Larkin University College of Pharmacy

As I am writing this article, with input provided from various student organization faculty advisors, department chairs, and assistant and associate deans, we are in the process of continuing our program virtually, along with the other six deans of the Florida colleges of pharmacy.

We are using Microsoft Teams for teaching and Zoom for student and faculty interviews. As with the other colleges, our classes continue and our experiential program continues thanks to the hospitals, clinics and pharmacies that appreciate the need for student pharmacists to receive high quality training. In a few weeks to months, these are the pharmacists that we all want on the front lines of our health care system. So, thanks to all of you as we learn together how to manage the changing landscape of health care during this pandemic and beyond.

I believe the profession will gain visibility and become stronger by embracing the opportunities to show how pharmacists are an integral part of the patient care team. I know that in many cases the decision to remove students was not at the pharmacy level, but the C-level. But as you read this, please let executives know the importance of preparing these student pharmacists for the front lines.

The college also had our first intramural grants program which awarded more than $60,000 to seven faculty members. The article will focus on the growth of the college and the community events provided by our student organizations, which in most cases includes faculty and staff.

Inaugural Commencement, 2019

The academic year of 2019-2020 was major milestone for the LU College of Pharmacy. In May 2019 we graduated our first class. They are now our alumni working in various settings including residencies all over the nation, but primarily in south Florida.

Our commencement speaker was Dr. Damon A. Williams, a visionary and inspirational leader, and one of the nation’s recognized experts in strategic diversity leadership, youth development, corporate responsibility and organizational change. For four years, he lead a $250 million social impact portfolio for the world’s largest youth development company, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, representing the interests of nearly 4 million diverse youth and teens as senior vice president for programs and chief education officer.

One of the original architects of the inclusive excellence concept in American higher education, he is author of the best-selling books “Strategic Diversity Leadership” and “The Chief Diversity Officer,” he is a global thought leader having worked with more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Fortune 100 companies, foundations and government agencies, as keynote speaker, strategist, educator and social impact leader. As the University of Michigan celebrates its 200- year anniversary, he was recently awarded the Bicentennial Leadership Award, a one-time honor given to 20 trailblazing alumni who exemplify the best of the academic and leadership values of the university’s 200,000 living alumni. He is chief catalyst for the Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership & Social Innovation and a senior scholar and innovation fellow at the Wisconsin Equity and Inclusion Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he previously served as associate vice chancellor and inaugural chief diversity, equity, and educational achievement officer.

Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. in organizational behavior and management from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Miami University in educational leadership and sociology and Black world studies, respectively.

College of Pharmacy Growth

The college welcomed a significant number of new employees in both administration, staff and faculty. Some of these were replacement positions as others moved to new challenges and some were due to the growth of the college.

ADMINISTRATION:

■ Jayesh Parmar, Ph.D. – promoted to Assistant Dean of

Academic Affairs (previously, Founding Faculty, Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Clinical and

Administrative Sciences (Social and Administrative Sciences) ■ Antonio Perry, MS – Senior Director of Assessment ■ Alexis Arango, Pharm.D. – Director of Clinical Services and Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical and Administrative Sciences ■ Jonathon May, M.A., Ed.D. – Director of Student Services

FACULTY:

■ Debasish Basak, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Biomedical Sciences) ■ Sandeep Sheth, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmacology) ■ Mara Poulakos, Pharm.D., Associate Professor, Depart-

ment of Clinical and Administrative Sciences (Internal Medicine) Jason Range, JD, Ph.D., - Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical and Administrative Sciences (Social Administrative Sciences) and Director of Development Sweta Andrews, Pharm.D., MBA, BCACP - Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical and Administrative Sciences (Ambulatory Care) Jennifer Hartman, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCCCP - Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical and Administrative Sciences (Critical Care)

STAFF:

■ Paulette Cardenas, BA – Administrative Assistant, Department of Clinical and Administrative Sciences ■ Brandon Burrell, MLA – Student Affairs and Admissions

Coordinator

INAUGURAL PHARMACOTHERAPY FELLOWS:

■ Anthony Allen-Reeves, Pharm.D. ■ Andrea Fuentes, Pharm.D.

