Message from the Dean

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Done! Another year in the books, topping it off with a flawless, in-person commencement—our first since 2019. Hats off to friends of the college, our faculty and staff, and everyone who showed up for this special occasion for our newest class of PharmDs and PhDs!

In particular, I thank Scott Giberson who met with students, faculty and staff to deliver a seminar about leadership. His keynote speech to students was also inspiring, putting into context many of the challenges our graduates will face when they begin their careers in health care.

I also thank the two Huskies who came out to welcome our Coug graduates to the professional ranks. Washington State Pharmacy Association CEO Jenny Arnold and President Ryan Oftebro led the Oath of a Pharmacist for our students, which ended with Jenny and Ryan giving us a “Go Cougs!” in unison. Jenny and Ryan are such wonderful people and having their presence at our commencement ceremony is just another example of the close-knit and supportive professional community we have built in the Pacific Northwest. All of the pomp and circumstance of commencement week would not have been possible without the support of our friends at Albertsons Companies who sponsored commencement and our awards ceremony. On behalf of the college, I thank our supporters and everyone who took part in this rite of passage.

Also, a sincere thank you to all who donated April 13 for #CougsGive. In total, we raised over $8,000 which will go toward helping students with tuition and paying for travel costs so that they can present at various conferences. This placed our college in 12th place for fundraising out of a total of 28 units. I know all who contributed, and I thank you for your support.

Finally, I always enjoy sharing some of the interesting stories I hear when I’m on the road visiting our alumni across the state. In April, we honored Jim and Diann Robbers as Laureates of the university at the WSU Foundation Gala in Seattle. Jim, class of 1957, and a superb pharmacognosist, spent his career at the Purdue College of Pharmacy working on ergot alkaloids, which have incredibly interesting pharmacological effects. I used Jim’s textbook (7th edition) as a pharmacognosy student in the early 1980s—and he signed it for me when Kelly Sylvester and I visited the Robbers last summer. Jim and Diann have been very strong supporters of research in the college. Jim, a wonderful man and sharp as a tack, told me a story of hosting Albert Hofmann for a seminar visit at Purdue. Many of you will know Albert Hofmann as a Swiss chemist and the first to synthesize LSD, which can be derived from ergot alkaloids. Hofmann “accidentally” ingested LSD while synthesizing it and “perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors” for about two hours. The next day (April 19, 1943) Hofmann purposefully ingested 0.25 mg of LSD to confirm the effects of the previous day—you know, kind of a repeat experiment deal. His second trip, which was apparently much less pleasant than his first, involved an interesting bicycle ride home from work that is well described in the lay literature. The rest is psychedelic history, as they say. Jim told me that the audiences at Hofmann’s two talks at Purdue were absolutely huge, and largely composed of hipsters from all over Indiana and surrounding states. I guess these folks had some previous experience with the ergot derivatives and they were just interested in the Science. Interestingly enough, LSD and psilocybin are making a comeback for treatment of PTSD and depression—I’m just happy that I took TWO semesters of pharmacognosy from Mel Gibson (former professor in the college—not the actor) using Jim Robbers’ textbook!

Until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful month of May and Memorial Day weekend.

Sincerely,

Mark Leid, Professor and Dean
WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences