shadowing Program utilizing 23 pharmacists from 6 organizations in the Seattle area. Fifty-six UW School of Pharmacy students traveled to New Orleans for the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting. Events included continuing education talks about advancing clinical practices, networking opportunities, and student development sessions. Our PY4 students Ashley Warcola and Hannah DeMeritt also competed nationally in the clinical skills competition on behalf of the UWSOP.
UWSOP grad students and post doc excel at ISSX
At the 20th North American ISSX meeting in Orlando, UWSOP graduate students won three of the six awards that ISSX presents to students, reflecting the high caliber of our post docs and graduate students’ research. UWSOP had four predoctoral abstracts selected–Marc Vrana, Jenny Sager, Michael Liao, and Vineet Kumar–one postdoc finalist, Li Wang, and a grad student podium presentation given by Gabriela Patilea-Vrana.
Marc Vrana (Prasad lab) won first place, the Best Presentation Award: Predoctoral Research, for his poster titled “Differential Tissue Expression of ADME Proteins in Humans.” Jenny Sager (Isoherranen lab) won second place in the predoctoral category for her poster titled, “New Metabolic Pathways of Bupropion in vivo Reveal an Important Role of CYP2C19 and 11B-HSD in Bupropion Clearance; CYP2B6 Contribution to Bupropion Clearance is Minor.”
In addition, two of our grad students were finalists for best poster: Michael Liao (Mao lab), “The differential roles of P-glycoprotein (mdr1) in limiting brain and fetal exposure to norbuprenorphine in pregnant mice” and Vineet Kumar (Unadkat lab), “Quantification of transporter expression in the plasma membrane vs. intracellular compartments using biotinylation and LC-MS/MS based proteomics.”
Li Wang (Unadkat lab) won was selected as a postdoctoral finalist and awarded third place in the Best Presentation category “Quantification of transporter expression in liver tissue from subjects with alcoholic or hepatitis C cirrhosis.”
Pharmaceutics grad student Gabriela Patilea-Vrana (Unadkat lab) was selected to give a podium presentation titled: “Importance of Hepatic Transporters in Understanding and Predicting Hepatobiliary Clearance And Hepatic Concentrations of Drugs: Introducing the Novel Concept of FTNET”
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