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April 2021

Message from the Dean

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It has been a challenging year for everyone, but I’m pleased to announce that the college will be working towards returning back to a sense of normalcy—or a new normal— as we transition back to in-person learning in the fall semester. Our plan to return to in-person learning in the fall is buoyed by the recent news that everyone over the age of 16 in Washington state will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting April 15. I know that many of our students, faculty and staff have already received, or are in the process of receiving, their vaccines, bringing us one step closer to a safer re-opening come fall semester.

In addition to this uplifting news, congratulations to the following faculty members on their recent promotions, effective July 1. These faculty have worked hard in teaching, service, and research and I appreciate all that they do for the college.

Last but certainly not least, Danial Baker was promoted to Regents Professor. Danial is the first and only Regents Professor in the 130-year history of the college. This is the highest distinction bestowed by the University upon its faculty. No more than 30 WSU faculty members can hold such an honor at any one time, so a big congratulations to Danial and thank you for representing the college so well in your decades of service and scholarship. For those of you who don’t know Danial, he is the Director of our Drug Information Center which responds to inquiries from health care professionals across the state regarding drug interactions, side effects, and other drug-related topics. His most recent accomplishment was being part of the team to develop the COVID-19 Vaccine Handling Toolkit for the US Pharmacopeia. His contributions to the body of knowledge in pharmacy have been felt worldwide with millions of COVID-19 vaccines administered daily.

For now, the college is fully focused on the final four weeks ahead before the end of the school year. I applaud our faculty and staff for their hard work and dedication to our students. In many ways, transitioning the college at the start of the pandemic in 2020 was easier than planning for our new normal. We are in a marathon to deliver an engaging curriculum with the added challenge of safety measures and social distancing precautions in place.

Finally, to help our students during this difficult year, I hope you all can join us for #CougsGive on April 14, when we come together as a community to raise funds to support our talented students. This is our chance to not only support our students on their learning journey, but also to show our gratitude to them for volunteering their time in the race to get the nation vaccinated.

Sincerely,

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

Cheyenne Newsome
Cheyenne Newsome, clinical assistant professor at the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, introduced gender-affirming health care curriculum in the college after working with transgender patients during her pharmacy residency in New Mexico.
Mahamudul Haque, Salah-Uddin Ahmed, and Anil K. Singh discuss a protein array in 2019 (photo by Cori Kogan, WSU Health Sciences Spokane).

A note from Linda Garrelts MacLean

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It’s that time of the year again when we have a chance to pay it forward and support our students!  #CougsGive will take a place on April 14 across the University, and it is our chance to help future pharmacists and scientists in pursuit of their degrees and lifelong learning. I feel even more compelled this year, than any other year, to make this ask as so many of our students have devoted countless volunteer hours to help with vaccination efforts across the country. They are juggling virtual learning, rotations, research responsibilities, and putting in extra hours to help vaccinate people in their communities. Not only have they shown their commitment to the profession but proven their resolve to become providers who protect the health of the communities they serve. Sabrina Fischer, class of 2022, shares how the experience has changed her perspective. It is just one of many similar comments that I hear from our students everyday:

“I feel extremely thankful to be a part of this moment in history. I am so proud that my profession has been able to be part of the vaccine effort and help our community get through this pandemic!”

I hope you will join me (virtually, of course!) to support our students on #CougsGive. And if you are unable to contribute, the small act of spreading the word will help us in many ways.

In celebrating our students, I am so proud to present our second-year student pharmacist Kennedy Erickson, who was elected APhA-ASP President by her peers across the nation. This is the first time that the college has had one of our students elected as president! She will attend every board of directors meeting, and as a former APhA trustee, I know how valuable this opportunity will prove to be as just a first step in a very promising future for Kennedy. Though the APhA annual meeting was virtual this year, it was great to see so many familiar faces. Our college had a banner year at the annual meeting with several faculty presenting on topics ranging from care of LGBTQ+ patients to immunizing during a pandemic, as well as students appointed to national leadership roles, and recognized for their work in immunizing local communities.

While it has been a difficult year of back-to-back Zoom meetings, one great aspect that this pandemic has helped catalyze is our ability to share the many innovative and inspiring career journeys of our alumni in the Career Seminar Series. Most recently, we had the great honor of hosting Majid Tanas (class of 2007), Stephanie Paugh (class of 2011), and Stacy Crow Bernard (class of 2010). Majid currently serves as Chief Pharmacy Officer and Vice President of Pharmacy Services at Legacy Health in Portland Oregon after a successful career at the National Institutes of Health. Stephanie in 2019 launched Pharmacist 360, her own consulting business to review medications for older adults living independently in Montana; and Stacy is a Solid Organ Transplant Pharmacist at Mayo Clinic. They have taken very different career paths, but their messages on entrepreneurship, networking, taking bold steps have truly resonated with our students. Thank you to all our alumni who continue to inspire the next generation of health care providers with your stories.

With best regards and much respect,

Linda Garrelts MacLean

Linda Garrelts MacLean, Vice Dean of External Relations
WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Spotlight on Success

Our College

CPPS announces faculty promotions

The time a student spends in a University are foundational to their future careers. The connections they build and the community they become a part of leave a permanent mark. Faculty are a substantial part of this community. They guide students through the curriculum, sharing their own experiences and expertise to help students forge their own paths. By giving faculty the opportunity to excel through professional advancement and research, both faculty and students benefit.

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PharmD News

Photo taken February 2020
Students advocate for pharmacists in the era of COVID-19

In an ordinary year, the spring semester is when dozens of pharmacy students descend upon the Washington state capitol for Legislative Day to speak with lawmakers and advocate for the pharmacy profession. As with so many things, this year’s event looked quite different with students traveling not to Olympia, but instead the few short steps to their computers.

