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Global Health Advisors Program

Welcome to the global health advisors program.  This is an informal program that links students with senior individuals who have careers, expertise and connections in the areas of pharmacy service to the underserved, global health, and pharmacy public health.  The program provides students with access to individuals who can provide free consultations to guide the students’ experiences, elective choices and career path.

Goals of the Advisors Program:

• To provide a network of mentors who are available to students for consultations, primarily short-term consultations, but longer-term is possible
• To nurture students’ interest, exposure and knowledge of service outreach activities, both local and global
• To provide students with an opportunity to develop relationships with individuals practicing and working in the areas of service outreach
• To make connections between students and resources that may result in pharmacy related practicum sites for students enrolled in the PharmD-MPH joint degree program

How to seek a consultation:

1. Formulate and focus the advice or guidance you are seeking
2. Contact a consultant directly if you have identified an individual you feel will be able to respond knowledgably to you or contact Dean Seaba to identify an advisor
3. Following the consultation, contact the advisor and provide an epilogue.

Advisors:

Jordan L. Cohen, Ph.D.
Jordan Cohen recently retired as Dean of the University of Iowa, College of Pharmacy after serving 8 1/2 years.  He had previously served as Dean of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Kentucky from January 1988 to March 1999.  A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he received his B.S. in pharmacy in 1965 and Ph.D. in pharmaceutics in 1969 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He served on the faculty at the University of Southern California for almost 18 years and in 1985-86, Dr. Cohen was selected as an American Council on Education Fellow, serving his Fellowship year as Assistant to the Chancellor at the University of California at Irvine.  He also completed certificate programs in educational design and management while at USC.
              
Dr. Cohen’s research has been in the areas of clinical pharmacology of anticancer and anti-AIDS agents, and disposition of drugs in the elderly.  Currently, he has interests in leadership issues in the health professions and the effects of the changes in health care delivery on pharmaceutical education.
            
Dr. Cohen has been active in international health and pharmacy initiatives for over 25 years.  He has worked with the World Health Organization to build capacity in pharmacy in Panama on two occasions.  He worked with the Medical University of South Africa to help develop their curriculum. He also participated in developing pharmacy student and faculty exchange programs in Japan and Tanzania, and with the United States Pharmacopeia in Costa Rica.  
               
Dr. Cohen was elected to the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Board of Trustees In 1990, and served as Chair from 1995-2000.  Within AACP, he served as Chair of the Council of Deans in 1991-92 and President in 1998-99.  He was also the initial chair of the Executive Committee of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science of APhA. He served as a member of the California Bioequivalence Advisory Panel. He was an advisory body regarding MediCal formulary decisions and currently serves as the USP member of the AMA’s adopted drug names council and on the Steering Committee of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations’ Transforming Health Professional Education program in 2005.  Dr. Cohen has been active in both Kentucky and Iowa in the promotion of economic development with local, regional and state-wide economic development agencies seeking linkages with the Universities.  He and his wife, Jana, will continue to reside in Iowa City, where he will remain as a member of the faculty on a part-time basis while pursuing policy related issues in health care and pharmacy leadership initiatives.

Topics and or countries:
• Anti-cancer agents
• Anti-AIDS agents
• Capacity building
• Education
• Elderly
• Panama, South Africa, Japan, Tanzania, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Bermuda, Argentina, Austria, Italy, France, Greece and Israel

Jordan Cohen can be reached at jordan-cohen@uiowa.edu or at (319) 335-8794

Lawrence Fleckenstein, Pharm.D.
Lawrence Fleckenstein, Pharm.D. is Professor and Director of the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, The University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, 1991-present. Dr. Fleckenstein’s research program is focused on the development of new therapies for parasitic diseases of underdeveloped countries, primarily malaria, onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. Dr. Fleckenstein has over 20 years experience in antiparasitic drug development and is currently Chair, Product Development Team, of the pyronaridine-artesunate development project. This project is currently entering Phase III clinical trials and seeks to develop a low-cost oral antimalarial combination for use in underdeveloped countries, a project jointly sponsored by Medicines for Malaria Venture, and Shin Poong Pharmaceuticals, Seoul, South Korea. He is also a collaborating investigator on the clinical development of moxidectin, a promising new treatment for onchocerciasis in a project jointly sponsored by WHO and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

His research involves a number of international projects and he has had collaborations in recent years with clinical investigators in Ghana, Nigeria, India, Thailand, South Korea, Brazil and Tahiti. Professor Fleckenstein has been a consultant to WHO and a member of the USP Expert Advisory Panel on Parasitic and Tropical Disease, US Pharmacopeial Convention Inc. He teaches clinical pharmacokinetics to professional and graduate students at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy.

