Ampul Spring 2012

SPRING 2012

AMP L

A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI & FRIENDS OF THE RUDOLPH H. RAABE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

the

PERSONALIZED

MEDICINE Leading by Exceptional Care How Did You Spend Your Summer Vacation?

Making a Splash

CONTENT Message from the Dean

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Features

p. 4-16

Personalized Medicine Leading by Exceptional Care How Did You Spend Your Summer Vacation?

Sharing the Inspiration: Val Watts

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Making a Splash: Everlove Sets Bar High and Strives for Gold ¡Azúcar!

Pharmacy Outreach Corner

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Student Focus

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Advisory Board

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THE AMPUL Spring 2012

The Ampul is a publication of The Rudolph H. Raabe College of Pharmacy Editors: Josh Alkire Lynn Bedford Amy (Rettig) Prigge, BSBA ’94 Laurie Wurth Pressel Design: Toma (Grothous) Williams, BFA ’96 Photography: Ken Colwell Contributors: Scott Wills, BSBA ’87

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The Ampul is published by Ohio Northern University, 525 S. Main St. Ada, OH 45810, 419-772-2000.

The R.H. Raabe College of Pharmacy at Ohio Northern University has long been recognized as one of the premier colleges of pharmacy in the nation, continually meeting the high standards of pharmaceutical education. Throughout its prominent history, the college has graduated pharmacists who now have successful pharmacy practices and who are active in local, state and national health-related organizations.

More than one-fourth of all pharmacists in Ohio are Ohio Northern alumni.

SPRING 2012

Pharmacy News and Activities

AMP L the

A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI & FRIENDS OF THE RUDOLPH H. RAABE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

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Teacher-Scholar profile: Dr. Jeffery C. Allison

MEDICINE Leading by Exceptional Care How Did You Spend Your Summer Vacation?

Making a Splash

On The Cover: Dr. Jeff Talbot, Dr. Mike Kane, Dr. Jon Sprague, and Dr. Dave Kisor Photo: Ken Colwell

www.onu.edu/pharmacy

PERSONALIZED

From the Dean

As the sun shines on a beautiful, spring afternoon on the ONU tundra, the shadow and the sound of a helicopter disturbs the quiet campus life. Students gather to see why a LifeFlight helicopter is landing on campus. Is someone hurt? Has there been an accident? No, it’s just Raabe College of Pharmacy students participating in their emergency medicine elective. This scene plays out each spring as Dr. Mike Humphrey, BSPh ’84, gives back to his alma mater through teaching, using his experiences as an emergency medicine physician to inspire students to pursue careers as emergency room clinical pharmacists.

Fifteen minutes into her medication-therapy-management (MTM) appointment, a sixth-year pharmacy student asks Shirley to open her mouth so a buccal swab can be used to obtain a DNA sample. The pharmacy student, along with Dr. Mike Rush, PharmD ’05, explains to Shirley that her drug therapy can be tailored to her own DNA. This scene plays out nearly every day in our ONU HealthWise clinic. The Raabe College of Pharmacy is working with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) to integrate pharmacogenetics into MTMs as part of APhA’s vision to provide a rationale for the integration of pharmacogenomics in MTMs (NOV/DEC JAPhA 2011).

The HealthWise learning experience has motivated students to learn not only more about MTMs, but also how to integrate pharmacogenetics into their future practices.

I was proud and honored to be the dean when ONU took center stage at the APhA2012 this spring in New Orleans.

We watched Dr. Jenelle Sobotka, endowed chair of pharmacy practice, take her oath of office as the national APhA president.

Dr. David Bright, assistant professor, received the Distinguished New Practitioner Award, our APhA-ASP chapter earned two national awards, and Allen Nichol, BSPh ’74, was recognized for his work in community and ambulatory practice. It is a great time to be a part of the Raabe College of Pharmacy and to receive such accolades on a national platform. Check out the photos on page 17 and on our website.

Each summer, students like Nick Wolters are able to experience research in action thanks to the support of Dr. Val Watts, BSPh ’90, who has established a summer research program for students. This learning experience has motivated our students to pursue careers in pharmaceutical research.

In this issue of The Ampul, you will read about just some of the learning opportunities available to students. We always welcome the opportunity to catch up with alumni and friends of the college.

If you make it back to campus, we would be happy to provide a college tour so you can learn about these programs firsthand.

Respectfully,

Dr. Jon E. Sprague Professor of Pharmacology and Dean Raabe College of Pharmacy

The TheAmpul AmpulSpring Spring2012 2012

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Feature

PERSONALIZED

MEDICINE

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THE AGE OF PERSONALIZED MEDICINE John Brown*, age 55, received disheartening news at his annual physical exam. Despite his best efforts to reduce stress and eat a healthy diet, he has high blood pressure. His family physician recommended medication to reduce his risk for heart disease. John left his doctor’s office with his prescription in hand and headed straight to his local pharmacy.

John’s pharmacist reviewed the prescription and told John he needed to take a genetic test to determine whether or not the medication would work for him. John was confused. In the past, his pharmacist simply filled his physician’s order and counseled him on the medicine.

After collaborating with John’s physician, the pharmacist sat down with John to explain the new process.

He assured John that the genetic test would be painless and the results would be available in a few hours.

The test would only reveal important drug-gene information and not potentially sensitive information about John’s genetic predisposition to disease.

John learned that in the past, drugs were developed, tested and prescribed based on the law of averages.

His doctor and pharmacist couldn’t know for sure if a given medication or dosage would truly work for him.

Today, in collaboration with John’s physician, John’s pharmacist could tailor a medication therapy based on John’s unique genetic makeup. He could reduce the chances of John experiencing unpleasant side effects or a severe drug reaction, once the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. He could pinpoint the best drug to effectively treat John’s high blood pressure, making sure John received the correct dosage based on how his body would metabolize the drug.

John remembered how his mom had struggled to lower her blood pressure for years. She experienced the trial-and-error process of finding a medication and dosage that worked for her. John left his pharmacy confident he was on the right track to getting his blood pressure under control. He realized he lived during a time of great medical advancement, when scientists were unraveling the mysteries of human DNA and harnessing the knowledge to make a difference in individual lives.

DOES THIS SCENARIO SOUND UNREALISTIC?

It’s not. Faculty members in the Raabe College of Pharmacy predict that pharmacogenomics will be integrated into Medication Therapy Management (MTM) within the next 10 years. Soon, it will be routine for pharmacists to collect patient genotype information, review medications based on genetics, identify drug-gene interactions, and resolve them by changing the drug or dosing regimen.

Welcome to the Age of Personalized Medicine. Once considered fodder for science fiction, personalized medicine is now reality thanks to the Human Genome Project completed in 2003.

Some scientists have compared the magnitude of sequencing the human genome to landing a man on the moon.

It has expanded the perception of what is possible and transformed the future.

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology defines personalized medicine as the tailoring of medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient.

Patients are placed into different subpopulations based on how they will respond to a particular treatment or on their susceptibility to a particular disease. Health care professionals focus preventive or therapeutic interventions on those who will benefit, sparing expense and side effects for those who will not.

