News and Events
2007 News Archive
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URI
appoints interim dean for College of Pharmacy
KINGSTON, R.I. – September 24, 2007 – The
University of Rhode Island has appointed Ronald P.
Jordan, an international pharmaceutical leader, as
interim dean of its College of Pharmacy and Raymond
Wright, a respected environmental engineering professor,
as interim dean of its College of Engineering.
Jordan, chair of the College of Pharmacy’s Leadership
Council and the former president of the American
Pharmacists Association, succeeds Donald Letendre, who
has accepted an appointment to become dean of the
University of Iowa’s Academic Health Services Center.
Jordan will start his term as interim dean Sept. 24, but
he joined the URI administration as
executive-in-residence Sept. 4 to ensure a smooth
transition.
“President Carothers and I have asked Ron to play a
leadership role in securing the major gifts necessary
for the completion of the new pharmacy building,” said
M. Beverly Swan, URI provost and vice president for
academic affairs, in a message to the URI community. “We
feel he is in an excellent position to help us with this
undertaking.”
Rhode Island voters passed a $65 million bond referendum
in 2006 for construction of a state-of-the-art facility
to house the URI College of Pharmacy.
Jordan is an entrepreneur who has been an executive in
several start-up companies in the pharmaceutical
industry during the last 18 years. He was president of
Drug Benefit Management Systems Inc., founder and senior
vice president of ExcelleRx Inc. (formerly Hospice
Pharmacia), senior vice president of PharmasMarket.com,
and president and chief executive officer of HCIdea,
LLC.
In 2002 he founded Healthation, LLC, which markets a
comprehensive benefit management system for all lines of
health care, and in 2006 he was recruited to serve as
chief operating officer of BidRx, LLC, to launch its
consumer electronic marketplace for prescription drugs.
As president of the American Pharmacists Association in
1998-99, the largest national professional society of
pharmacists in the world, Jordan led development of
e-business strategies and drove a new collaboration with
the chain drug industry. Jordan is also former president
of the Rhode Island Pharmacists Association.
A 1976 alumnus of URI, Jordan served on the board of the
National Council for Prescription Drug Programs and was
the 2006 recipient of the Norman A. Campbell Award for
Ethics and Excellence in Healthcare. He has won the
Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award, the Bowl of Hygeia
and the Guido Pettinichio Award from the Rhode Island
Pharmacists Association, and in 2006 he received the
Grand Council Citation and Award from Kappa Psi
Pharmaceutical Fraternity for “inspiring leadership and
appreciation for unselfish service to pharmacy and
pharmacy education.”
URI launches new program in pharmaceutical engineering
Unique program
developed with help of $75,000 gift from FOUGERA
KINGSTON, R.I. – July 12, 2007 – Students
interested in pursuing careers in the biopharmaceutical
industry have a unique new educational option at the
University of Rhode Island – one of the nation’s first
undergraduate programs in pharmaceutical engineering.
"URI is one of the few universities in the country to
offer both a pharmacy program and an engineering
program, which has enabled us to create this new track
within our chemical engineering major," explained Arijit
Bose, professor and chair of the URI Department of
Chemical Engineering, who has spearheaded development of
the program with Pharmacy Professor Clinton Chichester.
Bose noted that many chemical engineering students go to
work for biopharmaceutical companies like Amgen and
Pfizer after graduation, but they require additional
training about sterile work environments, FDA
regulations and other topics that are taught in the URI
College of Pharmacy. Students enrolled in the
pharmaceutical engineering track will now receive the
necessary training as part of their undergraduate
education.
Engineering students won’t be the only students to
benefit from the new program, however.
“Demand is very high for the 100 openings in our
pharmacy program each year, so now students interested
in pharmacy will have another educational option at URI
that will lead them to a career in the pharmaceutical
industry,” Chichester said.
The program was approved by the URI Faculty Senate in
April.
Freshmen may enroll in the pharmaceutical engineering
program beginning this fall. They will follow the
traditional chemical engineering curriculum but will
also take three pharmacy courses as well as a new
pharmaceutical engineering course that is now being
developed.
Click here to read the full article
URI alumnus awarded pharmacy’s highest honor
Media Contact: Linda A. Acciardo, 401-874-2116
KINGSTON, R.I. – June 6, 2007 – University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy alumnus Ernest Mario was awarded the Remington Honor Medal earlier this year. The award, administered by the American Pharmacists Association is the profession’s highest honor.
Named for eminent community pharmacist, manufacturer and educator Joseph P. Remington, the award was established in 1918 to recognize distinguished service and / or outstanding achievement on behalf of American pharmacy.
