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Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

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November 2019

A note from Linda Garrelts MacLean

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

October has been an exceptional month with many wins for the college. As many of you know, Bill Gaskins (class of ’69) received the R. Keith Campbell Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Crimson Gala. From starting off as a football and track star for the Cougars to becoming a beloved mentor and leader as the Director of Pharmacy for the Pullman Regional Hospital, Bill won the hearts and minds of everyone around him. We have made great progress in honoring Bill and are pleased to announce that third year student pharmacist, former Army combat veteran, and full-time mother, Monica Sines, received the first ever William and Felicia Gaskins Scholarship. This is a momentous step in honoring Bill and his legacy. Should you also want to make an investment in advancing the ongoing education of future pharmacists at WSU, we have kept the link open so that you can contribute.

Equipping students with the right combination of hard and soft skills will prepare our future pharmacists for the ever-evolving workplace. Measuring progress and ensuring that students leave CPPS as lifelong learners is a paramount goal for us. That is why I’m pleased to announce that this month, we will launch the Situational Judgment Test (SJT), a pilot program to assess our students on a variety of skills needed in health care and to ensure their success as pharmacists. Self-awareness, leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship, and professionalism are qualities that we want to instill in our students. Implementing this assessment will be a significant step forward for us as a college and our students as they adapt to a fast-changing workplace.

We want our students to learn from the best. This means not only having expert faculty, but also an enriching student environment. Recruiting the best students with promising futures will right-size our classes and improve the peer-to-peer learning experience. I am proud to say that our incoming cohort for 2019 is 132 strong, with 27 based in Yakima.

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, and students, faculty and alumni take a moment to cherish the people most important to them, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you. The College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and everything that we do would not be possible without your support that you give day-in and day-out. From conducting exit interviews, to your generous contributions, the Drive to 25 to become one of the top research universities and pharmacy schools would not be possible without your support. Thank you all for moving forward our mission at CPPS and WSU.

With much respect,

Linda Garrelts MacLean

Linda Garrelts MacLean, Interim Dean
WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

 

 

 

Spotlight on Success

Research highlight

WSU study identifies new target for treatment of gout

Pharmaceutical Sciences researchers have identified a new therapeutic target for the treatment of gout, a common type of arthritis that causes episodes of painful and stiff joints. The research lays the foundation for the development of potential new treatment strategies that could significantly improve the quality of life of millions of people around the world who suffer from the condition.

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Faculty Highlight

WSU professor awarded by United States Pharmacopeia

The College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is proud to announce that Danial E. Baker, professor of pharmacotherapy, received the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Thomas S. Foster Award in recognition for his significant contributions to global public health. Dr. Baker is one of more than 800 experts who volunteer their time to ensuring the safety and quality standard of the nation’s formularies.

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Our College

Alumni Updates

We were happy to see Former Senator Linda Evans Parlette on campus for a tour on October 2. She is a class of 1968 pharmacy alum and was our commencement speaker two years ago.

We caught up with class of 2017 grad, Shelby Williams recently. Since graduating she’s completed a clinical veterinary pharmacy residency at NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and is currently the pharmacy manager at UW Veterinary Care, the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. She also is the residency director for the Clinical Veterinary Pharmacy Residency program, teaches a Veterinary Pharmacy Therapeutics elective course at the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, and is a preceptor and clinical instructor for the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy and Concordia University School of Pharmacy. She still teaches the WSU Veterinary Pharmacy Elective that started in Spring 2017 as well. Approximately 300 student pharmacists have taken the course over the past three years.

Want to be listed in our alumni updates? Send us your career information or let us know what you’ve been up to at gocougs@pharmacy.wsu.edu!

November Updates

FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP

Publications

Pharmaceutical Sciences Assistant Professor Zhaokang Cheng and Postdoctoral Research Associate Peng Xia with six co-authors published, “Genome-wide RNAi screen identifies regulators of cardiomyocyte necrosis,” in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, a peer-reviewed open-access journal from the American Chemical Society in September 2019. View abstract »

Pharmaceutical Sciences Associate in Research Christy J.W. Watson, Pharmaceutical Sciences Professor and Chair Philip Lazarus, Pharmaceutical Sciences Assistant Professor Travis T. Denton and six co-authors published, “The novel CYP2A6 inhibitor, DLCI-1, decreases nicotine self-administration in mice,” in the peer-reviewed The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in October 2019. View abstract »

… » More …

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Events

More upcoming events

Other News

No more need for injections?
Pharmacotherapy Chair & R. Keith Campbell Distinguished Professor in Diabetes Care wrote a piece in Health and Home Magazine, a publication from The Inlander about a novel treatment for Type 2 diabetes.
Read more from The Inlander

WSU unveils mobile unit that will bring doctors, medical students to rural communities that need them
The program will eventually be a part of interprofessional curriculum for nursing, pharmacy and medical students learning to work as a team.
Read more from the Spokesman Review

Yakima project in interprofessional education is successful – and growing
When students from different health care professions learn together, they’re better at working in teams once they graduate. That’s why four universities in Washington’s Yakima Valley launched the Yakima Valley Interprofessional Practice and Education Collaborative (YVIPEC) five years ago. The collaboration allows WSU pharmacy and nursing students to work with students from Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, Central Washington University, and Heritage University to gain team-based experience in interprofessional education.
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