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Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences News

Pharmacy dean appointed to economic development agency board

Dean Gary M. Pollack has been appointed by Gov. Christine Gregoire to the board of directors of the Health Sciences & Services Authority of Spokane County.

The Health Sciences & Services Authority of Spokane County was established in 2007 by the Washington Legislature, authorized by Spokane County in 2008 to promote bioscience-based economic development, and began operating in 2009. Its mission is to advance new therapies and procedures to combat disease and to promote public health.

HSSA invests funds to create and support health sciences research in Spokane County, and works to catalyze higher education research and the health sciences industry to lead to higher … » More …

WSU pharmacy scholarship evident in recent issue of journal

Call it the Washington State University special edition of the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, although it was purely a coincidence four WSU papers were published in the most recent issue of the journal.

“What are the odds of that happening, when you consider there are more than 100 pharmacy schools,” said John R. White, a professor and interim department chair in the College of Pharmacy who pointed out the occurrence in an email to College employees. “The manuscripts cover a plethora of different subjects and make clear the fact that our faculty hold not only the professional education program but also the scholarship of … » More …

Pharmacy undergraduate summer research program receives funding

Funding for an undergraduate summer research program in the College of Pharmacy at Washington State University has been renewed by the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

ASPET awarded the College $27,000 – or $9,000 per year – for the next three years and has funded the program for nine of the last 10 years, according to Raymond M. Quock, pharmaceutical sciences department chair.

The College must match the award with $5,000 per year, and the money allows student researchers to be paid a stipend for their 10 weeks of full-time work on research with a faculty mentor who is an ASPET member. Additional … » More …

Pharmacy professor receives state recognition

SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington State University Pharmacy Professor William E. Fassett has received the Washington State Pharmacy Association’s annual award for “pioneering and sustaining contributions” to the pharmacy profession.

Fassett was among those honored at the WSPA’s annual awards banquet held recently in Tacoma.

Fassett is a former dean of the WSU College of Pharmacy – from 1999 to 2005 – and has since taught pharmacy law and ethics in the Department of Pharmacotherapy in Spokane. He is editor of the two official national journals of the American Society for Pharmacy Law – Rx Ipsa Loquitur and Pharma-Law e-News – and also serves as treasurer … » More …

Researcher seeks clues to leukemia

PULLMAN, Wash. – Identifying which genes are involved in a group of diseases that are precursors to leukemia is the focus of a new research project in the College of Pharmacy at Washington State University.
“The goal is to improve our understanding of the disease process and identify new targets for drug development,” said Grant Trobridge, assistant professor of pharmaceutical science.

Funded by a $545,036 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, Trobridge and his colleagues are looking for the genes involved in myelodysplastic syndromes, a diverse collection of blood-related conditions in which the body’s blood production is disorderly and ineffective. If not treated … » More …

Shultz new PI for Food $ense grant

Photo of Jill ShultzJill Armstrong Shultz, a professor in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, is the new principal investigator of a Washington Department of Social & Health Services grant funded by USDA/Food and Nutrition Service through which Washington State University Extension reaches more than 150,000 underserved Washington residents each year.

The grant supports the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education – which  targets food stamp-eligible families. The SNAP-Ed grant – for nutrition education and obesity prevention – is $6.5 million to fund a program delivered in 27 counties, four Tribal projects and a sub-contract with Central Washington … » More …

Study examines high sugar diet connection to heart disease

Photo of Sue MarshA Washington State University research project to understand how a poor diet might genetically change human heart function and contribute to cardiovascular disease has been funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Susan Marsh has found in preliminary experiments that a diet high in sugar and saturated fat altered the attachment of sugars to proteins in the muscle cells of the heart.

“We’re interested in the way proteins talk to each other within the cells because proteins determine how well cells function,” Marsh … » More …

Death Notice: Retired USTUR director Tony James

Photo of anthony jamesDr. Anthony C. James, the recently retired director of the U.S. Transuranium and Uranium Registries at WSU Tri-cities, passed away Wednesday, July 20, 2011, in Seattle from cancer.

James was director of the USTUR – a program in the College of Pharmacy – from 2005 until he retired in July 2010. He had since returned to work there part-time.

James had been a researcher in radiation biology and health physics for almost 40 years. He had a doctorate degree in radiation biology and a bachelor’s degree in physics, both from the University of London.

… » More …

Dean Pollack new vice provost for health sciences

photo of dean gary pollackCollege of Pharmacy Dean Gary M. Pollack assumed the additional role of Vice Provost for Health Sciences, effective July 1, 2011.

WSU Spokane is the health sciences campus for Washington State University, and the Division of Health Sciences is currently composed of the Colleges of Nursing and Pharmacy; WWAMI/WSU Medical Sciences; and the Departments of Speech and Hearing Sciences and Health Policy and Administration. A certificate in public health is under development.

At full maturity, the health science programs centered on the WSU Spokane Riverpoint Campus and associated activities in the healthcare … » More …

Landkammer named Preceptor of the Year

John Landkammer, the pharmacy supervisor/student coordinator at Providence Holy Family Hospital in Spokane, was named “Preceptor of the Year” for his work with pharmacy students doing rotations at the hospital. He has been a preceptor for the College for more than five years. The award is given to a preceptor for their outstanding contributions to the educational development of future pharmacists by demonstrating high standards of professionalism, ethics and clinical practice.
Some of the comments about John from the evaluations and award nomination forms include:

natural leader and a positive influence in the pharmacy department
enthusiastic, possesses superlative critical thinking abilities, eager … » More …