“We’ve known for a long time that there was a genetic influence in how the body handled a drug. We now know the basis for some of these genetic controls, and the field has moved to another level,” explains Dr. Dave Kisor, professor of pharmacokinetics and chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences at the Raabe College of Pharmacy. “In the near future, the pharmacist will look for

drug-gene interactions as commonly as they look for drug-drug interactions.

The genome information will lead to a greater depth of MTM in that drugs will be reviewed for potential genetic-kinetic and/or genetic-dynamic interactions.”

Researchers have already discovered gene-drug interactions for several common drugs, like clopidogrel (Plavix) and warfarin (Coumadin). But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The pharmacogenomics field is poised for amazing advancements in the coming decades. Every day yields new discoveries as scientists scramble to understand the complex connections between the human genome and the body’s response to a wide range of drugs.

“Right now, many people don’t see the end game because we are talking about a few drugs. But when we start thinking about metabolizing enzymes

*fictitious name

The Ampul Spring 2012

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PERSONALIZED

MEDICINE

LEADING THE WAY PHARMACY EDUCATION

Dr. Dave Kisor

and look at what drugs are metabolized by the enzymes, the picture gets bigger,” explains Kisor.

Dr. Mike Kane, visiting research scientist from Purdue University, envisions three phases of growth in pharmacogenomics.

First, drugs that died in clinical trials will be resurrected. Researchers will seek to identify the subset of the population that could safely benefit from these drugs, bringing new hope to millions of people.

Second, pharmacogenomics will be standard in the development and launch of all new drugs. And third, researchers will develop drugs specifically for genetic markers in an attempt to prevent future disease.

The Raabe College of Pharmacy is leading the way among the nation’s pharmacy schools in preparing for the future of personalized medicine. The college has launched a number of important initiatives to educate not only its students and alumni, but also health care professionals across the country, on the latest advancements in pharmacogenomics.

“In history, we rarely have the opportunity to be part of something that promises to profoundly change our world. In medicine, in pharmacy, it is genomics, and we understand this is the ‘here and now’ future of our profession,” says Kisor.

Although personalized medicine marches forward, promising radical changes to the health care industry, many challenges stand in its path. Genetic testing raises ethical concerns and test availability and reliability issues. Personalized medicine also needs to be measurable and cost effective in today’s health care climate of shrinking resources.

Education, however, tops the list of challenges. “Probably 99.9 percent of health care professionals haven’t heard of personalized medicine,” says Kane. “We need to develop training and education practices that dispel fears and lead to a better understanding of the value of using genomic biomarkers to improve medicinal and therapeutic outcomes.”

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Dr. Mike Kane

The Raabe College of Pharmacy is the only school of pharmacy to put a six-year emphasis on pharmacogenetic training.

The college faculty recently approved a plan to integrate personalized medicine and pharmacogenomics throughout the six-year PharmD program. From introductory presentations in year one, to personal genotyping in year three, to the opportunity to do advanced practice rotations focusing on pharmacogenetics in year six, pharmacy students graduate from ONU with a comprehensive understanding of the future of pharmacy practice.

TEXTBOOK

Pharmacy and medical students across the country may soon learn about pharmacogenomics from a textbook written by ONU experts. Drs. Jon Sprague and Jeff Talbot, along with Kisor and Kane, are collaborating to produce a student textbook for a major publisher that integrates pharmacogenomics with pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

The authors anticipate the textbook to be available in 2012.

GENESCRIPTION

Dr. Jon Sprague

NATIONAL COURSE

The Raabe College of Pharmacy is collaborating with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) to develop a course on pharmacogenomics within the framework of MTM for practicing pharmacists across the country.

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP

The Raabe College of Pharmacy is the only college of pharmacy in the country that belongs to the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC), an interdisciplinary organization representing scientists, patients, providers and payers that leads the way in implementing personalized medicine in the U.S. ONU pharmacy students are starting the first student chapter of PMC. The student chapter’s mission is to keep ONU pharmacy students at the forefront of personalized medicine and pharmacogenomics.

In addition, the Raabe College of Pharmacy was one of only three colleges of pharmacy to attend the “Pharmacists in the Era of Genomic Medicine” meeting at the National Human Genome Research Institute this past November. At the event, leading research institutes, government agencies, and national organizations shared insights on the future of genomic medicine and pharmacy education.

AWARENESS

The Raabe College of Pharmacy is using technology to raise awareness about personalized medicine. A personalized medicine Web page (www.onu.edu/ personalized_medicine) was launched this past winter. A pharmacy faculty member created a blog on the topic of direct-toconsumer (DTC) genetic screening (www.pgxcheck.com). He’s invited his audience to learn and comment as he explores the results from his personal genetic screening. Faculty from the colleges of Arts & Sciences, Law, Business Administration and Pharmacy are collaborating to discuss the blog information from their expert point of view. The blog is the basis of an electronic course on personal DNA information, exploring the science, ethical, legal, business and health care aspects of genetic testing.

The course is being taken by ONU students as well as students from Virginia Tech, Anderson University, Clemson University, Bowling Green State University and Purdue University.

Drs. Sprague (ONU), Kane (Purdue) and John Springer (Purdue), collaborated to develop an online education portal aimed at providing structured instruction for pharmacy students in clinical genotyping and personalized medicine. They received a grant from Microsoft to create Genescription (www.genescription.com), a free online resource where pharmacy students and instructors can learn more about the emerging field of personalized medicine, with an online tool that mimics the drug-dispensing environment.

Dr. Jeff Talbot

The Ampul Spring 2012

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Leading by Exceptional Care

IN EMERGENCY MEDICINE, EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. Michael “Mike” Humphrey, BSPh ’84, learned this lesson as a pharmacy intern in the ER at St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio. One day, a beloved nurse and colleague came through the door suffering from severe traumatic injuries. Humphrey witnessed the ER team fight back their emotions and band together in a valiant attempt to save her life. Tragically, she died. But Humphrey has never forgotten her or the ER team’s heroic response. The experience changed the course of his life.

“Right then and there,” he says, “I knew I wanted to become a physician.”

Twenty-eight years later, Humphrey oversees emergency services for approximately 120,000 patients each year at the same hospital system where he interned. As the vice president of emergency services and chief clinical officer at St. Rita’s, his responsibilities include a Level II trauma center, two emergency departments, three ambulatory care centers, occupational health services, ground-based EMS service and helicopter transport through Life Flight III. The pressure cooker of emergency medicine brings out the best in Humphrey. He’s a compassionate caregiver with the

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exceptional ability to think on his feet and perform under pressure. He’s taken care of hundreds of critically ill and injured patients through the years. Although he’s worked largely in administration for the past five years, he still puts in more than 500 hours per year as an emergency physician.

His heart remains on the front lines. “Every time I see the helicopter land, I feel that tug,” he says. “I wish I could be out there helping to unload the patient.”

The son of a coal miner and a seamstress, Humphrey became the first in his family to go to college.

A close family friend, who was a pharmacist, encouraged him to consider pharmacy school. At ONU, says Humphrey, he underwent a metamorphosis and matured into an adult.

After finishing the five-year ONU pharmacy program in four years, Humphrey was accepted into the accelerated threeyear, independent study MD program at Ohio State University.

