Pharmacy Perspectives 2023

The theme for this spring graduation edition of Pharmacy Perspectives is “Reaching New Heights.” I cannot think of a more appropriate description of this past academic year at the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. I hope you take the time to read the stories in the following pages. If you do, you’ll agree that it has been a stellar year for the School of Pharmacy.

Our graduates achieved some of the highest NAPLEX pass rates in the nation.

Our students received national research awards and clinical recognitions.

Our faculty were tapped to lead some of the most distinguished academic and medical associations in the nation and provided key testimony around pharmacy legislation and opioid abuse treatment.

Our pharmaceutical researchers made breakthrough discoveries in cancer treatment, HIV therapies, neurological disorders, and much more.

Our researchers in the Center for Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research played critical roles in helping reduce drug costs for Americans across the U.S.

Our preceptors volunteered countless hours to mentor our students and provide critical health care at free clinics across the state.

Our staff were honored with system-wide awards for service and commitment.

And, of course, our alumni continued to bring acclaim to the School through their outstanding careers community pharmacy, research, advocacy, industry, professional associations, technology and academia.

From an administrative standpoint, we confirmed our commitment to social justice by hiring our first Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, as well as our first female Associate Dean of Research. Throughout the school, faculty and staff work groups are evaluating and developing everything from internal processes to outward impact.

We are holding steadfast to the belief that our best days are still ahead as we educate, advocate, and collaborate to train the next generation of pharmacy professionals to make the world a healthier, more just, place to thrive.

Sincerely,

Welcome :

Ralph J. Altiere, PhD

Dean, University of Colorado, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

New Programs, New Success, New Innovations

The fall of 2022 brought new energy to CU Pharmacy. The academic year started ‘normal,’ something that had not happened since 2019. In a post-pandemic phase of COVID, the school returned to life, but not without lessons, changes, and reassurance that we are on the right path.

Remote learning is here to stay, with the permanent addition of a remote cohort to the regular PharmD doctoral track. This remote option allows students from across the United States to complete their Doctor of Pharmacy degree from wherever they choose, and balance whatever life circumstance they have, with their education. Location should not stop anyone from continuing education, achieving their dream, and working toward better healthcare for all.

Our existing online program, the InternationalTrained PharmD (ITPD), received the Global Education SIG 2022 Outstanding Program Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). The ITPD program, now in its 10th year, is for individuals practicing pharmacy

PharmD remote cohorts during a campus visit

Some members of the ITPD class of 2026, the most diverse class in CU Pharmacy history

in a country other than the United States, usually with a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree, but who would like to both obtain a PharmD and to expand the field of pharmacy within their own country. This fall, it welcomed its most diverse class, with eight students representing nine different countries, with one student splitting time between two countries.

In response to ever-changing student and public health needs, the on-campus PharmD program partnered with the University of Colorado Denver to create a pharmacy pipeline program.

The partnership program allows students to enter CU Denver as an undergraduate and seamlessly transition to CU Pharmacy to earn both their Bachelor’s of Science and their Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) in seven years. The program offers an individualized education experience, where students have close contact with advisors at both campuses and have access to resources at both campus locations – and students are already enrolled for this fall.

The Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse and Prevention continued its meteoric growth in response to a meteoric rise in drug overdose deaths. Created to address the drug abuse epidemic, the Consortium was a key player in developing the Colorado Opioid Settlement Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which provided the framework for the disbursement of opioid settlement funds to 19 regions, local governments, an infrastructure fund, and a state fund. Because of its work, Colorado is the very first state in the nation to be recognized by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for excellence in application of the Principles for the Use of Funds from the Opioid Litigation

In February, The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP®) released its most up-to-date North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination® (NAPLEX®) results, showing University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (CU Pharmacy) graduates had a first-time pass rate of 96 percent, 16 percent higher than the national average. Only two other schools in North America saw higher scores.

In March, CU Anschutz returned to the airways with 'Possibilities Endless,' a new campaign to showcase what makes our campus different. The campaign features some familiar faces – Dan LaBarbera, PhD, professor and founding director of the Center for Drug Discovery (CDD) at CU Pharmacy, and Senior Professional Research Assistant Qiong Zhou. By optimizing the analysis of new drugs and therapies, Dr. LaBarbera and his collaborators can shepherd promising new drugs and therapies to clinicians faster –helping people in Colorado and beyond live longer, healthier lives.

CU Pharmacy is on a path of its own, reaching new heights, creating new maps, and finding ways to bring healthcare to all.

Dr. Dan LaBarbera and Senior Professional Research Assistant Qiong Zhou in the Drug Discovery lab.

Some members of the team from the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse and Prevention

EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY FOR PHARMACY ADVOCATES

Students create climate report card

keenly interested in this topic and in line with our wider efforts to collaborate for healthier communities, we thought we could be greener together!” said Dr. Brock. “Seeing the similarities and differences in planetary health approaches across professions, states, and countries was part of the cultural diversity dialogue each week.”

P3 G abriela Castellano and P1 Liriam Campos Hevia said they wanted to take the elective because, “There are so many layers to health that are not obvious when we usually study drugs and diseases... like climate change and heat, vector ecosystems and the spread of infectious disease/resistance, unintended impacts of pharmaceuticals, prescribing practices, dosage forms, and how they can affect the environment.”

T he first Earth Day, celebrated on April 21, 1970, was the start of the modern-day environmental movement. In many circles, you’re likely to hear the mantra, “Global health is human health.” So, it’s not surprising that healthcare professionals are recognizing the part they can play in mitigating the negative health outcomes associated with a warming climate, increased toxins, and, in some regions, limited clean air and water.

C hief of those healthcare professions being identified as frontline activists are pharmacists.

Hayley Blackburn, PharmD, was a recent speaker at the CU School of Pharmacy Dean’s Leadership Convocation. Dr. Blackburn is an associate professor at the University of Montana Skaggs School of Pharmacy, as well as the cofounder of a global alliance for climate smart for pharmacy practice called Rx for Climate. Through her work, Blackburn co-leads global health initiatives and research efforts to help pharmacists and other health professionals develop climateforward practices.

T ina Brock, EdD, is a professor and Associate Dean of Education at the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Brock first met Blackburn through their mutual Rx for Climate advocacy. This semester, they built their partnership into an innovative elective called Human Health and Climate Change that involved pharmacy, nursing and medical students from Montana, Colorado, and Australia.

Scan to see the Climate Report Card

“We knew that health professions students were

In addition to learning about the myriad of ways that healthcare providers can use their roles to bring about positive change, CU Pharmacy students were inspired to create a climate report card that assessed the degree to which planetary health and sustainability is embedded in the School of Pharmacy. Their report card was combined with evaluations of healthcare campuses from around the globe to create the Planetary Health Report Card, a metric-based tool for evaluating and improving planetary health content in health professional schools.

“This was the first time our School has submitted a report, but we hope to continue to collaborate with the CU medical students and together, to grow sustainability efforts like this on our campus,” said P1 Diane Lee and P1 Kiri Carmody on behalf of the School’s PHRC submission team.

Most importantly, the report card will serve as both a benchmark and a road map. Dr. Blackburn told the audience in her Climate Change and Pharmacy presentation that one of her favorite quotes comes from the 2021 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: “Climate change is the greatest health threat facing the world in the 21st century, but it is also the greatest opportunity to redefine the social and environmental determinants of health.”

It is that opportunity for change that motivates, not just students on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, but those in Montana, Australia, and around the world.

Scan to see the presentation

Dr. Tina Brock talks with P1 Kiri Carmody from the Human Health and Climate Change elective.