Department of Clinical and Administrative Sciences, Joshua Caballero, Pharm.D., BCPP, FCCP

The DCAS faculty developed and implemented a longitudinal clinical skills-based lab course that occurs throughout a full year focusing on active learning. Drs. Melissa Santibañez and Jordan Sedlacek completed their AACP Scholarship of Teaching and Learning grant “Time Is Ticking … We Must Figure It Out. Mid-Course Concept Reinforcement via Murder Mystery” and will be presenting results at the next AACP annual meeting. Dr. Caballero, along with his co-editors, revised and released the second edition of “Get the Residency: ASHP’s Guide to Residency Interviews and Preparation.” Dr. Caballero authored several book chapters, and other DCAS faculty, such as Dr. Melissa Santibañez, contributed chapters to the book’s second edition. Finally, the department welcomed two fellows with a focus in academia and pharmacotherapy as noted above.

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Subrata Deb, Ph.D. (LCMS.png)

It has been an exciting year of laboratory research capacity building for Larkin University College of Pharmacy. During the 2019-2020 academic year, several sophisticated instruments and high performing research facilities were commissioned in LUCOP labs and a glimpse of the major activities are highlighted here. The installation of Agilent 6460C Triple Quadrupole Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry was followed by a three-day training to the users. To complement the LC-MS facility, an automated flash chromatography system (BUCHI C-810) was purchased for bulk sample purification during chemical synthesis. In the protein and DNA research, the FluorChem FC3 Imaging System (ProteinSimple, San Jose, California) along with the BioRad Western blot equipment and accessories were obtained. For mammalian cell culture and biological fluid work, two biosafety cabinets, incubators and a tabletop autoclave along with liquid nitrogen tank and ultra-low temperature freezer were acquired. These facilities, along with the previously available laboratory instruments, are capable of supporting faculty research projects in the areas of synthesis and characterization of new anti-cancer and anti-infective small molecules, formulation of vaccines and film-based dosage forms, mechanistic studies and remedies of stroke, neurodegenerative diseases and prostate cancer, and cytochrome P450- based drug metabolism and drug interaction studies with human, rodent and primate tissues.

Spotlight of our student pharmacist professional organizations and events:

Larkin University sponsored our first annual community health fair on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon at Trinity Church. The area that Larkin University and Trinity Church serve is a medically underserved area. In an effort to give back to its local community, Larkin University engaged community partners, such as Borinquen Medical Centers of Miami-Dade, Catalyst Miami, CareerSource South Florida, Jasmine Project, Jessie Trice, Miami-Dade AHEC, Oneblood and Optimal Health to help provide access to health care services in the area. Student organizations from Larkin University had booths on medication counseling, blood pressure, HIV education, healthy lifestyle choices, opioid use and voter registration. Although the community turnout was not as high as expected, the College of Pharmacy learned a lot from this experience. We are looking forward to a bigger and better event this year!

American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Students of Pharmacy

About 30 student pharmacists attended Legislative Days in Tallahassee this year along with Dr. Andrea Murzello, Dr. Paul Boylan and Dr. Sandeep Sheth. Although this includes students from any organization within the college, ASP is the organization responsible for organization of the annual event. APhA-ASP hosted a booth at the Larkin University first annual health fair, presenting two posters educating the community about opioids addiction and medication take-back. APhA-ASP and ASHP-SSHP put on a collaborative event inviting Florida Rep. Shevrin Jones to campus to speak about the importance of advocacy and how to get involved. Members of the ASP Executive Board attended both the student leadership conference in Washington, D.C., and the mid-regional conference in Atlanta in 2019. Other events included APhA-ASP participating in the glucose games in support of diabetes awareness; a breast cancer awareness bake sale where funds were donated to breast cancer research; and another collaboration with our brand new IPhO to invite guest speaker Dr. Angel Rosas to talk about influenza vaccine education and awareness. Faculty advisers are Dr. Christiane Chbib and Dr. Paul Boylan.

Student Society of Health System Pharmacist

The LU-SSHP had three events this year to engage fellow students. First, LU-SSHP hosted a membership drive to introduce all the many benefits of joining SSHP, FSHP, and ASHP to the new P1 class and the P2s that weren’t already members. Topics that were discussed included journal club, conferences and professional development gained by the board. They had 42 people in attendance, of whom 31 joined as new members! LU-SSHP also hosted a brief workshop on what P1 students should expect on their introductory pharmacy practice experiences. The LU-SSHP residency preparedness event was geared towards P3 students wanting to apply for residency. The event was streamed live to allow for P3 students on rotation to attend. Dr. Alexandra Angel, PGY1 resident at Baptist Hospital, reviewed the matching process, how to do applications, what to expect during an interview, and what you need to have before the application window opens.

