The Pharmacist - Fall 2018

FALL 2018 • Volume 40 • Issue 4

The Pharmacist

THE THE CLINICAL CLINICAL ISSUE ISSUE

A publication The Magazineofofthe theUIC UICCollege Collegeof ofPharmacy Pharmacy

OPIOID FOCUS

UIC College of Pharmacy takes a closer look at what can be done about the opioid epidemic.

Taking on Opioids As the opioid epidemic grips communities across the nation, pharmacists have a big role to play in finding a solution.

Elevate The revised PharmD curriculum raises the bar on education.

Windows into Industry As students contemplate careers in industry, the UIC College of Pharmacy positions them to succeed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

6

10 Features 6

Taking on Opioids Pharmacists are finding unique ways to stem the tide of the opioid epidemic.

10 Elevate

Revisions to the PharmD curriculum are placing UIC College of Pharmacy on the leading edge of education.

15 Windows into Industry

The pharma industry is calling graduates, UIC College of Pharmacy is helping them answer.

In September of 1868, our college published the first issue of a trade journal simply named “The Pharmacist.� The magazine you see before you is named in honor of that historic journal.

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

4 EDITORIAL CREDITS Publisher Dr. Glen T. Schumock Professor and Dean Editors Ben Stickan, MBA, CFRE Assistant Dean of Advancement

15 Departments 2

From The Dean

How UIC Pharmacy is Making A Difference

3 Calendar 4

College News

4

Student News

18

Alumni Profile Chris Campbell: The National Guard is ALMOST as hard a being a pharmacist

19

Alumni Profile Nicole Avant: How her personal mission statement pushed her to join SNPhA

20

Alumni News

Chris Gummert Associate Director of Donor Relations Deb Fox, M.Ed. Director of Engagement and Participation Proofreaders Nate Downing Deb Fox Ramona Gupta Glen Schumock Ben Stickan Contributing Editors Michael Dhar Chris Gummert Daniel P. Smith Photography Barry Donald Designed by Studio V Design, Inc +++ The Pharmacist 833 S. Wood St. (MC 874) Chicago, IL 60612 Phone: (312) 996-7240 E-mail: pharmacy@uic.edu ©2018. All rights reserved.

| The Pharmacist | 1

FROM THE DEAN

How UIC Pharmacy is Making a Difference

BY DR. GLEN T. SCHUMOCK

Founded in 1859, one of the defining qualities of the College of Pharmacy is its rich history.

The high ranking of the College – 6th in the nation – is another fact about which the faculty and staff, students, and alumni are very proud.

But history and ranking are only part of the story. Perhaps a more important measure is the value that the College brings to society. The difference that we make.

There are many ways to define the value of the College of Pharmacy, but a starting point is what we say we do. We educate and train the next generation of pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, and pharmacy leaders. We conduct research to discover new treatments and ways to improve health. And we provide care, serve, and lead in our local, national, and global communities.

This issue of UIC Pharmacist provides examples of how the UIC College of Pharmacy is making a difference.

Our lead article describes how UIC faculty are making a difference in combating one of the greatest health crises of our time, the opioid crisis.

In the article “Elevate,” you will read about the new curriculum that we launched in Fall 2016, with the first cohort graduating in Spring 2020. The changes to the curriculum serve to enhance an already highly successful PharmD program by updating pre-pharmacy coursework, focusing on new competencies and outcomes, and adding new courses. Additionally, the new curriculum

Online pharmacy.uic.edu go.uic.edu/PharmFBChicago go.uic.edu/PharmFBRockford go.uic.edu/PharmTwitter go.uic.edu/PharmLinkedIn go.uic.edu/PharmInstagram go.uic.edu/PharmYouTube

2 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

facilitates the use of new approaches to teaching.

Those approaches are best exemplified by the work of Dr. Samantha Spencer, who earned the College’s Frederick P. Siegel Innovative Teaching Award earlier this year for her innovative instructional efforts.

However, we don’t educate only pharmacists; we are also one of the largest producers of pharmaceutical scientists by way of our well-respected Masters and PhD programs. The article “Windows into Industry” describes ways the College is making a difference by creating opportunities for hands-on job experience in the pharmaceutical industry for our graduate students.

The Pharmacology Industry Internships for PhD Students (PIIPS) is one way that we do this. PIIPS places our PhD students in summer internships at partner pharmaceutical companies. Besides PIIPS, our longstanding programs in health economics and outcomes research, conducted with both Takeda and Abbvie, have also been stepping stones to industry careers.