A NEW RESEARCH PHARMACY OPENS ON CAMPUS, USHERING IN NEW POSSIBILITIES

and supports clinical research studies for all projects on the CU Anschutz campus that have outpatient trial participants.

For example, if a patient is visiting the Barbara Davis Center for their trial diabetes medication, their medication has been compounded, packaged, and stored in the Research Pharmacy by the CU Pharmacy team for that specific patient. It then is delivered to the Barbara Davis Center when the patient arrives for their outpatient visit. Further, the CU Research Pharmacy assists in the clinical and administrative functions of drug research while assuring compliance with all federal, state, and Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board regulations concerning investigational drugs.

Clinical pharmaceutical research. Drug trials. Pharmaceutical trial patients. These medical buzzwords have a new home at CU Pharmacy – making the school a key player in not only developing new pharmaceuticals, but managing drug trials so new developments in pharmacy can be brought to the market, and one day save a life.

T he Research Pharmacy, a cross-collaborative project led by the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and in partnership with the School of Medicine, the CU Anschutz Chancellor, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, opened its doors in late 2022.

Di rector of the Research Pharmacy, Sam Ellis, PharmD, has been part of the project, in various phases, since 2012. He was working at the CU Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, which at the time had an infusion center but it was not inuse. Dr. Ellis explained that patients were sent to Children’s Hospital or UC Health facilities to receive their clinical trial medications.

“ There was a decision made, that I was part of, to bring the clinical trial phase to campus,” Dr. Ellis said. “As part of that initiative, they needed an investigational drug service, so I created an investigational drug center.”

B y 2017, after five years of the investigational drug service, the campus saw a need to bring all aspects of research pharmacy together in one place, and talks began to form the Research Pharmacy we have today.

“ Those conversations really changed the culture of the campus,” Dr. Ellis said. “We needed our own research pharmacy… at the time, there were a number of researchers who were needing to use outside pharmacies to compound their products, and then those products were delivered back to the research teams. The concept was to protect investigators, improve safety for patients, and to allow investigators to have easier access to their product.”

A bout six months ago, the conversations turned into reality when the Research Pharmacy opened its doors. It serves as the as the hub for pharmaceuticals in the trial phase

As t he research pharmacy team explained, once a patient is enrolled, then they receive the order for that specific patient, and they can compound and dispense the medication. It is personalized pharmaceuticals, and the team is meticulous. Patient safety is their highest priority, and they work very closely with investigative teams from across campus as part of a collaborative effort to improve human health. They also bring students along in the process because knowledge works best when shared.

“ We have students on rotation,” Dr. Ellis said. “We have fourth year APPE [Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience] students, and we will do that about six or seven times a year, so we can have students here year-round.”

E llis sees great potential in the Research Pharmacy. Currently, his team handles outpatient trials, but he says a growing area could be clinics, other CU medicine facilities, and even animal science.

“ The potential for us to grow is there,” he said. “I’m excited to see where it goes.”

Dr. Sam Ellis, Director of the Research Pharmacy

Research Pharmacy staff prepare personalized medicine for trial patients

DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS

T he Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is excited to welcome Manisha Patel, PhD, as the new Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. With her 20 years of research experience, Dr. Patel is bringing a range of experiences and passion for answering the unknown.

“I lov e research, and its ability to make meaningful advances in addressing many challenging health problems we face,” Dr. Patel explained. “Scientific research is a journey initiated by questions for which the answers are unknown. This makes each day exciting and meaningful.”

D r. Patel’s early love for science pushed her to pursue a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree. Her pharmacy education during her undergraduate studies included substantial laboratory work that sparked her interest in research and pursuit of a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology.

“Following my PhD, I conducted my postdoctoral training in Neuroscience,” she said. “I applied for an open tenure-track position in the CU School of Pharmacy and was able to move my laboratory to our 9th Avenue campus in 2002. The research and education in the CU School of Pharmacy were perfectly suited with my background and future goals.”

T his year Dr. Patel was recognized for her research work by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus with the Faculty Research Excellence Award, and named the President of the American Epilepsy Society, and received a Javits Award in Neuroscience for her ongoing research from the National Institutes of Health.

“It was truly humbling to receive a Faculty Research Excellence Award from a group of highly talented and innovative researchers on the CU Anschutz campus.”

B ut Dr. Patel’s work never stops. She is committed

to building on the school’s national and international reputation as well as the successful faculty and excellence in graduate education with her new Associate Dean position. “ This position offers the opportunity to grow the individual strengths of the faculty as well as build collaborative research teams. I believe basic, translational and outcomes-based research conducted by our faculty is the answer to many of our challenging health care issues,” she concludes. “Developing the next generation of researchers is also critical to this goal. I hope to have a meaningful impact on our research and graduate education missions by inspiring and motivating faculty and trainees to achieve their full research potential regardless of personal or professional backgrounds.”

Dr. Manisha Patel steps into role of Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies

I BELIEVE BASIC, TRANSLATIONAL AND OUTCOMES-BASED RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY OUR FACULTY IS THE ANSWER TO MANY OF OUR CHALLENGING HEALTH CARE ISSUES

‘IF THE PATH DOES NOT EXIST, HERE IS MY OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD IT’

CU Pharmacy Welcomes Inaugural Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

if they had more information on drug interactions, or what time of day works best to take specific medications.

“I r eally chose pharmacy because I felt like, ‘this is not fair’,” she said. “I really had that deep desire to help support others.”

the United States, but what really motivated her to center her work on equity, diversity, and inclusion was how she was embraced by people of color.

E rika Freitas, PhD, inaugural Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, wants to level set on her position title.

“ To me, the order matters and it should be equity first,” she says, “because that’s where we have the potential to make more immediate impact. And without equity, diversity and inclusion will never achieve the needed depth for true transformation.

D r. Freitas is passionate about her work. She is originally from Brazil, the youngest of eight siblings, raised on dairy, cattle, and grain farm. Dr. Freitas moved to the nearest town to go to school when she was seven years old because her father recognized that she was very smart and enjoyed books.

Her dad passed away the year before she went to college. Later, she learned that some of his side effects could have been reduced

D r. Freitas completed both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in her pursuit of better patient care. After graduation, she worked as clinical pharmacist in an interprofessional clinic, focused on patients living with HIV/AIDS. Dr. Freitas has a secret advantage. At the core of who she is, she sees people first and respect is a core value that she embeds in everything she does. After years of building patient and professional relationships, Freitas decided to move to the United States to pursue a PhD in Pharmacy Education at the University of Minnesota.

“I t hought, I will come back after four years with more knowledge to continue to help my patients in Brazil,” she laughed. “And I am still here.”

She s pent four years in Minnesota, and nine years at Regis University in Denver before joining the CU Pharmacy team.

“I d idn’t know that I was Black until I came to the United States,” Dr. Freitas explained. “In Brazil, we define race relations differently, and I was very much sheltered. When I moved to Minnesota, then I realized something was off by the way that people treated me.”

D r. Freitas describes with vivid details her encounters with discrimination and racism in

“ They cared about me,” she said. “And it felt good, so I thought I should retribute the love.”

D r. Freitas is invested in preparing culturally responsive healthcare professionals, ready to address health disparities.

“ Understanding how services might change according to the patient’s race or ethnicity, for example,” she explained. “And if you look at patient outcomes, there is so much more than straight science on how we treat people.” She has experienced unethical medical treatment firsthand.

“ This work is personal,” she said. “This is a very personal work for me. I did not choose it, I was chosen. When I started to see and experience the unfair treatment, knowing that I had crossed a certain educational threshold, I started to feel that I was a little bit more responsible for using my education, my credentials, the airspace that I get to help others.”