Lawrence Fleckenstein can be reached at l-fleckenstein@uiowa.edu or (319) 335 8804

Ronald A. Herman, Ph.D.
Ronald Herman, PhD, has been on the faculty at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy for the past 12 years. Six of those were spent with an active practice in the Burn Treatment Center at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics and the past six have been as the Director of the Iowa Drug Information Network. He greatly enjoys his interactions with students that he supervises during their clerkship training and his resident. He has also been involved in training others how to operate a drug information center, both locally (trainee came from Ghana) and at various host-sites (Botswana and the United Arab Emirates). Prior to obtaining his Ph.D. in pharmacokinetics, he and his wife spent six years (1979-1984) on staff with a nonprofit organization where they were involved in the training of medical professionals in a developing area of Southern Africa.

He has been a Global Health Advisory Council member representing pharmacy since 1997. He has participated on Global Health Outreach (GHO) trips to Zambia in 1996, 1997 and 2002, to Ethiopia in 2004 and to Afghanistan in 2006. These two week medical trips had physicians, dentists, pharmacists and nurses and provided basic health care needs in under-served areas. He has prepared the pharmacy manual for use on all GHO trips (about 40 teams per year) and actively recruits pharmacists to participate on these teams.

Topics and/or countries:
• Iowa Drug Information System (IDIS)
• Pharmacokinetics
• Global Health Outreach (GHO) & Christian Medical & Dental Assocation (CMDA)
• Ghana, Botswana, United Arab Emirates, Zambia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan

Ronald Herman and be reached at ronald-a-herman@uiowa.edu or (319) 335 4800

Ruth E. Nemire, Pharm.D.
Ruth E. Nemire is the Associate Dean for Professional Education and Community Engagement (PEACE) and Professor of Pharmacy Practice for Touro College of Pharmacy in Harlem NY. Previously, Ruth was the director of community engagement and Associate Professor of pharmacy practice at Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy (www.nova.edu) and a voluntary assistant professor for the University Of Miami College Of Medicine (www.med.miami.edu). She graduated from Ohio Northern University with a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy and completed a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University Of Toledo College Of Pharmacy. She completed her formal training at the University Of Miami College Of Medicine with a fellowship in Epilepsy/Neurology. After completing the baccalaureate degree in pharmacy from Ohio Northern Ruth worked as a clinical pharmacist for the State of Ohio in a developmental center focusing on treatment for psychiatric and neurological disorders. She then worked as an ambulatory care pharmacist for the Veteran’s Administration. She returned to the academy to complete a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Toledo and then completed a fellowship in neurology from the University of Miami.

Following that she was appointed as the director of research at the Center for Neurology Studies, and assistant professor of neurology at Texas Tech Medical School in Lubbock, Texas. During her tenure in Texas she participated as a principle investigator in multiple drug trials for treatment of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, migraine and epilepsy. She mentored and trained neurology residents in good clinical practices for research and pharmacy issues in patient care. She returned to Florida for an appointment as an assistant professor at the Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy in the Department of Pharmacy Practice.

Nemire served as the director of clinical education for 7 years. In 2005 she took on the role of Director of Community Engagement for the College of Pharmacy. As the Director of Community Engagement Nemire works with various community organizations and schools to increase partnerships that benefit faculty, students and members of the community. She has authored chapters on preceptor development, and articles relating to service-learning, intellectual property, and course development and is the co-editor of the book Pharmacy Clerkships: A Survival Manual for Students (McGraw-Hill 2002). She is the co-developer of a web based experiential education program for NSU preceptors and students. She has served in multiple elected leadership positions nationally for the American Epilepsy Society (www.aesnet.org) and American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (aacp.org).

