ALUMNI NEWS
Kudos
Samantha (Keca) Mathews, PharmD 2012, won the Paragon Award at the Annual CVS Retail Leadership Conference held in Orlando, Florida. Nicole Avant, PharmD 2012, was highlighted in the October issue of Pharmacy Today. “A Minute With Nicole Avant” outlined her professional history and thoughts on her career. Deneita (Bratton) Brown, PharmD 1998, celebrated 17 years of service with the Adam Benjamin Jr./ Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic in Crown Point, Indiana.
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Jennifer Chan Marcelo, PharmD 2009, married Eugene Kim on September 25 at Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado. The couple honeymooned in Hawaii. Dana Bogolin, PharmD 2011, married Scott Chlodzinski on September 17. (NO PHOTO) Michelle Bryson, PharmD 2011, got engaged to Bradley Opfermann on December 17. (NO PHOTO)
Brennan Ertmer, PharmD 2011, got engaged to Kari Luce on December 27. (NO PHOTO) Holly Heckert, PharmD 2014, married Nick Zupec, PharmD 2012, on October 8. (NO PHOTO)
Kaitlyn Kalata, PharmD 2015, married Jason Acosta on October 1. (NO PHOTO) Alina Meile, PharmD 2010, got engaged to Paco Dimas on December 1. Alina and Paco also purchased their first home. (NO PHOTO) Evana Robbani, PharmD 2014, got engaged to Sanim Chowdhury on September 5. (NO PHOTO) Nishant Thakar, PharmD 2012, married Subrata on April 23. (NO PHOTO)
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SUMMER 2017
Julie (Bucek) Cabrera, PharmD 2015, has accepted a new position as the Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Anticoagulation at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois. Cassandra Clement, PharmD 2012, was published in the November issue of Federal Practitioner. “Who Overdoses at a VA Emergency Department? Pharmacists examine the clinical characteristics of veterans admitted to the emergency department who were treated for opioid overdose in order to improve prevention efforts and possibly lower the death rate.” The article was co-authored by Christopher Stock, PharmD, BCPP. Sarah Cotner, PharmD 2015, passed the Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) exam and is now a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist.
Mike Harris, BS 1970, retired from 45+ years in retail pharmacy. He still holds Board of Directors rolls at the Rotary Club of Monticello and Piatt County Mental Health Unit. Mike also serves as a part-time relief pharmacist at Walgreens and is a tax professional, accountant, at Kelly’s Accounting Service in Monticello. Samantha Landolfa, PharmD 2015, passed the Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) exam and is now a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist. Morgan Michalek, PharmD 2014, is now the Medical Communications Expert, Global Medical Communications – Ophthalmics at Shire. Ester Moon, PharmD 2014, is now a Clinical Pharmacist at VA Northern California Health Care System. Colleen Murray, PharmD 2012, recently moved to New York and is now an Emergency Department Clinical Pharmacist Specialist at Myckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn. Reena Patel, PharmD 2016, has a new position as Clinical Pharmacist – Prior Authorization at UnitedHealth Group – OptumRx.
Wesley Serafin, BS 1973, retired after 20 years as an independent pharmacist, 22 years as Pharmacy Manager for Walgreens. Sophie Wimberley, PharmD 1998, has a new position at Merck as the Director of Global Medical Affairs – Oncology. Yang Yang, PhD 2013, is now the Product Quality Research Scientist & Reviewer at the FDA. Patrick Zueger, PharmD 2013, has been named a Paul D. Doolen Graduate Scholar for the Study of Aging. Patrick is one of only two awardees in the University of Illinois System for 2016-2017. The objective of the Doolen Scholarship is to facilitate the study of aging by providing scholarships to two outstanding graduate students. These scholarships are made possible by an endowment from the Retirement Research Foundation to honor the late Mr. Paul D. Doolen, a long-time member of the University of Illinois Foundation Board of Directors. Daphne Smith Marsh, PharmD 1997, passed the Board Certified Advanced Clinical Diabetes Management exam.
