College of Pharmacy

News & Events

Students win diabetes outreach award

WSU pharmacy students won a Northwest regional award in March 2008 at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) meeting in San Diego for their diabetes outreach campaign this year.  It was the second consecutive year WSU won the Region 7 award in competition among APhA student chapters.

The 100 students who participated held 28 diabetes events during which they screened 794 patients and educated 894, not including another approximately 200,000 who watched them on television. The students referred 58 patients to a physician. Diabetes events were held on the Pullman and Spokane campuses as well as in pharmacies, senior centers and apartment complexes, schools and at public health fairs in both locations.

Two other students also returned from the APhA meeting with awards – one was a $2,000 grant for a business plan to start an anticoagulation clinic at the Community Health Association of Spokane, and another was the honor of placing in the top 10 finalists in the patient counseling competition against students from 100 other pharmacy schools.

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Gerald Briggs is Outstanding Alumnus

Longtime College supporter and accomplished alumnus Gerald Briggs ’68 was presented with the College of Pharmacy’s Outstanding Alumnus of the Year award at the annual Evening of Excellence on March 28,2008, where he also was recognized for 25 years of giving to the College.

Gerald is currently working as a clinical specialist for perinatal support services at Memorial Medical Center in Long Beach, Calif. He also is a clinical professor of pharmacy at the University of California-San Francisco, and the University of Southern California.

Gerald has authored or co-authored numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals and nine book chapters relating to drug therapy in pregnant or breastfeeding women and drug-induced developmental toxicity. He is senior author of the book, “Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation,” now in its 8th edition, and he is co-editor of a new book, “Drugs, Diseases, and Complications in Pregnancy – A Guidebook for Pharmacists,” that has 30 contributors and is scheduled for release next year.

Over the years Gerald has earned several awards for his work from employers, industry and professional associations, including the 1999 Clinical Practice Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.

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Robert Gibson gives White Lecture

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Dr. Robert D. Gibson, PharmD, ScD, professor emeritus of biopharmaceutical sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco, delivered the annual Allen I. White Lecture on April 8, 2008, at WSU Spokane.

Dr. Gibson has advocated diversity in the pharmacy professional through the recruitment of minority pharmacists. In addition to his educational career, he has been a hospital and community practitioner.

The lectureship was established on Feb. 12, 1979, by two College of Pharmacy professors as a tribute to Dean Allen I. White, who was retiring. White served on the pharmacy faculty for 39 years and was dean of the College of Pharmacy from 1960 to 1979. The purpose of the lecture is to discuss the scientific, social or political aspects of pharmacy or related matters.

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Dietitian joins Dean's Council

Holly Trujillo of Bonney Lake, Wash., is the newest member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and the first nutrition graduate to serve on the board. She attended her first meeting March 28, 2008.

Trujillo is the 2007-2008 president of the Washington State Dietetic Association and has a private practice as a dietitian. She is a 1998 WSU graduate. The nutrition program was merged into the College of Pharmacy in July 2007.

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ExMet students shine in trivia contest

WSU Exercise Metabolism undergraduate students took second place in a student competition at the American College of Sports Medicine regional meeting in Seattle.
The contest, titled “Exercise Physiology Jeopardy,” featured both undergraduate and graduate students competing against each other.
ExMet faculty members Sally Blank and E. Carolyn Johnson were on the organizing committee for the meeting, along with faculty from Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga University. The meeting was held February 29-March 2, 2008, and more than 300 professionals and students attended.  

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Pharmacy students attend boot camp

All students have their own ideas about extracurricular activity.
For a group of 21 pharmacy students, they chose to spend their last two-day weekend in March 2008 in a laboratory on the third floor of Wegner Hall, learning more about making medications – a practice in pharmacy known as compounding.

It was the second time in three years a WSU pharmacy student organization purchased a “Compounding Boot Camp” program from the Professional Compounding Centers of America in Texas. Donations from College alumni and money from the student organization paid one-half the $450 registration fee for each student, making their cost for the weekend boot camp $225 apiece.

The students learned to use capsule-making machines, make lollipops and prepare a gel that is used to help deliver topical medications into the bloodstream.

