Alumni News
Research has produced amazingly effective treatments for HIV, but there’s more work to be done.
Winter 2017
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
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WINTER 2017 Alumni News
EDITOR
Megan Davis WRITERS
John Backman Lauren Jesmer
ALUMNI NEWS FEATURE STORIES
PHOTOGRAPHER
Kris Qua DESIGN
id29
07 AIDS
Research In and Beyond ACPHS While HIV/AIDS education and research have come a long way since the 1980s,
there’s still more to be done. Three ACPHS professors weigh in on the challenges that lie ahead.
10 A Clear SEND STORY IDEAS, COMMENTS, LETTERS & SUGGESTIONS TO:
Alumni News ACPHS 106 New Scotland Ave Albany, NY 12208 888.203.8010 alumni@acphs.edu www.acphs.edu
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View into Innovative Learning
As the learning landscape rapidly changes, ACPHS is looking at new ways of teaching to reflect how students consume information in and out of the classroom.
12 Student
Spotlight: Eddie Ahanmisi
With a passion for world travel, this Public Health student seeks to pursue a law degree after ACPHS and keep his journeys meaningful.
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President’s Message Reunion Weekend Alumni Spotlight
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Campus News Class Notes Friends We’ll Miss
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FROM THE
PRESIDENT The typical lifespan of an academic strategic plan is about five years. That means our current plan, written in 2012, is due for an update, and we will soon be initiating a community dialogue on the development of the next strategic plan. At this juncture, it is instructive to review the previous plan to assess the success of the various initiatives and to determine whether that plan’s strategic objectives continue to be relevant to our current situation. In looking back at the 2012–17 Strategic Plan, one goal in particular stands out to me as especially important. It reads: GOAL #5: Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will evolve enrollment to meet modern day market and societal demand. To better balance our enrollment (60% PharmD–40% other academic programs and 60% local 40% national/international) while maintaining our overall student enrollment level between 1,800–2,000 students. Currently, 82% of our students are in the Pharm.D. program with the remaining 18% enrolled in our bachelor’s and master’s programs. We are closer to the regional diversification goal with 71% of students local and 29% from outside New York State. With a current enrollment of 1,400, our goal of 1,800–2,000 students remains a ways off. We still have work to do in order to reach the original goal.
WINTER 2017 Alumni News
We still have work to do in order to reach the original goal. I would argue that it is still as critical today as it was in 2012. We need to continue to grow a broader health sciences college with coursework and degree programs that complement our pharmacy program. We live in an interdisciplinary world where inter-professional teams are required to attack complex problems. Actions and advances take place at the interfaces of disciplines and professions. So a balance in academic programs benefits everyone. Additionally, we have great opportunities to build a recruiting base beyond our region. Not only does a broader base create greater stability in our enrollment, it extends our influence and network. Bringing in a wider range of students with different backgrounds and experiences also enriches our student life. This past year we have put together five initiatives to grow the institution over the next five years. These initiatives—which we refer to internally as the “building blocks”—take into consideration national trends impacting higher education, especially the changing demographics of traditional students.
“BRINGING IN A WIDER RANGE OF STUDENTS WITH DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS AND EXPERIENCES ALSO ENRICHES OUR STUDENT LIFE.” The five building blocks described below will help us achieve these goals of 2012, but more importantly, will make us an academically stronger and financially more secure college: 1.
Launch an Accelerated Pharm.D. Program in Vermont By developing a curriculum that allows students to complete the professional pharmacy program in a threeyear, 12-month timeframe, we will build a distinctive niche for our Colchester, VT Campus (there are only 15 accelerated Pharm.D. programs in the country).
2. Increase Our Transfer Enrollment According to the latest data, 75% of students today attend two or more colleges. By simplifying our transfer policies and developing or expanding relationships with partner schools, we can more easily appeal to students seeking a different college experience and/or who are attracted by our strong outcomes. 3.
Grow our B.S. in Public Health Program Just 11% of those working in public health today have a dedicated degree in public health. Our newest undergraduate offering, the Bachelor of Science in Public Health, will help give students the competitive advantage they need to excel in this rapidly expanding field.
4.
Promote Our Pre-Professional Capabilities By leveraging our collective strengths in the basic sciences, clinical sciences, and population health sciences, we can become a top choice for students looking for programs that will best prepare them for medical, dental, physician assistant, and other professional schools.
5.
Offer Non-Credit Professional Development & Certificate Programs As the College looks to move into new markets, one of the areas that has excellent long term potential is professional development programming. An initial area of emphasis will be courses/training programs geared towards professionals in the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.
As we look to the next five years and a new strategic plan, we are positioned to build on the previous plan and continue our progress to date. Implementing the plan will take all of our ingenuity, creativity, and energy, but if we work together as a community, I am confident we will succeed. The rewards awaiting us—financial security, a more diverse student body, and a secure platform for future growth—will more than justify the effort.
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The Ambivalent Landscape HOW FAR SCIENCE HAS COME WITH HIV, HOW FAR IT HAS TO GO, AND WHERE IT MIGHT GO NEXT
A
MID THE TECHNICAL TERMS IN AN OBSCURE CDC NEWS BRIEF from 1981, one phrase haunts the mind: previously healthy. It repeats like a drumbeat through the accounts of five young gay men who presented with pneumonia in Los Angeles hospitals the nine months before. All five were “previously healthy.” All five died within the year. It was our first glimpse of the disease that came to be called AIDS. Since that time, the disease’s history has included a jumble of competing theories, patent feuds, religious pronouncements—and scientific breakthroughs that have given hope to many of the 78 million worldwide who have suffered from the disease over the years. Today, in a far happier but still ambivalent landscape of steps forward and elusive panaceas, ACPHS is playing its part.
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O HN HO
O
CH3
N O
This molecular diagram represents the structure of Zidovudine (AZT), the first antiretroviral drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of AIDS. Anti-HIV drugs such as AZT slow down or prevent damage to the immune system, and reduce the risk of developing AIDS-related illnesses.
N3 HOW FAR WE’VE COME
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iv found its way into the human body during the first half of the 20th century, jumping from a species of African monkeys. The virus’s progress through the human body is typical of a retrovirus: it uses the enzyme reverse transcriptase to convert its own RNA template into complementary DNA (cDNA), which then integrates itself into the host’s genome. Once “at home,” the virus self-replicates. What makes it particularly devastating is its target: CD4 white blood cells, a key factor in immune response. None of this, of course, was known when the first cases appeared. Reverse transcriptase itself had only been discovered in 1970. It took until 1984 for three research groups—from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, France’s Pasteur Institute, and the University of California, San Francisco— to confirm that the virus now called HIV, discovered at Pasteur the year before, was indeed the cause of AIDS. The first glimmer of hope in the battle against AIDS came with the first antiretroviral. Zidovudine (also known as azidothymidine or AZT), which received FDA approval in 1987,
inhibited the action of reverse transcriptase and therefore slowed HIV’s ability to replicate itself. Early results were fraught: improvements in CD4 counts were marginal, and the drug itself could be toxic in high enough doses. Moreover, like any drug, AZT could spawn resistant mutations in the fast-replicating virus. In those days of despair, however, even this was a major advance. An even bigger advance came in 1995, when the FDA approved the first protease inhibitor, ushering in the era of “highly active antiretroviral treatment” (HAART). According to the National Institutes of Health, HAART consists of “a customized combination of different classes of medications that a physician prescribes based on such factors as the patient’s viral load…, the particular strain of the virus, the CD4+ cell count, and other considerations.” According to Avert, an U.K. organization dedicated to HIV education, HAART promptly decreased AIDS-related death and hospitalization rates by 60-80 percent. It turned HIV from a certain death sentence into a chronic, but largely manageable, infection.