I hope these articles highlight how the College of Pharmacy is making a difference. First-class curriculum and classroom experiences. Hands-on and practical, career-focused training opportunities. Real-world research and practice-based solutions. We are not just about our history and ranking—we are about making a difference and bringing value today.

We are the UIC College of Pharmacy. 

Our Digital Edition issuu.com/uicpharmacy

The Pharmacist would like to hear from you and welcomes your letters: UIC Pharmacist (MC 874) 833 South Wood Street, Room 184KM Chicago, Illinois 60612-7230 E-mail: pharmacy@uic.edu

Letters are edited for length and clarity. All reader correspondence to the magazine and its editorial staff will be treated as assigned for publication unless otherwise specified.

U ED

CATIO N

SEP

13-15 SEP

Provide unparalleled pharmacy education and training SEARCH RE

Lead the nation in pharmaceutical research that impacts health I

NN

27-30 OCT

20

NOV

03

OVATION

NOV DERSHI EA

P

L

Be the epicenter of innovative pharmacy services

ABORAT LL I

ON

CO

Advance the profession through leadership and advocacy

06

NOV

09

ICHP ANNUAL MEETING

Drury Lane, Oak Brook, Illinois

IPHA ANNUAL CONVENTION

Lombard, Illinois

ACCP ALUMNI RECEPTION

Seattle, Washington

TARGETING CANCER

7th Annual Update in Oncology Pharmacy, a continuing education course, will be held at the UIC College of Pharmacy Chicago Campus. Contact Jill Wilson for further details: jrmiller@uic.edu.

AAPS ALUMNI RECEPTION

Washington, DC

ALUMNI REUNION

The Annual Alumni Reunion will be held at Carlisle Banquets in Lombard, Illinois. Dean Glen Schumock invites you to join us for a terrific evening with classmates and friends. This year we are proud to celebrate the classes of: 1948, 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013. Reconnect, reminisce, and share memories with classmates, faculty, and students and enjoy one another’s company.

DEC

Foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, and inclusiveness

CALENDAR

FIVE-POINT VISION

02-06

ASHP MIDYEAR MEETING

Anaheim, California

Got News?

Change jobs? Get a promotion? Publish a paper?

Publish a book? Get married? Have a baby? We want to hear about it all! Now you can send your news directly to the magazine editor.

Simply go to: go.uic.edu/PharmNews We’ll do our best to fit it into our publications and/or social media! If you don’t see it in The Pharmacist please go to go.uic.edu/PharmNews.

| The Pharmacist | 3

COLLEGE NEWS

LAOS

THAILAND VIETNAM CAMBOLIA

US-Thai Consortium on Pharmacy Education UIC Pharmacy faculty attended the 2018 US-Thai Consortium for Pharmacy Education meeting in Lexington, Kentucky, hosted by the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. UIC’s Dr. Alan Lau is on the steering committee for the organization that was founded in 1994 to support the long-term advancement of pharmacy education in Thailand.

The UIC College of Pharmacy was one of the original signers of the agreement that created the consortium that now boasts 18 Thai schools and 16 U.S. schools.

 Babies  Clinical Faculty member Dr. Leena Deshpande and husband, Nik Vajaria, welcomed daughter Sienna Vajaria on June 10 at 2:15 p.m. Sienna joins big sister Sophia (2).

Clinical Faculty Dr. Kyle Mork and Amanda Eades welcomed daughter Evelyn Lenore on July 13, 2018.

(NO PHOTO)

STUDENT NEWS

MALAYSIA

Raising Awareness The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) hosted the fourth annual session of the APhA Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependencies. Eighteen students from the UIC College of Pharmacy APhA student group, APhA-ASP UIC, were on hand at the event hosted by the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

UIC students attended sessions like “Introduction to Addictive Disorders: Implications for Health Professionals,” “Using Brief Interventions in a Busy Pharmacy Setting,” and “Naloxone: Understanding Its Role and Expanding Access in Community Pharmacies.” They learned about the pathophysiology of substance use disorders (SUDs) and how pharmacists can treat patients with these disorders.

4 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

Students also had the opportunity to understand SUDs beyond the science by participating in AlcoholicsAnonymous, Al-Anon, and Narcotics Anonymous meetings where pharmacists and students in recovery shared their powerful stories.

The UIC students returned with a newfound passion to educate peers and communities about SUDs to raise awareness and to help remove the stigma associated with them. 

Give a Gift that Pays You Back!