His pharmacy degree proved to be a tremendous asset. He not only breezed through the pharmacology courses, but also worked as a pharmacist part-time to pay for his medical school tuition. Upon completion of his residency in Dayton, Humphrey had the distinction of being the youngest practicing physician in the state of Ohio for several years.

In 1992, Humphrey began as an ER physician at St. Rita’s, taking on increasing levels of responsibility before assuming his current position. He’s played an instrumental role in the growth of the hospital’s emergency services, including the Level II trauma designation obtained in 1998. Since those early years, the emergency department more than doubled the number of patients served and added multiple advanced services in critical care.

Humphrey also championed the addition of the St. Rita’s Life Flight III helicopter in Bluffton, which serves local hospitals and patients in a 13-county region. He remains active with the program as its medical director and flight physician. Life Flight III departs on more than 500 missions each year, transporting patients between hospitals and providing rapid transport of victims from accident scenes. Before Life Flight III, it could take up to an hour for air transport to arrive from Toledo, Columbus, Dayton or Fort Wayne. In critical emergency situations, every second counts. “We’ve improved our clinical outcomes and absolutely saved lives,” says Humphrey.

Providing exceptional care is Humphrey’s No. 1 priority. He believes exceptional care means personable care. Even simple acts, like touching a patient’s shoulder or holding their hand, can put them at ease, he explains. “There is so much fear and

uncertainty when you are a patient, especially in an emergency situation. The power of touch in medicine is incredible.”

Humphrey teaches a popular course in emergency medicine for fifth- and sixth-year pharmacy students each spring at Ohio Northern. As part of the course, students shadow an ER physician and spend a day with Life Flight III. Humphrey hopes the course inspires some students to further their career path in emergency medicine or to become an EMT first responder in their community.

In his free time, Humphrey unwinds at his horse ranch near Sydney, Ohio, with his wife of 23 years, Lori, and their two sons, Ian and Jaden. “Working on the ranch provides a wonderful balance to the stress and tension of my work. Nine times out of 10, if I’m not in scrubs, I’m in coveralls,” he says, with a laugh.

“That’s good medicine, too!”

2012 TheSpring Ampul Spring 2012

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JUNE 2011

How did you spend your su mmer vacation?

Just because an internship is required S M W T doesn’t mean that it has to be boring. T As but a small sample, here are the stories of five Ohio Northern University pharmacy students who, resisting the urge to play it safe, made the most of their summer 2011 internships.

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

Some students maintained fairly routine daily schedules.

Others saw something different every day. One student didn’t even have a day-to-day schedule, because she didn’t work during the day.

i nt e rn s hi

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quality control tests on the products we sent to clients. If we were pressed for time, I would help draw doses for early runs.”

Calvin Ice, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Rawson, Ohio, served as a pharmacist intern at the Mayo Clinic Pharmacy at Saint Marys Hospital in Rochester, Minn. He estimates that he spent 75 percent of his time as a compounding sterile preparations technician in the hospital’s USP 797 standard clean room.

p “This included many drugs I had never encountered

1 2 3 4 Rebecca Ryan, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Leetonia, Ohio, worked the night shift at HeartLight Pharmacy in Lima, Ohio. “With tons of coffee in my travel mug, I would drive to work and arrive at 2 a.m.,” she says.

The early hours were necessary because HeartLight is a full-service nuclear pharmacy, a specialty area that deals with radioactive materials for use in nuclear medicine procedures.

in smaller practice settings,” he says.

Ice also participated in journal clubs and informal case discussions with residents and his intern supervisor, attended resident presentations, participated in topic discussions with preceptors, and attended several skills workshops (CV writing, presentation techniques, etc.).

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 The main isotope used by HeartLight has a six-hour halflife, which means it takes six hours for 50 percent of the isotope’s atoms to decay. Once the products are made, many of them have short expiration times. Therefore, compounding, quality control, delivery and patient injection must all take place within a matter of hours. Thus, the early mornings.

Claire Rodrigues, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., served as a pharmacy VA learning opportunities residency (VALOR) student at Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Huntington, W.Va.

There was no typical day for Rodrigues at the VAMC, something she describes as the “best part of the job.” During her first month, she worked in all aspects of pharmacy, including inpatient, outpatient, ambulatory care clinics (lipids, hypertension, diabetes, anti-coagulation, heart failure and mental health), medical reconciliation/discharge counseling, administration and formulary management. After getting her feet wet in these areas, Rodrigues then had the opportunity to decide where she wanted to spend the rest of her internship.

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 “I would start by helping the pharmacist in whatever way was needed,” Ryan says. “Sometimes, that involved calibrating the equipment we would use that day or doing r

ical Cente

ffairs Med

Veterans A

Ca ll ho me

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 “I chose to spend my time within the ambulatory care setting,” she says. “My typical day may have consisted of shadowing the pharmacist, reviewing a patient’s electronic medical records/chart, discussing a patient’s disease state and medication therapy with the pharmacist, counseling patients on medications upon discharge, counseling inpatient patients newly initiated on warfarin,

26 27 28 29 30 Calvin

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Ice (se

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JULY 2011 calling tele-warfarin patients or talking to warfarin patients in the clinic about their INR results, attending administrative meetings, attending topic discussions with pharmacy students on rotations/ pharmacy residents, and going on inpatient rounds.”

Like Rodrigues, Joshua Blackwell, a fourthCleveland Clinic year pharmacy student from Bedford, Ohio, enjoyed atypical workdays as a pharmacy intern at the Cleveland Clinic. “You never know what is going to happen, and you are always kept on your toes.”

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1 2 UP FOR ANYTHING

Blackwell’s activities also included shadowing the pharmacist, rounding with a team of various physicians and residents, and reviewing the clinical aspects of the patient. When not with a rotation or a specific preceptor, he worked on presentations, journal clubs and summer research projects.

Cherryl Zekeng, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Accra, Ghana, returned home to her native Ghana to intern with the World Health Organization. Her mornings began with meetings with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders in the private and public sectors to discuss issues such as drug shortages, accessibility and affordability.

Rebecc

a Ryan

Routine or not, the internships were not without some surprises along the way.

“Probably the most unexpected activity I was able to complete was my ‘mini-rotation’ in a medical ICU,” says Ice. “I did not expect that I would be rounding with an interdisciplinary team. I also spent time with my pharmacist preceptor talking to patients and families one-on-one about their medical treatment.”

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 “A highlight was a meeting with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) DELIVER PROJECT, which primarily focuses on scaling up preventing mother-tochild transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS and antiretroviral services (ART) beyond the district level,” she says.

For Ryan, a surprise came through a bit of rolereversal. “I didn’t realize that we would be hosting so many rotation students, so I was tasked with showing them the ropes. It was a lot of fun teaching nuclear pharmacy to someone new to it.”

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Zekeng talked and interacted with directors and professionals in other programs and departments like the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI), Child and Adolescent Health (CAH), Communicable Disease Prevention Control (DPC), to get to know more about their work, their challenges, and their goals and objectives for the country.

Blackwell spent some time connecting with hospitals within the University Health Consortium (UHC) to review the non-traditional roles of technicians. His research led to the publication of a document for the UHC on these non-traditional roles. “I never would have imagined that I would help publish an article that can not only promote the ideals of the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI), but also have a direct effect on other health care systems and how they utilize their technicians.”