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Today, the landscape of HIV is decidedly mixed. Annual infections dropped 18 percent between 2008 and 2014, according to the CDC, which cites efforts to get people into treatment as one factor in the decline. Similarly, the number of new cases worldwide has declined steadily. About 40 FDA-approved antiretrovirals (including combinations) are used in treatment. On the other hand, nearly 37 million people still live with HIV, and a vaccine remains elusive despite research in several directions. It is in this landscape that ACPHS researchers from three programs of study—basic sciences, clinical sciences, and population health sciences—are seeking to make a difference.
GETTING TO THE ROOT OF HIV
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iven the devastating effects of aids, you might think HIV infects large numbers of immune cells in the human body. You would be wrong. “Even when AIDS is at its most aggressive stage, a majority of immune cells are still uninfected,” said Binshan Shi, Ph.D., assistant professor of genetics and molecular virology at ACPHS. “It is the death of uninfected cells that drives the progression of the disease. How does this happen, and what causes it?”
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Dr. Shi had engaged in HIV research before. During his 10 years at the Wadsworth Center, New York State’s Public Laboratory, he investigated markers of HIV’s progression— especially the switch of virus tropism from co-receptor R5 to X4 on the immune cell—and used his work to invent an assay for precise patient testing (for which he holds an international patent). At ACPHS, he took up the mystery of the uninfected cells. “One mechanism that explains the death of these cells is pyroptosis, a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death,” he said. Dr. Shi’s lab traced the inflammation to the reaction of infected cells: in their attempts to block HIV, they secrete cytokines to “sound the alarm” for other immune cells to come to their aid. In the case of HIV, however, the cytokines are secreted in such abnormal concentrations that the resulting pressure causes the uninfected cells to explode. For the origin of that reaction, Dr. Shi, a cancer biologist by training, turned to an old interest: p53, a gene that triggers such cell signaling—defending host cells from infection by many viruses—but whose mutant forms have been implicated in various cancers. With collaborators at Albany Medical Center and Rutgers University, he definitively identified a relationship between p53 and HIV-induced inflammation.
“This research will help us understand the basic mechanism that causes immune cell death in AIDS disease progression,” Dr. Shi said. “I think that important information could help to guide treatment and management in the future.”
monitor activities to control the diseases, including HIV. She also encountered some distressing trends that redoubled her commitment to adherence. “The current rise in STDs seems to indicate a decrease in condom use and an increase in other risky behavior,” she said. TREATMENT MADE SIMPLER “People think they are safe because of PrEP, or because they’d been on HAART and showed no viral load. Chlamydia and he research of associate professor nimish patel, gonorrhea are considered ‘mild’ STDs because they can be Pharm.D., Ph.D., AAHIVP, focuses on a vital area of treated with antibiotics. Unfortunately, PrEP does not prevent HIV pharmacology: making treatment—and therefore other STDs, and infection with bacterial STDs can facilitate adherence—easier. transmission of HIV. It makes adherence all that much more “There has long been a concerted effort within the HIV important.” community to simplify antiretroviral therapy,” said Dr. Patel. Current research at ACPHS focuses on medication therapy “For about 10 years we have had single-tablet regimens, taken management (MTM), and pharmacists’ role in promoting it, as once a day. Now researchers are working on injections given a method of increasing adherence. “MTM for people living with monthly or quarterly. There is also considerable interest in HIV/AIDS and for people on PrEP is one of the strategies for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP: just as individuals can take New York’s End the Epidemic initiative,” Dr. McLaughlin noted. a contraceptive pill to prevent “If you can get more pharmacists pregnancy, high-risk patients involved, it’s another touchpoint could (in this scenario) take a to keep people on track.” pill prophylactically to reduce Getting patients to embrace their HIV risk.” MTM requires better patientSimplifying HIV treatment in provider communication— these ways makes adherence which is why Dr. McLaughlin has dramatically easier for everyone teamed with Paul Denvir, Ph.D., involved. Improved adherence ACPHS associate professor of raises the likelihood of better communications, to develop health and lower rates of new scripts for these conversations. infection. But many obstacles lie Dr. McLaughlin is also exploring — Colleen McLaughlin ahead, not least the potential research on the use of electronic Chair, Department of Population Health Sciences drug-drug interactions involved. health records to better track This is where Dr. Patel comes adherence. in. As part of his overall HIV focus—understanding the outWhile hopeful, she sees the uphill climb faced by all HIV comes of antiretroviral medications and identifying adherence research and prevention efforts. thresholds for virologic control—he examines the effect of “When I started graduate school for public health in 1988, simplified regimens on adherence, drug-drug interactions, it seemed plausible to me that there would be a cure for AIDS, and the ability to manage co-morbid health conditions. a vaccine, and a true end to the epidemic,” she recalled. “But His work encompasses HIV as well as hepatitis C. 2016 was the third year in a row in which STD rates increased “Regimen simplification is a moving target,” he said. in the U.S. So we have had to redefine what we mean when “While single-tablet regimens have simplified HIV medicawe say ‘ending the epidemic.’ The goal now is to stop the tions dramatically from what was available 20 years ago, there increase in the number of people infected with HIV. We have are opportunities to do better. Even with long-acting injectable more work ahead of us than previously thought.” HIV medications, we will still find ways to enhance our That summarizes the current state of HIV research: we understanding of how to treat this virus more efficiently.” have come very far, and we still have far to go. According to UNAIDS, more than half of all people living with HIV are A MATTER OF ADHERENCE now in treatment—and that includes 61 percent of infected adults in East and Southern Africa, the region hardest hit by ntiretrovirals, of course, are only effective if AIDS. New infections worldwide have declined 16 percent patients take them. Promoting adherence is where popueach year since 2010. On the other hand, 2016 still brought lation health—and Colleen McLaughlin, Ph.D.—come in. 1.8 million new infections. Perhaps the fight against HIV will Dr. McLaughlin was named the chair of ACPHS’s Deonly be won upon the discovery of a cure, a vaccine, or both. partment of Population Health Sciences early in 2017, fresh Until then, researchers like Drs. Shi, Patel, and McLaughlin off her tenure at the New York State Department of Public will continue their efforts to make the scourge of AIDS a Health. While there, she ran efforts to measure the burden of thing of the past. STDs in the population, ensure appropriate treatment, and
T
“The goal now is to stop the increase in the number of people infected with HIV. We have more work ahead of us than previously thought.”
