June 6-8, a group of University of Iowa College of Pharmacy graduate students hosted the 45th annual Pharmaceutics Graduate Student Research Meeting. The theme this year was, “Translational research – Moving therapeutic discoveries from bench to bedside,” and the meeting was attended by over 170 pharmaceutical sciences graduate students from across the Midwest.
During the conference opening session, held at Kinnick Stadium, College of Pharmacy Dean Donald Letendre urged the participants to make connections outside of their own institutions. Attendees began this process by participating in ice-breaker activities at the close of the evening.
On June 7, attendees participated in poster sessions, podia session talks, and heard from keynote speaker Kalpana Merchant, chief scientific officer of translational science at Eli Lilly and Company. Prior to closing the conference, a panel discussion on careers in translational science was held.
Rakesh Awasthi, conference planning chair said, "The opportunity to connect with our peers from other institutions is invaluable. We were able to come together to learn, share ideas, and network in a way that is truly unique."