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Campbell named Diabetes Professor

A new endowed professorship for a diabetes educator in the College of Pharmacy at Washington State University will be held first by the professor for whom it is named.
Professor R. Keith Campbell has been appointed to the newly created “R. Keith Campbell Endowed Professorship in Diabetes Care,” effective Feb. 1.
Campbell had been “The J. Roberts and Marcia Fosberg Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy” since July 2004, and with the establishment of the new diabetes professorship, the Fosberg appointment will shift from Campbell to Margaret E. Black, associate professor of pharmacy, on Feb. 1. Read more.

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Nutrition Prof earns WSU's annual excellence in teaching award

Kathy A. Beerman, professor of nutrition in the College of Pharmacy, has received the 2007-08 Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Instruction.

Beerman, at WSU since 1988, teaches the basic human nutrition course for health majors and three courses in nutrition education and life-cycle nutrition.

For more information about Beerman, click here.

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Pharmacy adds Nutrition, Dietetics, Exercise programs

Seventeen faculty members in nutrition, dietetics, and exercise physiology and metabolism were realigned recently to be under the administration of the College of Pharmacy.

The realignment fits in with the university’s goal to encourage multidisciplinary work among various faculty in health sciences.
Read more.

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Pharmacy students take 2nd

in business plan competition

WSU pharmacy students proved once again they know what they’re doing when putting together a business plan.  The WSU team took second place in October 2007 at the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) annual business plan competition, held in Anaheim, Calif. 

It was the third time in four years a team of WSU pharmacy students advanced to the NCPA student business plan finals, and last year WSU took first place.

The advisor for all three of the past WSU teams, Linda Garrelts MacLean, was honored at the NCPA convention by being named the 2007 NCPA Faculty Liaison of the Year. She received a trophy and $1,000 in cash. Read more.

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Pharmacy prof authors cancer book

Cancer research focused on the study of proteins is the subject of a new book authored and edited by a Washington State University professor in pharmacy.
The 265-page book was released in December 2007 by Humana Press of New Jersey, a leading national publisher of books and journals for medical and scientific professionals.
Pharmacy Associate Professor Sayed S. Daoud, a 20-year veteran in cancer research, was asked by Humana Press to produce the book “Cancer Proteomics: From Bench to Bedside,” which will be part of the publisher’s book series titled “Cancer Drug Discovery and Development.” Read more.

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College Acquires High-Tech Mannequin

A high-tech mannequin has come to live at the WSU College of Pharmacy in Spokane!   The mannequin, which is used in the third year Physical Assessment course, is life-sized and can breathe, speak, take medications and be programmed to have a number of different diseases or conditions.

The College of Pharmacy bought the simulator in July from Laerdal® for an initial offering price of $35,000.  Students have already practiced with several simulations, including having Mr. Sim programmed with infectious diarrhea; the students had to develop a drug therapy plan to correct his condition.

The College is one of a handful of pharmacy schools in the country to begin using this Human Patient Simulation technology.  The technology is more common in medical and nursing schools, and it was a new faculty member at the WSU College of Nursing who brought the technology to WSU. 

The WSU Colleges of Pharmacy and Nursing are working with community health care providers in Spokane to raise money for a patient simulation training facility where health sciences students can learn and working professionals can upgrade skills needed for certification. See more pictures and a video.

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Quock Named Allen I. White Professor

Raymond M. Quock, chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was named the first Allen I. White Professor on Aug. 20, 2007, by College of Pharmacy Dean James P. Kehrer.

Former Dean Allen I. White spent 39 years at the College of Pharmacy, retiring in 1979 after 19 years as dean.  Read more.
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Ceremony Held for New Students

The College welcomed 94 new Pharm.D. students in a White Coat ceremony on the Pullman campus on Aug. 17, 2007.
Continuing the trend of recent years, 60 percent of the students in the class of 2011 are women. Read more.
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Class of 2007 Pharmacists Go To Work

About 55 percent of the WSU pharmacy students who graduated in May 2007 had plans to work in retail pharmacy after graduation.
That’s based on what the students told us shortly before graduation when we asked about their employment plans. Read more.

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2006-07 Teachers of the Year

Catherine A. Elstad and Jonathan Reynolds were selected by Pharm.D. students as Teachers of the Year for 2006-07.

Elstad has been teaching at the College for 19 years and this is the 9th time she has been selected teacher of the year. In addition to her faculty position in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Elstad also serves as Associate Dean of Student Services.