A recognized leader in the research-based pharmaceutical industry, Mario began his career in 1966 as a pharmacist and research scientist. He later moved into management, eventually serving as chief executive of Glaxo from 1989 to 1993. Under his stewardship, Glaxo launched five major new medicines and significantly increased its commitment to research. Mario then transformed drug delivery technology company Alza into a full-fledged pharmaceutical company that developed important new treatments and became part of Johnson & Johnson in 2001. Today he is chairman of both Reliant Pharmaceuticals of Liberty Corner, N.J., a developer of cardiovascular medicines, and Pharmaceutical Product Development of Wilmington, N.C., a leading provider of pharmaceutical research and technology services to industry and government worldwide.Mario’s sustained support of and active participation in major pharmacy, education and health care organizations reflects his personal commitment to the future of pharmacy, pharmaceutical education and the public health. He served as chairman of the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education Board for 15 years. Mario is still giving back to URI as well. In 1996 he donated $1.5 million to the URI College of Pharmacy to establish the Ernest Mario Distinguished Chair in Pharmaceutics
Click here to read the full article
URI
student takes unconventional route to pharmacy career
Media Contact: Dave Lavallee, 401-874-5862
KINGSTON, R.I. – May 10, 2007 -- After
commencement at the University of Rhode Island, many
pharmacy graduates will go on to work for corporations
like Walgreens, CVS, and Brooks. The soft-spoken Kate
Maxfield, however, will be entering Navy training at the
Officer Indoctrination School in Newport.
Maxfield, a 23-year-old pharmacy major from Pittsford,
Vt., is not ready to head back north just yet, and would
rather travel the world. The Navy was the perfect
opportunity, and her first duty station will be in
Bethesda, Md.
Maxfield transferred to URI after two years at St.
Michael’s College in her home state.
“I liked how URI set up its Pharmacy program,” Maxfield
said. “It’s hard to explain unless you’re a pharmacy
major, but the classes are set up differently. Each
class is organized around disease states and you learn
everything about that disease state all at once.”
During her first few years at the University, Maxfield
said she worked extensively. She has worked at CVS in
Coventry since she first moved to Rhode Island, and
still works there every other weekend on top of her
required pharmacy school rotations.
URI requires six, five-week clinical pharmacy rotations
in the senior year. Maxfield has completed rotations in
Massachusetts, Providence and on the Kingston campus,
but decided to complete two with the Naval Ambulatory
Care Center in Newport.
Click here to
read the full article
URI students save the lives of ‘patients’ that can never die
Media Contact: Dave Lavallee, 401-874-5862
Patient simulators provide pharmacy, nursing students
with realistic treatment scenarios
KINGSTON, R.I. – May 7, 2007 – Surrounded by
computer screens, an intravenous line, trays of medical
equipment and nine of his peers, a pharmacy student
works vigorously to administer a drug that will save the
life of the “man” who lies on the gurney in front of
him.
Across campus, a “baby” with septic shock lies in the
arms of a nursing student, surrounded by other future
nurses who are contemplating the next step to save this
baby’s life.
These are among the situations that URI pharmacy and
nursing students find themselves in several times
throughout the semester in the lab components of some of
their classes. If the wrong action is taken and the
patient dies, a quick switch will bring him or her back
to life for the next trial-and-error run. The
University’s patient simulators are the closest a
student can get to the clinical world of health care
before actually stepping into it.
Pharmacy students use simulators several times a
semester, and nursing students have continual access to
the simulators from their sophomore year through
graduation. Scenarios increase in complexity as the
students advance in their classes.
The URI College of Pharmacy has had one adult male
simulator for about six years. It has expanded its use
as faculty and students have learned more about the
technology. It has also recently obtained a baby
simulator. The College of Nursing has both of these
simulators, as well as a birthing mother simulator and
15 low-tech simulator mannequins. All simulators are
life size, and the baby simulators even coo and cry.
“I think the students respond better to the baby,” said
South Kingstown’s Amanda DeAngelis, co-director of the
Human Patient Simulator Center in the College of
Pharmacy. “It is wireless and mobile. We added the baby
to our program because it is very different than the
adult simulator. It requires different dosages and
responds differently than an adult patient.”
While students in both colleges use the simulators to
familiarize themselves with clinical settings, nursing
students use the simulators for more procedure-based
learning, while the pharmacy students use them to
observe drug use and reaction.
Click here to read the full article
URI pharmacy students to gain disaster response experience through exercise simulating flu pandemic
Media Contact: Dave Lavallee, 401-874-5862
KINGSTON, R.I. – May 4, 2007 – University of
Rhode Island pharmacy students will participate in a
tabletop exercise that will deal with an influenza
pandemic Tuesday, May 8 from 11:20 a.m. to 2 p.m. in
Fogarty Hall, 41 Lower College Road, Room 28.
