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The UIC-Rutgers Connection
BY DANIEL P. SMITH
Though located some 800 miles apart, the UIC College of Pharmacy and the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, share many similarities.
Both pharmacy schools sport high national rankings, robust post-graduate programs and active research and clinical faculties, realities that attract top students year after year. Among the oldest and largest pharmacy schools in the U.S., both UIC and Rutgers claim extensive alumni networks and graduates involved across the pharmaceutical ecosystem. Both state universities are also located in major metropolitan areas with direct access to industry giants such as AbbVie, Astellas, Pfizer and Merck among others for partnerships, training opportunities and more.
Dig beyond the basic factoids, however, and deeper, stronger ties between the two institutions begin to blossom, including a long and storied history of students, alumni, residents and fellows moving between the two schools to enhance their skill sets and fuel their professional futures.
Take Dr. Joe Barone, RES ’82.
Dr. Joe Barone
Barone was the first resident in emergency medicine at UIC, where one of his preceptors was Dr. Jerry Bauman, the dean of UIC’s College of Pharmacy from 2007- 2017. When Barone completed his residency at UIC in 1982, Bauman encouraged him to pursue a tenuretrack position in emergency medicine at Rutgers.
An instrumental figure at Rutgers over the last 37 years, and the school’s dean since 2013, Barone spearheaded the launch of an emergency medicine program as well as a clinical program at Rutgers, both of which he modeled heavily after UIC. The interdisciplinary nature of Rutgers’ clinical program, for instance, mimics Barone’s valuable experience as a UIC resident.
“There were little nuggets and behaviors I picked up as a resident and connections I built at UIC that helped me form these programs and, quick frankly, do my job better,” Barone says.
Dr. Kevin Rynn, RES ’93, FEL ’94, Clinical Professor and Vice Dean, earned his pharmacy degree from Rutgers in 1990. Interested in emergency medicine training, Barone urged Rynn to consider UIC, where Rynn completed a two-year fellowship in emergency medicine and toxicology followed by a fi ve-year run as a clinical faculty member on the West Side. Rynn later joined the faculty at Rutgers before returning to UIC in 2017 to lead the College of Pharmacy’s Rockford campus.
“My early experiences at Rutgers and UIC helped me develop a large network of colleagues and mentors that opened doors that might not have otherwise existed,” Rynn says.
UIC College of Pharmacy
Over the years, others have similarly leveraged their experiences at both heralded institutions to tackle new professional opportunities, sharpen their clinical skills and improve patient care.
Following pharmacy school at UIC, Claire Dybala, PharmD ’99 enjoyed a one-year fellowship at Rutgers where she conducted market research for Ortho Biotech, a Johnson & Johnson company. Now leading Takeda’s Account Medical Lead Team, she calls her UIC-Rutgers experience “a one-two punch” that helped her develop creative solutions and make sound professional decisions. UIC-Rutgers experience “a one-two punch” that helped her develop creative solutions and make sound professional decisions.
“Both experiences expanded my knowledge of the industry so that I could see different perspectives – the science and the business aspects – when trying to solve a problem,” Dybala says. “Both experiences expanded my knowledge of the industry so that I could see different perspectives – the science and the business aspects – when trying to solve a problem,” Dybala says.
Like Dybala, Diane Javier, PharmD ’14 followed her UIC studies with a fellowship at Rutgers, a one-year run in regulatory affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Currently a senior specialty sales rep with Amgen, one of the world’s leading biotech enterprises, Javier credits the richness and depth of her experiences at UIC and Rutgers for enabling her to move from regulatory to medical to commercial over her early professional years. Like Dybala, Diane Javier, PharmD ’14 UIC studies with a fellowship at Rutgers, a one-year run in regulatory affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb.
“That’s not a journey I would’ve been able to navigate without these two institutions providing me the skills and fl exibility to succeed in an evolving industry,” without these two institutions providing me the skills and flexibility to succeed in an evolving industry,” she says. “Both schools supported my professional development in an unparalleled academic environment.”
After earning his PharmD from Rutgers in 2001, Dr. Philippe Mentler, RES ’02 ventured to UIC for his PGY1 before returning to Rutgers for his PGY2 residency. While Rutgers provided a strong scientifi c foundation, UIC heightened Mentler’s clinical skills, complementary experiences that empowered him to later create emergency medicine programs in California and North Carolina before entering the clinical consulting ranks with Vizient, a group purchasing organization.
“Because of my education at Rutgers and UIC, people knocked on my door with opportunities,” Mentler says. “I’m not where I am without Rutgers and UIC.”
Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Renee Petzel Gimbar, PharmD ’04, RES ’05 followed her PGY1 residency at UIC with a PGY2 residency in emergency medicine at Rutgers under Rynn. At Rutgers, Gimbar found faculty willing to push her more because of her UIC background.
Gimbar now employs that vast skill set at UIC, where she serves as an emergency department clinical pharmacist. Her husband, Dr. Matt Gimbar, a 2007 Rutgers PharmD alumnus, joined her at UIC as well. The Associate Director of Hospital Pharmacy Operations at UIC, he, too, notes an important tie between the two institutions.
“There’s a mentality at both schools that good isn’t good enough, that you need to strive for success,” he says.
“The training at both UIC and Rutgers is impeccable, but beyond that there’s a drive, grit and street smarts prevalent at both institutions,” Barone says. “Those who experience training at both institutions come out that much more prepared to be successful in today’s complex, competitive healthcare environment and that’s something we should all be proud of.”
COMPLEMENTARY EDUCATION: How pharmacy education at UIC and Rutgers has powered professional lives
Though claiming distinct experiences, both Drs. Vin Kalathiveetil, PharmD ’05 and Jeffrey Mucksavage, RES ’01, FEL ’02 are quick to credit their studies at the UIC College of Pharmacy and Rutgers University’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy for propelling their professional lives.
Currently an independent strategy consultant working with several large pharmaceutical corporations and universities, Kalathiveetil says his UIC education exposed him to “the language of pharmacy,” foundational building blocks that proved advantageous when he marched into one-year, post-graduate fellowship at Rutgers working in market research and business analytics at Tibotec Therapeutics, a division of Johnson & Johnson.
“UIC provided the valuable technical knowledge, while Rutgers then expounded upon that knowledge, translating it within the corporate environment,” he says. “Those two experiences enabled me to step into different professional roles before spinning off and becoming an independent consultant.”
After earning his PharmD from Rutgers in 2000, where he studied under current UIC College of Pharmacy administrator Dr. Kevin Rynn, Mucksavage ventured to UIC for a PGY1 residency at Rynn’s encouragement – though Mucksavage recalls it didn’t take much convincing.
“When I saw what Kevin was doing, how hands on he was with pharmacy and the pharmacists, I was blown away by it and knew I wanted to gain those skills, too,” he says.
Mucksavage followed his PGY1 residency with a PGY2 year in critical care at UIC. Thereafter, he joined the UIC faculty, where he has remained and currently serves in the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit as a clinical pharmacist.
“Rutgers provided the theoretical knowledge and UIC gave me the clinical piece to round it all out,” Mucksavage says. “Having these two experiences put it all together for me, helping me improve patient care and preparing me to tackle any clinical problems I encounter.”
