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.
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[/one_third][two_third_last]Adrian Hughes (Class of 2015)Fellowship Adrian Hughes-150×150 was awarded the Thomas Francis, Jr., Global Health Fellowship and will be working with Andy Stergachis, PhD, BPharm, in Namibia. After starting her career in HIV vaccine research, Adrian pursued pharmacy as a unique opportunity to merge her love of biochemistry and molecular biology with direct patient care. Her project seeks to determine the feasibility of establishing a pregnancy-exposure registry for women on anti-retroviral therapy in Namibia, a critical way to [/two_third_last]gather data on the safety of these important and effective medications in a vulnerable population. She seeks to develop her skills in qualitative research through this fellowship, with the ultimate goal of working globally to promote the unique skills contained in the profession of pharmacy to improve the safe and effective use of medications worldwide. In addition, Adrian was appointed APhA-ASP National Contact Person for the International Standing Committee for the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation. She will travel to the IPSF World Congress in Porto, Portugal as an official delegate from APhA-ASP this summer.
[two_third]Ryan Seguin was this year’s winner of the Magnuson Scholar for the School of Pharmacy. Seguin, a candidate from the PhD program in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the UW while working part-time in a commercial analytical laboratory. He participates in science outreach and advocacy to the community and hopes that “my research will lead to
the discovery of novel therapeutics or unveil the basis for enigmatic health disorders [/two_third][one_third_last] 
[/one_third_last]with little or no treatment options available. The main driving force is always to improve health and quality of life for others either directly through development of such treatment options or indirectly by enhancing our understanding of drugtargets, design, and metabolism.” In addition to his career goal of directing his own research in academic or industry, Seguin plans to continue teaching, mentoring and spreading knowledge and enthusiasm for science.
PharmD student, Kelsey Rasmussen, is part of a team awarded a grant for Interprofessional Education (IPE). Kelsey is working with students from other health sciences schools study people who frequently use the emergency room (ER). By following them for 6 months, the team expects to find out some of the reasons why they use the ER and help identify solutions through this comprehensive study. Read more.
UW Pharmacy was well represented at the annual International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Conference in Montreal in June. Two students, Katie Gries and Kai Yeung, gave podium presentations. Kai Yeung won an award for Best Student Podium Session! A half dozen students presented posters: Preeti Bajaj, Amy Cizik, Richard Kim, Meng Li, Marita Mann, Sara Forrester, and Tracy Yep. Tracy Yep and Sara Forrester’s posters were finalists for Best Poster. Laura Hart ’14 and David Yiu ’16 were awarded “Best Student Poster” at the Northwest Pharmacy Convention.
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[/two_third] [one_third_last] Hart and Yiu presented a poster on impact of consultant pharmacist services in two local retirement communities and resident awareness of UW Pharmacy Cares services. Their poster was presented alongside a number of other outstanding student submissions, including one presented by the UPPOW Medication Safety Team.[/one_third_last]
We would like to extend hearty congratulations to the UW Institute for Healthcare Improvement-Open School Clarion Team on winning first place at the National Clarion Competition! The team (Huong Le, Third Year PharmDc, Nicole Kim MDc/MPHc, Juan Magana MDc/MHAc, and Eric Sid MDc/MHAc) worked incredibly hard over the past few months to be selected as the UW team and to prepare for this case! “They were outstanding today and I am very confident in the future of health care based on their performance,” praised Dr. Brenda Zierler. We thank Dr. Zierler from the School of Nursing for serving as their faculty advisor.
The UW Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy local team was selected as finalists and competed in the P&T Competition in Tampa, Florida at the Annual Meeting and Expo in early April Shirley So, Hong Ho and Shirley Chong (all Class of 2015) competed.
PharmD students must pass an exam on pharmacy law called the Multistate Pharmacy Jursipurdence Exam (MPJE). To make the course more engaging and relevant to our future pharmacists, Professor Tom Hazlet has them research a section of the law that isn’t working and go through an analytical process to propose a policy that works. Students present their findings to the Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission (PQAC), gaining real-world experience in advocacy and policy. In some cases, the student findings are enacted. In one case, the students filed a comment to the Federal Register. This year’s projects included Tramadol rescheduling, incentive coupons, Medicare access to PMP, Cost of compliance with USP <797> from two perspectives, drug description on prescription labels, Naloxone access, and collaborative practice agreements. Walgreens Bandaid-200×172
The new UW student chapter of Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) focuses on aiding underprivileged and minority groups. UW chapter founding president, Tope Osiyemi, was elected for a national position last year and was coordinating the West Coast schools. The group was able to secure funding from Target Stores to help the chapter with outreach activities. In early April, the group also participated in the Diabetes Expo at the Seattle Convention Center. Participants received training, sponsored in part by Walgreens. Follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/uw.snpha.
The UW School of Pharmacy students received first runner-up in the AA Chapter Achievement Competition at the American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting in Orlando! Several programs were specifically mentioned including: Project CHANCE for its work on the Department of Health and Human Services Million Hearts Initiative; the Script Your Future video on medication adherence; and the collaboration with Seattle-King County Public Health on emergency preparedness. [one_half]
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At the UW Medical Center Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute event earlier this year, the UW School of Pharmacy Project CHANCE team received a Community Volunteer Recognition Award for their diabetes-education program for homeless and low-income populations. Led by pharmacy students Paige Mathew, John Eckstrom and Steve Erickson the group is advised by pharmacy faculty members Nanci Murphy, Skye McKennon DeCato, [/one_half_last]and multiple community partners. Project CHANCE awards help fund projects that work to promote safe medication practices and interprofessional collaboration and delivery of services to the underserved.
Congratulations to all our students for their outstanding achievements this Academic Year! Have a great summer and we’ll see those of you who are not graduating in the Fall!