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BREAKTHROUGH OR BRAVE NEW WORLD?
T
he end of horrible genetic diseases, or the advent of
designer babies? Tinkering with the human genome inevitably ignites fervent hopes and dystopian fears—and a recent breakthrough in DNA editing is no exception.
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using a tool developed just a few years ago, a team of researchers corrected a pathogenic gene mutation in human embryos in a way that could be passed down to successive generations, according to a recent paper in Nature. Known by its acronym CRISPR-Cas9, the tool could potentially reverse the transmission of genes for such horrific conditions as Huntington’s and cystic fibrosis. Just as important, the experiment created none of the harmful mutations that plagued previous attempts, according to a report in NPR. “The efficiency, accuracy and safety of the approach presented suggest that it has potential to be used for the correction of heritable mutations in human embryos by complementing preimplantation genetic diagnosis,” noted the paper’s abstract. “However, much remains to be considered before clinical applications, including the reproducibility of the technique with other heterozygous mutations.” At the heart of CRISPR is what the acronym stands for: clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. Regions in between these repeats, which read the same backward and forward, are transcribed into short RNA strands.
These RNA strands can be altered to guide the Cas9 enzyme to a specific DNA sequence. At that point, the enzyme cuts the double helix, either shutting off the offending gene or allowing for it to be replaced with a correct version of the gene. The news has been greeted with familiar reactions. Proponents celebrate it as a ray of hope for people who suffer from heritable diseases. Others look with horror on the possible consequences: errors in the editing, new mutations run amok, editing for enhancement rather than to cure disease. Many people, scientists and laypeople alike, believe a “general conversation” is required to sort out the ethical issues. Is there a good way for society to conduct this conversation? Two local experts think there is—and it involves a slow, careful, thoughtful approach. “CRISPR is still in its infancy,” said H. John Sharifi, assistant professor of microbiology at ACPHS, who has used CRISPR
But if different countries (and different researchers) will move forward regardless of any ethical conversation, is the conversation worth having at all? Sharifi answers that with an emphatic yes. “If you limit communication, you limit ideas,” Sharifi noted. “Ideas from one country might benefit people in another country. Scientists in one part of the world can raise issues that others might not have considered.” Most discussions of DNA editing include some mention of “designer babies”: the practice of editing genes to enhance strengths as well as eradicate disease. Some have speculated that CRISPR-Cas9 might one day be used to make children stronger, more intelligent, or more athletic, depending on parents’ wishes. While approaching that issue with caution—“it could lead to a very slippery slope”—Bondi noted that the distinction
“If you limit communication, you limit ideas.” H. John Sharifi assistant professor of microbiology
himself in basic research. “The science may go in directions we can’t possibly imagine. So it’s a mistake to have no conversation at all—but it’s just as much a mistake to go with a knee-jerk response that nips potentially beneficial possibilities in the bud.” How might that conversation go? Gwendolyn Bondi, a clinical bioethicist in New York’s Capital Region, starts with the basic principles that guide all her bioethical conversations. “Which of the principles apply here?” she asked. “Justice, for one. DNA modification for treating diseases will cost a lot of money; how can we ensure access for everyone who needs it? We also have to consider the principle of minimizing harm, and the body of evidence required to ensure safety. We’ll need trials and trials and trials to determine the ramifications for offspring, for example, or whether the technology is reversible if something goes wrong.” Complicating the conversation is the vast variety of ethical perspectives among different countries. “Some countries are stricter about the use of embryos than others,” Sharifi noted. “Just because we Americans take a particular stance doesn’t mean the rest of the world will follow suit.”
between “necessary” and “cosmetic” DNA editing is anything but clear. She cited the example of hirsutism, in which women grow hair in places where men normally do: the upper lip, chin, chest, or back, for example. While hirsutism is not fatal, it can create great social distress for its sufferers. “If you had that condition and knew it could be passed to your daughters, would you want to be able to modify that gene so that they could live a more normal life?” Bondi asked. “Would you cope with it by not reproducing? Or would you teach them to accept their hirsutism, realizing the great burden this puts on them?” Pharmacists and health science professionals have a key role to play in society’s conversation around DNA editing, Sharifi believes—and a key part of that is patient communication. “Anyone with patient contact will encounter people with a genetic disorder,” he said. “They may have heard a little about the technology through the mainstream press, but pharmacists and health scientists can communicate the science behind it. In the process, they begin the conversation—and by doing so, they bring hope to both patients and the communities that support them.”
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THROUGH THE LEARN INNOVATIVE LEARNING TAKES HOLD AT ACPHS
Watch any crime show and you’ll eventually see it. A goodlooking investigator walks up to a pane of glass and starts writing madly. It looks so cool. Imagine how much cooler it would be if you could flip the image and read the glass yourself. That’s the idea behind ACPHS’s new learning glass studio: one of many new resources and approaches that are transforming the landscape of learning on campus. “This is a profound change for the College,” said Jennifer McVay-Dyche, Ph.D., executive director of the College’s DeNuzzo Center for Innovative Learning. “With a much deeper understanding of human cognition, we now know that the most effective learning experiences involve active, studentcentered approaches and multiple opportunities to practice. These approaches are vastly different from the traditional lecture method of instruction.” The seeds for today’s advances were sown in the early 2000s when ACPHS implemented its first learning management system. “That technology put a microscope on what people were doing in the classroom,” recalled Martha Hass, Ph.D., dean of the ACPHS School of Graduate Studies. “Back then our focus was our academic discipline, not pedagogy. We taught based on intuition and student feedback. It was typical of instruction practices in higher education at that time.” Additional changes followed shortly thereafter. ACPHS introduced a requirement that every student purchase a laptop. Professors began posting their lecture notes online, which allowed students to annotate them during class (rather than take all the notes themselves). Some faculty pushed the envelope even further.
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Hass cites Nancy Waite, then in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, as an early adopter of the “flipped classroom.” With this model, faculty members provided reading materials and assignments for students to complete in advance of the scheduled class. This approach allows the designated class time to be used for deeper exploration of the
Jennifer McVay-Dyche, Executive Director for Innovative Learning (left) and Martha Hass, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies
material or activities that demonstrate how the knowledge from the lecture can be applied to solve real-world problems. About a decade ago, the transition shifted into high gear. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)— responding to an explosion in content and concern over critical thinking skills—challenged all pharmacy programs to engage in innovative learning techniques. ACPHS responded, in part, by founding what is now the Center for Instructional Learning in 2010. The Provost’s Technology Awards were also launched as a way to incentivize (and help fund) faculty experiments with instructional design.
