2016 News

Do tobacco cessation interventions provided during substance abuse treatment help tobacco users to quit? This question was recently addressed in a new systematic review, published on November 23 in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. This Cochrane Review was conceived and prepared by Dorie Apollonio, PhD, MPP, a faculty member in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, and co-authored by Lisa Bero, PhD, a volunteer faculty member in the department.
Mother and daughter on steps, laughing
When Megan Lau donned her white coat with fellow student pharmacists in the incoming class of 2020 last week, it was more than your standard rite of professional passage.
Kim and King
The 126 students of the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s class of 2020 donned their white coats for the first time on October 14, 2016, in an afternoon ceremony that symbolized their entry into the profession. The first-year student pharmacists were joined at Cole Hall on the Parnassus campus by a packed house of family and friends, as well as by distinguished School partners, alumni, and faculty,who served as “coaters” on stage.
Aweeka
Fran Aweeka, PharmD, will receive renewed funding for her grant from the National Institutes of Health for evaluating the pharmacology of antimalarial drugs in children in Africa. This is a renewal of her R01 on this important work, and will provide five years of funding for Aweeka and her colleagues at Yale and in Uganda.
Bourdet
Sharya Bourdet, PharmD, BCPS, a volunteer faculty member in the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Clinical Pharmacy, has been named a new member of the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators (AME). She will be inducted, along with 14 UCSF colleagues, at a welcoming ceremony on September 19, 2016 on the UCSF Parnassus campus.
malaria distribution map
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to a billion people and to overlapping health burdens, including the world’s highest rates of both malaria and HIV infection.
Golahi and Fang
UCSF student pharmacists Stephanie Golahi and Michelle Fang, both class of 2019, took first place in Division I of the 2016 Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA)/Kroger Clinical Skills Competition held in Atlanta in late July.
Adler
It was fortuitous that David Adler, PharmD ’70, began his studies at the UCSF School of Pharmacy in the fall of 1966, precisely when UCSF Medical Center’s Ninth Floor Project went into action. That project’s unprecedented placement of pharmacists on a UCSF hospital ward—providing their drug expertise directly to physicians, nurses, and patients—pioneered a radically new clinical role.
Ambrose
The UCSF School of Pharmacy community mourns the passing of Peter Ambrose, PharmD ’80, an esteemed faculty member in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy.
Vogt
Over the past five years, School of Pharmacy faculty member Eleanor Vogt, PhD, RPh, has co-developed and implemented a program for hundreds of employees of the city and county of San Francisco that imparts tools to reduce stress and increase resiliency. The collaboration with the city started with workshops for municipal transportation and public utility workers, and has since expanded to include public health, human resources, arts, and library employees.
Stebbins
A growing body of evidence is showing that comprehensive medication management (CMM) can be an important component in reaching the so-called triple aim of health care reform:
Fulton
The 2016 Dean’s Innovation in Education Award was presented to Tracy Fulton, PhD, on Thursday during the School of Pharmacy faculty meeting on the Parnassus campus. A faculty member of the UCSF School of Medicine, Fulton was recognized for her excellence in bringing new educational approaches to the PharmD program’s first-year biochemistry course, which she teaches. The class focuses on human metabolism, its regulation, and how it goes awry in common metabolic diseases.
Guglielmo
Education: Evolving PharmD curriculum, Daniels Curriculum Awards; Collaborations and partnerships: pharmacy residency, UCSF/Haas MD/PhD startup marketplace; Patient care: SB 493 update; Faculty honors: Benet, Abate, Craik, Wells, Kroon, Corelli, Hudmon, Bourdet, Fischbach; Research publications: genetic testing, pharmacogenomics, cancer, computational tools and modeling (Phillips, Shin, Altschuler and Wu, Sali, Savic); Research funding: Top in NIH funding, protein design, specialty drugs (Kortem
Rifkind
Studies of pharmacogenetics testing of pharmacy students as a teaching tool, an improved system to resolve medication issues after patients go home from the hospital, and the prophylactic use of an antiseizure drug for brain surgery patients took top honors at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy 18th Annual Spring Research Seminar.
Stebbins and Cocohoba
So-called specialty drugs can represent lifesaving advances in the treatment of serious complex conditions, such as cancers, hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. They can turn once routinely lethal diseases such as HIV and cystic fibrosis into manageable chronic conditions. They can address rare genetic conditions, such as hemophilia, or suppress immune rejection after organ transplants.
