KINGSTON, R.I. – February 28, 2008 – Kristina Ward, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island and the host of the weekly “Ask the Pharmacist” segment on ABC6 News, will answer questions about prescription drugs during an online chat on Tuesday, March 11 at 1 p.m.

Director of the URI College of Pharmacy’s Drug Information Services, Ward earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from URI in 1994 and a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1996, then completed two years of postdoctoral residency training at University Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla.

In 2006 she became the inaugural host of “Ask the Pharmacist,” in which she provides answers to viewer questions about medications and related issues. The segments air every Tuesday and Thursday on the 6 a.m. and noon news.

As the head of Drug Information Services at URI, Ward leads a unit that provides health care professionals with timely drug information to promote the safe, rational use of medications and that serves as an education site for pharmacy students. She also coordinates an interactive learning class that focuses on developing basic drug information and literature retrieval skills, offers an introductory course on drug information and teaches about women’s health.

A service of the URI Division of University Advancement’s electronic communications program, online chats are free and open to the public and are accessible through the URI website.

To enter the chat, go to http://advance.uri.edu/chats for instructions. Participants may submit questions in advance, but the chat will not begin until the scheduled date and time. Thirty minutes is the total time allotted for the chat. A full transcript will be posted to the University’s website once the chat has been completed. Questions about web chats should be directed to the URI Publications Office at 401-874-4383.

URI’s online chats, which began in September 2004, have featured question and answer sessions with such alumni as Tom Mulligan, Los Angeles Times senior correspondent discussing the Iraq war, and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ross Kauffman talking about the making of Born into Brothels, as well as with URI administrators, faculty and coaches.

The chats are made possible through the cooperation of the URI Athletics Department and College Sports Online, hosts of the GoRhody.com web site.