The charitable gift annuity (CGA) is a safe and simple way for you to increase lifetime income for you or someone you name while supporting the UIC College of Pharmacy and reducing your taxes.

A significant part of the income may also be tax-free!

BOB DICKMAN, BS ’51

Alumnus, pharmacist, poet, and CGA donor, on the profession of pharmacy.

SAMPLE GIFT ANNUITY RATES BY AGE Single Life

“…and there isn’t any service I can give, which I should scorn, for it may just be the reason that God allowed me to be born.”

Two Lives

70

5.6%

70/70

5.0%

75

6.2%

75/75

5.5%

80

7.3%

80/80

6.2%

85

8.3%

85/85

7.3%

The University of Illinois Foundation issues all CGAs benefiting UIC, does not issue CGAs in all states, and follows the rates recommended by the American Council on Gift Annuities. The rates above are active for August, 2018, and may change. The minimum age to start receiving payments is 60 and minimum gift amount is $10,000 in cash or securities. No commissions or fees are paid.

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

To learn more about how a CGA can benefit you, please contact our Gift Planning Director Jason James Shuba, JD, at 312.413.3394 or shuba@uic.edu for a free customized illustration at no obligation.

| The Pharmacist | 5

TAKING ON

BY MICHAEL DHAR

UIC Pharmacy Fights to Slow the Epidemic As the opioid epidemic grips communities across the nation, pharmacists have a big role to play in finding a solution. And professionals at UIC Pharmacy have stepped up to help.

UIC safety experts, researchers, and educators are addressing the problem.

A nationwide epidemic touches Illinois Since 1999, the U.S. has seen 165,000 deaths from opioid overdose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. In the Midwest, these overdoses increased 70 percent from July 2016 to September 2017.

The sources of this problem “go back a long way,” said UI Health Medication Safety and Quality Coordinator Dr. Adam Bursua.

In the past, guidelines and pharmaceutical companies wrongly assured providers that patients with legitimate pain weren’t at high risk for opioid addiction.

6 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

Even today, with updated guidelines, many healthcare professionals have the wrong information, said Rockford Campus Vice Dean Dr. Kevin Rynn. At UIC, addressing those past errors is an important part of the solution, he said.

“There was misinformation that a lot of providers to this day still have,” Rynn said.

“And without these types of programs, those misperceptions are still out there.”

A “nudge” in the clinic Working with the UIC Hospital’s Zero Harm Initiative, Bursua has endeavored to “nudge” providers toward safer opioid prescribing. The approach, he said, draws on the Nobel-winning “Nudge Theory” of behavioral economics.

That idea suggests that “if you nudge people towards the desired behavior, they’re likely to adopt it,” Bursua said. The group’s accomplished that by, for example, changing the hospital’s default prescription options for the opioid Norco to a lower dose. This move reduced prescriptions of the hospital’s most commonly prescribed opioid by about 20,000 tablets every month, Bursua said. And the change happened within a month, he said.

L

P

DERSHI EA

Dr. Adam Bursua UI Health Medication Safety and Quality Coordinator |

|| |The ThePharmacist Pharmacist|| 7

“If the defaults are the safest choices, they’re more likely to make those choices,” he said. “One of our mantras is to make the safest thing to do the easiest thing to do.”

Important takeaways from the CDC guidelines include considering non-opioid medications, assigning lower doses, and using the PMP system.

The group has also reviewed cases of administration of naloxone, used to treat opioid overdoses. They found, for example, a link between morphine overdoses and patients with kidney dysfunction, leading to an alert for prescribers who care for such patients.

In a twist on traditional detailing, Lee and Pickard imparted their own detailing training to UIC student pharmacists, instead of using physicians or nurses, thus increasing team size. The project’s 10 detailers are graduate students Chris Saffore and Mary Smart; Riback Fellows Sarette Tilton and Aleksandrina Ruseva; and pharmacy students Victoria Kulbokas, Esther Lee, Shannon Menard, Ammarah Nadeem, Dayna Redini, and Nevena Varagic. Ph.D. student Andréa Monteiro also works on the project.

In the future, the group wants to integrate information from the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) with the hospital’s computerized medical records. The PMP keeps tabs on prescriptions made across the state, so providers can see if a patient is getting opioids from another prescriber.

All those approaches, Bursua said, require hospital professionals to work together. “At UI Health, it’s very important that we work as a team … to identify these solutions.”

Educating prescribers face to face About 200 Chicagoland doctors have gotten some personal attention from specially trained UIC student pharmacists. Dr. Todd Lee and Dr. Simon Pickard, professors of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy, launched a project in May sending “academic detailers” to discuss opioid prescribing with primary care providers.