All of these developments contributed to the changes seen today. Take the physical plant, for example. The three active learning classrooms constructed through funds from the Beyond Practice Ready campaign feature flat-screen monitors at tables of 10, allowing students to research and collaborate on in-class projects. Professors can watch the monitors to see if any groups are drifting too far offline and quickly get them back on track. “Traditionally, classes took place in lecture halls with 200 students in them,” Hass noted. “Now each of these classrooms engages 60 students at a time. They’re much more in line with the way students learn.” So is the learning glass studio. Leaning glass, also known as a “lightboard,” is more than just a cool tool. It has pedagogical benefits, too. Instructors draw from behind the glass which means viewers see them and their written work. The result is a high quality instructional video that enhances communication and increases the learner’s sense of connection with the instructor.
ING GLASS
Faculty can record micro lectures to support a flipped, hybrid, or fully online course. Conversely, small teams of students can gather there and work out problems on the glass, while recording their thought processes for the instructor to watch and grade later. Another key advance is less tangible but no less valuable: a series of fully online, for-credit programs. The first being a graduate level certificate program in nanomedicine that Hass notes is one of the first online programs dedicated to this subject. It is the beginning of what will be a variety of online certificate programs in areas of interest to ACPHS graduates and their colleagues. “The key phrase these days is stackable credentials,” she said. “Pharmacists, health professionals, and research scientists want to pick up credentials in specific areas throughout their careers so they can meet changing employer demands. We’re focusing on topics that match what employers need, fit our mission, and offer enrichment for current Pharm.D. and health sciences graduates.” “The flexibility of online courses will benefit not only students, but faculty too,” Hass noted. “It will enable them to collaborate with faculty at other schools in new ways. An online presence also widens the College’s geographic scope and can tie our two campuses more closely together.” When asked about the future, McVay-Dyche demurred. “Academic technology is evolving so fast it is difficult to make a three-year plan implementing and supporting new tools,” she said. “That’s where the ability to be nimble comes in. At the same time, we have to introduce methods and technologies that make sense for the College. This is the value of having an in-house center for learning: a group of professionals who can match emerging pedagogies and technologies with the mission, vision, and unique needs of the College.”
Playing Games with Learning By his own admission, Eric Yager, Ph.D., (pictured above) can talk about viruses all day. Unfortunately, not all students share his level of enthusiasm for the subject which led the associate professor of microbiology to wonder about other ways of teaching it. That’s where INFECTION! began. Yager’s in-class board game is designed to simulate the immune response required for the body to overcome infection. Players roll six dice and match the results to certain cards, which correspond to the seven stages of an immune response. The idea for the game began when Yager saw learning games in action at an educators’ conference. Working with Tammy Garren, Ph.D., (pictured top left) an instructional designer at ACPHS, he developed INFECTION! to the point of beta-testing it with small groups and demonstrating it at the 2017 ACPHS Instructional Design Symposium. From the beginning, Yager knew that having fun wasn’t enough. “In the beta-tests, I could see students laughing and enjoying themselves, but I wasn’t sure if the game was meeting learning objectives,” he said. “That’s the first question: What do you want students to learn? Will the game accomplish that?” As it turned out, the beta version of INFECTION! did help students focus on the details of the immune system. Based on the results of the beta-testing, Garren and Yager built in some complications—like the Chance cards that reflect real-world, unforeseen wrinkles in the infection-fighting process. “If you get the AIDS Patient Chance card, for instance, you have to remove two of your dice,” Yager explained. “Fewer dice inhibits your progress in the game, just as AIDS patients have fewer immune cells to fight infection.” Yager is also experimenting with gamification. While learning games are just that—games—gamification applies the principles of games in a broader context (like a course or unit) to drive learning outcomes. Supported by a Provost’s Technology Award, Garren and Yager have created a fictional viral outbreak to immerse students in the concepts behind his Virology course. As students complete activities throughout the semester, they are given clues to the virus’s identity. Through all these experiences, Yager has become a champion for innovative learning. “The information in the course is so readily available,” he noted. “So I think our role as teachers is different now. We’re here to motivate students, engage them, and help them learn by doing.” ACPHS | 5
ACPHS STUDENT
Fresh off a win that advanced the ACPHS men’s soccer team to the 2017 HVIAC Championship Tournament (which they also won), second year Public Health student Eddie Ahanmisi is ready with a quick, if tired, smile. In addition to playing for the soccer team and maintaining a rigorous academic schedule, he is also a member of the College’s basketball team, part of whose season overlaps with soccer. Ahanmisi confesses, “I’m tired a lot.” Born in Nigeria, Ahanmisi moved to Vancouver, Canada to live with his sister when he was 10 years old. He had already spent a year in England at a sport school playing soccer but decided that it wasn’t what he wanted. “I was always sore,” he said. “My back hurt, my knees hurt. It wasn’t fun.” The move to Vancouver didn’t dampen his passion for travel. This past summer, he was in Costa Rica. He spent his first month in San José, doing special needs care and working with
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children with Down Syndrome. After that, he went to the coast near Limon to do environmental conservation work.
“We did night patrols to safeguard the sea turtles. They need to be protected from poachers, to make sure they are safe while laying their eggs,” he explained. It wasn’t a relaxing vacation. He recalls one night when a knife fight broke out in the village. Another night drug smugglers were seen nearby. “It was an adrenaline rush, for sure,” he said. Ahanmisi is already looking forward to his next adventure. He hopes to go to Jamaica and work with deaf children. However, he admits that when it comes to planning these trips, “I know where my final destination is and how to get there, the overall purpose, but other than that, I don’t plan anything. It’s more fun to do it on the fly.”
S E CO N D Y E A R P U B L I C H E A LT H S T U D E N T EDDIE AHANMISI
THINKS ABROAD He employed the same approach when selecting a college.
“I didn’t visit the campus before I enrolled,” he said. “But it was the size of the campus, the community based environment that made me choose ACPHS. I’ve lived away from my parents since I was 10, so a tight knit community is very important to me.” When asked what his favorite part of the school is, it doesn’t take more than a moment before his face lights up. “Oh, that’s a tough one,” he said. “But it has to be my friend group. You’re at school, you’re going to learn, they’re going to teach you something, but it’s the people you meet, your friends that get you through the day.” And Ahanmisi’s days, like those of many ACPHS students, are packed. Besides playing two sports, he is a resident advisor and is in the accelerated bachelor’s program in Public Health. He is on track to finish his degree in three years, after which he will enroll in law school. He was accepted into Albany Law
School’s 3+3 combined degree program, which requires that he maintain a 3.3 GPA. He plans to concentrate in Health Law, with an aim of working for the United Nations someday.
“I want to go into the health law field because both my parents are lawyers,” Ahanmisi said. “And I want to use my law expertise to travel the world. I feel like a health law foundation can help me do that with organizations like the U.N.” With a year and a half left at ACPHS, he is keeping his eyes on the prize. He chose ACPHS for undergraduate study over other schools that offer 3+3 programs because he was able to quickly immerse himself in health focused courses, and he is taking advantage of any class that will move him closer to his goal. “I’m concentrating on research based and health policy classes as much as possible. I’ve really liked sociology, psychology, and statistics. This semester I’m taking Global Health, which is probably my favorite so far.”