D r. Freitas is creating space for that knowledge and growth in the School of Pharmacy. For her, for others like her, for faculty members, students, staff, and anyone who wants to come to the table.

“ The focus of higher education has always been on ‘are students ready to learn?’ It is now time for us to start asking ourselves, ‘are we prepared to teach? Are we prepared to support students from diverse backgrounds? We need to reflect on ourselves and ask those questions. Are we prepared to teach and work in an inclusive way, so that everyone has a chance at succeeding?”

Wit h Dr. Freitas, we will be.

Scan to read more about Dr. Freitas' journey

Dr. Freitas speaks during the Black History Month Panel

ASSOCIATE DEAN TAKES THE REINS OF NATIONAL PHARMACY ORGANIZATION

The Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences’ faculty have a long history of holding leadership positions throughout the country. Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Brian Hemstreet, PharmD, has recently joined that list after being elected President of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP). Just like how his hobbies of biking and skiing take him to the mountains, he will be bringing his leadership skills to new heights.

“Being elected to serve ACCP in this capacity has been both a humbling and exciting experience,” Dr. Hemstreet explained. “The profession is filled with so many great leaders, so being selected by my peers to lead this organization is one of the highest honors I have received in my career. After spending the majority of my professional service time with ACCP, it’s also very gratifying to have my efforts recognized in this manner.”

The ACCP is a professional and scientific society that provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources enabling clinical pharmacists to achieve excellence in practice, research, and education. Its mission is to improve human health by extending the frontiers of clinical pharmacy.

With 18 years at CU Pharmacy, Dr. Hemstreet has worked with thousands of students and enjoys every chance he has to make an impact on them. He is motivated each day with the chance to interact with students and support them along their PharmD journey.

“The motivating factors are largely related to having the ability to make a positive impact on the student experience in our program, and to contribute to improving patient care by helping to train the next generation of pharmacists,” Dr. Hemstreet described. “Getting to see our students enter the program and then

graduate and pursue their career path is one of the most satisfying parts of my job.”

He was first introduced to the world of pharmacy through his older cousin who was a pharmacist himself. His cousin allowed him to shadow in the community pharmacy setting and educated Hemstreet about the role pharmacists play on the healthcare team.

“I’ve had always had a passion for the sciences and helping others, but his was truly an eye-opening experience and prompted me to pursue a career in pharmacy after getting to observe the opportunity to make an impact on patient’s lives,” Dr. Hemstreet said.

After growing up in rural Upstate New York, Dr. Hemstreet studied in Albany, New York and Charleston, South Carolina before he found his way to CU Pharmacy. He was captivated by the school and the campus and how it has evolved into a world class educational facility that offered many opportunities for his professional growth. "The opportunity to contribute to the development of a program that has risen to be one of the best in the country and to work with excellent faculty, staff, and students have been the main reasons that I have been at CU for the majority of my career,” Dr. Hemstreet explained.

As Dr. Hemstreet builds on his career at the School of Pharmacy and begins his new position as President of the ACCP, he realizes the challenges facing the profession of pharmacy and hopes to bring a new energy and vision to the organization.

“The profession is at a critical point where there is a major need to continue advance the profession,” Dr. Hemstreet concluded. “My biggest hope is that I can inspire the next generation of leaders in the profession to challenge the status quo and to push the profession to the next level.”

Dr. Brian Hemstreet, right, at the ACCP conference with Colorado colleagues Drs. Emily Zadvorny , from the Colorado Pharmacists Society, and Sheila Stadler, from Kaiser Permanente

FROM TESTIFYING AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL TO LEADING RESEARCH AND CLINICAL ORGANIZATIONS, CU FACULTY ARE MOVERS AND SHAKERS

This spring, Assistant Professor Kelly E. Anderson, PhD, MPP, watched as drug maker Ely Lilly slashed insulin prices – a move to make insulin more accessible to millions of Americans.

“It was a watershed moment,” she said.

Dr. Anderson, a nationally recognized leader in pharmaceutical outcomes research, has spent her career focused on public policy, and by extension public health, improvement. After years of research, testifying, and offering expert opinions on the cost of pharmaceuticals, the insulin price drop was a sign that her work was making an impact.

“It’s that moment of knowing that my research, Dr. Brett McQueen’s research, research from academics across the country, patient groups raising the issue, clinicians raising this issue, advocacy, it’s rewarding to see that there is a possibility of improving care for patients with diabetes,” Dr. Anderson said. “That all of these voices and all of this research has led to change, rather than shouting into a void. For me, it makes me hopeful that this is possible for other kinds of medications and other populations.”

The watershed moment this year happened for faculty across CU Pharmacy. Robert Page, PharmD, saw his work thrust into the spotlight when he published multiple articles on cardiovascular health and cannabis use. His work was republished more times in 2022 than any other CU Pharmacy faculty member, and in the fall, he was named the American College of Cardiology Colorado Chapter, Educator of the Year Award.

“I am the first pharmacist to win this,” he said, “and was completely surprised.”

Dr. Page went on to be selected as an official reviewer for the American Heart Association’s stance on the FDA Nonprescription Drug Product with an Additional Condition for Nonprescription Use Rule, and was selected by the American Heart Association to be on the writing panel for the AHA Health Policy Statement on Smokeless Tobacco.

Our experts were not limited to national boards. Jacci Bainbridge, PharmD, testified to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland about the importance of recognizing cannabis as a medication to broaden research efforts and provide evidence-based recommendations, reinforcing our expertise at an international level.

The list goes on.

Molly Huntsman, PhD, was appointed to the NIH Clinical Neuroplasticity and Neurotransmitters (CNNT) Study Section in the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Scientific Review; Jed Lampe, PhD, was appointed to the NIH Xenobiotic and Nutrient Disposition and Action (XNDA) Study Section in the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Scientific Review; Kavita Nair, PhD, represented CU Pharmacy at Neurology on the Hill, in which she met with Congress on legislative issues important for patients with neurological disease.

CU Pharmacy’s team of top-notch researchers and clinicians continues to see growth and make change in their fields – in and out of the classroom. We can’t wait to see what they do next.

Dr. Robert Page

Dr. Kelly E. Anderson

Brett McQueen, PhD Jacci Bainbridge, PharmD

Jed Lampe, PhD Kavita Nair, PhD Molly Huntsman, PhD

COMMUNITY OUTREACH BRINGS PHARMACY CARE TO WHERE IT’S NEEDED MOST

T he world watched as pharmacists across the globe played a pivotal healthcare role during the COVID pandemic. But engaging in public health is nothing new for the Skaggs School of Pharmacy. In any given year CU Pharmacy faculty and students are on the front lines of education and access to community care.

The free health clinic at the National Western Stock Show is a long-running example of the School’s commitment to going where the needs are greatest. Dr. Connie Valdez, PharmD, is the advisor of the student organization SNPhA whose mission is to bring healthcare to underserved populations.

“One of our students who was a member said, “You know, we do all of these health fairs and we should do it for ranchers and farmers too.” Valdez recalled. “I said that was a great idea because many of them don’t have health insurance or access to healthcare.”

And Dr. Valdez should know. She grew up in a ranching environment and participated in rodeos. Today she co-owns a ranch that runs cattle in Wyoming and continues to ride horses.

When Healthcare isn’t Horse Sense

“A horse-shoer that I have in Wyoming, he doesn’t go a doctor at all – he goes to his vet.” Valdez said. “That’s where he gets his medical care. So, a lot of times these folks (at

the Stock Show) don’t have access to health care, and some haven’t been to the doctor in many years.”