“Our goal is not to eliminate opioid prescribing. It’s to encourage appropriate prescribing,” Pickard said of the project. “That’s why the College of Pharmacy is a really important place to do this, because that’s what we specialize in: the appropriate prescribing for pain or any other condition.”

In these 15-minute visits within the AMITA healthcare network, detailers share two key points: the latest CDC prescribing guidelines and a history of the individual doctor’s opioid-prescribing habits, along with comparisons to all prescribers in AMITA and Cook County.

“Ideally, they react to this information,” Lee said. “If they see they’re on the high end, they modify their behavior.”

8 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

In each visit, detailers tailor their approach to the particular prescriber. They’ll spend more time on the PMP, for example, if the doctor doesn’t know much about that system, Lee said.

“It’s really about building a relationship and understanding the needs of the primary care provider,” Lee said.

Ultimately, the researchers hope their project demonstrates improvements in prescribing behavior— prescribing fewer opioids, checking the PMP more frequently, and using lower doses. With a successful pilot, Lee and Pickard will look to expand the project. A followup is already in the works for southern Illinois this fall.

“Ideally, if this works, we can roll it out on a larger scale and … make this an ongoing project where we focus on all primary care providers throughout the state,” Lee said.

A summit in Rockford Fighting the opioid epidemic means healthcare professionals need to communicate. That’s one lesson from a summit on opioid safety at UIC’s Rockford campus, said Rynn.

Rynn and Clinical Associate Professor Dr. Mary Moody worked with the College of Medicine and an outside physical therapy group to put together the April halfday summit. They also sought input from a taskforce of healthcare workers to determine how best to serve the community.

“ It’s important for physicians to be cognizant of the risks of opioids and appropriately prescribe them, more judiciously.”

MARY MOODY

Clinical Associate Professor

“The purpose of the group was to try to figure out what we can do as a community in Rockford to reduce inappropriate prescribing” of opioids, Moody said.

The answers included identifying patients who need opioids reduced, keeping people from starting opioids when they don’t need them, and offering continued education, like the summit.

At the summit itself, discussions kept returning to the importance of communication, Rynn said. Pharmacists can play a big role in this by, for example, communicating drug-seeking behavior to patients’ providers, he said.

Pharmacists who attend summits like this can also serve as educators back home, Moody said.

“As pharmacists become more knowledgeable about appropriate pain management … they can get more comfortable calling prescribers and being a source of education in their community pharmacy,” she said.

UIC Pharmacy Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Laura Meyer-Junco addressed just that topic at the summit, sharing tools for pharmacists to better understand appropriate dosing and pharmacology for opioids.

Another presenter shared his experiences with opioid addiction and treatment and talked about ways people may attempt to get more opioids. A practitioner spoke about how to deal with those tactics, such as by using the PMP and performing random drug screening.

Emphasizing the need for communities to work together on opioids, the summit also featured Dr. Sandra Martell, public health administrator for the Winnebago County Health Department, and Rockford Mayor Thomas McNamara.

The working committee will continue meeting regularly, with future educational initiatives planned, including utilizing student pharmacists to bring educational materials with the latest CDC opioid guidelines to clinics.

The group also plans future summits.

“I hope that through education, we can make a dent in the opioid statistics in our county,” Rynn said. “We want to be part of the solution.” 

Dr. Simon Pickard Professor of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy | The Pharmacist | 9

BY DANIEL P. SMITH

College of Pharmacy’s revised PharmD curriculum raises the bar

10 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

U ED

CATIO N

FRESH COURSES + EXPERIENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES + INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS

|

|| The Pharmacist | 11

“ The entire goal was to make students even more practice ready.”

DR. MARIEKE SCHOEN

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Developing a revised curriculum Spurred by changes to the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination, new standards from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and shifts to the Pharmacy College Admission Test blueprint, College leaders took their first steps toward a new curriculum in 2009.

Over a nearly seven-year development process, a committee headed by Associate Professor Dr. Robert DiDomenico and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Marieke Schoen gathered feedback from students, faculty, and preceptors; hosted discussion at faculty retreats, College Advisory Board meetings, and an ACPE site visit; and assessed the College’s existing curriculum to identify unintended redundancies and gaps in content as well as opportunities to improve teaching methods.