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R EU N IO N WEEKEND Reunion Weekend 2017 was electric! This two-day party was met with lots of high energy alumni and spouses across the classes of 1967, 1977, 1997 and even several recent graduates. Old photos were circulating, stories were many, and laughs were abundant. We can’t wait to do it all again. Save the dates June 1 – 3, 2018 for another spectacular Reunion Weekend.
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HOW WILL YOU LEAVE YOUR LEGACY? When we hear the word legacy, many of us think that it only applies to the rich and famous. It is important to remember that a legacy is the transfer of family goals, dreams, history and, yes, financial assets. Financial considerations are an integral part of legacy planning. When you are ready to start thinking in these terms, you may want to consider the College and the meaningful impact your planned gift would make for generations of pharmacy and health science students. Contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at (518) 694-7393 to start your legacy planning today.
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REUNION WEEKEND
IRA Charitable Rollover Gifts Permanently Extended Use Your Traditional IRA to Make Your Charitable Gifts The IRA Charitable Rollover provides you with an excellent opportunity to make a gift during your lifetime from an asset that would be subject to multiple levels of taxation if it remained in your taxable estate. For more information on Planned Giving and to hear how alumni and friends are using a wide range of giving techniques visit acphs.plannedgiving.org.
WINTER 2017 Alumni News
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
A Business Man in Training Every Day When Dan Bosley ’93 needs to escape the pressure and stress that inevitably come with owning two pharmacies, he retreats to his quiet lakefront home in Cumberland Head located in Plattsburgh, NY. The house sits halfway between his two stores. There is Keeseville Pharmacy in Keeseville, NY, which employs seven to nine people and Cornerstone Drug and Gift in Rouses Point, NY, the bigger of the two pharmacies. In addition to all of the basic services one comes to expect from a modern pharmacy–vaccinations, counseling, Medicare enrollment assistance programs, and free medication delivery– Cornerstone also provides medical equipment. They supply everything from walkers to wheelchairs and hospital beds, often receiving referrals from major chain pharmacies in and around the area. Pharmacy is a family affair for Bosley. His uncle Real Duteau ’69 and cousin Mike Duteau ‘92, Real’s son and an ACPHS trustee, along with Mike’s brothers Corey ’97 and Eric are also in the field, and they are all quite close. As a kid, he would spend weeks each summer at the Duteau’s camp on Lake Champlain. “I knew my calling at a young age,” he said. “In addition to the influence my uncle had on me, growing up I always loved math. I had a feeling in about sixth grade that I would be a pharmacist. By eighth grade, there was no doubt in my mind.” When he was a sophomore in high school, a recruiter from Vassar College met with him and six other top performing students. Bosley indicated that he was going to be a pharmacist, to which the recruiter replied he couldn’t possibly already know what he wanted to do with the rest of his life and urged him not to limit himself. Rather than deter Bosley, that skepticism fueled him to work harder and further cemented his career ambitions. As a student at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Bosley played soccer and did a work study with the College’s Physical Plant, two decisions he credits for making
him a better student. “I was much more focused as a result. It left me no time to waste or goof off,” he said. Bosley started working for several chain pharmacies after graduation. In 1995, he took a job with Fay’s Drug. “What a great opportunity that was,” he recalled. “I was working for Fay’s full-time, but would also fill in at other pharmacies in the area, one of which was the Keeseville Pharmacy, which led to me purchasing that store in 2001.” Not long after, another opportunity presented itself. “I’ve always been active in the community and try to golf in as many tournaments as time allows,” he said. “Because of that, I’ve made some great connections. When one of the local independent pharmacies was going up for sale, I had several people approach me about buying it. After careful consideration, I did.” In 2004, Bosley purchased an empty lot adjacent to the pharmacy and built a brand new 10,000 square foot store from the ground up. Cornerstone Drug and Gift opened in April 2005. Owning two pharmacies certainly comes with its challenges. Bosley admits that it was a “rugged ten years” after he opened Cornerstone, but without those “failures,” he would not have seen success. “Things don’t always happen the way you hope or want them to, but I am where I am today because I made mistakes, and I learned from those mistakes. Failure is ugly. It’s terrible. But it’s also the best teacher.” He credits much of his current success to networking. “I am in a much better place than I was two years ago because of networking,” he explained. “I’d say it’s the most valuable part of what I do as a business owner. I would encourage anyone to get involved in professional organizations as I do with the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York (PSSNY). These types of organizations open doors and conversations that you might not otherwise have. You don’t know what you don’t know. Being in a room full of fellow professionals and hearing the issues and talking through things, it’s invaluable.” Another group that has opened a lot of doors and challenged his way of thinking is Pharmacy Development Services (PDS) which is a national organization specifically designed to help independent pharmacists. “Joining PDS five years ago was one of the best things I ever did,” he said. “Among their services, they host an incredible two-day conference packed with inspirational speakers and success stories.” Bosley continued, “You have to network. Don’t be afraid to look or ask for help. Sit with people, call them, attend conferences and meetings. Ask questions. Get involved. There’s a lot of trial and error in owning a business. Error stinks, so if you can minimize that by getting involved and networking, do it!” When asked what excites him most about his job, one of the first things he mentions is his employees. “I have some long-term, amazing employees, and I couldn’t do it without them. Thinking out of the box, being creative to problem solve, that excites me, too. I have a phenomenal group of problem solvers. I consider myself very lucky.”
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
After Recovery, Living Without Reservation At age 15, Jason Leuck went on a snowboarding trip to Vermont. It was on that trip that he fell in love with the Green Mountain State. Years later, when deciding where to go to school, Leuck saw ACPHS was opening a campus in Colchester, and he knew that was the right choice for him. In 2013, he graduated as part of the inaugural class of the Vermont Campus. Since then, Leuck has made his home in Vermont with his wife, Fay, and their dog. Leuck works at Costco, where he interned during college. “I love Costco because they focus on the patient. Their model is based on service, not numbers and money,” he said. “They want me to talk to the patients.” In August 2016, Leuck was promoted to Pharmacy Manager. “For me it’s about dedication. Becoming manager means you own what your pharmacy puts out,” he said. “In general, once a good system is in place, the pharmacy can run like clockwork. It’s kind of like being a cheerleader. You want your team to work to together for the common goal.” When not at work, he’s taking advantage of all that Vermont has to offer. Paddle boarding in the summer, snowboarding in the winter, and skateboarding as long as the weather will let him. “The A_Dog Skatepark on the waterfront in Burlington is amazing,” he said. “It’s my favorite part of the city.” Once the ski resorts open in the fall, Leuck and his wife can frequently be found on the trails. “We make it out 100 days a year. We go in the morning before work whenever we can,” he said. Leuck talks about snowboarding without hesitation or reservation, but in December 2016, he had an accident that might make most people think twice about strapping on a board again. While riding down the mountain with his wife and best friend, Leuck hit a snow gun. He says when he attempted to stand he knew it was bad.