The students, who are enrolled in Clinical Assistant
Professor of Pharmacy Jef Bratberg’s advanced infectious
diseases class, will have to work together to come up
with the best strategies for tackling the threat for
their final exam.
Bratberg said the tabletop exercise is very helpful in
preparing students for future careers in their field.
“This scenario is a real-life assignment,” Bratberg
said. “Something like this could actually happen.” He
thinks that this style of exam is much more effective
than sitting in the classroom answering questions. “It
allows students to use the knowledge they have gained in
class and test its effectiveness in the field,” Bratberg
said.
Click here to read the full article
URI
nursing, pharmacy students learn from each other about
treatment, care of patients with diabetes
Media Contact: Dave Lavallee, 401-874-5862
KINGSTON, R.I. – May 4, 2007 – A patient with
diabetes seeks an alternative to insulin injections.
So a new inhaler that provides a painless alternative is
the answer, right?
It isn’t if the patient has severe arthritis and trouble
with dexterity. It might not be an alternative for a
patient with memory or concentration issues either
because it is a complex device with many preparation
steps.
That was just one topic as University of Rhode Island
nursing and pharmacy students joined for the first time
to share their knowledge and different perspectives on
caring for patients with diabetes. This spring, 100
fifth-year pharmacy students and 75 junior nursing
students participated in the cross-disciplinary program.
At four separate stations, they learned about different
methods for checking blood-sugar levels and insulin
delivery methods such as traditional insulin injections,
insulin pens, and insulin powder inhalers. Nursing
students gave pharmacy students injections of saline to
simulate insulin shots while pharmacy students and
faculty led small group sessions on different medication
delivery and monitoring systems.
Celia MacDonnell of Newport, clinical assistant
professor of pharmacy, and Mary Lavin of Middletown,
clinical assistant professor of nursing, said the
students gained awareness of the benefits of teamwork.
“We tell our students in our respective colleges to work
as a team with other health care professionals, but we
haven’t been able to foster that in an interactive
setting that brings together students from each
discipline,” MacDonnell said. “We have been trying to do
this for years, but it has been very difficult because
of the off-campus clinical demands on both groups of
students. But we can’t expect people to be a team if
they have never worked together as students.”
Click here to
read the full article
Brown
University professor named Advanced Preceptor of the
Year by URI
Media Contact: Dave Lavallee, 401-874-5862
KINGSTON, R.I. – April 12, 2007 – The
University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy has
honored alumnus George Kenna with the Advanced Pharmacy
Practice Preceptor of the Year award.
Preceptors oversee pharmacy students’ clinical
experiences and serve as their mentors. This award is
given to a preceptor in recognition of excellent
teaching during the advanced pharmacy practice
experiential coursework. The nomination can come from
either a faculty member or a student.
Kenna, a resident of North Kingstown, is a practicing
pharmacist, researcher, and mentor. He was a 1975
graduate of the URI College of Pharmacy and also
received his Ph.D. in psychology from URI in 2003.
Click here to
read the full article
URI
Health Services pharmacist named Preceptor of the Year
Media Contact: Linda A. Acciardo, 401-874-2116
KINGSTON, R.I. – April 10, 2007 – The University
of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy has honored
alumnus Sean O’Donnell with the Introductory Pharmacy
Practice Preceptor of the Year award.
Preceptors oversee pharmacy students’ clinical
experiences and serve as their mentors.
O’Donnell, a resident of Wakefield, graduated from the
URI College of Pharmacy in 1987 and is currently a
pharmacist at the University’s Health Services. He
received his doctor of pharmacy degree from
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 2000.
O’Donnell has worked as a staff pharmacist at Delta
Drug, Pequot Pharmaceutical Network, and Newport
Hospital. He was also a consultant pharmacist at Delta
Medical Nursing Home.
“I am very proud to receive this award,” said O’Donnell.
“It is gratifying working with the students and being
able to teach them about this profession.”
O’Donnell, who mentors about eight students a year, is
honored that the students recognized and nominated him
for this award.
Click here to read the full article
URI
pharmacy professor researches lead exposure
Media Contact: Dave Lavallee, 401-874-5862
URI pharmacy professor researches lead exposure, builds
bridges between U.S. and Middle East in Yemen
KINGSTON, R.I. – February 28, 2007 – Nasser
Zawia’s year-long Fulbright fellowship in Yemen ended
last year, but the associate professor of pharmacy
continues work with the country’s scientists and
officials on infant exposure to lead and other
biomedical research.
A leading researcher on the link between infant lead
exposure and Alzheimer’s disease, Zawia spent the
2005-2006 academic year as a Fulbright fellow in the
country at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
“My job in Yemen had two elements,” said the toxicology
expert and Warwick resident. “First I expanded research
I’ve done at URI and second, I helped build bridges
between the U.S. and Mideast.”