Launched in fall 2016, the revised curriculum included updates to required pre-pharmacy coursework, new competencies and outcomes, and 35 new courses. PDAT 10, a new course in the Pathophysiology, Drug Action, and Therapeutics series, for instance, challenges students to manage disease states in complex patients. Other new course additions covered topics such as patient safety; professional development; and clinical pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacogenomics.

While still requiring students to complete 133 hours of coursework, the new curriculum also increased the number of advanced pharmacy practice experiences in the fourth professional year from six to seven.

With an eye on deepening engagement for PharmD students at both the Chicago and Rockford campuses, the UIC College of Pharmacy’s revised curriculum blends a more comprehensive emphasis on experiential education alongside earlier access to pharmacy content.

According to College leaders, the now two-year-old curriculum, which updated a curriculum installed nearly two decades prior, reflects considerable shifts in the healthcare and academic landscape and provides students even greater access to career and postgraduate opportunities.

“With access to thought-leading faculty and high-quality instruction, as well as exposure to research, the latest technology, and real-world practice areas, we’re providing our students the experiences they need to be successful professionals in the contemporary healthcare world,” Dean Glen Schumock says.

12 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

“We had a successful curriculum in place, but also saw various changes in pharmacy practice and patient care,” Schoen says. “We needed to focus more on the soft skills and inter-professional education, to update content, and to emphasize certain areas like patient safety and immunology more.”

And there was a particular push, sparked specifically by student and alumni feedback, to provide pharmacyspecific content and experiential education earlier in students’ academic careers.

“We’re now providing students a full extra year of pharmacy content that is much more applicable to their professional goals while also placing experiential educational across all four years so students can apply what they’re learning right away,” Schoen says.

Those particular changes, Schumock notes, allow students to better understand different areas of pharmacy practice and potential career possibilities.

“By getting students pharmacy-specific content and experiential experiences earlier, they’re able to pursue career opportunities more intentionally and tailor their coursework and extracurriculars accordingly,” he says.

The curriculum reflects considerable shifts in the healthcare and academic

LANDSCAPE | The Pharmacist | 13

“The resounding thing we’ve heard from students is that they feel more engaged in the classroom and are enjoying the teamwork aspect.”

DR. SAMANTHA SPENCER

Clinical assistant professor

“ It is the teachers of the curriculum and the learning environment we create that make UIC so distinctive, and our revised curriculum only reinforces our strength as one of the nation’s top pharmacy schools while elevating the entire student experience to a better place.”

GLEN T. SCHUMOCK

Professor and Dean

Evolving instruction alongside content

FALL 2018

“The resounding thing we’ve heard from students is that they feel more engaged in the classroom and are enjoying the teamwork aspect,” says Spencer, who earned the College’s Frederick P. Siegel Innovative Teaching Award earlier this year for her ambitious instructional efforts.

The revised curriculum, however, did more than map out a PharmD student’s four-year academic journey. It also empowered faculty to pursue fresh courses and instructional methods, particularly those driven by the latest research in learning theory.

The College also instituted some modular courses, essentially stacking a 10-week, two-credit course on top of a one-credit course covering a semester’s opening five weeks. These modular courses provide students intensive focus on a specific topic while reducing a sometimes overwhelming course burden.

“We were leaders in active learning strategy, but we wanted to do more to keep students engaged beyond the traditional lecture format,” Schoen says.

“We had some semesters with six or seven courses and that was too many,” Schoen says.

Over the last two years, in fact, faculty members have introduced new course formats designed around technology, student participation, and direct application of knowledge.

By pairing expert faculty and the latest research alongside a more dynamic classroom experience and compelling experiential opportunities, Schumock says UIC’s PharmD students are well positioned to thrive in today’s healthcare marketplace. 

Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Samantha Spencer, for example, has incorporated team-based and group activities alongside independent, self-paced learning in

14 | pharmacy.uic.edu

her courses on drug information and evidence-based medicine. Specifically, Spencer worked with UIC’s TALK (Teach, Assess, Learn & Know) Center to develop short videos students watch prior to class. When students then assemble in the classroom, they work in teams to practice the technical knowledge and communication skills so critical to success in healthcare’s team-based environments.

CO

ON

ABORAT LL I

BY DANIEL P. SMITH

INTO INDUSTRY As College of Pharmacy students contemplate careers in industry, the College responds with an assortment of opportunities that help students experience the dynamic field.

DR. JOANNA BURDETTE

CHRIS SAFFORE

PIIPS director | | The Pharmacist | 15

“I loved working with people of different academic and professional backgrounds, and that cemented my interest in industry.”

