As the new cohort of student pharmacists begin classes at the Washington State University College of Pharmacy, there are also four new faces among the teaching faculty at the Doctor of Pharmacy program extension in Yakima, Washington.
The WSU College of Pharmacy began offering its Doctor of Pharmacy program in Yakima in 2015. Now beginning its third year, the program has seen steady growth and resounding success thanks to the college’s formal partnership with the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU). The WSU pharmacy program is located on the PNWU campus where the program emphasizes preparing pharmacists to be members of health care teams to match the evolving health care landscape, ultimately expanding the availability of health services to underserved populations in rural settings. The program in Yakima offers students the unique experience of sharing a small campus with the medical students in the PNWU Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program.
The four new WSU pharmacy faculty complete the teaching corps that support the student pharmacists located in Yakima:
Dana Bowers, clinical assistant professor
Dana Bowers joins WSU from the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy where she served as a clinical instructor in pharmacy practice and science.
Bowers received her Doctor of Pharmacy from WSU in 2009. She completed a two-year clinical research fellowship specializing in infectious diseases at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy and St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital before joining the Kingman Regional Medical Center in Kingman, Arizona, as a clinical specialist where she was in charge of the hospital’s antimicrobial stewardship program.
Bowers teaches in the WSU Doctor of Pharmacy program extension in Yakima. Her main research interest is in combination therapy for multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria.
Nicholas Giruzzi, clinical assistant professor
Nicholas Giruzzi received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Albany, New York. He is a registered pharmacist in Washington, Pennsylvania and New York. He is also board certified as a pharmacotherapy specialist (BCPS), and holds a Pennsylvania Authorization to Administer Injectables.
He completed a postgraduate pharmacy practice residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) St. Margaret, and a second-year postgraduate pharmacy residency in ambulatory care also at UPMC St. Margaret.
Nicholas teaches in the WSU Doctor of Pharmacy program extension in Yakima and serves as the co-instructor of record for the Pharmacy Calculations, Health Care Systems, and Public Health and Emergency Preparedness/Response courses. His main interests include clinical ambulatory care practice and interprofessional education and development.
Megan Giruzzi, clinical assistant professor
Megan Giruzzi received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Albany, New York. She is a registered pharmacist in New York and Texas. She is also board certified as a pharmacotherapy specialist (BCPS), is certified in basic and advanced cardiac life support through the American Heart Association, is certified in pharmacy-based immunization delivery, and holds a teaching and learning certificate through the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Pharmacy.
Megan completed a two-year postgraduate pharmacy residency in pharmacotherapy at the TTUHSC School of Pharmacy in Abilene, Texas.
Megan teaches in the WSU Doctor of Pharmacy program extension in Yakima.
Rustin Crutchley, clinical associate professor
Rustin Crutchley joins WSU from the University of Houston College of Pharmacy where he served as a clinical assistant professor and then clinical associate professor. While at University of Houston, he also spent a time as the program director for their postgraduate second-year (PGY-2) HIV ambulatory care and clinical pharmacogenetics residency.
Crutchley received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a certified American Academy of HIV Medicine Pharmacist (AAHIVP), and also holds a certificate in pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine from the University of Florida, a certificate in patient-centered diabetes care from the American Pharmacists Association, and certificates from the State University of New York at Buffalo in HIV pharmacotherapy and teaching & learning.
He completed a first-year postgraduate specialty residency in pharmacy practice at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Tyler, Texas, and a second-year postgraduate specialty residency in HIV ambulatory care and clinical pharmacogenetics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In addition, Crutchley completed a STAR Health Disparities Fellowship at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.
Crutchley teaches in the WSU Doctor of Pharmacy program extension in Yakima. His research interests include complimentary alternative medicine approaches, antiretroviral treatment simplification strategies, and precision medicine in HIV patient populations.
[Lori J. Maricle] 9/01/17