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 She also was assigned to the pharmacy department at a multi-purpose hospital in the outskirts of Ghana.

“I assisted in the dispensing of medications, patient counseling and attending rounds in the pediatric and intensive care units with the physicians and medical students to assess patient improvement and progress and to re-adjust treatment if necessary,” she says.

Rodrigues worked on research of her own. One of her projects for the summer was to update the protocol for handling hazardous drugs. “This project allowed me to research current guidelines for handling hazardous drugs, determine which drugs are hazardous that are within the pharmacies at VAMC, work with the chief of pharmacy to develop the new protocol for the pharmacy service, and present the protocol as my in-service presentation to the entire pharmacy service.”

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Hig h o f 91o

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Cherryl

Zekeng

While in Ghana, Zekeng researched and then presented information on National Blood Services and blood donation. “It was imperative, yet interesting, to identify reasons for blood shortages,” she says. “My research revealed that financial constraints, donor apathy, a lack of medical offices with qualifications for safe donations,

Spring 2012

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Sharing the Inspiration

and a lack of technology and resources (like ‘cold-chain’ for maintenance and safe handling of these products) were the main reasons.”

M WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS T W

He came to play football.

Somewhere along the way, Dr. Val Watts, BSPh ’90, developed a passion for research.

All five pharmacy students had specific career paths in mind before embarking on their internships. Their work experiences did nothing to alter their plans.

“When I came to ONU, I really didn’t know what I would be doing. I was good in math and science, so pharmacy made sense.”

T

Ice has known for several years that he wanted to practice pharmacy within a health system. He was, however, on the fence as to whether he should place a career focus on pharmacy administration or clinical practice. “After this experience, I am leaning much more toward clinical practice and will likely seek a residency position that reflects this.”

After working in retail pharmacies during the summers while enrolled in the Raabe College of Pharmacy, Watts realized that he wanted to do something else with his degree. After taking a pathophysiology course with Dr. Thomas P. Faulkner, retired professor of pharmacology, during the spring quarter of his third year, Watts had a revelation.

Zekeng’s internship encouraged her to continue to pursue her goals of working in public health. “After graduation, I intend to pursue a master’s degree or Ph.D. in public health or health economics, and this internship really helped me confirm my dreams.”

“I became very excited about drug mechanisms (essentially pharmacology),” he says. “My grades improved dramatically, and I was truly excited about science and gaining new knowledge.”

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Rodrigues says that her internship confirmed her desire to be a clinical pharmacist. “I would like to have a career at a VAMC in the future, hopefully starting with completing a residency. I also truly enjoyed working within the outpatient clinics and ambulatory care.”

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The summer of 2011 scattered pharmacy students all over the country – and globe.

From Lima to Ghana, ONU pharmacy students seized the opportunity to show the world that they have what it takes to excel in most any pharmacy endeavor.

They showed the world the true strength behind an ONU pharmacy education. They put their ONU classroom education to the real-world test – and came out on top.

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Watts has a history of neuropharmacology research and made headlines recently for his work at Purdue in developing new types of insecticides directed at disease-carrying insects such as ticks, mosquitoes and tsetse flies. His research could lead to the development of new insecticides that are safer for humans and pets and less harmful to the environment.

PROVING THEMSELVES

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Watts developed a connection with Faulkner, who became a “research mentor” to him.

Watts went on to complete research for credit under Faulkner’s supervision.

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“I think the best skill from my internship was more confidence,” says Ryan. “I am more confident in my skills as a potential nuclear pharmacist.”

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After graduating from Northern in 1990, Watts earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology in 1994 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He next became a post-doctoral fellow at the Portland VA Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University, both in Portland, Ore. He focused his research on dopamine receptors, G-proteins, and adenylyl cyclase signaling. Watts remained in Oregon until 1998 when his career led him to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., as an assistant professor. He remains there today as a professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology.

Blackwell still wants to pursue a PGY1/ PGY2 hospital administration residency upon graduation and receive his MBA through a residency program. “I hope to one day achieve this goal not only to help further my education, but also to become a better leader in progressing the profession of pharmacy.”

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Inspired by so many others throughout his academic career, Watts has established the Pete and Marge Watts Summer Research Fellowship to fund a student’s summer research experience at ONU.

In addition, Watts explains there were no opportunities for on-campus summer research while he attended ONU. He applied for a few outside summer fellowships, but was unsuccessful. So, by funding a fellowship of his own, Watts hopes to give ONU pharmacy students the research opportunities he never had for himself.

“My wife and I have had many blessing in our lives,” he says. “I wanted to provide an opportunity for a student to be inspired to be the next Al Gilman or Marshall Nirenberg – two of my scientific heroes who won the Nobel Prize.”

The first student selected to benefit from the Watts research fellowship is Nick Wolters, a fourth-year pharmacy student from Maria Stein, Ohio, who will work in a lab run by Dr. Jeff Talbot, assistant professor of pharmacology, this summer.

Wolters will work on a project investigating novel treatments for major depressive disorder, a leading cause of disability in the industrialized world with nearly 10 million new diagnoses each year in the U.S. alone.

“Nick’s work will utilize transgenic animal models to study how altered expression of a family of regulatory genes, called regulators of G protein signaling or RGS proteins, affects susceptibility to stressed-induced depression and responses to common antidepressant medications,” Talbot says.

“I am very grateful of the support I received Thanks to the generosity of alumni and from my family while a student at ONU, and this friends like Watts, the research tradition is a way to recognize and honor them,” he says. at Ohio Northern’s College of Pharmacy continues.

Feature

Making a splash: EVERLOVE SETS BAR HIGH AND STRIVES FOR GOLD Amanda Everlove thrives on challenge.

The third-year pharmacy student and Paralympic swimmer often sets a high bar for herself – then exceeds it.

She was a long shot to make the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Team, but she qualified for the team in three months.

She set a goal of one medal at the Beijing Games; she brought home three silver medals and set a world record. “I shocked my coaches, my teammates, my parents and myself,” she says, with a grin.

Everlove’s indomitable spirit revealed itself at a young age. In third grade, she suffered a severe brachial plexus injury in a horsebackriding accident. With six damaged nerves, Everlove’s right arm became paralyzed.

Returning home from the hospital, she refused to be coddled, even learning how to tie her shoes with one hand.

After the accident, Everlove turned to aquatics for rehabilitation. In the pool, she pushed herself physically and mentally and found a passion for competitive swimming. “I’m extremely independent and competitive,” she explains. “I like to rely on myself.”

As a member of her high school’s swim team, Everlove held her own against her competitors. Then, in 2005, she competed in her first Paralympic meet. For the

first time in her life, she was on a level playing field, and she liked it. “I had never identified myself as having a disability,” she says. “But once I started competing against other disabled swimmers, I embraced it.”

Her senior year of high school, Everlove moved from Kansas to Colorado Springs to train full-time as a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. While there, she forged a strong bond with Peggy Ewald, head coach for Ohio Northern’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams and a coach for the U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Team.

Ewald encouraged Everlove to enroll at ONU, where she could pursue a future career in pharmacy, compete on a college team and continue to train for the Paralympic Games.