Whe n the free clinic started at the Stock Show back in 2006, pharmacy faculty and students provided pulmonary function tests for smokers, along with diabetes and blood pressure tests. In recent years, their work has expanded into a partnership with medical and nursing students from campus along with additional services such as free vaccinations. Over the years the free clinic has identified patients who had no idea they had certain health issues, some even being referred to Stock Show EMT’s for immediate assessment.

Health Fairs Bring Health Care to Those Who Need it Most

Health fairs are an opportunity for all to get involved. From students to faculty, alumni to preceptors, and organized outreach by the Office of Experiential Education, these one-stop events allow pharmacists to connect with the community and provide essentials. One of the largest health fairs of the year is the Community Health Fair for Living Water Church Aurora. Minutes from the CU Anschutz campus, this fair allowed CU Pharmacy volunteers to not only offer immunizations, but bone density screenings, crucial to identifying risk factors for osteoporosis.

A lumna Adetola Obiwole, PharmD, has been a leader in organizing this particular fair, and each year tries to expand its reach to fit the needs of Aurora’s diverse community. Dr. Obiwole connected with the CU School of Dental Medicine in order to also add dental screenings, another much-needed service to fair attendees.

Dr. Connie Valdez,PharmD

The CU Pharmacy team provided on-site health care to Stock Show attendees

Making Medication Knowledge Child’s Play

Hands-on community outreach opportunities for PharmD students start in their very first semester. As part of their first-year training, pharmacy students are tasked with educating elementary students on a wide variety of health care issues at the annual “Pharmacist for a Day” event. The idea being that if student pharmacists can learn to explain sometimes-complicated pharmacy concepts to a fourth grader they will be better prepared to communicate more complex information to their patients in the future. “Our pharmacy students teach the elementary school children how to make ‘rash a way cream’ using mortar and pestle, dye tabs and lotion. They learn how to put a prescription label on a vial. They learn about the difference between candy and medicine, and when to call poison control,” said Patricia Meyer, senior student services specialist for the Office of Experiential Education.

In addition to instilling real-world medication knowledge in the fourth graders, the event, also seeks to remind underserved communities, starting with the children, that their neighborhood pharmacist is one of the most trusted, and accessible, health care providers.

Local Elementary Students Become 'Pharmacists for a Day'

Pharmacy Scholarship Recipients

Coordinate Opioid Awareness Event

Pharmacy Honor Society

Recognized for Community Outreach

Pharmacist Expert Addresses Narcan Availability at Festivals

CU Pharmacy faculty and students host scores of health care clinics, vaccination events, drug take-back days and more. Use the QR codes to explore how our pharmacy professionals are creating a healthier world.

CU Pharmacy students spent the day at a local elementary school during 'Pharmacist for a Day'

Dr. Adetola Obiwole, right, at the Living Water Church Health Fair

Reaching New Heights :

PERSONALLY, AND PROFESSIONALLY, THE PAYOFF COMES AFTER THE HARD WORK

into my sleeping bag for the night.”

Rudimentary shelters line the base camp trails for hikers to stop for the night, but the thin wooden shelters offer only wind protection from the cold.

“In the morning, my water would be ice,” Dr. Follett said. A risk for the flight to the airport. Food poisoning. Freezing cold night after night. Why do this?

“Because in the morning, it is the most magical thing I have ever seen,” she gushed. “It’s just… so beautiful, and the people you meet along the way, the culture that welcomes you in, the mountains, all of it. It is so worth it. And I got to experience that.”

Dr. Follett feels the say way about pharmacy.

“I get to do this career,” she said. “I get to help people, and it allows me to, you know, take time to hike base camp, and to go skiing, and to enjoy my life. For as hard as it is in the moment, and how stressful pharmacy can be, the trade-off is having a life like this.”

Dr. Follett is back, and the trip was not so much like walking around with a backpack. It was better – and gave her perspective on what could be next.

“Once I saw base camp though, I thought, could I do Everest? Can I do the peak?” she said. “Maybe someday. We’ll see.”

Before she left to hike Mount Everest base camp, Chandler Follett, PharmD, Clinical Instructor, said it would be fine.

“Hiking is just walking around with your backpack, right?” she mused.

An experienced hiker, Dr. Follett had already conquered many of Colorado’s 14ers (which are, well, at least 14,000 feet in elevation) and Mount Kilimanjaro (a mere 19,341 feet in elevation) when she decided to try to reach base camp (17,598 feet to the South Base camp in Nepal).

She is also always up for reaching new heights. After graduating from CU Pharmacy in 2016, Dr. Follett spent time in rural hospital pharmacy, where often she was the only pharmacist overnight servicing four hospitals in two states. Dr. Follett is the new Pharmacy Outreach Specialist at CU Pharmacy, and her role is to reach prospective students on a new level, to encourage them to love the field, and all its challenges, as much as she does.

But first, Everest.

For anyone thinking base camp is the easy way out, think again. Dr. Follett caught a flight in Denver to LA, to Kathmandu, then had to take a helicopter though extreme weather to Tenzing-Hillary Aisrport, more commonly known as Lukla airport, more commonly known as the most dangerous airport in the world. Her hiking party met in Lukla, and despite having food poisoning, Dr. Follett and the group set off to base camp, a 7-day trek through Nepal’s most scenic, but difficult, terrain. On day 3, half of the group caught a helicopter out and did not complete the trip.

“It was so cold,” she said. “You could pay locals to pour boiling water into your water bottle, and then I would tuck it

Dr. Chandler Follett in a helicopter on her way to hike Everest base camp

Dr. Follett at base camp

SETTING THE BAR FOR PHARMACY, ONE LEGISLATIVE SESSION AT A TIME

Today, the School of Pharmacy partners on promoting legislative change with the Colorado Pharmacists Society which is led by CU Pharmacy clinical associate professor Dr. Emily Zadvorny, PharmD.

This year, with support from CU Pharmacy, CPS was awarded the 2023 ASHP Pharmacy Champion Award. The award specifically recognized the efforts to secure passage of CO HB 21-1275, which provides Medicaid reimbursements for services by pharmacists. The advocacy effort is being hailed as a blueprint for other states to recognize pharmacists as health care providers.

Faculty and researchers at CU Pharmacy also see advocacy as an opportunity for students’ education. Each spring pharmacy students participate in Day at the Capitol where they get a front row seat for the legislative process, meet state representatives and interact with other pharmacy advocates.

Colorado is one of the most progressive states in the nation in which to practice pharmacy. . The state was one of the first in the nation to allow pharmacists to prescribe HIV medications, removing a barrier for the 15,000+ Coloradans living with HIV; one of the first to allow pharmacists to give immunizations, something that helped prevent severe disease and death during the COVID emergency; and one of the first states to grant pharmacists provider status, which allows pharmacists to effectively work with a greater healthcare team to optimize patient-centered care.

Leading the way in this state-wide advocacy is Gina Moore, PharmD, Associate Dean for Operations at CU Pharmacy and Legislative Chair of the Colorado Pharmacists Society (CPS).

“The school began [advocacy efforts] in 2015 by advocating for pharmacist provider status,” Dr. Moore explained.

During the 2023 legislative session, pharmacy faculty testified in support of insurance-covered pharmacogenomic testing, served as expert witnesses on opioid addiction, and supported a number of bills aims at making high-cost drugs available to those who need them.

“We are excited about two pieces of legislation that will address spread pricing and allow the Division of Insurance to enforce previously passed laws against prohibited pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) practices,” Dr. Moore said.