WINTER 2017 Alumni News
“I lost a ton of blood. I broke my femur and ulna and suffered a traumatic brain injury. I got up and tried to ride down the mountain because I knew I needed to get down, but due to the severity of my injuries I had to have ski patrol take me down.” Once Leuck got to the bottom, there was an ambulance waiting for him. He was transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center where he underwent surgery, had two blood transfusions, and spent four days in the hospital. “The whole time I was there, I was just trying to get out,” Leuck said. “I really didn’t want to be there.” Once he left the hospital there was still a long recovery ahead. Leuck was out of work for ten weeks recuperating. “It was a tough road, but I had a goal. I wanted to ride down the mountain again, and I did. It took three months, but before the end of the season, we hiked up the peak of Mount Mansfield and rode all the way down. And I thought, OK, I can do this,” Leuck said. This determination has allowed him to continue doing what he loves, including traveling extensively. In the last few years, Jason and Fay have gone to Hawaii twice, Colorado for the Burton US Open twice, Italy, the Mediterranean, multiple Caribbean cruises, and most recently spent a weekend scuba diving in Florida. In October 2017, they spent two weeks traveling throughout China. “We were mostly siteseeing. We saw the Terracotta Army in X’ian, the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square in Beijing, to name a few. We went to Hong Kong, Chaoyang, , Shanghai, Beijing, Shenyang, and Anshan. We spent a lot of time with the locals and met a lot of distant family. It was an amazing experience.” It was Leuck’s first time in the country, but Fay is originally from China.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
The Road to Public Health Kirsten Donato ‘17 from Claverack, NY, always knew she’d end up in the medical field. Growing up with a mother who underwent two back surgeries and who was later diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, coupled with a twin sister who experienced epilepsy at a very young age, Donato had a natural curiosity about medicine and a personal connection to human health. “I wanted to be a doctor,” she recalled, based on the desire to help people and better understand disease. That career path slightly changed, however, once she enrolled at the College. After taking some basic science courses in the pharmaceutical sciences program, Donato began to rethink her focus. In her second year, she shifted to Public Health and took a class with assistant professor, Allison Burton-Chase, Ph.D., called Seminar in Health Professions. That’s when things began to click. “I started asking more questions, the ‘why questions’ about research and began probing my professors about what got them interested in the field,” she recalled. Donato’s first Public
Health research project with Wendy Parker, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Arts and Sciences validated her decision. “I realized I could help people without being a clinician,” she said. “When I made the shift, I closed the door on being a doctor.” Currently, Kirsten is working toward her Master’s of Public Health through a joint program between Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University. She credits Dr. Parker with her decision to pursue her master’s at Upstate Medical. “Her colleague was a faculty member and is now my advisor,” Donato explained. Overall, Donato seeks to make an impact in the world around her and improve lives. After being appointed to the Young Adult Council (YAC) as part of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health Campaign, she’s one step closer to doing just that. Recently, the YAC partnered with the Family Council to look at ways to improve care within the mental healthcare system. “It’s meaningful work. We do a lot of brainstorming and health promotion. They want to hear from people who have firsthand experience in the field. Recently we’ve made changes and recommendations to campaign educational materials directed at systems of care such as foster care and other community-based services. I feel like my opinion and expertise are valued. I’m excited to be a part of this group.” So far, health policy and health behavior have proven to be very interesting, “but it’s too soon to tell for sure if that’s the path I’ll take,” she said. After her master’s, Donato plans to continue on for her Ph.D. “I may want to teach,” she expressed. “My [ACPHS] professors were so inspiring to me. If I could be like any one of them, if I could do what they did for me, the rest is history.”
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CAMPU S N E W S Event Celebrates “Beyond Practice Ready” Campaign Achievements Members of the College community were joined by corporate partners and community leaders at the President’s Gala on Oct. 19 celebrating the progress of the Beyond Practice Ready fundraising campaign. Launched less than two years ago, the Campaign has already raised funds to support the construction and opening of two student operated pharmacies: “College Hometown Pharmacy” in Schenectady and “College Parkside Pharmacy” in Albany. The Campaign has also supported the construction of the three active learning classrooms in the Holland Building. Through the Campaign, the College has developed or expanded relationships with health care organizations that include Albany Medical Center, Hometown Health Centers, Kinney Drugs, MVP Healthcare, Rite Aid, and Rochester Drug Cooperative.
National Recognition for ACPHS in Latest College Rankings When organizations ranging from the federal government to college search websites published their annual rankings this fall, ACPHS earned a number of impressive accolades. Below is a recap of some of the most notable achievements: • The #2 ranking (out of 3,983 schools) for “Salary After Attending” on the federal government’s College Scorecard • The distinction of being the #1 ranked school in New York State and #4 in the country in Zippia’s state-by-state survey of the Colleges with the Highest Paid Graduates • A top 25 ranking on Payscale’s list of Best Universities and Colleges by Salary Potential • A top 50 ranking on Niche.com’s list of Best Value Colleges in America
WINTER 2017 Alumni News
And while it was not an ACPHS-specific ranking, Money magazine listed Colchester—home of the College’s Vermont Campus—as one of the Best Places to Live in America.
Career Fair Draws 25+ Employers to Campus On October 27, more than 25 companies and organizations participated in our annual Pharmacy Career Fair on the Albany campus, with representatives from community and health pharmacies, pharmacy residencies, and industry fellowships. The annual event is open to all pre-pharmacy and Pharm.D. students. A separate health fair for students in the College’s bachelors and masters programs will be held later in the year. On November 17, the Vermont Campus also enjoyed a strong turnout of students, employers, and residency programs at its Career Fair. Participants included CVS, Canton-Potsdam Hospital, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, Curaleaf, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Kinney/KPH Healthcare Services, Northwest Medical Center, Rite Aid, University of Vermont, University of Vermont Medical Center, Walgreens.
Health Fairs Serve Communities in Albany and Colchester Students on both campuses hosted Health Fairs on Saturday, October 21 for members of their respective communities. Spearheaded by the student chapter of the American Pharmacists Association, this was the second year the Albany Community Health Day was held at the site of College Parkside Pharmacy (in previous years, the event was held on campus). The Colchester Wellness Fair and Harvest Fest was held at Colchester High School and featured a “healthy Halloween” theme complete with a costume parade and free dinner for attendees. Each event included flu shots, health screenings, and a variety of health and wellness exhibitors from the local area.
Students in Vermont and Albany Make Strides for Breast Cancer The Making Strides for Breast Cancer walks in Burlington and Albany were held on the same day this year, and ACPHS students on both campuses ensured the College had a strong presence at each event. Combined, the two campuses had approximately 100 walkers participate in the events, and they collectively raised more than $3,000 for the American Cancer Society!
leaving them with a record of 11-5-3. The ACPHS women also earned an invitation to the national championship, but they too lost to the University of Maine-Fort Kent. The women finished the year at 12-6-1. Men’s and women’s basketball is off to a good start. For more sports news go to acphsathletics.com.