Swimming requires a commitment of 15 to 20 hours per week – a big chunk

of time for a full-time student in a rigorous academic program. Everlove admits she’s still fine-tuning her time-management and studying skills. But at Northern, she’s found a caring and supportive network of professors, coaches, teammates and fellow students. “I love Northern,” says Everlove. “Here, you are a student first and then an athlete. Everyone is always willing to help you. I’ve really come to embrace the team aspect of swimming.”

This summer, Everlove hopes to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Team and compete in London against the world’s top swimmers. And this time, she’s reaching for the gold.

Spring 2012

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The Ampul

¡Azúcar!

NO BARRIER TO CARING

In March 2010, approximately 45 students and faculty members from Ohio Northern University’s College of Pharmacy converged on St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio.

They were there to provide health screenings and health education to the large, underserved Spanish-speaking population of the parish. (More than 1,000 people attend the parish’s Spanishlanguage masses each week.)

This Spanish-language health-fair project was developed and coordinated by Jennifer Cornelius, a fourth-year pharmacy student from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Emily Kruckeberg, a fourth-year pharmacy student from New Haven, Ind. While second-year pharmacy students, they were looking for ways to become more involved with Ohio Northern University’s American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) chapter, specifically Operation Diabetes. As Spanish minors, the pair also hoped to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community in some way.

After learning about St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church from Dr. Donnie Sullivan, professor of pharmacy practice, and after debating many different concepts, the pair developed their idea of a Spanish health fair, one with free health screenings, refreshments and raffle prizes.

They called their endeavor ¡Azúcar!

“Azúcar is the Spanish word for sugar,” explains Kruckeberg. “It is a play on words because the event began with the idea of educating, counseling and testing patients for diabetes (aka testing their ‘sugars’). Also, in the Latino culture, it is a word for celebration.”

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TRULY A NEED

According to the U.S. Office of Minority Health, as of 2008, 2.5 million Hispanic adults (about 11 percent of that population) had diabetes. Hispanics are 1.5 times as likely to have diabetes as whites. In 2006, the death rate from diabetes in Hispanics was 50 percent higher than the death rate of non-Hispanic whites.

“Many times, those whose second language is English have a difficult time communicating with health care professionals and acquiring adequate health care resources,” says Cornelius. “Our goal was to develop a comfortable, convenient setting where a Spanish-speaking population could interact with pharmacists and student pharmacists who speak Spanish.”

“Our Spanish was not perfect, but the parishioners were elated that we were trying to speak to them in their native language,” says Cornelius. “They were so polite and waited in line for more than 20 minutes just to speak to our students and be tested. They welcome us back with open arms each year.”

THE EVENT

THE SWEETEST FEELING

The first Azúcar lasted roughly two hours and involved more than 100 patients.

The event featured a brief Spanish presentation on diabetes followed by free health screenings (blood pressure and blood glucose screenings as well as eye exams). “We also had diabetic-friendly cookies and refreshments along with little toys for the children,” says Kruckeberg.

In 2011, Kruckeberg and Cornelius added more services to Azúcar. The event offered immunization and heartburn information, blood pressure and blood glucose screenings, eye exams, and a folic acid study group that counseled female patients on the importance of having folic acid in their diet for fetal development.

As the event continues to grow, its two originators have not lost sight of their initial reasons for visiting St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church back in 2010.

“This project is something very dear to our hearts because we truly feel like we are making a difference as student pharmacists in a patient population that may not be as privileged to receive adequate health care,” says Cornelius.

Kruckeberg shares this sentiment. “For me, the most rewarding feeling is hearing ‘thank you’ from one of the patients because they could not receive this service without our help.”

Pharmacy Outreach Corner

Reaching Out to Others HERE IS JUST A SMALL SAMPLE OF THE OUTREACH EFFORTS UNDERTAKEN BY PHARMACY STUDENTS AND FACULTY. •

Blood pressure checks and blood testing – Kroger in Kenton, Ohio

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Outreach events, health fairs, screenings and testings – Ray’s Supermarkets in Lima, Ohio

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Outreach events, screenings and testings – ReStore, Ada

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Outreach events and activities including Ada’s Harvest and Herb Festival, Hardin Memorial Hospital Health Fair, Allen and Hardin County Councils of

Pictured, from left to right: Sarah Meucci, a fourth-year pharmacy student from Baldwinsville, N.Y.; Claire Rodrigues, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; Josh Ilenin, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Mantua, Ohio; Amanda Meyer, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Dublin, Ohio.

Aging, Blanchard House Assisted Living in Kenton, Heartbeat Pregnancy Crisis Center, “Date Night” in Dayton, and the SNPhA Health Fair

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NCPA Legislative Reception with U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Dave Burke

Ohio Northern University’s Heartburn Awareness Challenge is a patient-care project under the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP). Started five years ago, ONU’s ASP chapter has been nationally recognized by APhA every year at the national meeting. The organization focuses on educating patients in surrounding areas about heartburn and gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD), and how they can take action to prevent these conditions by using non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatment options such as over-the-counter products and prescription medications.

Recently, the ASP group launched the Heartburn for the Good initiative, which targets lower-income populations of Ada and the surrounding communities. The ultimate goal is to positively impact both the surrounding community and ONU pharmacy students.

Heartburn for the Good visited the Lima Rescue Mission, a safe shelter for low-income males to gather and live. Students and a faculty advisor counseled the men about lifestyle, food choices and medications. Students also worked with Heartbeat, a pregnancy clinic for low-income women in Lima, Ohio, to provide education on how to safely treat heartburn during pregnancy. At ReStore in Ada, students prepared and served heartburn-friendly chili, cornbread and salad to nearly 100 people. During this event, students gave a presentation illustrating lifestyle modifications and handed out bags of heartburn-friendly food items.

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Kappa Epsilon “comfort and hope” baskets for women diagnosed with breast cancer – St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima

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Prescription drug take back program – Barnesville Hospital in Barnesville, Ohio

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NACDS RxIMPACT Day – Washington, D.C.

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Stefanie Spielman Walk/Run for Breast Cancer Awareness – sponsored by Kappa Epsilon, SSHP and Alumni Office

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“Heart-to-Heart for Women’s Health” – Hardin and Allen counties

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ONU HealthWise

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Heartburn Awareness Challenge educates women about safe and effective treatments for heartburn during pregnancy and works at a men’s homeless shelter to serve heartburn friendly meals – Lima

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Operation Immunization – CVS Pharmacy in northeast Ohio

The ASP heartburn group has started its second canned food drive in hopes of collecting more than 1,000 food items to be donated to the Lima Rescue Mission, Heartbeat and the Ada Food Pantry. Last year, 400 items were collected.

If you have questions regarding this patient care project or would like to donate canned goods, please contact Dr. Kristen Finley Sobota at k-finley.1@onu.edu

Spring Spring 2012 2012

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Teacher-Scholar Faculty Profile DR. JEFFERY C. ALLISON Whether he’s next door in Kenton, Ohio, or across the globe in El Salvador, Dr. Jeffery C. Allison, BSPh ’71, PharmD ’95, makes a constant effort to act as a teacher-scholar, something he describes as “professors who do what they preach.”