But why would a school be so involved with pharmacy legislation? It comes down to expanding education and patient-centered care.

“Our pharmacy students graduate with amazing training and skills,” Dr. Moore said. “Newer drugs are more complex than they have been in previous years, and we need all of our graduates to actively engage as part of the health care team to ensure drugs are appropriate and safe for our patients.”

By advocating for patient care, insurance coverage, and allowing pharmacists to practice at a top level, the school is on the forefront of pharmacy innovation, and prepared to educate pharmacists to do the same.

“Our society is also getting older with complex problems and multidrug regimens,” Dr. Moore continued. “Our graduates are trained to address those challenges and help patients live longer, healthier lives.”

Dr. Gina Moore

Dr. Yee Ming Lee, third from left, poses at the capitol with P4 students and Dr. Emily Zadvorny, Executive Director of the Colorado Pharmacists Society. Dr. Lee and her students were testifying about pharmacogenomic testing.

THE CLASS OF 2023 TOOK THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED, AND SOMETIMES, PAVED THEIR OWN

When the Class of 2023 started at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, it was the fall of 2019. COVD-19 did not even exist. Online learning was not totally mainstream. Eager to get started, the class came to CU Pharmacy ready to pave their own path.

Dedication to Rural Colorado

Tricia Brandenburg came to CU Pharmacy to intentionally practice pharmacy in rural locations. She wrapped up, having learned from CU preceptors in Alamosa, Cortez, Salida, Eagle County, and Telluride, Colorado, among others. Her dedication to being a front-line provider to rural Coloradans won her the distinction of winning the National Western Stock Show scholarship, which annually recognizes two pharmacy students for their dedication to bringing patient-centered pharmacy care to rural communities across the state.

“I did the early decision to CU Pharmacy,” she said. “I have always liked Colorado, and I fell in love with rural areas. I’m really big into hiking, and fishing, anything outdoors.” While in Alamosa, Brandenburg spent time at a diabetes clinic and thoroughly enjoyed it.

“I found that a lot of patients could really use more information about healthy living on a budget, and help managing their medications. The services were free for them, and they were quick, so I found that patients were likely to take advantage of the healthcare,” she said “It was one of my favorite rotations, it is a way to bring additional services to an area that is in need of more providers.”

Brandenburg said that once patients were not worried about money [to pay for their appointment], they were open to talk and ask questions about their health.

Lauren Quintana started out paving her own road. She played softball as an undergraduate, and got her prerequisites at a junior college, but she did not need to complete a bachelor’s degree to be accepted into CU.

“I did a lot of research [on pharmacy schools], and I knew I wanted to do pharmacy since high school. So, I knew what I needed to get done while I was in school,” she explained. “I knew I was going to get my bachelor’s while I was here, so I did not need to do the fourth year of undergrad.”

Quintana, from a generational CU Pharmacy family (her grandfather also graduated from the school), has already been hired as a community pharmacist in Northern Colorado. She spent her final roation at a community-based pharmacy in Ireland.

“It was tied to the hospital, kind of like, out-patient pharmacy, but there were some home visits. It is exciting to learn about international healthcare,” she said.

Quintana knows about community-based healthcare. During the beginning of the COVID pandemic, she was a front-line immunizer at the Denver International Airport.

“There were days where we would give 4,000 shots a day,” she explained. “We had to have on full face shields, it was a lot.”

“I really enjoyed doing the diabetes and exercise education,” she said. “I thought it was unique and fun, and it’s a service you don’t really see in rural areas.”

Lauren Quintana during her final rotation in Ireland

Tricia Brandenburg enjoying rural Colorado

Determination Pays Off

Dorothy Agyemang says if there is no road for you, then you build your own. As a child in Ghana, her uncle got very sick.

“I think he had Malaria,” she recalls. “My uncle was struggling a lot and we did not have access to a doctor because it was too expensive, so we went to the pharmacist, and he prescribed my uncle medication, and he started feeling better. I saw how he helped my uncle and I said, ‘that is what I want to do’.”

Agyemang moved to the United States when she was thirteen. She excelled in math and science and found herself in advanced classes in those areas – and remedial English.

“The school did not know what to do with me,” she said.

In spite, or perhaps because of, the challenges, Agyemang was determined to be successful in her dream. Years later, she was accepted to CU Pharmacy with flying colors, and she brought her determination with her. She is a McNess Scholar, received a Sheldon Steinhouser Scholarship, and earlier this year she participated in a Black History Month panel to share her experience.

“It was an amazing experience, because it gave me the opportunity to speak up and share how you can be an ally, how we can create community, how we can help people coming up,” she said. “I’m an African, I’m Black, I’m a woman, I have an accent... I want to be able to show young Black girls that they can do this too.”

“The purpose for me, on this planet, is to enter spaces where people can also see themselves in,” Agyemang continued. “So that the people after me do not have to struggle.”

Space For Others

Vinh Thai is creating space for others to follow. Thai moved to the United States as a teenager with his mother from Vietnam. Thai is thoughtful when he speaks, and his cadence draws the listener in.

“I started learning English since 2013,” he said, “so that is another layer to school. But I have never learned medical terms or medications in Vietnam, so learning the new terms in English was the same as if it were in Vietnamese. It is all new.”

He is thankful for the opportunities of pharmacy school.

“I had pharmacy tutoring, pharmacy internship, research projects,” he said. “I was Rho Chi Chapter President at our school from 2021-2022. In leadership experience, I learned to be a good listener, to respect people’s differences, and to make vision a reality. I could also identify areas that I could work on to become a better leader. These opportunities allowed me to discover my passion for leadership.”

The experience prepared him for the next chapter of his career. Upon graduation, he will be completing his PGY I and II residency in Health-System Administration and Leadership at the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System.

“My goals are to improve patient care with an emphasis on the continuum of care between inpatient and outpatient services, to enhance pharmacist work satisfaction, and to promote diversity in the workplace,” he said.

Thai did not mind, and actually enjoyed, the option to have online classes. It saved time, and it allowed him to explore other areas of interest. After years of admiring ice skaters from afar, he decided to give it a try himself. He signed up for skating lessons, and now he has a coach and is learning a single axle.

“I love it very much,” he smiles. “It is like the closest thing you get to flying.”

Thai says his mom is his number one fan and is cheering for him in everything he does.

CU Pharmacy is cheering for the class of 2023 in everything they do. They are determined, creative, hardworking, and they will change the world.

Dorothy Agyemang speaking as part of the CU Pharmacy Black History Month Panel

Vinh Thai in his favorite place, ice skating

A PharmD, For Personal Merit, and Professional Innovation

Determination doesn’t sleep, and neither does Lisa Chang, BS, MBA, and soon to be Doctor of Pharmacy from the North American-Trained PharmD program (NTPD). Unlike traditional PharmD programs, where training is in-person, the NTPD program at CU Pharmacy is built for individuals already licensed to practice pharmacy but who want the added benefits of a doctoral degree.

For Chang, who graduated with her BS in Pharmacy from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 1993, it was because she is the current Director of Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization in the Poole College of Management at NC State – and she wanted to be on the cutting edge of pharmacy technology.

“I assist the university in looking at what is just cool science, and what actually could be the foundation for a start-up, or a valuable license to a larger, existing entity,” Chang explained.

She also is a university lecturer in graduate programs, supports the technology transfer office, serves as Director of Diligence for the NC State Wolfpack Investor Network, and she moonlights as an overnight clinical pharmacist, picking up shifts in pharmacies across North Carolina to both give the regular pharmacists a break and to remind her why she became a pharmacist in the first place.

