Rising Stars Lessons from the Field classes, the unfortunate reality is that students between the Chicago and Rockford campuses have limited opportunities to build relationships with each other. As a student at the Chicago campus— more than I ever did during the school year—I had the chance to talk with my student colleagues from Rockford who also attended the aforementioned professional events. For me, these events broke down the silos between our campuses. I believe UIC COP has a chance to build on its exceptional research and clinical foundation and better integrate an emphasis on professional development into its curriculum—a curriculum which must evolve as fast as the profession, especially amidst the unprecedented competition new doctor of pharmacy graduates must now face in this economy. I now have the honor and responsibility of serving
If we do not learn to be more than students while in school, we will not learn to be more than pharmacists in practice. as the Pharmacy Student Council President, and I intend to do all that I can to promote professionalism among my student pharmacist colleagues during my tenure. If we do not learn to be more than students while in school, we will not learn to be more than pharmacists in practice. If you the reader are practicing in any capacity in the pharmacy profession (and especially a UIC alumnus), whether you agree or disagree with my views, I wholeheartedly invite your comments. Please e-mail me at jkrueg3@uic.edu. I also encourage you to contact UIC COP faculty and staff with any ideas you have to further promote professionalism in our PharmD program. My classmates and I are not looking for new ways to skip class; we are looking for new ways to become better pharmacists.
14 | UIC Pharmacist | Winter 2013 | pharmalumni.uic.edu
Bernard Hsu, P2, shares a valuable experience in practical learning by Bernard Hsu In the purest sense, to engineer means to design. Drawing upon principles of basic sciences, engineers leverage their capabilities to create new and innovative technology to improve the life of people. Pharmacists are the only healthcare professionals with extensive knowledge of the chemistry, biology, and pharmacology of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Applying these basic sciences, pharmacists can design a formulation and drug delivery system based upon properties of the APIs. These drugs ultimately improve quality of life. Without a doubt, pharmacists are the engineers of the healthcare world, and this was never more apparent than at the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering’s (ISPE) Eli Lilly Training Conference and Tour, hosted at Lilly’s Manufacturing and Quality Learning Center (MQLC) in Indianapolis, Indiana, this past September. Fifteen UIC COP students attended, along with students from University of Akron, Purdue University, and the University of Kentucky. The conference began with an introductory lecture: “An Overview of the Drug Life Cycle.” It was immediately apparent during this lecture that the UIC College of Pharmacy is preparing us to be successful pharmacists. Eli Lilly and Company is one of seven companies in the United States, more than 100 years old, retaining its name since it was founded. The presentation began with a high-level overview of pharmaceutical delivery. The presenters emphasized a key term, “FIP Net”—fully integrated pharmaceutical network. In order for the pharmaceutical industry to expand, it must draw upon the diverse experiences and training from its personnel, and the students in attendance were a prime example of this collaboration. We then took a shuttle to Lilly’s main manufacturing facility where we saw the manufacturing line for Humulin and Humalog insulin. Lilly was the first company to produce insulin from recombinant DNA in the early 1980s. Many students were astonished by the realization that the world’s supply of Eli Lilly insulin was being produced continuously at this site, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. A key concept appeared at this point in the tour that will ring true with all pharmacists—any time product is not being produced on the line, both the cost of the unproduced product and the lost time which could have been used to produce product, must be considered. Considering 300 vials of Humalog are produced per minute on the line, any interruption in the process could easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The second day of the conference included several topics that are currently covered in our curriculum: genetic engineering,