DR. CHRIS SAFFORE

Currently pursuing his PhD in pharmacoepidemiology with long-term hopes of working in industry.

While pursuing her PhD at the UIC College of Pharmacy, Dr. Emily Pierce, PhD ’18, felt the tug of a career in industry.

Yet Pierce confesses she didn’t know what jobs were even available, let alone how her skills might translate to the corporate environment.

“I knew the academic atmosphere, but not much beyond that,” Pierce says.

In early 2017, however, Pierce learned of a new program at UIC called the Pharmacology Industry Internships for PhD Students—PIIPS, for short. Supported by an institutional award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the competitive program offered summer internships in industry to PhD students.

Selected as one of UIC’s three inaugural PIIPS recipients, Pierce spent the summer of 2017 working with antibodydrug conjugates in the Bioanalysis and Biotransformation group at AbbVie. “That experience allowed me to see the day-to-day interaction that goes on in industry and to understand how my skills applied to that world,” says Pierce, who now works at Acceleron Pharma in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Attracted to industry Lured by diverse project opportunities and closer ties to the marketplace, students across the UIC College of Pharmacy remain intrigued by the prospects of working in industry. In fact, more than one-third of the College’s PhD students pursue careers in industry upon graduation.

16 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

Recognizing this, College leadership has increasingly leveraged existing partnerships, faculty connections, and the College’s national standing to provide students exposure to industry and its dynamic environment.

Today, through internships, fellowships, and clinical experiences, students are interacting with pharmaceutical heavyweights such as AbbVie, Takeda, and Genentech as well as upstart agencies like Sirenas, a marine natural product drug discovery company based in San Diego. Through these opportunities, students are building professional relationships, applying their training, and gaining new skills while learning about the corporate environment.

“From working on regulatory affairs and drug discovery to running experiments, our students are getting a valuable firsthand look at industry,” says Professor and Associate Dean for Research Dr. Joanna Burdette, who also serves as PIIPS director.

Over the two most recent summers, six of the College’s PhD students have completed PIIPS internships. From conducting experiments at the bench to penning reports and meeting ambitious deadlines, PIIPS has afforded students like Pierce a test run within industry alongside an opportunity to enhance the technical as well as soft skills necessary to thrive in industry’s fast-churning environment.

“Through PIIPS, students have a unique opportunity to see if the industry environment is a fit for them and if they’re a fit for it,” says Dr. Lindsey McQuade, the College’s director of research and graduate resources.

Beyond PIIPS

A winning proposition

PIIPS, however, is far from alone in providing the College’s students a window into industry.

Yet, students are not the only ones benefiting from these industry opportunities. Such arrangements allow the College to deepen its ties with important industry partners, many of whom welcome the chance to work with an institution known for producing talented personnel and novel research.

As a PharmD student, Dr. Jennifer Samp, PharmD ’11, Masters ’12, PhD ’17, completed an internship with Takeda before later landing, through the College, a two-year fellowship with the global pharmaceutical giant. The fellowship enabled Samp to take classes toward her Master’s degree while she also tackled pharmacoeconomics projects at Takeda’s headquarters in suburban Deerfield.

“The opportunities UIC introduced me to in industry and the feeling I could have a bigger impact in that environment only confirmed that’s where I wanted to be,” says Samp, who is now in her fifth year with AbbVie’s Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) team.

Like Samp, Dr. Chris Saffore, PharmD ’16, also enjoyed a two-year fellowship with Takeda. Working in the company’s HEOR group, he collaborated with teams across the enterprise—marketing, medical, brand, and others—to develop value and evidence-generation strategies for Takeda products.

Each fall, meanwhile, Burdette and McQuade host a roundtable program in which recent interns share their industry experiences with current students, specifically discussing industry’s benefits, drawbacks, and opportunities.

“This is a forum for students to learn firsthand from their peers about experiences in industry and get that unique perspective,” Burdette says.

When Sirenas learned of the PIIPS program, the company was eager to work with UIC given its pioneering work in natural products. Over the last two summers, the company has hosted two lab-savvy interns with backgrounds in natural products discovery, Dr. Peter Sullivan PhD ’18 and current PhD candidate Brian Guo.

“Both of these individuals came in, hit the ground running, and brought valuable perspective to our company.”

DR. OLIVER VINING

Sirenas discovery scientist

For Burdette, that’s the ultimate winning proposition as all parties benefit – the College, its industry partners and, most importantly, the students UIC serves.