Chang started her career in industry, and she intentionally seeks out opportunities to know what patients want, need, and how healthcare can be improved.

“There are new innovations that help us keep the world around us healthy, both preventative, and also looking at

applied healthcare once people do become ill,” she said. “It was really important for me to go back to school to get perspective on those things. Part of what I do is look for relative merit of innovations that are being researched. If you don’t get new perspective on developing technologies, it can be very difficult to make good decisions on how the university should invest.”

Chang loved learning about pharmacogenomics, research that studies how a person's genes affect how he or she responds to medications.

“That was not a field when I graduated in 1993,” she chuckled.

The new field plays to her strengths in innovation, where she regularly analyzes data, but she points out that “just because you can get data on something, doesn’t mean you can impact change.”

“The most valuable part about getting a PharmD, certainly understanding new classes of medication and mechanisms of actions helps me to evaluate the new technologies I’m looking at for relative merit, but also the new fields, that has been really exciting,” she said. “I personally care that the innovations that we are rolling out are making real impact for real people.

"I always think 'who is the beneficiary?' It's a person. Whether I know them or not, it doesn’t matter. I want to make sure I am helping make our world a better place by enabling brilliant researchers and inventors to bring real solutions to people who need them.”

Lisa Chang lectures at NC State

MASTER’S GRADUATE IS RUNNING ON HER OWN PATH

Maria Trivino doesn’t stop moving. She runs. She swims. She works full-time. And for the last two years she’s been working on her master’s degree in Cannabis Science and Medicine at CU Pharmacy.

After getting a degree in chemistry from Binghampton University, and swimming for the university during her time there, she graduated and took a position in construction project management. Trivino decided quickly that she wanted a master’s degree and began to study for her GRE.

Then, COVID. Like everything else in the past four years, COVID. GRE test centers closed. Universities went online.

“So, then I went, ‘alright, what am I going to do?’” she said.

Trivino’s career goal is to work in cannabis science research management, and she stumbled upon CU Pharmacy’s Master of Science in Cannabis Science and Medicine program by chance.

“I contacted Dr. [David] Kroll, [at CU Pharmacy],” she explained, “and I said, ‘hey, I see that you’re doing this Masters’, and because of the pandemic it was remote, so it worked out perfectly for me.”

Her initial idea was to move to Denver after the pandemic, but she is a (nearly) life-long New Yorker. Trivino’s New York loyalty runs deep, and being close to her family in Queens is important. She stayed in the city, working full-time and going to school full-time at CU Anschutz.

“I come from a family where I had to choose a career in STEM,” Trivino explained. “So, having a bachelors in chemistry and exposing myself to the pharmaceutical sciences field, deepens my desire to get involved in clinical trial project management.”

CU Pharmacy’s Cannabis Science and Medicine master’s degree is a unique animal. Built to allow generous flexibility in its timeline, self-directed learning modules, and farreaching engagement, it also requires a one-of-a-kind student, who is a dedicated, self-starter, to succeed.

Dr. Kroll, director of the Master’s Degree and Certificate programs, says that Trivino is just this kind of student.

“She is one of the hardest workers I’ve known,” he said.

Dr. Kroll had to get creative when it came time for Trivino’s capstone project. She needed a mentor, one who was local, so he personally reached out to one of his own contacts, an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University, Alyson Martin, to see if she could help. Though journalism seems like a stretch, Martin is the founder of the Cannabis Wire, one of the leading news organizations reporting on the global cannabis industry.

“Dr. Kroll asked Alyson if she would be willing to mentor me, because she is here in the city, and she was down to do it, so luckily it worked out for me,” Trivino explained. “My first topic is on the proliferation of illegal cannabis storefronts in NYC, and I’m learning about federal housing and cannabis legislation in the state.”

The pairing worked, and Trivino has been able to pilot a completely remote capstone project.

This spring, she graduates and is excited to begin searching for a new job where she can apply her new degree. And this fall, because she does not stop moving, she is running the NYC Marathon, through the city that she loves.

Maria Trivino during the NYC half marathon in March 2023

PhD Graduates Have Questions – and Answers

Research is critical to healthcare, from improving treatments to finding causes, and CU Pharmacy’s PhD graduates are up for the challenge.

“One of my favorite parts about science,” said Lana Salah, “is that you leave it always with more questions than what you came into it with.”

Salah, who is graduating this spring with a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been asking questions for as long as she can remember.

“From a young age, I was always going, ‘but why? And why?’” she explains.

As a soon to be graduate of the pharmaceutical sciences program, Salah spent her time at CU Pharmacy in the Colorado Antiviral Pharmacology Laboratory, under the guidance of Jennifer Kiser, PhD, PharmD. Dr. Kiser brough Salah in for her study on patients who were receiving hepatitis C treatments and also used recreational drugs or alcohol.

Salah explains that a common thought among medical professionals is that high risk patients, such as the ones in this study, would not follow their medical regimen, thus making the treatment ineffective.

“What we found, was, that was not the case,” Salah said Using a dried blood spot test to quantify phosphatidylethanol, an alcohol biomarker, the team was able to identify that participants who used alcohol were sticking with their prescribed therapy. As Salah explained, this is good news, because it means that these patients can and should be treated, and especially with something like hepatitis C, they can be cured.

Salah, a former high school chemistry teacher, decided that she wanted to be a clinical pharmacologist after teaching taught her something about herself.

“I really loved teaching science, but I love doing science,” Salah said.

PhD toxicology graduate Keegan Rogers also started out with different goals.

“Originally I wanted to be a physician,” Rogers said. “My

undergraduate advisor said to me ‘you’re very talented at research, and you can do medical research’, which brought me to the School of Pharmacy, working with Dr. Jared Brown in toxicology.”

The toxicology program focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying the toxic effects of therapeutic agents, industrial chemicals, and environmental toxins. In simple terms, they are finding answers to complex medical questions.

For Rogers, he wants to know what is toxic in things we ingest, are exposed to, and breathe in. His thesis focused on what was causing chronic kidney disease in agricultural workers in developing countries.

“Nobody knows what causes this right now,” he said. “There is some controversy around it, because scientists have different conclusions.”

What Rogers found, and hypothesized, was that the chronic kidney disease was related to the crop itself. He looked at what crops were harvested and found that the major crops were sugar can and rice.

“In these countries, to facilitate a harvest, the workers will burn the crop. It burns the husk, and it makes it easier to harvest the actual crop,” he explains.

Rogers looked at what was being released into the atmosphere and found a correlation between what was in the air after a crop burning and what was highly concentrated in the diseased kidney.

He defended his thesis in December 2022, and while he waits for commencement, he works with ChemRisk (now Stantec), as a toxicology consulting firm. His focus is on e-cigarettes, and what happens to their toxicity when the carrier oil becomes a vapor and is inhaled.

“During my research, I have a lot of people ask me ‘what is the end game?’ and so I need to find the answers to see how it is going to impact the population,” Rogers said.

After all of these questions, and answers, how do scientists unwind?

“Scrapbooking,” chuckles Salah. “I enjoy that it allows me to be creative, in a different way.”

"It’s cooking,” Rogers said. “It reminds me of doing all the benchtop science in lab, but the result is way more delicious."

Lana Salah with Dr. Jen Kiser

Keegan Rogers in the toxicology lab

STUDENT AWARDS

COURTNEY MCGINNIS, 3rd year Toxicology PhD student, took home the Young Investigator Travel Award at the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine meeting. These awards are made available to students and postdocs who submitted abstracts for SfRBM 2022 to present their research.