College Hosts Medication Takeback Event In October, the ACPHS Albany Campus served as a collection site as part of the National Drug Take Back Day program sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Members of the local community were able to safely dispose of their unused or expired medications at the College. Seventy five pounds of medication was collected. A special thanks to APhA-ASP who led the College’s participation in this annual event.
Former President Gozzo Honored Along with Departing Trustees In a ceremony at the conclusion of October’s Board of Trustees meeting, former ACPHS President Jim Gozzo was presented with the honorary title of President Emeritus. Dr. Gozzo was president of the school from 1998-2014; he was succeeded in the position by President Dewey. The Board recognized the contributions of trustees Geno Germano and Chris Mitiguy, each of whom is leaving the Board after completing his nine-year term of service and welcomed new trustee Wally Pickworth ’69.
College Hosts Conference on Nano-Medicine and Precision Medicine The College hosted a one-day conference on Monday, September 24 titled “The Road from Nano-medicine to Precision Medicine.” The annual conference series, which began in 2003, explores the latest developments in medicine, biotech, and pharma. The keynote speakers for this year’s event were ACPHS Vice Provost of Research and Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Shaker A. Mousa, and Thomas J. Webster, Chair and Professor of Chemical Engineering, at Northeastern University.
Athletes On the Move Congratulations to the men’s soccer team who won the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. The victory earned them an automatic bid to the USCAA national championship tournament in Virginia Beach in November where they fell to the University of Maine-Fort Kent. This was the Panthers first loss since September 28,
Familiar Faces Hit the Soccer Field Again On September 23, close to 30 alumni soccer players took the field for an exciting match-up under the lights at the College’s annual Alumni Soccer Game. Special thanks to all who came back to campus to cheer on our Panthers! For more information visit acphsathletics.com.
Another Successful President’s Cup Golf Tournament Although the weather was looking pretty dicey the morning of July 24, the rain held out at this year’s annual President’s Cup Golf tournament and a good time was had by all 100 golfers at the Albany Country Club. We’re happy to share that this year’s tournament raised over $35,000. Since its inception in 1994, the event has generated more than $700,000, all of which has gone toward the merit-based academic scholarships funds. Each President’s Cup scholarship recipient receives $3,000 per year for every year the student is enrolled at the College. Thank you to all who attended this fun day out on the greens. We appreciate your commitment to our students. For more information on the 2018 President’s Cup set for Monday, August 13, please visit acphs.edu.
P4 Student Receives Prestigious Leadership Award Stephanie Lombardi has been awarded the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) 2017 Student Leadership Award. There were 11 recipients selected nationwide, each of whom received a $3,000 award. Stephanie is the past president of ACPHS’s ASHP chapter (SSHP), and during her presidential year (2016-17) this SSHP organization was awarded the “Professional Organization of the Year” at the
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College’s Wegmans Leadership Banquet. Stephanie also serves at the state level as a NYSCHP Board of Directors Student Representative; is the member of NYSCHP’s Public Policy committee; and is the chair-elect for NYSCHP’s Student Committee for 2017-18. Further, for 2017-18, Stephanie has been appointed to a national committee, the ASHP Pharmacy Student Forum Policy and Legislative Advocacy as Member.
Cool New Artwork Across Campus
Pharmacy Panel Presentation Big Hit The ASHP-SSHP chapter at the College organized the Opportunities within Health System Pharmacy Panel presentation in collaboration with ACCP, AMCP, and the Center for Student Success on November 7. Panelists included Jill Frament ’15, Andrea Glogowski, Nicholas Nobles ’10, and Anthony Dispirito ’10. The panelists spoke about various topics including IT pharmacy, administration, medication therapy management, and emergency medicine.
If you’ve been on the Albany Campus recently, you may have noticed some interesting new artwork in the Admissions lobby, the Pharmacy Practice Lab, and the Gozzo Student Center. The lightpost banners on campus have also been updated with a series of new designs and colors. The work is the continuation of a College-wide branding initiative that began in 2016 and has included the redesign of the College website and admissions materials. Feedback from the campus community on the new additions has been extremely positive, and plans are in place for similar enhancements to the Vermont Campus.
Sweet and Steep Vermont Orientation The Vermont Campus created a new student and P1 orientation this fall. Students ventured off campus and explored the local resources and services, as well as enjoyed some great Vermont sights, attractions, and traditions like maple cremees and climbing Mount Mansfield, the tallest mountain in Vermont.
Vermont Fall Leadership Retreat Student leaders on the Vermont Campus dedicated Saturday, September 9 to leadership and professional development. The annual retreat was held at an historic hotel on the shores of Lake Champlain. From event planning and communications to leadership recipes and networking with fellow student leaders, it was a busy and productive day.
Alumni Facebook Page Has a New Home On September 30, after careful consideration and weeks of communications, the ACPHS Alumni and Admissions Facebook pages have merged with the College’s official page at facebook.com/acphsofficial in an effort to be more efficient with our social media communications. Stay connected and receive the same important alumni updates and so much more by liking the ACPHS Official Facebook page. We don’t want you to miss anything. Like the page today!
Freshmen Forecast On August 23, the College welcomed its newest class of freshmen, which included 151 Doctor of Pharmacy students and 48 Bachelor of Science students. The 2017 first year enrollment mix shakes out to be 69% from New York and 31% from out of state, including international.
WINTER 2017 Alumni News
PRI Celebrates 15 Years of Success and Accomplishments A list of PRI’s accomplishments over the past 15 years includes: • Funding for research grants and capital equipment donations totaling more than $25 million • Publication of more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals • Hosting or organizing of conferences in the Capital Region and beyond, including a weeklong Nanomedicine Symposium and Workshop held on the ACPHS Campus in 2015 • Engagement of hundreds of students in scientific research including high school, bachelor’s, master’s, Pharm.D., M.D., Ph.D., and post-doctoral students • Creation of a spinoff company, NanoPharmaceuticals LLC, a first in the history of the College The Pharmaceutical Research Institute (PRI) of Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences celebrated its 15th year anniversary earlier this fall. The College opened this center for drug discovery and development in September 2002. Shaker A. Mousa, Ph.D., M.B.A., FACC, FACB, a former Senior Scientist at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and holder of more than 350 U.S. and international patents, was selected as the Institute’s Executive Vice President and Chairman. He remains in those roles today in addition to serving as the College’s Vice Provost of Research. Dr. Mousa and the PRI team of investigators focus their research and development work in the areas of hematology/ oncology; ophthalmology; neurology; and a range of cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases.