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HealthChats Recap

HealthChats Recap: Working in a Health Care Team

How do pharmacists work with doctors and nurses to help their patients thrive?

In the latest HealthChats, representatives from across the Washington State University colleges of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicine and Nursing came together to discuss the importance of working in a health care team and fostering an environment of peer-to-peer learning through a collaborative approach known as interprofessional education.

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Philanthropy Focus

Calling all Cougar pharmacists! Sign up today to be an Ambassador for #CougsGive on Wednesday, April 14 and help the college meet its mission to serve our students, alumni, and communities. It’s easy and fast—simply sign up on the Cougs Give Ambassadors page then get ready for the big day on April 14 by helping us share the exciting news about #CougsGive to make a difference for our student pharmacists. All donations are tax deductible and will benefit the Dean’s Excellence Fund, which provides support for the college’s most urgent needs. For more information, please email Kelly.Sylvester@wsu.edu or call 509-369-6675.

Alumni Updates

We recently caught up with Wayne Clemens, class of 1973, who is keeping busy filling in occasionally at Yoke’s Fresh Markets in the Spokane area. He’s also traveling with his wife, Pamela, and volunteering at the Union Gospel Mission’s health clinic each week in Spokane. Wayne continues to be highly engaged with the college and supports the Compounding Boot Camp as well as other activities to help our student pharmacists.

Lisa (Fried) Osborne, class of 2002, is still working as a pharmacist in Spokane Valley for Cigna, which owns Express Scripts. She has been there for more than a decade and has worked with other WSU pharmacists at that location, including recent retirees Shannon O’Keefe, class of 1982 and Debbie Askins, class of 1979.

Scott Williams, class of 1978, has had a unique career. After pharmacy school at WSU, he attended the University of Washington and received his dental degree. After many years as a dentist in Sunnyside, Washington, Scott sold his practice a few years ago and is currently taking courses to earn his certification in aviation repair. He will graduate in May and looks forward to being able to work on his own two airplanes. Scott is also helping to coordinate a class reunion for his pharmacy class with the hope of gathering  this fall during homecoming at WSU.

Daniel Healey (center), class of 2015, from MultiCare Deaconess sent us this photo of himself with his Preceptor of the Year plaque! Pictured with him are current student Brandon Lujan (right), class of 2021, and David Platt (left), class of 2017. Platt is one of the other pharmacists instrumental in the student program at MultiCare Deaconess. Healy was one of two preceptors selected for the 2020 Preceptor of the Year award for their outstanding contributions to educational development by demonstrating high standards of professionalism, ethics and clinical practice within the experiential training environment.

Aleksander (Alex) Heyfetz, class of 2014, from Genoa-1st Avenue Pharmacy sent us this photo of himself with his Preceptor of the Year plaque! Heyfetz was one of two preceptors selected for the 2020 Preceptor of the Year award for their outstanding contributions to educational development by demonstrating high standards of professionalism, ethics and clinical practice within the experiential training environment.

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

April 2021 Updates

FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP

Publications

Pharmacotherapy Associate Professor Kimberly McKeirnan, Pharmacotherapy Associate Professor Megan Undeberg and two co-authors published, “A case of pharmacist-led care team interventions to maximize rural patient quality of life,” in the Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy Journal in March 2021.

Pharmacotherapy Assistant Professor Cheyenne Newsome and one co-author published, “Strategies to bring transgender and non-binary healthcare into pharmacy education,” in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education in February 2021.

Presentations

Cheyenne Newsome presented on transgender patient care at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) virtual Annual Meeting in the student programming track on March 14, 2021.

Service

Vice Chair & … » More …

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Events

More upcoming events

Other News

360 Coverage: Pharmacists’ vital role in providing health care
“You’re already seeing pharmacy practice evolving into something that I would say is more clinical and less dispensary, but I think we are taking more steps in that direction as we start jumping into more immunizations and point of care testing.” Pharmacotherapy Associate Professor Kim McKeirnan during her recent conversation with KHQ Local News about the role pharmacists play in health care and administering the COVID-19 vaccine.
See the interview

With vaccines in more drugstores, Walgreens, CVS and other pharmacies go on hiring sprees
As COVID-19 vaccination efforts continue to gain speed around the country, pharmacies are hiring thousands of pharmacists and technicians to vaccinate customers. WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty members Linda Garrelts MacLean and Kim McKeirnan lend their insight into the growing demand for pharmacists and technicians, along with the immunization training offered through a collaboration between the American Pharmacists Association and the college.
Read more from the Chicago Tribune

Advocating for LGBTQ+ Education
“When students hear from an individual who has had a bad experience or a good experience, they begin to understand the impact they can make by being a trans-competent provider. It helps them see why it’s important to learn this material and it helps them feel more comfortable and confident stepping up to be a good provider.” Pharmacotherapy Assistant Professor Cheyenne Newsome is helping lead the way in transgender-related care at the WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Read more about LGBTQ care curriculum in pharmacy schools across the nation from AACP

WSU studies herb’s effect on medication
Diabetic patients taking the natural product goldenseal while taking the prescription drug metformin may be unwittingly sabotaging their efforts to maintain healthy blood glucose levels. Recent research out of Dr. Mary Paine’s lab details how taking the natural product affected metformin levels in participants’ bloodstreams.
Read more from Yahoo News

How does toothpaste clean your teeth?
College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Dean Mark Leid recently talked to Dr. Universe about how toothpaste works and why it’s important to brush your teeth.
Read more from Ask Dr. Universe