Topics and/or countries:
• Neurology/Epilepsy
• Community Engagement
• Peru, Haiti, Jamaica

Ruth Nemire can be reached at ruth.nemire@touro.edu or (212) 851 1192 X 2115

Olayinka Oladimeji, BS Pharm.
Olayinka Oladimeji, from Nigeria Africa, graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 2002. She is pursuing a PhD in the Department of Pharmaceutical Socioeconomics, Clinical and Administrative Division, College of Pharmacy at the University of Iowa. She is presently the teaching assistant for the “Models of patient behavior and choice” course and was the teaching assistant for the first class of “Pharmaceutical Management for Underserved Populations”. She is also working on research projects such as examining the risk factors for adverse drug events amongst Medicare enrollees and studying the symptomatology and attribution of medicines amongst Medicare enrollees. Her research interests involve understanding the social and behavioral concepts and principles involved in medication use among patients and examining the factors influencing patient reported medication symptoms. Upon graduation, she intends to work in academia or be involved in collaborative research in a research or international organization.

Olayinka Oladimeji can be reached at olayinka-oladimeji@uiowa.edu or (319) 354 5185

Robert J. Osterhaus, B.S. Pharm.
Robert J. (Bob) Osterhaus is a mostly retired community pharmacist in Maquoketa, Iowa where he and his son and daughter-in-law (Matt and Marilyn) own and operate the Osterhaus Pharmacy. The Pharmacy is an accredited Community Pharmacy Residency site for the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. Osterhaus has served as a member of the Iowa Board of Pharmacy Examiners and as president of the Iowa Pharmacists Association. He was the 1992-1993 president of the APhA (the national professional society of pharmacists). He has served as a member of the executive committee of the Community Pharmacy Section of the Federation of International Pharmacy (FIP). He has been a member of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and was its president from 2000-2002. He currently serves as a director of The Community Pharmacy Foundation and the Pharmacy Freedom Fund. He served in the Iowa State House of Representatives from January of 1996 through 2004. He was a co-founder of the Maquoketa Area Community Foundation and served as its chairman for seven years. He is an active member of the Maquoketa Rotary Club.

Robert Osterhaus can be reached a bob@osterhausrx.com or (563) 652-5611

Jeffrey Reist, BS, Pharm.D.
Jeffrey Reist is an Assistant Professor (Clinical) and coordinator of the Pharmacy Practice Laboratory at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. He also practices in the Ambulatory Care Clinics at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics  in the areas of geriatrics and anticoagulation. He is a 1982 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy (BS Pharm.) and recently graduated with a post baccalaureate Pharm.D. from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Prior to returning to the College to teach full-time, Jeff worked in hospital, community and long-term care pharmacy practices in the Cedar Rapids area and served as adjunct faculty precepting pharmacy students. Jeff is a member of the American Pharmacists Association, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, and the Iowa Pharmacy Association.

Topics and/or countries:
• Immunizations
• Geriatrics

Jeff Reist can be reached at jeffrey-reist@uiowa.edu or (319) 335 6513

Aliasger K. Salem, Ph.D.
Aliasger K. Salem, Ph.D. is a member of the pharmaceutics faculty at the College of Pharmacy, University of Iowa since 2004. Dr. Salem’s research program is focused on the development of new and potent immunotherapeutic vaccines and adjuvants to vaccines. Dr. Salem’s training in pharmaceutics spans from the United Kingdom to the United States. He has long-standing connections and collaborators  in Tanzania (Zanzibar), Kenya, U.K. and South Africa. Dr. Salem received his Ph.D. from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham in the U.K. Dr. Salem was then a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore for several years. His current research program on the development of new vaccines involves a highly inter-disciplinary research team that spans chemistry, chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, dentistry and the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Topics and or countries:
• Vaccinations and Immunotherapy
• New therapies and adjuvants
• Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, United Kingdom

Aliasger K. Salem can be reached at aliasger-salem@uiowa.edu or at (319) 335-8810

Hazel H. Seaba, BS, MS Pharm

Hazel Seaba can be reached at hazel-seaba@uiowa.edu or (319) 335 9241

Richard S. Walling, R.Ph., M.H.A. Rear Admiral USPHS (ret)
Richard Walling is a Public Health and Pharmacy Executive with extensive leadership experience in public health policy development in the Western Hemisphere and Middle East.  Mr. Walling is a recognized leader by his peers in Public Health Pharmacy.  He possesses strong diplomatic and communication skills with over 15 years of international experience.  In addition, Mr. Walling has extensive experience in consensus building within an atmosphere of diverse cultural perspectives. 

He began his pharmacy and global health career as a community pharmacist after graduating from the University of Iowa in 1974.  After two years in community pharmacy practice he accepted an appointment with United States Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps.  His PHS career spanned 31 years starting with clinical pharmacist assignments at the PHS Hospitals in Staten Island, New York and Seattle, Washington.  He also served at the Indian Health Service Hospital in Fort Defiance, Arizona before taking an administrative assignment in the Operations Division of the PHS Commissioned Corps in Washington, D.C.  Following his management assignment in the Office of the Surgeon General he served in the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Global Health Affairs as Director, Office of the Americas and Middle East.

In 2001 he was appointed by then Surgeon General David M. Satcher as Assistant Surgeon General and Chief Pharmacy Officer to the Office to the United States Surgeon General. He held the position until his retirement in July, 2005.

After his retirement he accepted a position as the Director, Center for Health-System Pharmacy Leadership at ASHP Research and Education Foundation.   The Center will focus on enhancing the effectiveness of pharmacy leaders in developing, managing, and continuously improving the medication-use process. 

Richard Walling can be reached at rwalling@ashp.org  or (512) 330 4392

Anne Wiser, Ph.D.
Anne Wiser, originally from France, has a PhD. in Neuroscience from the University of Colorado. She has over 4 years of postdoctoral research experience and 6 years of technical writing and quality assurance experience in the computer software industry. After obtaining her Ph.D., Anne Wiser worked at the Salk Institute as a research associate pursuing a study of the primary visual cortex of macaques she had started as part of her Ph.D. dissertation. She later joined Dr. Nancy Andreasen’s Mental Health Clinical Research Center at the University of Iowa as a postdoctoral fellow to study brain imaging of learning & memory in healthy human subjects and in schizophrenic patients. Two years later, Anne Wiser joined the Chemosensory Disorders Program at the University of California San Diego to pursue brain imaging studies of the decline in olfaction accompanying normal and pathological aging. Throughout her academic training and scientific research experience,  Anne Wiser first-authored 4 publications in peer-reviewed journals and co-authored several more. Anne Wiser has also produced many published abstracts she presented at international conferences as posters and oral presentations. Anne Wiser joined the COP in December 2006 to provide support to the MSH contract amongst other tasts. She is also pursuing a Masters of Social Work at the University of Iowa.

Yang Xie, Ph.D., MPH
Yang Xie is an assistant professor of Health Economics in the Division of clinical and administrative pharmacy; and Associate at the Center for Health Policy and Research at The University of Iowa. He has a Ph.D. in Economics and a MPH from The State University of New York at Stony Brook. His research is in the areas of health economics, health policy, and health services research. In his current research he is looking at how different levels of information asymmetry between patients and health care providers affect the treatment decision making in a patient consumerism environment. In another project he is collaborating with researchers at Harvard University to study the volume-outcome relationships in health care. He applies econometric tools to study cancer treatment outcome and effectiveness as well as racial/ethnic disparities in health care. Yang Xie is also collaborating on research projects with health economists and health services researchers in China and is studying the health care system reform in China closely. In previous research, Yang Xie also studied the impact of AIDS on economic growth in different countries and the strategies that different countries adopted to fight AIDS.

Topics and/or countries:
• Health Economics
• Health Policy
• Health Care System and Health Care Finance
• AIDS/Global Health
• China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan

Yang Xie can be reached at yang-xie@iowa.edu or (319) 335-8623.