ANNAGABRIELA FIGUEROA, PharmD student, received the 2022 AFPE Underrepresented Minority Gateway to Research Award. Annagabriela worked with her mentor, Manisha Patel, PhD, on her research “Identifying redox and metabolic targets in an in vitro model of neurol excitability.”

Second year PharmD students KYLA JANTZ, ANNAGABRIELA FIGUEROA, and PIA MORENO represented CU Pharmacy in the ACCP Clinical Research Challenge and advanced to the final round. The top 20 among 87 schools created a full research proposal about pharmacy-led services in oncology. This novel competition is targeted towards pharmacy students in their first two years of their first professional pharmacy degree program

THE CU PHARMACY RHO CHI ALPHA THETA CHAPTER won the CU Anschutz Senate Excellence Award for Outstanding Student Organization at this year’s campus awards event. Jennifer Trujillo and Sara Wettergreen, Pharm Ds, serve as advisors for this group.

HEBATULLAH ABDELGAWAD, from the International-Trained PharmD program, was awarded Outstanding Student from the Distance Degrees and Programs (DDP) Office. Each year, DDP recognizes one student from its four programs who exemplifies dedication to their studies, clinical practice and our profession.

SAMANTHA CRAWFORD, HANNAH WORK, LAUREN RUTT, ANGELA REINERT, and NICHOLAS MENDOLA, all PhD students, received Best Poster Awards during the School's Spring Research Symposium. The Symposium is an annual event that highlights graduate student research projects.

For a full list of student awards and recognitions from the 22-23 academic year, scan this QR code

FACULTY AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

JOHN CARPENTER and DAVID ROSS

PhDs, received the Distinguished Coloradan Award, the School's highest recognition of lifetime achievement.

Dr. Carpenter, Emeritus Professor, is also the co-founder and co-director of the University of Colorado Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology.

Dr. Ross, Emeritus Professor, served as chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

TYREE KISER, PharmD, Professor, received the President’s Excellence in Teaching Award. The President’s Excellence in Teaching Award is an acknowledgement of a faculty member’s outstanding, innovating, and inspirational contributions to the students’ professional development. This is the second consecutive year Dr. Kiser has received this award.

TOM ANCHORDOQUY, PhD, received this year’s Chancellor’s Teaching Recognition Award. The purpose of the Chancellor's Teaching Recognition Award is to recognize and reward outstanding teaching and commitment to providing students with a high-quality learning experience.

JENNIFER TRUJILLO, PharmD, received the Faculty of Distinction Award, which recognizes a full-time Pharmacy faculty member who demonstrates distinctive traits that make them an outstanding role model for peers and students. Dr. Trujillo teaches in the Entry Level and the Distance Degree PharmD programs. She is a course director of Pharmacotherapy 3 (PHRD 6095) and serves as a faculty advisor for the Honor's Program Research Project.

Associate Deans DRS. JOE SASEEN and GINA MOORE, PharmDs, were recognized for their leadership by the Colorado Pharmacists Association at its annual meeting. Dr. Saseen received the Bowl of Hygeia Community Service Award, given annually to an association member who has made considerable contributions to their communities; Dr. Moore was honored with Champion of Pharmacy Lifetime Achievement Award.

JIM LEONARD, PharmD, Preceptor and Deputy Director of Pharmacy Services, Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Finance (Colorado Medicaid), was awarded the Excellence in Pharmacy Award, which recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional leadership qualities, have advanced the profession of pharmacy, and improved the health and welfare of society.

JARED BROWN, PhD, received the Innovations in Science award, which celebrates innovative discovery in basic and/or clinical sciences. Dr. Brown is the Toxicology Graduate Program Director. Research in the Brown Lab is focused on immune responses to particles including nanoparticles, air pollution, silica and coal dust.

WELCOME NEW ALUMNI

Get involved with CU Pharmacy’s Alumni Association and open doors to a network of dedicated professionals.

The best is yet to come for the graduating Class of 2023 this spring. The CU Pharmacy Alumni Association is prepared to offer continued support to both our current and past graduates as the CU Skaggs ‘pharmily’ continues to expand. Whether you have your Bachelors, Masters, PharmD or PhD in any of the wonderful programs offered through the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, you are part of our ever-growing alumni family.

A journey in career excellence awaits the Class of ’23 and we encourage you to stay in touch with your alma mater and let us know how the journey goes. Become an active part of the happenings at the School through the Alumni Association. Keep up to date with all things alumni by scanning the QR code at the bottom of the page.

ALUMNI LEADERSHIP HIGHLIGHTED FOR 2023

CU Pharmacy Alumni leadership springboards into 2023 with emerging leaders on the Alumni Association’s board and recognition of alumni contributions with the association’s annual Alumni Awards.

Dr. Debbie Gallegos (PharmD ’10), currently vice president of the board, will succeed Dr. Bryan Killam (PharmD ’06) who will complete his term as president in June. Dr. Killam will continue his involvement with the board as a member of the past presidents’ group.

Nominations for new board members ended Monday, May 8, and the Nomination Committee, chaired by Dr. Paul Minne (PharmD ’02), will select and announce new board members over the summer.

2023 also marks the launch of the CU Pharmacy Alumni Ambassador Program. Through this program, alumni have the opportunity to engage the next generation of pharmacists, promoting all things good about the Pharmacy profession. Alumni are encouraged to sign up by scanning the QR code at the bottom of the page

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD TO FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR!

Fall Alumni Forum – September 13

The next CU Pharmacy Alumni Forum hosted by the School’s Alumni Association will take place Wednesday, Sept. 13. Please save the date as the location and topic will be provided in future communications. The purpose of the forums is to offer alumni, students and friends of CU Pharmacy the space to network as well as showcase new developments in the profession.

All Alumni Celebration – September 29-30

The CU Anschutz Alumni Central Office will hold its 2nd annual All Alumni Celebration for the CU Anschutz Medical Campus Sept. 29-30, featuring events such as Afternoon at the Zoo, Party at Pindustry, and a Speakers’ Series. Look for more communication on these events through the Central Alumni Office.

Alumni Career Expo – September TBD

The CU Pharmacy Alumni Association in collaboration with the School’s Career Services Office is organizing an exposition with workshops, exhibits, and receptions throughout the day for alumni and students to participate in. Over the course of the day, attendees will have access to employers, resources in career development, and other opportunities for staying engaged with the school and the network of professionals in Pharmacy.

Homecoming/Alumni Awards 2023 – November 2-4

The time to celebrate doesn’t end with Commencement. Another celebratory event is Homecoming, taking place beginning Thursday, Nov. 2, through the weekend. Set aside time to celebrate the accomplishments of CU Pharmacy alumni during the 4th Annual Alumni Awards Ceremony. Follow that up with the annual gathering Saturday, Nov. 4th on the CU Boulder campus for the CU Buffs Homecoming game and tailgate.

Stay on the lookout for future communications about these events and more. Brought to you by the CU Pharmacy Alumni Association.

SHARE SOME NEWS WITH US

Do you have news of your own? Tell us about it, even if it's just to update your contact information! Use the QR code to keep in touch.

Jaron Bryant is the alumni relations manager for CU Pharmacy. Since 2009, Jaron has been building and forging relationships with alumni, faculty, and the student body. If you have questions related to alumni relations with the School, please contact him by email (jaron.bryant@cuanschutz.edu) or phone (303-724-0415).

