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Washington State University
Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences

College of Pharmacy says thank you, celebrates students, alumni and donors

The Washington State University College of Pharmacy hosted its annual Donor Appreciation and Awards Night on Friday, April 17, on campus at WSU Health Sciences at Spokane to honor and celebrate the individual and corporate supporters who have made significant contributions to the College in the last year.

“Without their generosity we would not be able to offer the wide range of educational opportunities for our students, including travel to professional conferences, our Career Seminar series, the best faculty anywhere, and of course, scholarship support,” said Linda Garrelts MacLean, an associate dean for the college and the event’s emcee.

Gerald Briggs, class of 1968, was … » More …

Student earns national award to study inflammatory diseases

SPOKANE, Wash. – A pharmaceutical sciences Ph.D. student at Washington State University Spokane has received a national award to help fund his research to slow or stop osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Solomon A. Agere is the second student from the lab of WSU College of Pharmacy researcher Salah-uddin Ahmed to earn the Health Professional Research Preceptorship from the Rheumatology Research Foundation (http://www.rheumatology.org/Foundation/). The award comes with a $3,500 stipend, $2,000 for lab supplies and a $1,000 travel grant to attend the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting.

Agere’s research seeks new insights into the role of chemokines – molecular-weight proteins that help draw inflammatory cells … » More …

Pharmacy student wins WSU thesis contest

PULLMAN, Wash. – Emily Johnson, a Ph.D. candidate from the College of Pharmacy, won Washington State University’s first university-wide Three Minute Thesis competition March 26.

The event, part of WSU’s annual Showcase celebration of faculty, staff and student excellence, was sponsored by the Office of the Provost. Another Showcase event, the Distinguished Faculty Address by the School of Music’s Gerald Berthiaume, also was Thursday.

Johnson studies pharmaceutical sciences – specifically how anti-cancer drugs affect sugar metabolism and heart health. She hopes her research will lead to a new way of combating heart disease in diabetics.

3MT was developed by the University of Queensland (Australia) and … » More …

Student earns national honor two years in a row for drug research

Washington State University graduate student Brandon Gufford will receive a Presidential Trainee Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT) on March 4, 2015, at the organization’s 2015 annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Gufford is a Ph.D. candidate at the College of Pharmacy, and this will be the second year in a row for him to receive this honor.

“There are a very small number of individuals who have been repeat awardees,” said ASCPT representative Judy Dalie.

Gufford was selected for this year’s award for a collaborative research project with WSU pharmacy faculty members Mary F. Paine and John R. White. … » More …

Ph.D. program offers additional opportunities, industry internships

One of the differences between today’s Ph.D. students and those of a few years ago is their interest in being exposed to more career opportunities, says Kathryn E. Meier, associate dean for graduate education in the College of Pharmacy.

“It used to be they came into the program and expected to be prepared mainly for an academic research career,” Meier said. “Now they are seeking opportunities to acquire skills related to other career paths, such as the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.”

Meier approached the issue with the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) in response to a “Big Ideas” initiative. Her proposal to … » More …

Pharmacy research uses viruses to fight cancer

SPOKANE – Pharmaceutical sciences Ph.D. student Victor Bii is working on a project to understand how breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body, a process known as metastasis. Metastasis to vital organs is what causes lethality in breast cancer, so studying this process is key to identifying new therapies.

Victor is using a retrovirus that normally causes leukemia to identify how breast cancer spreads into other tissues like bone and lung. The research takes advantage of the viruses’ ability to insert its DNA into the genome of a human cell. The virus then acts like a molecular tag to identify genes that get … » More …

WSU pharmacy program makes it easier to combine two degrees

SPOKANE, Wash.  – Students seeking the professional pharmacist degree at Washington State University will now find it quicker to also obtain a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences if they are interested and eligible.

By following an overlapping sequence of required courses for each of the two sequential degrees, a student could save two years of the five years it generally takes to attain a Ph.D.

“In recent years, several PharmD students have completed both PharmD and PhD degrees in the College of Pharmacy and while they were successful in their degree completions, we expect more interest in the combined degree in the future and so adopted … » More …

WSU Students Earn Pharmaceutical Science Research Support

SPOKANE, Wash – Two graduate students in pharmaceutical sciences at Washington State University have received prestigious fellowships from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education.

Both students recently moved across the country to follow their faculty advisors to WSU where the professors have accepted positions in the College of Pharmacy’s clinical pharmacology unit in Spokane.

Each student will receive $6,500 paid directly to WSU to support their work for a year, beginning Sept. 1, 2013.

“This is a competitive national process and therefore a great honor to receive an award,” said Gary M. Pollack, dean of pharmacy at WSU. The students submitted applications for the fellowships … » More …

National research grant renewed for WSU physiology graduate student

photo of heidi medfordSPOKANE, Wash. – A graduate student working in the research laboratory of a Washington State University exercise physiologist has received a second year of research funding from the American Physiological Society.

Heidi Medford was one of five students nationally to have the annual grant of $28,300 renewed for a second year. Last year, she was one of eight to receive the award, which can be renewed for up to two years.

Known as the Porter Physiology Development Fellowship, the funding is awarded after a competitive evaluation of applicants’ research proposals, grades, community outreach, … » More …

National Science Foundation funds WSU graduate student’s research

SPOKANE, Wash. – A graduate student comparing the genetic effects of diabetes and exercise on the heart has been welcomed to the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

The NSF annual award of $30,000 – renewable annually for up to three years – begins in summer 2013 and will support Emily Cox in her research project in the Nutrition and Exercise Physiology program at WSU Health Sciences in Spokane.

“Both exercise and diabetes change the shape and size of the heart, but they do it in different ways, and the basis for the difference is not well understood,” Cox said. “”I’m studying how diabetes … » More …