Allison views the teacher-scholar model as the chance for faculty members to integrate the teaching and learning process with various forms of scholarship and service in a complementary format. Teaching fosters continued scholarship, and learning flows from the relationship between teaching, scholarship and service.

BECOMING THE TEACHERSCHOLAR

Allison’s pharmacy journey began at Ohio Northern University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in pharmacy in 1971.

From there, he worked in hospital and retail pharmacy settings for 20 years. But he returned to Northern in September 1991 as one of the first students in the College of Pharmacy’s fledgling PharmD program.

“There were three of us, and I was the only one that year that graduated from ONU,” he says. “So I’m the first PharmD to graduate from Ohio Northern.”

Soon after, Allison joined the Northern faculty as assistant professor of pharmacy practice. “I did all my rotations, there was an opening here, I applied, and they hired me,” he states matter-of-factly.

He’s been with the college since then, and today serves as professor of pharmacy practice.

ACROSS THE COUNTY

In his 17 years as a Northern faculty member, Allison has integrated teaching, scholarship and service whenever – and wherever – he can. Every Thursday, he accompanies a group of students to the Kroger pharmacy in Kenton. While there, he does not work behind the counter.

Rather, he’s there to help students with patient screenings and to introduce them to the idea of MTM, medication therapy management.

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“Since we’re pharmacists, I teach toward application,” he says. “But you can go beyond that: You can go out and do things, and have the students do screenings and talk to patients. Since they’re going to be practicing pharmacists, I take them out and we actually do practice. At Kroger, they see people that don’t have good blood pressures; they see people whose glucose or cholesterol numbers aren’t optimal.”

The end result, Allison explains, is a guided self-evaluation of student technique and professionalism.

“They can start looking at what they did, and we can do an analysis and come up with new ways to improve,” he says. “You just can’t do this type of thing in a classroom.”

ACROSS THE GLOBE

From Nov. 23 to Dec. 14, 2007, Allison was one of 42 medical volunteers, including six ONU pharmacy students, who participated in a trip to bring medical care to the residents of a rural area of western Kenya.

The trip was organized by SHARE KenyaOhio, founded in 1997 by Dr. Bonyo Bonyo, a native Kenyan who rose above the impoverished circumstances of his childhood to become a successful doctor in Akron, Ohio. To give back, Bonyo established an annual medical mission trip, coordinated through Ohio University, to his home village of Masara, Kenya.

by a Christian mission group called CEDIENFA, the group provided medical care to the poorest of the poor in and around San Salvador.

During both trips, Allison and his students learned to quickly adapt and think on their feet.

“We were dealing with diseases that we don’t normally deal with,” he says. “And we had a limited formulary. We only had the drugs we took with us. So we had to think outside the box.”

This led to point-of-care innovation, he says.

“The challenge for the students was to see how they could use their education to get around those perceived barriers.

And they found out that they knew a lot more than they thought they did.”

“Ohio University has a school of medicine, and their faculty wanted to reach out to us – and we reached back – about pharmacy students going with them to Kenya,” Allison says.

Allison made a similar trip during summer 2009, this time to San Salvador, El Salvador, with six ONU pharmacy students and physicians and medical students from Ohio University. Hosted

Find Teacher-Scholar videos at www.onu.edu/elements_of_excellence

Pharmacy News & Activities

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY RECEIVES NUMEROUS ACCOLADES AT APhA2012

Dr. Jenelle Sobotka was sworn in as APhA president

by Marialice S. Bennett, immediate past president.

As president for 2012-13, Dr. Sobotka delivers a message of “Transforming Patient Care by LEADing,” stating, “Pharmacy’s transformation across the tipping point from a model of drug distribution to one of patient care will require everyone, not just individuals, to LEAD through a commitment to Leadership, Engagement, Action and Determination to do what is needed to make a difference.”

ONU Alumni Reception at APhA2012.

ONU’s APhA-ASP chapter was one of five chapters in the nation to receive the second annual Generation Rx National Award.

Allen Nichol, BSPh ’74, of Columbus, Ohio, was awarded the APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APhA-APPM) Distinguished Achievement Award in Community and Ambulatory Practice.

ONU APhA-ASP student chapter received the 2012 Region 4 Award for Operation Immunization.

Dr. Jeff Allison, BSPh ’71, PharmD ’95, introduces students to New Orleans cuisine at Johnny’s Po-Boys.

Dr. David Bright, assistant professor of pharmacy at ONU, received the APhA Distinguished New Practitioner Award.

ONU pharmacy students toured the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

For more coverage, photos and video, please go to www.onu.edu/pharmacy

2012 TheSpring Ampul Spring 2012

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Pharmacy News & Activities

PHARMACY HONORS DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI

The Raabe College of Pharmacy honored three alumni with Distinguished Alumni Awards in November 2011.

Mark Gregory, BSPh ’82, Susan (Pawlak) Meyer, BSPh ’83, and Renee Coffman, BSPh ’87, were recognized for their outstanding career accomplishments and their contributions to ONU. “We are extremely honored to recognize these distinguished alumni for their significant contributions to the profession of pharmacy,” said Dr. Jon Sprague, dean of the College of Pharmacy. “These individuals have helped build the proud tradition and excellence of Ohio Northern’s pharmacy college.”

Gregory is vice president of pharmacy and government relations for Kerr Drug Inc., a regional, 90-pharmacy drugstore chain in North Carolina. He has been in his current position since September 1997, and his responsibilities include oversight of pharmacy systems and automation, managed care contracting, store support, pharmacy administration, operational policies and procedures, compliance programs, university relationships, and government affairs activities. He also serves as Kerr Drug’s privacy officer and chairman of Kerr Drug’s PAC. Gregory was a practicing pharmacist for 11 years when he assumed corporate positions as manager of Pharmacy Systems and Third Party Programs at Thrift Drug Company in Pittsburgh, Pa. After the acquisition of Thrift Drug by the Eckerd Corporation, Gregory worked for a brief period of time in pharmacy operations for Eckerd. In addition, he is past president of North Carolina Association of Pharmacists, current chairman of the executive committee of the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, immediate past chair of NACDS Policy Council, and immediate past facilitating chair for Coalition for Community Pharmacy Action (CCPA).

Meyer is associate dean for education and professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. From 1987 to 1990, she served as an assistant professor in pharmacy practice and administration at the College of Pharmacy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

From 1990 to 2006, Meyer served as a staff member for 18

the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP).

She managed the development of the Education Scholar teaching development program for health professions educators; supervised the development and revisions of the CAPE educational outcomes; and led the AACP’s institutional research activities. Meyer represents pharmacy education on the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force, an interprofessional group convened by the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. In 2010-11, Meyer participated as a member of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel that authored “Core Competencies for Interprofessional Practice” and now participates on the HRSA-convened working group on Faculty Development in Interprofessional Team-Based Care.