WRESTLING WITH FAME

CU Pharmacy grad featured in Netflix Documentary 'Take Your Pills: Xanax'

The documentary examines the widely prescribed antianxiety medication, Xanax, and talks to patients about their experiences, as well as experts on what the drug is and how it works in the body. While watching Dr. Gold’s performance in the documentary, you might come away from it thinking he rehearsed his lines multiple times, but in fact, he didn’t rehearse a single comment.

“They basically facilitated the interview as though we were just having a chat in a living room with old friends and it felt so easy and at times, I would lose track that this was an interview for a Netflix documentary because we really just got into a deep and meaningful conversation,” Dr. Gold said.

Blazing the Way for Psychiatric Pharmacists in Colorado

Jeff Gold, PharmD, has a name fit for the bright lights, whether it’s the lights of a film crew, or the lights of a professional wrestling match. Those film lights found him for the Netflix documentary, “Take Your Pills: Xanax”, as he is a leading psychiatric pharmacist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado and a specialist on medications like Xanax and other benzodiazepines.

Dr. Gold has authored the benzodiazepine taper guidelines, ran the benzodiazepine tapering clinic at the VA, as well as presented at a number of conferences about benzodiazepines, how to taper benzodiazepines, and how to manage complex situations involving benzodiazepines.

“The producer of the (Netflix) documentary, Maria Shriver, reached out to me and said my name had come up in a number of searches,” Dr. Gold explained. “I was also referred by Dr. Alexis Ritvo, an addiction psychiatrist for the CU School of Medicine.”

He believed appearing in the documentary would not only raise awareness about benzodiazepines and the risks involved with taking them, but also about the important role pharmacists play in patients care.

“I have prescriptive authority through the VA and I have a DEA number so I can prescribe medications in an outpatient clinic including prescribing or de-prescribing benzodiazepines, so it was also a great opportunity, I felt, to highlight what pharmacists can do in terms of our scope of practice and how we can help patients,” Dr. Gold described.

After graduating from the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (CU Pharmacy) in 2007, Dr. Gold went on to work at the VA with a group of psychiatrists. He became board certified in psychiatry and after several years, he was able to work with a psychiatrist to be proctored for a scope of practice, meaning he operates like a psychiatrist. That resulted in him having prescriptive authority through the VA, where he can prescribe medications and do mental health evaluations.

He became the first pharmacist in the state to have prescriptive authority in psychiatry and from that point he started a post-graduate year 2 psychiatric pharmacy practice residency at the VA and grew it from him being the only psychiatric pharmacist to now having 14. Fourteen psychiatric pharmacists who are board certified, have scopes of practice, manage their own clinics, and the vast majority of them having a DEA number, which allows them to prescribe controlled substances.

“We (the 14 psychiatric pharmacists) are one of the biggest psychiatric pharmacy programs in the VA and I am really proud of that and how well integrated we are in the mental health team there,” Dr. Gold explained.

Dr. Gold has taken his pharmacy and psychiatric experiences and philosophies to really connect with his patients so they understand why they take the medications that they do, that they believe in the medications and treatments that he provides, and that they feel that when they are with him at a mental health appointment, they can say whatever they feel and be whoever and however they are.

A screenshot of Dr. Gold from the Netflix documentary, "Take Your Pills: Xanax"

WE ARE ONE OF THE BIGGEST PSYCHIATRIC PHARMACY PROGRAMS IN THE VA AND I AM REALLY PROUD OF THAT AND HOW WELL INTEGRATED WE ARE IN THE MENTAL HEALTH TEAM

“I have the philosophy that the pill is us. Meaning how the patient feels about you (the provider) will affect how they respond to the treatments that we provide,” Dr. Gold described. “So, in my clinic at the VA, I try to build close connections with the veterans and patients that I work with.”

When Dr. Gold started getting into his healthcare career, he realized that he was at his best when he was more engaged with people and getting to know them. Every day in his current role he has the opportunity to understand his patients’ lives and help them find themselves in the vast cosmic dark and help find their way through the things that are challenging.

“Let’s face it, life is difficult for everybody, and we all struggle each in our own unique way and when we feel safe and listened to, it brings out the best in us, and brings out the most that we are capable of,” Dr. Gold said. “And I think to myself, how can I do a good job today to take care of the veterans, take care of the patients, take care of my colleagues and pharmacy trainees, as they find their way too.”

Side Business Wrestling

When he isn’t in his clinic or working with patients, Dr. Gold owns and operates a local professional wrestling company called New Era Pro Wrestling. It’s a family friendly operation that brings people from all over the Denver-metro area together. Through his company, he has raised money for charity, like the Epilepsy Foundation, ran a toy drive for the holidays, and a canned food drive for people in need.

“It’s been a neat way to give back to the community and as owner of the company I want to engender the staff, wrestlers and all the different people who are involved in the production of the show,” Dr. Gold explained.

The contrast between his day job and his side business has been a refreshing break for Dr. Gold and given him an opportunity to use his brain in a different, more creative way.

“It’s been a real joy and it’s nice to engage in something that is fun and relatively speaking unimportant,” Dr. Gold

described. “There’s nothing so trivial as people pretending to fight each other over made-up drama, which is a nice contrast with my professional life where it’s really intense and at times quite sad.”

Polishing Gold to Let it Shine

While Dr. Gold wasn’t sure exactly what his career would look like, he knew that he wanted to work in healthcare and wanted to help people. He decided to attend CU Pharmacy because of its great reputation and upon graduation he reflected on his experience and was grateful for how well prepared the school made him for his next steps.

“I really felt focused on as a person and that the professors invested in me as a professional, helped me learn how to become a better professional, and taught me how to think and practice from an evidenced-based medicine standpoint,” Dr. Gold explained. “I am so grateful to the many professors I worked with, many of them still work with CU Pharmacy today like Dr. Saseen, Dr. Page, Dr. Valdez, Dr. Borgelt, Dr. Linnebur, Dr. Bainbridge, and Dr. Paulsen, who passed away.”

His experiences with the CU Pharmacy faculty and classes helped shape him into the pharmacist that he is today and his message to future and current pharmacy students is to learn from everybody and understand why each person interacts the way they do with people.

“My advice to pharmacy students would be to be open minded and curious as you’re going to have to work with all sorts of different people in school, in training and throughout your career,” Dr. Gold concluded. “Your job is to build your best practice that you are proud of and at the end of the day you feel good about.”

Dr. Jeff Gold as his alter ego, "Dr. Silver."

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Mail Stop C238

12850 E. Montview Boulevard

Aurora, CO 80045

Address service requested

SHARE YOUR STORY

Pharmacy Perspectives is produced by the School of Pharmacy's Marketing and Communications Office.

Have news to share?

Let us know: sop.communications@cuanschutz.edu

LIFELONG PHARMACY LEARNING FROM CU SCHOOL OF PHARMACY

AUGUST 30 –OCTOBER 25, 2023

Medical Cannabis Education for Health Care Providers

20 hours of continuing education credit

More and more patients are asking their health care provider about the use of medical cannabis. This holistic evidence-based program helps providers discern “fact from fiction” and be able to describe the potential benefits and risks of cannabis use for their patients.

CE Certificate program  - taught by international experts in the field.

Online  - watch weekly videos and complete exercises at your convenience.

Intensive  – the 8-week program thoroughly covers medical cannabis, yet keeps the needs of the busy professional in mind. No travel required.

Interactive  – weekly online discussions and live video chats allow you to share ideas with other program participants and interact with the program instructors. The program coordinator will be accessible to you throughout the 8-week program and you will receive weekly feedback on your work.

of Pharmacy

Pharmaceutical

CU Active Preceptors and Alumni receive $200 off. Use Code: CU200 at registration.