Zawia’s work was at the heart of the Fulbright program.
Fulbright Scholars are selected on the basis of academic
or professional achievement and for their extraordinary
leadership potential. The Fulbright Program is sponsored
by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs.
Click here to read the full article
Two
URI pharmacy professors part of team established to
prevent pneumonia outbreaks at Warwick school
February 1, 2007
Two University of Rhode
Island clinical assistant professors of pharmacy advised
patients and distributed antibiotics in January at a
Warwick elementary school clinic set up by the state’s
health department.
The state Department of Health called on Jeffrey Bratberg and Brett Feret, to be part of a team set up at the Greenwood Elementary School during New Year’s weekend. The clinic was put into operation after three cases of mycoplasma pneumonia led to serious illness in three children in Warwick and West Warwick, one of whom died Dec. 21. The clinic distributed the antibiotic, azithromycin, to 1,200 patients in three days. The pharmacy team constituted liquid suspension versions of the drug for 150 children. Feret worked Dec. 31 and Jan. 2, while Bratberg worked Jan. 2.
The Cranston residents’ involvement with the health department clinic was a natural extension of a relationship that started five years ago when they became pharmacy consultants to the state on bioterrorism and emergency response. In that capacity, they were involved in developing a planning guide for mass distributions of medication.
Click here to read the full article
URI
pharmacy grad honors mentor, helps students with
$100,000 pledge
February 13, 2007
A 1984 graduate of the
University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy has
made a 10-year, $100,000 pledge to bolster an existing
pharmacy scholarship fund named after one of his
favorite professors.
Paul Hastings, president and chief executive officer of
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Redwood City, Calif., made the
pledge to the Norman A. and Mary Campbell Scholarship.
The fund supports students who demonstrate academic
proficiency and leadership in pharmacy student
organizations. When the Campbell Scholarship fund was
established in 2001, Hastings made a $15,000 donation.
The gift is part of the University’s “Making a
Difference,” campaign, a $100 million private fund drive
to build the University’s endowment.
“Paul’s generous contribution to the Campbell
scholarship reminds us all of the special bonds that are
often formed between professor and student and the many
ways in which such relationships manifest themselves
over time,” said Pharmacy Dean Donald E. Letendre. “His
gift serves to underscore his long-standing commitment
to student development and servant leadership…he is
truly an extraordinary gentleman and consummate
professional who continues to lead by example.”
Having worked early in his career for such well-known
firms as Hoffmann-LaRoche and Genzyme Corp., Hastings
has gained national prominence for his founding role in
several biotechnology and pharmaceutical start up
companies.
Click here to read the full article
Tom
and Cathy Ryan make $2.5 million donation to URI College
of Pharmacy
January 18, 2007
Tom Ryan, chairman, president
and chief executive officer of CVS Corp., and his wife
Cathy have pledged $2.5 million to the University of
Rhode Island’s Making a Difference campaign, it was
announced today.
“I’m proud of the work the College of Pharmacy has done
over the last 50 years in making a significant
contribution to healthcare through its research,
outreach and teaching,” said Ryan, a 1975 graduate of
the College and recipient of an honorary degree from the
University in 1999. “It has also helped many bright,
talented, ambitious students begin successful careers.
With health care at the forefront of the national and
state agendas, I hope my gift will ensure that the
College remains a vital player in this arena.”
The gift will support a variety of initiatives in the
College of Pharmacy, including a $500,000 challenge
grant that will match, dollar-for-dollar, donations of
at least $12,500 from other individuals wishing to
establish a endowed scholarship for URI pharmacy
students. The scholarship funds can be named for the
donor or in honor of anyone the donor designates.
Click here to read the full article
URI
student travels to the tundra to complete a
non-traditional pharmacy rotation
January 4,
2007
One University of Rhode
Island pharmacy student traveled to Alaska last summer
for her pharmacy rotations in an effort to experience a
minimalist lifestyle.
Heather Mae Grant, a sixth-year pharmacy major from West
Kingston, said she always wanted to travel to Alaska
because she enjoys the outdoors. When she visited URI as
a high school senior, she was immediately sold when one
student mentioned the opportunity to travel to the Last
Frontier.
Grant decided to travel to the small fishing village of
Dillingham, a town accessible only by plane or boat.
According to Grant, there were approximately 2,500
residents, no traffic lights, very little crime, and
miles of tundra and mountain ranges.
Vibrant, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Grant says she stuck
out among the Yupic Eskimos she treated, but was quickly
accepted. She thinks that they liked having someone
around who looked different. She addressed a variety of
conditions from pregnancies to bacterial infections.
Click here to read the full article