“We want students to feel they received a quality education and that we exposed them to experiences that trained them to be successful in whatever compelling career path they chose,” Burdette says. 

| The Pharmacist | 17

ALUMNI PROFILE DR

. CH

Dr. Chris Campbell Takes a Unique Pathway to Pharmacy R

MPBELL I S CA

Most pharmacy students remember brutal exams in biochemistry, pharmacology, and the like. Not as many can recall attempting to study while securing Red Cross relief sites during Hurricane Katrina.

Dr. Chris Campbell, PharmD ’11, overcame both types of challenges and more, completing undergraduate studies and a doctorate of pharmacy at UIC while serving in the National Guard.

The hurricane also left Campbell with an inspiring vision of the human spirit.

In New Orleans, he saw people who had lost everything face their difficulties with optimism.

This mix of military service and medical training gave Campbell a unique perspective on his career, he said.

“ It showed me just how much people are able to take, and I think I actually learned a lot from the people of New Orleans,” he said. “I don’t think I’d ever seen anybody that hopeful in that type of a situation.”

“It definitely set me on a nontraditional pathway,” he said. Campbell added that he can reflect back on and apply his nontraditional background to everyday problems in the medical field today.

’11

Military service also presented its fair share of obstacles as Campbell pursued his pharmacy education. He had to leave UIC for two years of active-duty service in the U.S. Army at Fort Carson, Colorado, where he was reclassified as a military police officer in support of Operation Noble Eagle. Shortly after returning from active duty, in the middle of the semester at UIC, Campbell got called away again, this time to assist after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Serving as military police in New Orleans, Campbell even saw floodwaters destroy the school books he’d brought along to study.

“At that point, I just threw my hands up in the air [about finishing school]—like, I just quit,” he said. Despite these challenges, however, Campbell made it through his classes, largely because UIC professors were understanding about his situation, he said.

18 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

DR. CHRIS CAMPBELL

Today, after completing two postgraduate residencies, Campbell works with people facing a different type of harrowing situation. He counsels cancer patients in early stage clinical trials at Northwestern Medicine. Campbell said he gravitated to oncology because he is passionate about speaking to patients facing critical situations and giving them information that really matters to them.

“It’s an art counseling them, because they’re scared. They’re anxious,” he said.

“It gives me a little bit of job satisfaction knowing that I can give them hope.” 

ALUMNI PROFILE

Dr. Avant Brings Uplifting Mission from UIC SNPhA to Cincinnati As a teenager, she made a plan. University of Cincinnati (UC) Assistant Professor Dr. Nicole Avant wanted to mitigate inequalities she saw growing up in Chicago’s North Lawndale and Austin communities.

“I created a personal mission statement when I was about 18,” said Avant, PharmD ’12, who teaches in Cincinnati’s Division of Experience-Based Learning and Career Education. “It was to increase the upward mobility of others through academics, health, and economics.”

The health piece brought Avant to UIC Pharmacy and a leadership role with SNPhA, the Student National Pharmaceutical Association. That group’s mission—working “toward the improvement of the health, educational, and social environment of minority communities”—fit Avant perfectly.

“ It was a no-brainer … that I would align myself with SNPhA, because their mission statement was aligned with my own.”

DR. NICOLE AVANT

Avant made a mark in SNPhA as UIC chapter head, tripling membership and increasing the chapter’s activity significantly. They did more health fairs, blood-pressure screenings, and similar events. And Avant’s enthusiasm for SNPhA kept chapter members working hard, she said.

“I was very passionate about the organization,” she said. “And I’m told that my passion is what motivated them, too.”

D

NI R.

CO L

E AVAN

T

That dedication to SNPhA also helped Avant develop leadership skills and make invaluable connections that shaped her career, she said. This happened both locally and when Avant earned a national position with SNPhA as financial secretary.

“All of this just deepens your network,” she said. “You get to know people on the chapter level. … And at a national level, I knew a lot of student pharmacists as well as some of the academic and community pharmacists that would attend the national meetings.”

Today, Avant’s advocacy, leadership, and network benefit the Cincinnati community, where she instills lessons on racial/ethnic disparities and inclusive leadership in her undergrad courses. She also researches and publishes on microaggressions, implicit bias, and related topics in pharmacy, and serves in UC’s Black Faculty Association and LGBTQ center.

’12

Outside of UC, Avant leads workshops, trainings, and coaching on inclusion at medical centers, pharmacy schools, and other health-related organizations.

And she now serves SNPhA’s parent organization, NPhA, as treasurer.