“If you want to succeed in the field pharmaceutical research, you have to be a good scientist, but you also need to be able to translate discoveries made in the lab into real world applications. At PRI, this has been our focus for the past 15 years,” says Dr. Mousa. “But you can’t do it alone, which is why we have opened up the Institute to researchers from across the globe. The only chance we have to find better therapies for complex diseases is for the entire scientific community to work together, and we want to be part of that process.”
Dr. Mousa Awarded International Science Prize In addition to all of the incredible accomplishments listed above, Dr. Shaker Mousa was most recently selected to receive the Kuwait Prize—one of the world’s most prestigious awards for achievements in science. Dr. Mousa was honored in the category of Applied Sciences (Applied Medical & Applied Allied Health Sciences). The Emir of Kuwait presented Dr. Mousa with a gold medal symbolic of the award in a ceremony on December 13. To learn more about the Kuwait Prize or watch a video about Dr. Mousa’s career accomplishments go to acphs.edu.
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CLASS NOTES
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alumni@acphs.edu We want to hear how you’re doing and what you’ve been up to since graduation. Keep the College, your fellow classmates, and friends in the know by sharing your stories, milestones and accomplishments with the Office of Institutional Advancement. We look forward to hearing from you.
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1951 A celebration for Ron McLean, former Dean of the College, was recently held in New York Mills, NY in honor of his 90th birthday. The party was attended by some familiar ACPHS faces like Laurie Briceland, Bob Hamilton, Larry Mokhiber, John Denio and Bill Cronin. Ron’s granddaughter, Meredith McLean Bassett ’92 is also an alumna of the College and was in attendance. 1971 Bernard Graham was honored with the Mortar and Pestle Award at the 2017 Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association annual conference in recognition of extraordinary lifetime service as well as dedication and commitment to the profession of pharmacy. Bernard founded the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy at Wilkes University in 1994. He retired in May 2017 and received the title dean emeritus. 1981 Writing for Pharmacy Times, Jeff Fudin encourages all pharmacists to fulfill their legal and ethical role in preventing prescription drug abuse by being aware of and watching for red flags in patients’ behaviors. Read the full piece, “Don’t Ignore These Opioid Abuse Red Flags,” at pharmacytimes.com. 1982 Nicholas Zacharczenko has published a semi-autobiographical account of his time in pharmacy school, Pharmacy College: Crazy Daze and Hazy Nites. Available on Amazon. He is pictured here with his wife, Sherelyn Zacharczenko ‘84.
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WINTER 2017 Alumni News
In 2015, Joseph and Libby Montemorano opened Campagna Restaurant. Located in Malta, NY, the menu features rustic Italian cuisine, including signature dishes from their families’ recipes.
1987 Hudson Headwaters Health Network named Dominick Bizzarro as its new president and chief administrative officer. Previously, Dominick was executive vice president for business development and informatics at MVP Health Care and the CEO of the Health Information Xchange of New York. 1988 Martin Irons has published his first non-fiction novel, Phalanx Against the Divine Wind. The book recounts the story of a US Navy destroyer during World War II and includes firsthand accounts of kamikaze attacks. Available at Merriam-Press.com and Amazon. 1992 Michael Duteau, VP of business development and strategic relations of at KPH Healthcare Services, Kinney Drugs’ parent company, accepted the 2017 “Politically Engaged Pharmacy Award,” or PEP Award, in recognition of his leadership and participation in the NACDS Political Action Committee. 1993 Maria Lockwood was announced as the Pharmacy Manager at the new Wegmans store opening in Montvale, NJ. 1996 Judith A. Smith is serving on ACCP Research Institute Board of Trustees (BOT) and is the incoming Chair for the BOT. Brian Hemstreet is the incoming Board of Regents Treasurer and Eric MacLaughlin is an outgoing Regent on the Board of Regents.
2007 The Rheumatologist featured Jessica Farrell, a clinical pharmacist and associate professor of pharmacy practice at ACPHS, and her work as an in-office pharmacist at The Center for Rheumatology. The partnership between TCFR and ACPHS has resulted in enhanced patient education and increased the practice’s efficiency in reporting adverse reactions to the FDA. To read the full article, “In-Office Pharmacist Improves Patient Care,” go to the-rheumatologist.org. 2008 Leya Laverriere joined the Emergency Medicine Department of York Hospital in Maine as a Physician Assistant. 2010 Congratulations to Mariette Sourial, who was appointed Director of Inter-Professional Education Programs at Palm Beach Atlantic University. 2011 Tasmina Hydery married Brent Seeber of Syracuse, NY on August 5, 2017. Tasmina is a clinical consultant pharmacist and assistant professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Shrewsbury, MA.
FRIENDS WE’LL MISS ALUMNI
1965 Arthur Poremba
1951 Raymond Blake, Jr.
September 16, 2017
October 31, 2017
1955 Salvatore J. Lanzafame October 24, 2017
1958 Carl Whitestone June 25, 2016
Dexter Spaulding November 14, 2017
1962 Elaine G. Henry March 28, 2017
1965 David F. Smith August 22, 2017
1982 Donna Kushyk March 10, 2017
2015 Nicholas Giruzzi and Megan Geurds were married on July 14, 2017 in Averill Park, NY. They are pictured here with Nick’s grandmother, Mary Ann Giruzzi and grandfather, Rocco Giruzzi ’58, Board of Trustee. 2016 Carolyn Enos was recently promoted to Pharmacy Manager at Rite Aid in Amsterdam, NY. 2017 Alisha Ahmed is a Post-Doctoral Fellow, Oncology Marketing at Seattle Genetics.
In Memory of Connor Callaghan ’17 by Corey Callaghan, Connor’s brother I know I’m not alone in saying that Connor taught me something. Every time we spoke, I had to essentially be prepared with a pen and pad to take notes, because I was undoubtedly going to learn something. Aside from facts about The Beatles, various philosophers, political figures, or societal norms, he taught me how to see the world.
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Connor was extremely intelligent; but more importantly in my opinion, he was kind, compassionate, and incredibly thoughtful. He was also amazingly well read. Every week, he would mention another book (or 10…) which he had recently read and insisted I get my hands on. A lot of this reading was philosophy. For those of you who don’t know, Connor contemplated life. I mean deep, dark contemplations that the rest of us try not to think about. He questioned, among other things, the meaning of life, life’s place in society, and the value which society places on life itself. To be honest, I always found it a bit difficult to understand some of the things Connor questioned and thought about. In my rather simplistic view, life is nothing more than a mere collection of experiences, which form memories—some of which we can recall. Those experiences, however positive, negative, or indifferent they might be, mold us into the people we are. Further, the experiences we have with other people create impacts —which can again be positive, negative, or indifferent.
2017 Connor Callaghan
Connor had a positive impact on the world in which he lived. I’ll miss him, as I’m sure we all will. But, as for me, I plan to recall the experiences I had with Connor and let the impact he had on me shape the impact I have on others.
1993 Daniel M. Mullin August 24, 2017
2004 Faith S. Rothermel November 4, 2017
2008 Jonathan M. Krakat
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