In addition to the collaborative presentation with Florida Rep. Shervin Jones, two pharmacist guest speakers were invited to campus, Dr. Ravi Bacchus to speak to students about residency and APPE preparedness, and Dr. Lipton Gonzalez to discuss his practice at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Dr. Bacchus highlighted some things that are typically expected of both APPE students and residents, and discussed amount of work that residents do to help students better decide if that is a path they would like to explore further. Dr. Gonzalez explained different aspects of compounding medications, USP 797, the importance of pharmacy law and how it will apply to their future careers.

LU-SSHP participated in ASHP’s Annual Midyear Clinical Meeting. Jessica Bruno and Taylor Harris represented LU-SSHP in Las Vegas, Nevada. They presented a poster about the importance of advocacy in the SSHP Larkin University chapter and how advocacy events can be incorporated into other SSHP chapters in other colleges. The

poster highlighted a previous event hosted by SSHP where Rep. Jones spoke at Larkin University and gave advice on how to effectively speak to legislators on issues relating to the pharmacy profession. LU-SSHP hosted its annual clinical skills competition where students had a chance to display their clinical skills. The winners, Scott Arrighi and Andrea Duque, represented LU at the meeting for the national competition.

LU-SSHP also participated in three volunteer events this year. During LUCOP’s first health fair, LU-SSHP had a chance to counsel patients from the local community on the appropriate goals for both cardiovascular health and glucose monitoring. LU-SSHP was given the opportunity to volunteer at SESHP (South East Society of Healthcare Pharmacists) annual meeting on March 7-March 8, signing in pharmacists and directing them to workshops. This was a great opportunity for the chapter to network with future employers and SSHP volunteered at the Ronald McDonalds House to help cook meals for families and patients that are staying at the facility. This event help take the burden off the patients’ parents and provide a meal for more than 20 patients. It was a humbling event because the patients and their families were grateful for the time we spent preparing and distributing out their meals. Faculty advisers are Dr. Jordan Sedlacek and Dr. Mara N. Poulakos.

Student National Pharmaceutical Association

During the 2019-2020 academic year, to recognize the vast outreach efforts of this student group, SNPhA expanded to twho faculty advisors. Key events organized by LU-SNPhA this year included the Lotus Drive donation drive for household items for local homeless families; our wildly successful Culture Day, where participants bring home-cooked dishes representative of their native countries; Go Red for Women Day for SNPhA’s Power to End Stroke initiative; and the “Rock Your Socks” fundraiser for World Kidney Day for SNPhA’s Chronic Kidney Disease initiative. Faculty advisers are Dr. Melissa Santibañez and Dr. Priscilla Ryder.

PLS Leaders.png: From left are 2021 inducted leaders Scott Arrighi, Taylor Harris, Panajota Mavrakis, Caitlin Stephens and Gerald Williams.

Phi Lambda Sigma, Epsilon Theta Chapter

During the 2019-2020 academic year, Larkin University College of Pharmacy’s Phi Lambda Sigma Epsilon Theta student chapter grew its leadership footprint further. Our student officers organized two induction cycles and two induction ceremonies, inducting eight new student leaders from the class of 2021 cohort.

PLS, the pharmacy leadership society, recognizes outstanding student leaders who actively work to promote the profession as leaders in their school and community. Only 10 percent of each student cohort is eligible to be inducted during each cycle. This is LU’s third induction ceremony, after our chapter’s chartering and first induction cycle last year. We have inducted students from three student cohorts, and the next application cycle for class of 2022 students will begin in fall 2020. Faculty adviser is Dr. Melissa Santibanez.

Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity, Zeta Phi Chapter

As with all the other organizations, Kappa Psi participated in the annual health fair. This event gave us the opportunity to work with other leaders within the community to enhance the medical process of patients by listening to their needs and experiences. In August, our philanthropy committee set up a service event at the Pelican Harbor Marina. The pelican island bay area was our focus to clean by partnering up with Critical Splash, an event focused on restoring the natural resources that are precious to our ecosystem, family and communities here in south Florida. During the winter season we were humbled and greeted in open arms by the Sikh Society of Florida. Zeta Phi was able to help pack 20,000 meals for world hunger and those in need. Faculty adviser is Dr. Andrea Murzello.