“Everything I’ve done has always been to uplift, to center, to amplify marginalized voices,” she said. “As healthcare leaders, I want to make sure that we all understand how the implicit bias, social determinants of health, and social determinants of equity significantly impact someone’s health.” 

| The Pharmacist | 19

ALUMNI NEWS

MAY

26

 Kudos

Fadowole Steve Olayinka and Cassandra Clermont, PharmD ’18, got engaged on June 10.

Shally Alendry Voit, PharmD ’14, started a new position as Safety Data Scientist at AbbVie.

Numera Quraishi, PharmD ’16, married Khuram Ali on July 15, 2018. The happy couple will be honeymooning in London, Paris, Venice, and Rome.

Kyle Gordon, PharmD ’14, was recognized as Preceptor of the Year for the PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program 2017-2018 at the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah.

Natalia Gut, PharmD ’15, started a new position as Hematology/Oncology Clinical Pharmacist at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute.

Cassandra Clement, PharmD ’12, married McKenney Davis on May 26, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. The couple took a seven-day cruise to Haiti, Jamaica, and Mexico for their honeymoon.

Edward Stoia, PharmD ’18, was married on June 17, 2018.

Cassandra Clement and McKenney Davis

Bernard Hsu, PharmD ’15, is now the Associate Director at Novartis Oncology.

Mike Kenes, PharmD ’13, was awarded Preceptor of the Year by the 2017-2018 pharmacy residents at Wake Forest Baptist Health.

Samantha Kush, PharmD ’16, is now a kidney, pancreas, and liver transplant pharmacist at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Derek Liu, PharmD ’15, is now a Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist.

Shree Patel, PharmD ’11, started a new position as Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at UIC Department of Surgery.

Garrett Rompelman, PharmD ’14, is now a Medication Use Safety Resident at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Brittany (Allen) Tefft, PharmD ’10, started a new position as Pharmacist at Froedtert Hospital.

Megan Wagner, PharmD ’05, was promoted to Director of Pharmacy Sales Support at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

 Babies  Brittany (Allen) Tefft, PharmD ’10, and her husband Brandon welcomed their second child, daughter Vanessa James, on February 6.

Vanessa joins big sister Mariah, age 3.

Nick Burge, PharmD ’11, and wife Bethany welcomed twin daughters, Evelyn and Blair, on May 7. (NO PHOTO) Avery Spunt, BS ’70, and wife Jan welcomed their third grandchild, Riley Louis, on July 5. Riley is the son of Kate and Ryan Franck. Riley joins big brother Keegan, age 2, and cousin Mia, age 11.

(NO PHOTO)

20 | pharmacy.uic.edu

FALL 2018

Pratik Shah, PharmD ’14, and wife Caitlin welcomed their first child, daughter Shreya Jane, on June 6.

Nanette (Gamazon) Masangcay, PharmD ’10, and husband Jeff welcomed their second child Iverson Rockwell on June 25 at 4:55 p.m. He weighed in at 7 lbs., 15 oz. and measured 20.5” long. Iverson joins big brother Lincoln, age 2.

(NO PHOTO)

Seema Patel, PharmD ’12, and husband Meet welcomed their second child. Son Kallan Patel was born May 5. Kallan joins big sister Anika, age two. (NO PHOTO)

Kyle Gordon and Maria Tangonan, PharmD ’14, welcomed their first child, Sean Patrick Gordon, on April 17 at 12:47 p.m.

Sean weighed in at 5lbs.

6oz. and 19.5” long.

Joe Zorek, PharmD ’11, and his wife Liz welcomed their third child. Son Joseph Anthony Zorek was born June 30, weighing 7 lbs., 15 oz. and measuring 21” long.

He joins big sisters Anna, age 9, and Marie, age 7.

(NO PHOTO)



Join Barbara and fellow alumni who are advancing the UIC College of Pharmacy “ I give back to the college — both of my time and financial support — to ensure that the students who follow in my footsteps have the same wonderful opportunities that I had. I received a life-changing education. An education that has come to mean more to me since I graduated. An education that prepared me for a residency and subsequently a career that is both impactful and rewarding.”

BARBARA YIM, PHARMD ’97, BCOP

Clinical Pharmacist Hematology/Oncology John Stroger Hospital of Cook County

It only takes a minute to make the gift that lasts a lifetime. giving.pharmacy.uic.edu

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

| The Pharmacist | 21

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY UIC College of Pharmacy (MC 874) 833 South Wood Street Chicago, Illinois 60612

UIC COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

RANKED #6

ACCORDING TO