CougaRx News

Message From the Interim Dean

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

A belated Happy New Year to you all! We launched the spring semester with tremendous energy and exciting news, and I’m delighted to share a few highlights from the college.

At the end of January, the official 2025 NAPLEX results were released—and our Class of 2025 Coug pharmacists truly rose to the occasion. They achieved a 92.5% first-time pass rate, well above the national average of 86.8%. This remarkable outcome places us #1 among Pacific Northwest pharmacy schools and #3 on the West Coast among public pharmacy programs.

These results are a testament to the dedication of our students—now alumni—and the extraordinary commitment of our faculty. Guided by Associate Dean for Professional Education Megan Willson, faculty led an intensive and thoughtful review process that clearly paid dividends. Our graduates embraced the challenge, and I could not be prouder of their success. Congratulations to the class of 2025!

We are also advancing our mission to improve access to care through a newly announced collaboration with Praventa Health. Through this partnership, WSU pharmacotherapy faculty will provide clinical expertise to Medicare patients via telehealth. This collaboration will evolve into a training site in March when we open the Danial Baker Drug Information and Telehealth Center where student pharmacists gain hands-on experience counseling patients under faculty supervision. It’s an exciting example of how we continue to innovate—expanding care delivery while preparing the next generation of pharmacists for the future of practice.

As with any period of growth, there are moments of bittersweet transition. Joshua Neumiller, Interim Chair of Pharmacotherapy, will soon step into a national leadership role as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at the American Diabetes Association. Josh has been an influential force in advancing care for patients living with diabetes and kidney disease and an outstanding ambassador for the pharmacy profession. While we will miss him greatly, we are immensely proud. As the late Keith Campbell would say, go make us proud, Josh.

Kimberly McKeirnan will serve as the new Interim Chair of the Department of Pharmacotherapy beginning February 23, bringing a distinguished record of scholarship, leadership, and impact. She will work closely with current Interim Chair Joshua Neumiller to ensure a smooth transition. We have also created two new roles to strengthen our accreditation and operational efforts: Terri Levien has been appointed Associate Dean of Accreditation and Assessment, and Nicole Rodin has been appointed Director of Clinical Pharmacy Operations starting March 1. Please join me in congratulating Kim, Terri, and Nicole as they step into these important leadership roles in service of the college.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, I want to close by expressing my sincere gratitude for this extraordinary community. Your continued support—for our students, faculty, and the college as a whole—means more than I can adequately say. Thank you for being such an integral part of our shared mission.

With a proud Go Cougs!

Julie Akers (’00), Interim Dean
WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences