College of Pharmacy News Summer 2022 | uri.edu/pharmacy/news
¥ DEAN'S NOTE They say that change is good. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about my 10-year experience as dean and the importance of healthy leadership transition. Since this coming academic year is our accreditation year, I plan to step down as dean and return to our faculty after the accreditation self-study is complete next summer. This is an appropriate moment, as we recently transitioned our associate Dean and two department chairs, and this timing allows a smooth handoff for the accreditation site visit and full implementation of our college strategic plan. Our provost will initiate a national search for the new dean this September. I am incredibly grateful for the tremendous support from our alumni and college friends. Your encouragement and service as educators, mentors, committee members, and on the college advisory board makes us a more effective and successful college. The sharing of your “time, talent, and treasure” is essential to the health of our superb academic programs and research initiatives. Your dedication to the college is reflected in exemplary students who enter a variety of critical careers in our profession, and it has enhanced the impact of our growing research enterprise. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! A transition of this nature allows us to look toward the future. The fast-paced evolution of our health-care system, and pharmacy in particular, necessitates that we be creative and nimble. Continued collaboration and mutual support from faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends are critical to the future reputation and success of our college. From my vantage point, we are well positioned for a bright future. All the best, Paul
¥ SPECIAL PROJECTS
College Publicly Introduces Pharmaceutical Development Institute
The University of Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Development Institute (PDI) held a weeklong open house in April, giving the campus community and the public a look at state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical education, development, manufacturing, and testing. The open house, to publicly introduce the PDI and begin its mission to enhance the biopharmaceutical training and production in Rhode Island and beyond, included hands-on tours of the Pharmaceutical Processing Suites and the Analytical and Stability Testing Laboratory; live demonstrations of established equipment in the process suites, including tablet- and capsule-making technologies; and access to some of the region’s foremost experts in pharmaceutical training and manufacturing. Located in the lower level of Avedisian Hall on the Kingston Campus, the PDI provides custom biopharmaceutical training for URI students and industry professionals already working in the field. Three processing suites in the PDI’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) lab provide space for pharmaceutical startup companies to work with PDI experts to develop and pilot new medication forms.
¥ ACADEMICS
Pharmacy Students Join Nursing, PT in Interdisciplinary Patient Training
URI students from the College of Pharmacy joined those from nursing and physical therapy in interdisciplinary teams working together on a variety of patient-focused health-care simulations during an interprofessional education collaboration at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University April 27. Students worked in teams to assess the condition of hypothetical patients—played by local actors—who are suffering from opioid use disorder resulting from pain medication prescribed after back surgery. Each team—consisting of a student physican, pharmacist, physical therapist, social worker, and two nurses from URI, Rhode Island College and Brown University—met with the patient for a physical exam and consultation. The team then worked together to develop a comprehensive treatment plan covering all disciplines that they then presented to the “patient.” “While the students are brought together to develop optimal patient care plans, the true objective of the educational activity is for these students to learn about, from, and with one another, in order to bring truly integrated patient care to their future practices,” said Pharmacy Clinical Professor Celia MacDonnell, who is the College’s director of interprofessional education and lead of the project.
¥ RESEARCH
Annual Showcase Highlights Pharmacy Student Research Projects
With subjects as varied as the effects of ibuprofen, the use of nanotechnology in solar energy, and a study of shrimp aquaculture, along with many more, dozens of URI College of Pharmacy students showed off their research projects during the annual Student Research Showcase in the lobby of Avedisian Hall April 28.
Award winners include: Doctor of Pharmacy
First place: Cassadra Compton, Nina Doyle, Emily Lamkin,Grace Mok, and Tiana Patriarca Second place: Olivia Hunt, Caitlin Nearing, Stephanie Robertson, Joel Seeram, and Braylee Wardwell Third place: Maya Dakessian, Anna Kang, Jacob Lawrence, Christina Miller, and Shohini Ray Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Science
First place: Katelyn Burke Second place: Margaret Hill Third place: Dakota Watjen, Sam TenBrook, James McDermott, and Nate DiLoreto
Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Science
First place: Andrea Gonsalves Second place: Gina M. Gallucci Third place: Juan Song To see photos of all winners, visit uri.edu/pharmacy/news
¥ STUDENTS
URI Pharmacy Student Recognized Nationally for Public Health Service
URI pharmacy student Michael Burkett is pictured with Capt. Bill Lehault and professor of pharmacy Jeffrey Bratberg.
URI College of Pharmacy student Michael Burkett has earned national recognition for his commitment to public health and community advocacy from the United States Public Health Service. Capt. Bill Lehault, himself a pharmacist from the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, presented Burkett with the Excellence in Public Health Pharmacy Award. Burkett has indeed taken an active role in public health, working with Professor Jeffrey Bratberg on a research project to take stock of pharmacists’ role in public health in Rhode Island. The pair brought together pharmacists in focus groups to talk to them about where they see the profession expanding in Rhode Island, and how to advocate for those advances. During the summer of 2020, the Pharm.D. candidate joined the Junior Commissioned Officer Student Training and Extern Program through the U.S. Public Health Service. Burkett was placed with the Food and Drug Administration for 12 weeks, serving as a public health service officer. The senior from the Saratoga Springs area of New York has also worked in community pharmacies throughout his time at URI, which helped inspire his passion for public service. “Community pharmacists are committed to public health every day, helping people find solutions to their medication problems and live better lives,” said Burkett, who will serve a residency at the Veterans Administration hospital in Boston upon graduation in May. “I think if you ask a lot of pharmacy students, the first reason they’re going to give you is that they want to help people. And I think for me that always tied in pretty closely to public health.”
¥ ALUMNI
College Inducts Second Hall of Fame Class
College of Pharmacy Dean Paul Larrat and URI President Marc Parlange join Hall of Fame inductees Lois Vars and Norma Owens, along with Richard Youngken, son of inductee Heber Youngken Jr. Not pictured is Christopher Rhodes, who was inducted posthumously.
The University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy inducted four luminaries of the pharmaceutical profession into the college’s Hall of Fame during a ceremony in May. Inductees include the inaugural dean of the college, Heber Youngken Jr.; former Associate Dean Norma Owens, who retired from the college in 2021; former Assistant Dean Lois Vars; and former pharmacy Professor Christopher Rhodes. They were inducted during a ceremony Friday, May 13, in the lobby of Avedisian Hall on the Kingston Campus. The four will join the first Hall of Fame Class, inducted in 2019, which includes Norman A. Campbell, Joan Lausier, Leonard Worthen, and Yuzuru Shimizu. The plaques honoring all inductees are displayed on the first floor of Avedisian Hall. “All of our inductees played an enormous role in the evolution of the URI College of Pharmacy, as well as in pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences as a whole,” said URI College of Pharmacy Dean Paul Larrat. “Their selfless commitment to the profession and to educating multiple generations of pharmaceutical scientists and practitioners has made a lasting impact on the entire health-care community. I can think of no greater group of pharmaceutical professionals to add to our illustrious Hall of Fame.”
College of Pharmacy 7 Greenhouse Road Kingston, R.I. 02881
6/2022 1400/PHR PHOTOS: NORA LEWIS; PATRICK LUCE
¥ STUDENTS/ALUMNI
College Ranked 7th Nationally in Residency Match Rate
92.1% n PGY1 Match Rate 58 matches—17 states
The URI College of Pharmacy has had a recordbreaking Pharmacy Match rate for 2022, ranking seventh in the nation among all pharmacy schools. Fifty-eight postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) students achieved residency placements in 17 states across the country, for a 92 percent match rate. Postgraduate year 2 (PGY2) residents achieved an even better rate, matching at a 95.5 percent rate. “Congratulations to all of our soon-to-be residents and to those who obtained fellowships,” said Pharmacy Dean Paul Larrat. “It is a credit to our hardworking faculty members and our dynamic students who continue to make impactful contributions to pharmaceutical science and health care far beyond our campus.”
95.5% n PGY2 Match Rate 20 matches—10 states
6 Fellowships
n Both PGY1 and PGY2 Match Rate