Coffman is co-founder of the Roseman University of Health Sciences and serves as its executive vice president for Quality Assurance and Intercampus Consistency and the dean of its College of Pharmacy. Following her graduation from ONU, Coffman worked as a pharmacist in her hometown of Bucyrus, Ohio, and in Piqua, Ohio. She went on to become a founding member of the faculty at Western University of Health Sciences, where she also held the position of facilitative officer for student services. In 1999, Coffman and her husband, Dr. Harry Rosenberg, moved to southern Nevada and founded the first college of pharmacy in the state. Over the next 10 years, the Nevada College of Pharmacy expanded to become the University of Southern Nevada, adding a College of Nursing, an MBA program and a College of Dental Medicine and extending its educational offerings to a campus in South Jordan, Utah. In 2011, the Board of Trustees voted to honor its co-founders by renaming the institution the Roseman University of Health Sciences.

UPCOMING EVENTS JUNE 1-3

2012 ALUMNI WEEKEND Alumni weekend provides opportunity to meet former classmates and make new friends, while attending seminars, banquets and other programs. Honoring the 50th reunion class of 1962. Register at 419-772-2727 or alumni@onu.edu

AUG. 10

15TH ONU PHARMACY GOLF DAY Mark your calendar for the pharmacy golf outing and CE. Contact Dr. Bob McCurdy, BSPh ’65, Hon. D. ’96, at r-mccurdy@onu.edu or 419-772-2659 for more information.

OCT. 3-5

HOMECOMING 2012 Make plans to join us at Homecoming – a time of reunions and celebrations with alumni, friends, family, faculty and students. Find details at onu.edu/alumni

SEBOK LECTURE WELCOMES EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CEO OF AMERICAN PHARMACISTS ASSOCIATION Thomas E. Menighan, executive vice president and chief executive officer of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), was featured at the third Raabe College of Pharmacy’s Sebok Pharmacy Lecture. Menighan delivered his lecture, “It is an Exciting Time to be a Pharmacist,” to campus in January.

Menighan served as APhA president from 2001-02 and as a member of the APhA Board of Trustees from 1995-2003.

He was an APhA senior staff member from 1987-92. Prior to his current leadership roles, Menighan was founder and president of SynTegra Solutions Inc. in Germantown, Md. He also founded SymRx Inc. and developed CornerDrugstore.com.

20-year owner of Medicine Shoppe in Huntington, W.Va., and he is a current partner in Pharmacy Associates Inc.

His other professional experiences include management of the PharMark Corporation, creator of RationalMed, and licensor of systems for states to conduct drug utilization review for millions of state Medicaid enrollees. Menighan also founded and was a

Menighan also shared comments on video with ONU regarding the future of pharmacy and how students can prepare for exciting careers. View his remarks at www.onu.edu/pharmacy

HROMETZ COMPLETES CGP CERTIFICATION Dr. Sandra Hrometz, BSPh ’94, professor of pharmacology, has successfully completed the examination to become a board-certified geriatric pharmacist (CGP) through the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. The purpose of the CGP credential is to identify and recognize those pharmacists who have expertise in geriatric pharmacotherapy. It allows for the useful practice of medication therapy management (MTM) principles for older adults in hospital, community, long-term care and educational settings.

Other Raabe College of Pharmacy faculty members who hold certifications: Board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist (BCPS) Dr. Jeffery Allison, BSPh ’71, PharmD ’95 Dr. Kristen Finley-Sobota Dr. Karen (Hilegass) Kier, BSPh ’82 Dr. Andrew Roecker, PharmD ’00 Board-certified ambulatory care pharmacist (BCACP) Dr. David Bright Dr. Kier Dr. Michael Rush, PharmD ’05 Certified diabetes educator (CDE) Dr. Rush

ASHP PRESIDENT VISITS CAMPUS Stan Kent, president of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), visited the College of Pharmacy in February to speak with the Leadership Class, Contemporary Issues Class and Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SSHP) organization. Kent, assistant vice president at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Ill, oversees all pharmacy services in this fourhospital system and is the director of its postgraduate year-one pharmacy residency.

SSHP LEADERSHIP TEAM Front row (from left): Liz Scarpitti, Brittany Ray, Jessica Hildebrand, Nicole Sivak, Lauren Rupp Back row (from left): Robert “Bob” Parsons, BSPh ’71, Stan Kent, Ross Robison, Adam Trimble, Tristan Maiers, Calvin Ice, Ryan Fischer 2012 TheSpring Ampul Spring 2012

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Student Focus

NCPA CHAPTER GARNERS HONOR FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR

LAUREN RUPP EARNS ZADA M. COOPER SCHOLARSHIP Lauren Rupp, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Archbold, Ohio, has received the Zada M. Cooper Scholarship from Kappa Epsilon, a national professional fraternity for women in pharmacy. Rupp was one of five students from across the nation to receive this honor in 2011.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Student Chapter at Ohio Northern was named the 2011 Student Chapter of the Year at the 113th NCPA Annual Convention and Trade Exposition. This marks the second consecutive year ONU has garnered this prestigious honor.

The scholarship was established in 1955 in honor of Kappa Epsilon’s founder, Zada M. Cooper. Recognizing superior achievement, the scholarship is supported by a small percentage of each member’s national dues in addition to KE members who donate to the scholarship fund. The award consists of five $750 scholarships presented annually to active collegiate members by the KE Foundation.

There are currently 95 NCPA Student Chapters across the nation. The award criteria included commitment to community service, recruiting new members, promoting independent community pharmacy and advocating legislative action.

The first runner-up was Washington State University, and the University of Texas at Austin was the second runner-up.

Kari Reinhart Colman, a sixth-year pharmacy student from Arcadia, Ohio, received recognition with the ONU NCPA Chapter Member of the Year award. Lauren Anderson, a fifthyear pharmacy student from Monroe, Mich., was recognized for serving in her second year on the NCPA national Student Leadership Council (SLC), and Beth Crandall, a fourth-year pharmacy student from Cattaraugus, N.Y., was recognized as serving in her first year on the SLC. ONU has two members on the 16-member national SLC.

CHILI COOK-OFF WINNERS Pharmacy Council’s 11th annual Soup and Chili Cook-off raised monies and canned goods for the Ada Food Pantry.

First place – NCPA with Hearty Smokehouse Soup Second place – Henna Csont, a fourth-year pharmacy student from Fairport, N.Y., with “Gobble It Up” Turkey Chili

NCPA Legislative Reception 2012.

Sen. Dave Burke, BSPh ’90, met with ONU NCPA chapter members.

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Third place – Alpha Phi Omega with 30-Minute Chili People’s Choice – Kappa Epsilon with Hearty 3 Bean Chili

KAPPA EPSILON CHAPTER HONORED AT NATIONAL CONVENTION

Kari Reinhart Colman, a sixth-year student from Arcadia, Ohio, receives the inaugural Good Neighbor Pharmacy Scholarship.

Andy Clarey (left) and Joe Perrault (right), from AmerisourceBergen Corp., present the scholarship. Colman has interned at Harry’s Pharmacy in Carey, Ohio, owned by Randall, BSPh ’82, and Deirdre (Mozdy) Myers, BSPh ’83.

ONU’s Kappa Epsilon chapter received the National Projects Excellence award for the 2009-11 biennium and garnered honorable mention honors for the Outstanding Chapter of the Year Award for the 2010-11 school year at its annual convention.

