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Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences News

New Scholarship to Honor Pharmacy Alumnus

A pharmacy scholarship program has been established to honor Bill Gaskins, 1969 College of Pharmacy graduate,  clinical pharmacy instructor,  WSU Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, and director of pharmacy at Pullman Regional Hospital for 43 years.

The Bill Gaskins Pharmacy Scholars Fund will provide support to scholarships for students training in rural pharmacy. Pullman Regional Hospital is a site for clinical rotations for pharmacy students and provides students with a rural pharmacy practice experience. Dr. R. Keith Campbell, a long-time colleague of Gaskins and distinguished professor in diabetes care and pharmacotherapy said, “Bill is one of the most generous men I know. His leadership and … » More …

U.S. Assistant Surgeon General to Speak at Pharmacy Commencement

photo of scott gibersonSPOKANE, Wash. – A U.S. assistant surgeon general and licensed pharmacist will be the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremony of the Washington State University College of Pharmacy on May 2.

Rear Admiral Scott F. Giberson is the director of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and its more than 6,500 public health professionals of all disciplines. This includes responsibility for recruitment, retention, career management, training, readiness, deployment, policy development, comprehensive force management, and retirement.

Giberson also is the chief professional officer for the pharmacy category of the Corps and advises the … » More …

Pharmacy researcher studies disorder associated with autism and epilepsy

SPOKANE, Wash. – Further testing of an experimental drug’s effectiveness on an inherited disorder with characteristics of autism and epilepsy has been funded by a $743,974 grant from the National Institutes of Health to a Washington State University professor.

Dr. K. Michael Gibson, head of the clinical pharmacology section in WSU’s College of Pharmacy, and three other collaborators already have tested the effectiveness of an amino acid for the disorder, and will use a similar clinical trial approach to test the experimental drug SGS742.

The researchers also will make a recommendation to the NIH as to whether SGS742 has sufficient promise to warrant further investment. … » More …

Pharmacy researcher receives 1.6M to study gene therapy for HIV/AIDS

PULLMAN, Wash. – Dr. Grant D. Trobridge of Washington State University has received a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue investigating the use of gene therapy for HIV and AIDS, an area where he has had success.

Gene therapy for HIV is an approach where genes that interfere with the virus’s ability to replicate are delivered to a patient’s blood stem cells. A significant roadblock to gene therapy for AIDS has been the inefficient transfer of new DNA to the patient, but Trobridge and his colleagues have spent years developing a more efficient transfer agent to deliver anti-HIV genes to … » More …

College of Pharmacy Students Score Well On National Exam

SPOKANE, Wash. – Thirteen Doctor of Pharmacy students at Washington State University scored in the 90th percentile or higher on a national curriculum assessment exam administered recently by the National Boards of Pharmacy.

The students are in their third-year of the four-year pharmacy program at WSU and were among 1,843  pharmacy students nationally who took the exam. A score in the 90th percentile means the student scored at or higher than 90% of the examinees.

“The Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment exam is an independent, objective, external measure of student performance in US pharmacy curricula,” said Brenda Bray, assessment director at the WSU College of Pharmacy … » More …

Stephen M. Setter: March 1, 1959 – March 27, 2013

“He was a gifted and generous teacher and pharmacist.” “He was a wonderful colleague and friend.” “He was inspirational … we are better pharmacists because of him.”

Those are some of the many thoughts shared in the days that followed the passing of Steve Setter at his home in Spokane. Steve was on faculty at the WSU College of Pharmacy for 15 years and during that time he devoted much time to working with social workers at Elder Services in Spokane. It was a popular rotation site for pharmacy students. In 2000, Steve became one of only 10 Certified Geriatric Pharmacists in the state of … » More …

High School Juniors to visit WSU Health Sciences Programs in Spokane

SPOKANE – Health Sciences programs at WSU in Spokane will be hosting their first spring student recruitment fair for high school juniors on April 26.

They have teamed up with WSU’s “Preview for Juniors” held every spring on the Pullman campus, meaning attendees can pre-register for one or both events.

Prospective students and their parents will be able to visit the Spokane campus on a Friday afternoon and then travel to Pullman for the Saturday event.

The event begins at 1 p.m. with an academic fair with staffed tables, exhibits and handouts, followed by a formal, 15-minute welcome. After the welcome, participants will select a … » 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 …

Clinical Pharmacology Adds Faculty from North Carolina

SPOKANE, Wash. – A University of North Carolina faculty member will be returning to the Northwest this summer when she joins Washington State University as an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy.

Mary F. Paine has a Ph.D. in pharmaceutics from the University of Washington and a B.S. in pharmacy from Oregon State University. She has been at the UNC at Chapel Hill since 1999.

Paine is a registered pharmacist who practiced for four years as a hospital pharmacist before returning to graduate school to pursue her Ph.D. After receiving her Ph.D., she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan Medical Center. … » More …

Airline magazine features WSU Health Sciences in Spokane

Read in the February issue of Alaska Airlines Magazine how the pharmacy and health sciences programs at Washington State University are contributing to the exciting expansion of the health care sector in Spokane. WSU’s efforts – together with those by other Spokane businesses and organizations – aim at developing a robust research and health care community prominent enough to attract attention, talent and industry from all over the globe. Read the full story here: Alaska Airlines February 2013, page 80.