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University & Alumni News
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Creighton University School of Pharmacy
Amy Wilson, PharmD
Interim Dean, Creighton University SOP
The Creighton University Health Sciences Campus – Phoenix opened its doors in August 2021, welcoming students across multiple health science disciplines. The seven-story, 195,000-square-foot building is home to future pharmacists, as well as occupational therapists, nurses, and doctors. In fall 2022, the campus will welcome its first class of physical therapists, and the physician assistant program will begin in fall 2023. With this new campus, Creighton becomes the largest Catholic health professions educator in the country. Amy Friedman Wilson, PharmD, interim dean of the Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professions, says the campus presents an opportunity for Creighton health sciences to have a positive impact on the Phoenix health care market. “The portfolio of high-quality health care education that Creighton offers will provide the people of Arizona, and the health care systems, access to competent, compassionate professionals to meet the needs of the growing Phoenix landscape,” Wilson says. The Phoenix pharmacy pathway offers students a low residency approach to learning in which they are on campus for hands-on, abilities and lab-based learning with the didactic portion taught online.
Creighton was the first university in the U.S. to offer an online Doctor of Pharmacy program, and since the program launched in 2001, has remained on the leading edge of distance pharmacy education. Pharmacy students in Phoenix will benefit from this innovative learning technology. PharmD students also have access to numerous opportunities to get involved, locally and globally, with health promotion initiatives and scholarly presentations, publications and grant acquisitions.
Rick G. Schnellmann, PhD
Dean, University of Arizona COP—Tucson
R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy Climbs to No. 6 in Blue Ridge Rankings of NIH Funding
The University of Arizona Health Sciences received more than $133 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in 2020–2021, with several colleges showing improvements in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research national rankings, released in mid-February. The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research is a nonprofit organization that ranks U.S. medical schools by NIH grant awards each year. The NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. NIH-funded research has led to breakthroughs and new treatments helping people live longer, healthier lives, and building the research foundation that drives discovery. From Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021, the UArizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy advanced its ranking to No. 6 with $13.8 million in NIH funding. Last year, the college checked in at No. 8 with $10 million in funding. Some of the Coit College of Pharmacy’s largest NIH grants were received by Jeannie Lee, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, FASHP, assistant dean for student services and associate professor whose NIH-funded projects are focused on improving hypertension medication
“Our project is focused on developing and testing a digital therapeutic intervention to improve hypertension medication adherence for older adults.” Jeannie Lee, PharmD adherence in older adults, Hongmin Li, PhD, who holds the R. Ken and Donna Coit Endowed Chair in Drug Discovery and is working to identify new therapeutic targets for several diseases including those caused by flaviviruses, including West Nile, Zika and yellow fever, and Haining Zhu, PhD, who holds the R. Ken and Donna Coit Endowed Chair in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease, is working to better understand the molecular mechanisms for neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other diseases such as cancer. “Hypertension is the most prevalent chronic disease among older Americans,” said Dr. Lee. “While medications are remarkably effective in reducing negative outcomes of uncontrolled hypertension, medication adherence rate is only about 50% with hypertension control in older adults only around 53%. Proper adherence to hypertension medications can yield major reductions in heart failure and stroke, and preserve cognitive function. Our project is focused on developing and testing a digital therapeutic intervention to improve hypertension medication adherence for older adults.” continued on page 35
Midwestern University College of Pharmacy
Mitchell R. Emerson, PhD
Dean, Midwestern University CPG
Greetings from the Midwestern University College of Pharmacy. 2022 is starting off busy, but our faculty and students continue to shine. We’re embracing the moments of normalcy and are happy to share that in late January we hosted our first in-person College of Pharmacy Alumni and Student mentoring reception. Alumni from various backgrounds and a variety of class years joined current students on campus and shared an evening of mentoring and networking. Being able to safely bring our community together was extremely meaningful to everyone. We’re looking to the future and looking forward to hosting additional events.
In April, Dr. Suzanne Larson, Midwestern University and Dr. Janet Cooley, The University of Arizona will join together and host a Continued Education program where attendees will receive one free hour of CE. The duo will share ideas about technology on rotations- tools for both in person and remote learning. If you’re interested in more details, please reach out to Kimberly Hastings, Manager of Alumni Relations for Midwestern University at KHastings@midwestern.edu In June, the program will welcome the newest class of Pharmacy students, the class of 2025. We’re looking forward to welcoming them with open arms and get their journey started. Also in June, please stop by the Midwestern University Alumni and Friends Dessert Reception. This event will be the first time in two year’s we’ve hosted at the AZPA Annual Convention. The event is being planned for Friday, June 17th. As always, we’ll have plenty of sweet treats and plenty of time to catch up with everyone. We are looking forward to catching up with all of you and connecting at a future event. To follow us and learn more about our events and wins, join the CPG social media community:
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