With more than 150 members, the ONU chapter was recognized for its outstanding work promoting breast cancer awareness. The chapter co-sponsors the annual Stefanie Spielman Walk/Run for Breast Cancer during ONU’s Homecoming, provides friendly gift baskets to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients at St. Rita’s Medical Center and Lima Memorial Hospital, participates in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and holds bake sales, spaghetti dinners and bake-offs to raise money for women who need mammograms but are unable to afford them.

ONU PHARMACY STUDENTS NAMED TO ASHP ADVISORY GROUP Two ONU pharmacy students were appointed to prominent national positions within the student committees of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). Ryan Fischer, a sixth-year pharmacy student from Spencerville, Ohio, was named chair of the Pharmacy Student Forum Policy and Legislative Advisory Group for the 201112 academic year. Calvin Ice, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Rawson, Ohio, was named to the Pharmacy Student Forum Leadership Development Advisory Group for the 2011-12 academic year.

DISCOVER YOUR TRUE NORTH.

ONU Summer Open House

July 27 Michael Schultz New Berlin, Wisc.

Fifth-year pharmacy student Honorable Mention All-American in swimming & diving

ONU alumni and friends have a unique perspective that can help us connect with the country’s most talented students.

Ways to get involved: · Refer students to ONU · Join the Alumni B.E.A.R.S. program · Share your ONU experiences and accomplishments on Facebook · Talk at your local high school’s career fair · Attend a college fair on behalf of ONU · Invite a student to tour campus

www.onu.edu/admissions 2012 TheSpring Ampul Spring 2012

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ONE CLICK. ONE GIFT.

MANY STUDENTS.

The Northern Fund supports ONU with annual operating costs and the University’s highest priorities – pharmacy student scholarships, financial aid, faculty research and campus improvements. Through loyal, annual support received from alumni and friends of the University, ONU is able to provide pharmacy students with an affordable education that is of the highest quality.

Make your gift today and support ONU’s more than 3,600 students with the gift of higher education!

ONUGIVE.COM University Advancement • 525 S. Main St. • Ada, OH 45810 • northernfund@onu.edu • 419-772-2073

Advisory Board Dr. Bruce Bouts BSPh ’82 General Internist Blanchard Valley Medical Associates Inc. Findlay, Ohio Col. (Ret.) Mark Butler BSPh ’79 Commander, 59th Clinical Support Group Lackland AFB, Texas Adrienne (Wood) Donaldson BSPh ’99 Professional Services Consultant McKesson Foundation Inc. Moon Township, Pa. Dr. Shawn Eaton PharmD ’01 District Manager CVS Caremark Tallmadge, Ohio George Hill BA ’69, BSPh ’74 Director, Pharmacy Services Catholic Health Initiatives Union, Ky. Kathy Karas BA, BSPh ’75 Atwater, Ohio Richard Keyes BSPh ’92 Executive Vice President of Supply Chain Operations and Mfg. Meijer Inc. Grand Rapids, Mich.

Paul T. Kocis BSPh ’88, PharmD ’03 Clinical Pharmacist, Anticoagulation Clinic Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University Hershey, Pa. Phillip Lettrich BSPh ’85 Director of Professional Relations Emdeon Business Services Twinsburg, Ohio

Jay Meyer BSPh ’82 Founder Eagle Launch Consulting Covington, Ohio Theresa “Tip” Parker BSPh ’74 Director of Trade Relations & Pharmacy Operations Abbott PPD Abbott Park, Ill. Robert “Bob” Parsons BSPh ’71 Executive Vice President Ohio Society of HealthSystem Pharmacists Marietta, Ohio

Meet an Advisory Board Member George Hill,

BA ’69, BSPh ’74 Corporate pharmacy director for Integrated Supply Chain Services Catholic Health Initiatives Q: Tell us about your work.

A: Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) is the third-largest Catholic health care system in the country, with more than 70 hospitals in 22 states.

When I was first hired, CHI was a new company formed by 13 different Catholic health care systems. I worked with a team of pharmacists to create a national program because none of the systems had ever had a corporate pharmacy representative.

I started as a liaison between the hospital pharmacies, pooling our purchasing power to get lower pricing. This led to opportunities to develop a national safety program, formulary reviews for medications, clinical pathways, national pharmacy clinical documentation programs and national cost containment programs that have documented savings of more than $157 million. I’ve also worked with physicians, nurses and senior-level administration on developing clinical strategy and created Telepharmacy programs for rural hospitals (in conjunction with North Dakota State University) where it is not possible to have 24-7 pharmacy services.

Currently, I’m working on the development of national drug discount programs for hospitals that serve the underserved and on patient assistance programs for patients who cannot afford medications.

I’m also involved with developing cost-effective pharmacy programs that will serve communities across the country.

Nichole (Pearson) Penny BSPh ’98 District Pharmacy Supervisor Walgreens-Grand Rapids East District Kentwood, Mich.

Dr. Ervin Pierstorf ’53, Hon. D. ’78 Chairman of the Board and CEO, Retired Fairview Photo Services Rocky River, Ohio, and Pinellas Park, Fla. Tom Wiechart BSPh ’81 Pharmacist Rite Aid Lima, Ohio Suzanne Eastman Wuest BSPh ’74 Executive Director for Clinical Services Catalina Health Resource Cincinnati, Ohio

Q: What are the keys to your success in your career?

A: I’ve been fortunate to have many wonderful mentors and helpers in my life, including my ONU professors and my wonderful wife of 38 years, Barbara. We have three children and four grandchildren, and I work hard on work-family balance. I also like people, and I like to watch them grow professionally and personally. I like change and challenge and to teach and learn. To a point, I like technology. I practice patience, especially when people are trying.

I like to tell people that “the only dumb question is the one that is not asked.” I find leadership and management very fascinating!

Q: What trends have you noticed in the pharmacy field?

A: The 1999 Institute of Medicine Report identified medication use as the primary area that needed safety improvements. I believe this is mainly due to the decline of the privately owned corner drug store and the amount of face-to-face contact between pharmacists and patients. This issue creates opportunities for experts who have formal training in human factor’s engineering and patient safety in the home and in health care facilities.

Q: What do you believe are the Raabe College of Pharmacy’s biggest strengths?

A: I admire the college’s teacher-scholar model and the outstanding leadership of the pharmacy faculty, particularly the faculty’s efforts to collaborate with colleagues in engineering, business, theology, law, and arts and sciences to produce a diversified graduate. Ohio Northern University also benefits from a smallcollege atmosphere and an outstanding reputation for excellence.

The Ampul Spring 2012

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University Advancement 525 South Main Street Ada, OH 45810-1599

SAVE THE DATE

15th ONU

Pharmacy Golf Day Friday, Aug. 10

Colonial Golfers Club

10 a.m. – Registration and continental breakfast 10:30-11:30 a.m. – Pharmacy Law CE with Dr. Donnie Sullivan 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Luncheon and driving range 12:30-5 p.m. – Shotgun scramble 5 p.m. – Reception and dinner

More than $100,000 has been raised through this pharmacy fundraiser thanks to the many alumni and friends who generously support it.

Registration information will be mailed in June.

Cost: $100 per golfer Contact: Dr. Bob McCurdy, BSPh ’65, Hon. D. ’96 at r-mccurdy@onu.edu or 419-772-2659.

Harrod, Ohio