Phi Delta Chi, Delta Theta Chapter

PDC continues to grow. Seventeen new brothers were inducted into the fraternity in the Gamma class Oct. 28th.

A primary focus of our fraternity is philanthropy. The official charity of PDC is St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and many of the events have focused on raising money for it. The brothers sold St. Jude pins for fellow students to display on their white coats, as well as cupcakes on a monthly basis. Other events to raise money included Sing for St. Jude, a karaoke event, and attendance and participation in the St. Jude Walk in Miami.

Furthering the spirit of philanthropy, brothers also executed a clothing drive which benefited Out of the Closet thrift stores, participated in the Glucose Games, in a flag football tournament at Nova Southeastern University which benefits Florida Introduces Physical Activity and Nutrition to Youth, and prepared Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child. In Larkin’s first Health Fair, the fraternity ran a counseling booth. The brothers additionally organized a CV workshop to assist P1 and P2 students in the creation of professional CVs. Faculty adviser is Dr. Nicole Lounsbury.

Industry Pharmacists Organization

“If chartering Larkin University chapter of IPhO was like planting a seed, then my board and I have been nurturing the sprouting plant all year. Just like with any plant the first goal was to establish the roots,” said Scott Arrighi, the founding president of LUCOP IPhO chapter. In the inaugural year, IPhO was able to establish a membership of more than 30 students . Most of the members are first-year students who will grow with the organization.

With the goal to support students, one of the first events was to sensitize LUCOP students about the available industry job opportunities (e.g., pre-clinical, clinical, advertising, post-market analyses) through a detailed presentation by the board members. IPhO brought several speakers to the school and enriched understanding of industry career and networking. The third and most proud accomplishment for the chapter was their participation in the IPhO Value of Industry Pharmacists competition. During this national competition, each participating chapter needs to prepare and present a comprehensive plan about developing a drug from the lead molecule identification step to all the way to marketing. The team did well, especially in the final round. “It was, of course, our first year competing and there was a bit of a learning curve but with some incredible advice from Dr. Deb (our faculty advisor) and Dr. Naveen Abou-Gharbia (our industry competition partner) we turned in a presentation that I am very proud of Arrighi said. Founding board members are President Scott Arrighi, Director National Engagement Phu Pham, Director Professional Programming Priynk Patel, Director Social Media and Marketing Priya Hira, Director Communications Samuel Esparza, and Director Finance and Fundraising Andrea Duque. Faculty advisers are Dr. Subrata Deb and Dr. Mostafa Elgebaly. Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy

Larkin University welcomed our newest student professional organization officially in February. Along with this recognition, LUAMCP received a $500 grant to assist in the initial expenses of starting a new chapter. There are 10 members of the chapter and the first set of officers have assumed their roles. The officers held their first meeting to plan upcoming activities for the year. Among the activities being considered is a roundtable event where several pharmacists working in managed care and industry will be invited to share their experiences and to introduce LU students to nontraditional pharmacy careers. Students will have the opportunity to rotate among tables and talk with the invited guests. This not only will provide students greater insight to industry and managed care but will also provide them with networking opportunities. Faculty adviser is Dr. Jason Range.

Coming next to Larkin University will be the student chapter of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.

We finish our article with our support and best wishes for success to the graduating class of 2020 who has completed the academic year under great duress.

There have been previous events and disasters in my academic career that have affected local and regional communities. A few that come to mind where colleges of pharmacy affected by Hurricane Hugo in Charleston, South Carolina, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the surrounding areas; the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks that impacted so many in the New York metropolitan and tri-state area; and hurricanes Irma and Maria most recently that devastated Puerto Rico.

In each of these cases, whatever college I was at, we offered help to those suffering. However, in this pandemic, we are all in this together and wonder when we will return to normal, or what will our new normal be. We offer best wishes for better days to come to all of the colleges of pharmacy in Florida and to the pharmacists on the front lines, and especially to those that have continued to train the next generation joining you in just the next few weeks to months.

With sincere gratitude, thank you! Greg M. Levin, Dean