Reynolds just finished his third year of teaching.  He is a WSU alum who received his Pharm.D. in 1998. He joined the Department of Pharmacotherapy in September 2004. This is the first time he has received the teacher of the year award.
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2006-07 Faculty Excellence Award

Winsor Schmidt, chair of the Department of Health Policy and Administration, received the 2007 Faculty Excellence Award at WSU Spokane for his contributions of teaching, research and service. Schmidt, who joined HPA in 1998, was the recipient in 2004 of the Students' Choice Award for Teaching Excellence, bestowed upon him by the Associated Students of WSU Spokane.

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2007 Outstanding Alumni Chosen

Two engraved mortar and pestle sets were given March 30 to the two men named 2007 Outstanding Alumni. One award went to Marshall P. Roberts, class of 1957, who owned a drug store in Odessa, Wash., for 38 years. The other award was given to Bert Porter of Spokane, class of 1950, and a past president of the Washington State Pharmacists Association. Read more.

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Garrelts-MacLean named chair

Linda Garrelts-MacLean was appointed to a four-year term as chair of the Department of Pharmacotherapy, effective July 1, 2007.  Garrelts-MacLean is a 1978 WSU pharmacy graduate who owned Jones Pharmacy in Spokane for many years. She has received national attention for her contributions to the profession, including her selection in 1997 by Pharmacy Times national magazine as the “Most Influential Woman Pharmacist of the Year, and the 1999 selection by American Druggist magazine as one of the nation’s “Top 50 Most Influential Pharmacists.” Read more.

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Three new pharmacy faculty hired

The College hired three new faculty in the spring 2007 -- one for a clinical position in Yakima, one for a clinical position in Spokane, and one for a pharmaceutical sciences position in Pullman. Read more.

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Preceptor of Year from Centralia

Warren Hall, owner of Hall’s Medical Center Pharmacy in Centralia, Wash., was selected in May 2007 as the College's Roche Preceptor of the Year for his outstanding work with fourth-year students who do rotations at his pharmacy each year. Read more.

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Students try Human Patient Simulation

A third-year pharmacy student write about the opportunity to participate in patient scenarios using human patient simulation (HPS) technology. To read her story click here. To view photos of a similar training experience, click here.

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Diabetes outreach gets award

WSU's Professional Pharmacy Student Organization (PPSO) won the Region 7 award for their Operation Diabetes at the March 2007 APhA meeting. PPSO conducted 29 diabetes screening events and screened 779 patients, educated 879 patients plus 200,000 television viewers who saw them on Q6 in Spokane. Read more.

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Students receive national recognition

Several pharmacy students earned national recognition during spring of 2007:
--Cris Duvall, APhA’s Student Pharmacist magazine One to One Counseling Recognition Program Honoree.
--Majid Tanas, received a 2006-2007 ASHP Student Leadership Award.
--Jason Doss, selected as the Regional NCPA Student, which means he will serve for two years in the student leadership of the NCPA.
--Daniela Beilic, selected as the NCPA summer intern.

For more about these awards and a list of other student awardsin the 2006-07 academic year, click here.

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WSU wins NCPA business plan contest

Four WSU pharmacy students took first place in the 2006 national business plan competition for students sponsored by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).

The students -- Jason Doss, Daniela Beilic, Corinne Gavrun and Joshua Fancher -- brought home a $6,000 prize, plus a trip in February to the NCPA Multiple Locations meeting in Aruba for themselves, their advisor (Linda MacLean) and the College dean. Read more.

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Pharmacists score in 2006 Gallup Poll

Pharmacists were scored “very high” and “high” for honesty and ethics by 73 percent of the people who participated in the annual USA Today/Gallup Poll in December 2006.
That’s up from 67 percent who gave them those scores in the 2005 poll.
That puts pharmacists in second place again this year – the same as last year – behind only nurses, who had 84 percent giving them the high scores this year, compared to 82 percent last year.
The poll results were made available by the National Community Pharmacists Association.
The poll asked Americans to rank 23 professions on their honesty and ethical standards. Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,009 adults between Dec. 8 and 10. 
Veterinarians ranked third highest, with 71 percent giving them the higher scores.

 

 

2008 "Evening of Excellence"
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Homecoming Picnic On the Lawn 2007
See Photos

 

 

 

Annual Report
for Fiscal Year 2007

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American Pharmacist story

A national pharmacy magazine explains how a team of WSU students won the 2006 NCPA business plan contest

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History of Pharmacy
in PIctures

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