Alumni Honors
Citations of Merit Celebrate Four Influential Careers
The School of Pharmacy’s 2020 Citation of Merit honorees — Susan Sutter (BS ’78), Bruno Hancock, Nivedita Pandit (MS ’78, PhD ’80), and Greg Higby (MS ’80, PhD ’84) — are luminaries in their fields who have made tremendous contributions to research, practice, and education.
Alumnus of the Year
Russ Jensen (BS '70, MS '74) is being honored by the Pharmacy Alumni Association for spending his 40-year career advancing pharmacists' roles and improving health care, including being among the nation's first to test bar code verification.
Exemplary IPPE Instructor
“Teaching seemed like something I really wanted to do for many years, and this is a way to do that while pursuing my main passion — pharmacy,” says Edward Long (PharmD '15), 2020 IPPE Clinical Instructor of the Year.
Young Alumnus of the Year
How do you advance practice by letting pharmacists practice at the top of their licenses and improve patient outcomes? This is what drives Justin Konkol (PharmD '06), the Pharmacy Alumni Association's Young Alumnus of the Year.
Enhancing Education
National Model for Curriculum Design
The creation of the School's new Rural Pharmacy Practice option in the PharmD program is serving as a national model in curriculum design for its unique application of a teaching framework.
School Launches New Certificate Program
Available this fall, the School's new Applied Drug Development Capstone Certificate provides a flexible opportunity for graduate students and working professionals alike to advance their careers.
Student Excellence
PLS Chapter of the Year
The School's Phi Lambda Sigma chapter receives national recognition for creating a breadth of leadership-building events, including a community-based caregiver training and alumni-led talks.
Mixed Methods Research
Health Services Research in Pharmacy graduate student Deepika Rao is receiving a scholarship for research training that will help refine her work on a patient-centered intervention for opioid misuse.
PharmTox Fellows
Six of the School's PharmTox students have been selected for a competitive campus fellowship — the highest number in more than a decade. Learn about their research.
Alumni Spotlight
Two Alumni Honored by ASHP
Diane Erdman (PharmD '97) and Katherine Miller (PharmD '08) are being inducted as fellows of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists for their dedication to advancing the profession through leadership and education.
Drug Delivery in Industry
"The key is teamwork and collaborative work, in both academia and industry,” says Tony Tam (PhD '18). A graduate of the School's Kwon Lab, Tam reflects on his transition from academic life to enhancing drug delivery research at Merck.
Leading Research
Opioid Antibodies
Some people's immune systems create antibodies to opioid medications, finds a new study by Assistant Professor Cody Wenthur. That could explain some of the drugs' long-term effects.
Bacterial Synthesis
Bacteria use more than 600 different sugar building blocks. And unlike common human sugars, most bacterial sugars must be synthesized from scratch. Professor Weiping Tang is working to make this process easier.
Destroying Disease-Causing Proteins
The body has a natural mechanism for destroying unwanted proteins. Professor Weiping Tang's lab is working to co-opt this function to trigger selective degradation of disease-causing proteins.
Improving Telehealth in Nursing Homes
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a quick surge in the adoption of telehealth technology. Assistant Professor Jay Ford is collaborating with the Department of Medicine to use this "natural experiment" to improve telehealth implementation.
Pharmacy Legend
A Rich History
The legacy of Professor Emeritus Dan Rich lives on at the School and in the prolific careers of his former students, who have gone on to launch pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and even invent therapeutics for AIDS. Learn about the professor behind their success.
Improving Health
Native Community Health
PharmD students Taylor Hauser and Jenevieve Van Order team up with alum Hussain Harun (PharmD '11) to measure the impact of billable health insurance on the Ho-Chunk community.
Naltrexone Toolkit
Assistant Professor Jay Ford surveys pharmacies around Wisconsin to illuminate and address pharmacists' barriers and best practices for providing naltrexone injections to expand access to substance abuse treatment.
Research Talks
Health Policy Impact
Assistant Professor Kevin Look (PharmD ’09, PhD ’13),
Social and Administrative Sciences Division
Antifungal Beetles
Associate Professor Jason Kwan,
Pharmaceutical Sciences Division
Strengthening Our Community
Gender-Inclusive Restroom
Rennebohm Hall is the first on campus to designate a multi-stall all-gender bathroom. “As a School preparing future healthcare providers, we want to model an inclusive environment,” says Dean Steve Swanson.
Connections Amid COVID-19
A new Pharmacy Family program at the School of Pharmacy connects faculty with PharmD students to keep the School's sense of community strong, even during distanced learning.
Time Capsule
Historical Pharmacy Publications Go Digital
The School of Pharmacy’s collection of historical pharmacy trade publications, stretching back to the 1800s, will soon be accessible online. These old publications offer a look at what pharmacies used to stock, from drugs and “medicines,” like whiskey and cocaine, to tools of the trade.
Get a preview >
Faculty News
Two Pharmacy Practice Faculty Retire
Professor Ron Sorkness (BS '72) and Associate Professor Bob Breslow (BS '75) have contributed to the careers of our student pharmacists for decades. As they retire, they reflect on their years as both student and teacher.
New Assistant Professors Augment Expertise
Assistant Professors Quanyin Hu and Ting Fu add expertise in immunotherapy and precision medicine to the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, and Sin Yin Lim brings focus on pediatrics to the Pharmacy Practice Division.
Thank You
Class of '67 Gives Back
To commemorate the substantial careers they've built in the 50 years since graduation, members of the School's Class of 1967 created one of the first class scholarships, which was recently awarded for the first time.
New Distinguished Chair Supports Drug Delivery
Milton Henrichs hitchhiked his way to the School of Pharmacy, where he made a lasting impression, from helping to get Rennebohm Hall built to supporting Pharmaceutical Sciences research.
Making Headlines
Class Notes
Fall 2020 Class Notes
Badger pharmacists are excelling in their careers, being recognized for their contributions, celebrating milestones, and retiring from fruitful careers. Keep in touch with your Badger Pharmacy peers through class notes.
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Mark Your Calendar
Alumni & Friends Trivia Fundraiser
November 17
Come test your Badgers, Pharmacy, and general trivia knowledge in a fundraiser for student scholarships, hosted virtually by the School of Pharmacy and the Pharmacy Alumni Association. Each team will compete to win fun prizes, including Pharmacy alumni apparel and School of Pharmacy swag.
Registration is available to individuals – we’ll place you with a team – or to groups of up to 6 who wish to register as a team.
An invitation will be sent to all School of Pharmacy alumni. Please contact Alissa Karnaky, karnaky@wisc.edu, with any questions.
Professional Development
Drug Product Development Certificate Program
This program is for scientists and technical managers working at the drug discovery interface, responsible for lead optimization and candidate selection.
Learn more >
DISCOVERx STAFF
Editor-in-Chief | Katie Gerhards
Photographer | Sally Griffith-Oh
Contributing Writers | Katie Ginder-Vogel, Jill Sakai, Tristan Dooley
Editorial Interns | Mary Magnuson, Arushi Gupta, Iseult Gillespie
Editorial Advisors | Alyson Kim, David Mott
DiscoveRx magazine is a quarterly digital publication by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy.
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