Dong
Betty J. Dong, PharmD, FCCP, FASHP, AAHIVP, FAPhA, professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the UCSF School of Pharmacy, has been honored with the 2016 PPSI/Stan Hartman Distinguished Person of the Year Award by Pharmacists Planning Service, Inc.
Lightwood
A new study lead-authored by UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member James Lightwood, PhD, has found that reducing smoking cuts health care spending, not just in the long- or immediate-term, but the very next year. For example, the analysis found that a 10 percent decline in smoking in the United States would be followed by an expected $63 billion reduction (in 2012 U.S. dollars) in national health care spending the following year.
graduates take selfie
The UCSF School of Pharmacy held its 2016 commencement on May 5 at Louise Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, conferring the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree on each of the 115 members of the graduating class.
research notes
Predicting difficult-to-detect drug binding sites Most drugs are comprised of small molecules that pass through cell membranes and are designed to bind to much larger protein molecules at exposed concave pockets. But in many disease-associated proteins, these binding sites are difficult to detect. Concave pockets may form only in the immediate presence of small molecules that bind to them (natural ligands or drugs) or are open only for brief periods during protein shape-shifting.
Student grout
The annual UCSF School of Pharmacy Student Awards and Recognition Dinner, hosted by Dean B. Joseph Guglielmo, PharmD, and sponsored by Ralph’s Inc., was held on Friday, April 29, 2016, at UCSF’s Mission Bay campus. The event honored dozens of students whose excellence and leadership were recognized with scholarships and awards at the campus, state, and national levels. The following is a brief selection from the evening’s presentations. Leon Levy and Family Scholarship
Savic, Altschuler, Wu, Phillips.
Computer models provide optimal dosing for pediatric TB meningitis
Hudmon, Corelli, Schweitzer
Three UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty members have received national honors for health sciences education this spring.
Guglielmo
Learning how to solve problems and think critically—using course content as the vehicle to apply these skills—is one evolving goal of the UCSF School of Pharmacy doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum, according to the School’s dean, B. Joseph Guglielmo PharmD, in an interview posted April 12, 2016, in Pharmacy Times.
NIH rank graphic
For the 36th consecutive year, the UCSF School of Pharmacy has received more funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than any other pharmacy school in the United States. School researchers were awarded $27 million during NIH’s 2015 fiscal year, from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. Rankings of schools are compiled by the independent Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research based on the most current NIH data.
Krogan
UC San Francisco today announced the establishment of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI). The mission of QBI, located in Byers Hall on the UCSF Mission Bay campus, is to drive forward the application of computation, mathematics, and statistics toward a deeper understanding of complex problems in biology, with the ultimate goal of developing new treatments for disease.
Pharmacy students
The UCSF School of Pharmacy’s doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program is among the top-ranked programs in the 2017 U.S. News and World Report survey of accredited PharmD programs released on March 15, 2016.
Troy C. Daniels
The Troy C. Daniels Curricular Innovation Awards provide funds in 2016 to support the evolution of the UCSF School of Pharmacy doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum to prepare leaders for a changing health care marketplace. The award and its endowment honor Troy C. Daniels, PhD, who served as dean of the School from 1944 to 1967. Dean Daniels led bold revisions of the pharmacy curriculum during his tenure and was committed to continuous curriculum improvement.
Koda-Kimble
The Mary Anne Koda-Kimble Seed Award for Innovation funds “truly innovative projects” by faculty, staff, and students that “have the potential to move forward the mission of the UCSF School of Pharmacy in new ways.” The award was established in 2012 to honor Dean Emeritus Koda-Kimble upon her retirement and to reflect her support for new directions in science, education, and patient care.
Kroon.
Lisa Kroon, PharmD, chair of the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Clinical Pharmacy, has been named a Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APhA-APPM). The selection honors APhA Academy members for exemplary professional achievements and service to the profession through activities with APhA and other organizations. Kroon will be officially recognized at the APhA Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD, March 4–7, 2016.
Benet
UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member Leslie Benet, PhD, has been named the 2016 recipient of the Remington Honor Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). He will be officially recognized during the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Baltimore, MD, March 4–7, 2016.
Youmans and Navarro
The UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach (ODO) celebrated its five-year anniversary on Friday, January 15, 2016 with a ceremony at the Millberry Union Event & Meeting Center on the Parnassus campus, honoring six campus leaders who were instrumental in the development of the office. Included among those ODO champions was UCSF School of Pharmacy Vice Dean Sharon L. Youmans, PharmD, MPH, who oversees the School’s education and diversity initiatives.