DiscoveRx Magazine – Spring 2024

Masthead for the Spring 2024 issue of DiscoveRx, featuring alumni Joanne Palermo, Sara Camilli, and Pat Cory.

Excellence in Education

Michelle Farrell, Morgan Oettinger, and Michelle Chui
First-of-its-Kind Program Prepares PharmD Students for Independent Practice

Developed in collaboration with Wisconsin pharmacy pioneers like Michelle Farrell (BS ’99, PharmD ’00), lead luminary for the Wisconsin Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network, the School’s new Entrepreneurial Training and Independent Pharmacy track prepares pharmacy students to innovate for their communities. Learn how the new program meets a pressing need in pharmacy.

Enterprising Alumni

Exploring new territory

Focused on patient care, Joanne Palermo’s (BS '98) pharmacy career has spanned zoology to pharmacy, Wisconsin to Arizona, and retail to telehealth.

Joanne Palermo

Scripts to Stories

Mark Putzi (PharmD '11) has followed his passions wherever they led him. He spent 35 years running a family construction business and a decade immersed in pharmacy. Through it all, he never gave up on his goal of becoming a published author.

Mark Putzi

Beyond the Counter

“I was never afraid to make a change," says alumna Terri Hix (BS '80). As life changed, she changed with it, exploring disparate realms of pharmacy, including industry, hospital pharmacy, and academia.

Terri Hix

Inside Look

Images from inside the Wenthur Lab
Behind the Scenes in a Cutting-Edge Lab

Assistant Professor Cody Wenthur is on the leading edge of research into psychoactive substances, such as understanding the antidepressant effects of ketamine, learning behaviors associated with PTSD, and more, all geared toward improving therapeutics for challenging mental health conditions. He invites us into his lab to see his work in action.

From Advancement

Dave’s Corner

“As they say, it takes a village — and we have one of the very best.” Associate Dean for Advancement Dave Mott (BS ’88, MS ’92, PhD ’95) shares how alumni support impacts the School’s students and a few upcoming opportunities for alums to gather together and reconnect.

Read his message >
Dave Mott

Meeting Community Needs

Opening a Dialogue

From patients experiencing homelessness to patients with disabilities, an event hosted by the School's PharmD students starts conversations about how to better serve patients to improve outcomes.

PharmD student Yoonsoo Kim speaks with peers during the DiveRxsity Dialogues event

Pharmacies Step Up in Underserved Areas

New research from School of Pharmacy faculty and students explores how Wisconsin pharmacies expand services to meet the needs of the state's health provider shortage areas. But those enhanced services pose a challenge.

Wisconsin Health Provider Shortage Area Map

Empathy for Every Patient

The School of Pharmacy is committed to educating compassionate student pharmacists prepared to provide the best care to all patients, including low-income or rural patients, those with disabilities, and patients facing health disparities.

PharmD student Ebunoluwa Olapo counsels a standardized patient about safely participating in religious fasting as part of the School of Pharmacy's Communications Lab.

Alumni Experts

Nancy Gilbride and Brent Eberle

The Evolution of PBMs

With pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the news as targets of new pending legislation, School of Pharmacy alumni experts in the field share their take on the history of PBMs, today’s challenges, and where the industry is headed next.

Read their insights >

Leading Research

New Target for Colorectal Cancers

Assistant Professor Ting Fu has uncovered a previously unknown function of a protein that is central to gut health, unlocking the potential for new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and related colorectal cancers.

Ting Fu

Vilas Award

For his innovations in cell therapy research — targeting cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and more — Assistant Professor Quanyin Hu receives a competitive UW–Madison Vilas Associates Award.

Quanyin Hu

Alumni Events

APhA 2024: Alumni and Friends Reception
Saturday, March 23

Join fellow Badger pharmacists at the American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla. Free to attend and all are welcome.

More details > 

Milwaukee Innovators
Tuesday, April 23

Hear from your Badger Pharmacy peers in Milwaukee who are on the cutting edge of their fields. This free event includes a buffet.

More details > 

Madison Innovators
Tuesday, May 21

Alumni and friends will gather for a night of food and reconnection while hearing from pioneering Badger pharmacists.

More details > 

Class Notes

The Spring 2024 edition of Class Notes features updates from Sharon Faust (BS '07, PharmD '11), Tyler Liebenstein (PharmD '11), Steve Rough (BS '91, MS '94), Gregory Sitter (PharmD '12), and more.

Spring 2024 Class Notes

Our Pharmacy Badgers are always busy, meeting professional and personal milestones, getting national recognition, or just checking in to say how life has been. Keep in touch with your School of Pharmacy alumni peers through class notes.

Read what’s new >
Submit your class note >

Save the Date banner for the Day of the Badger, April 16-17

From the PAA

Erica Terry

PAA Corner

The Pharmacy Alumni Association (PAA) has big summer plans. PAA Secretary Erica Terry (PharmD ’21) shares what’s on the schedule, from alumni awards, to the annual PAA/Wisconsin Society of Pharmacy Students Golf Outing, to a brand-new event in the Duck Pond.

Read what’s planned >

Professional Development

Fourth-Annual UWMadison Psychedelic Symposium

The 2024 Psychedelic Symposium will be held November 7-8.

More information and registration coming soon!

Short courses for Pharmaceutical Scientists

Stay Connected

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DISCOVERX Staff

Editor-in-Chief  |  Katie Gerhards
Photographer  |  Sally Griffith-Oh
Contributing Photographers | Todd Brown, Andy Manis, Sharon Vanorny, Paulius Musteikis, Heather Gergen
Contributing Writers  |  Katie Ginder-Vogel, Nicole Etter, Jessica Steinhoff, Susan Smith
Editorial Interns |  Maren Stewart, Logan Underwood
Editorial Advisors  |  Alyson KimDavid Mott

DiscoveRx magazine is a quarterly digital publication by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy.

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