Farris & Currie receive Lyman Award
Two pharmacy faculty members and two of their former students were honored for the best manuscript in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE) for 2004.

Each year, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy gives the Rufus A. Lyman Award to recognize the most notable original research or scholarly work published in AJPE during the preceding year. The award, given annually since 1969, is named in honor of the first editor of AJPE.

Jared Freml, ’04 PharmD, Karen Farris, PhD, Gang Fang, ’04 MSc, and Jay Currie, ’84 PharmD, were named the recipients of the 2005 Lyman Award for the article, “Iowa Priority’s Brown Bag Medication Reviews: A Comparison of Pharmacy Students and Pharmacists.” Freml, the lead author, and Fang were professional and graduate students, respectively, when the research was completed. Farris, an associate professor in the Division of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, was senior author. Currie is a professor (clinical) in the division.

The manuscript documents a study of the Iowa Priority Brown Bag Medication Reviews, a component of the Iowa Priority Prescription Savings Program, which provides prescription drug discounts to Medicare-eligible Iowans. The UI team studied the Brown Bag Reviews to determine the percentage of drugs that could have been substituted with a generic product or interchanged with a therapeutic equivalent, and compared recommendations made by pharmacists and pharmacy students as to cost and therapy

White Coat Ceremony

109 entering pharmacy students received their first white laboratory coats - a symbol of their admission into the college of pharmacy and the profession of pharmacy on Saturday, August 20th, 1:00pm, at the Iowa Memorial Union. Jordan Cohen, Dean of the College of Pharmacy addressed the students. Thomas Halterman of West Des Moines, '89 BSPh, CEO, Outcomes Pharmaceutical Health Care, and president of the UI College of Pharmacy Alumni Board, and Susan Purcell, '74 BSPh, President Elect of IPA, welcomed the students to the profession. Michael Kelly, '88 PharmD, '89 MS, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Lucinda Harms, '83 BSPh, Instructor, and Jeffrey Reist, Clinical Instructor, '82 BSPh, both from the Clinical and Administrative Division at the college, assisted students in receiving their white laboratory coats and name badges. All students recited the 'Oath of a Pharmacist.' A short reception followed the ceremony.

AACP Information
Vern Duba, Vicki Kee, Jeff Reist, Lucinda Harms, and Barbara Kelley, from the College of Pharmacy, and Kimberly Bloedel, from Hardin Health Science Libraries, presented a panel discussion entitled; "Beyond the Counter: A Collaborative Between Pharmacy, Librarians, and Information Technologists" at the recent AACP conference in Cincinnati.

The panel presented information on collaborative efforts for drug information education at the College of Pharmacy. The Pharmacy Practice Lab (PPL) presents a practical application of scientific and clinical knowledge in the provision of pharmaceutical care. Activities include prescription interpretations, aseptic technique in the preparation of parental products, patient communication, pharmacy calculations, application of drug information skills, and pharmacy law. As part of the educational outreach program, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences incorporates information management skills appropriate to the professional goals, class level and educational purpose of the PPL sequence.

Lucinda Harms, from the College of Pharmacy, and Charlotte Smith, from the Pharmecology Associates, presented a discussion entitled; "Managing Pharmaceutical Waste, A New Curricular Requirement" at the recent AACP conference in Cincinnati. The two presented information for pharmacists regarding the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act, which now regulates how hazardous waste is handled. Many common pharmaceutical drugs, were included on the list from the RCRA. They also educated the attendees on the new guidelines and law as well as how they have dealt with changes in their own procedures in PPL.

Pharmaceutics Faculty Member in inaugural class of ACCP Leadership Fellows
Maureen Donovan, Ph.D., participated in a yearlong program designed to develop the nation's most promising pharmacy faculty for roles as future leaders in academic pharmacy and higher education. Dr. Donovan was asked to participate by Dean Jordan Cohen, also serving as her mentor. This particular group, comprised of 30 fellows, served as the inaugural class.

The four-session program includes self-assessment, peer assessment, in-depth leadership development, team building, exploration of legislative and public policy isues critical to pharmaceutical and higher education, administrative competencies development, and application of leadership experiences. As part of the program, Fellows were assigned to one of five groups of six individuals with a Dean Facilitator. Each group was charged to develop a proposal and work plan for addressing a policy issues in health professions and higher education. The project work will result in a manuscript suitable for publication in AJPE..

New PEP AssiStant Director

Lori Kayser joined the Division of Clinical and Adminstrative Pharmacy and took Emily Sundet's position as the assistant director of PEP on July 1st, 2005. Emily Sundet recently moved to Cedar Falls and is pursuing her M.A. in Education. Lori came to CAP from the Office of Academic Affairs where she was a pre-pharmacy advisor. Her telephone number is 319-335-8861 and her email address is lori-kayser@uiowa.edu.

Clinical and Administrative Division reorganizing
Dr. Bernard Sorofman, head of clinical and administrative pharmacy, announces a new administrative structure for the division effective August, 2005.

Division Head: Bernard Sorofman. Responsible for all elements of the Division of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy. Focus on faculty development, research mission.

Associate Head & Director of Experience Programs: Jay Currie. The Associate Head is also responsible for all aspects of the CAP Division responsibilities and oversight of professional program experiential education.

Assistant Head for Professional Education: Gary Milavetz. Assistant head will represent the Division and Division Head on all issues related to the Doctor of Pharmacy educational program, with the exception of experiential education.

Assistant Head for Post-Graduate Education: Karen Farris. Assistant head will represent the Division and Division Head on all issues related to the graduate educational programs, residency training and post-doctoral fellow programs.

Assistant Head for New Professional Initiatives: Randal McDonough. Assistant Head may represent the Division and Division Head on all issues related new professional initiatives.

Interdisciplinary Health Group
The 7th Annual Student Interdisciplinary Health Research Poster session occurred in Spring 05 - 60 students presented a variety of health-related research. There were eight award winners, two of those from the College of Pharmacy:
Student: Molly Kurpius, PharmD Candidate
Title: Evidence for the Methylation of Nortriptyline and Desipramine
Other Author: Bruce Alexander, PharmD, BCPP

Fellow: Jeffrey R. Bishop, PharmD, Post Doc Research Fellow College of Pharmacy, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory
Title: Serotonin 5HT2A (-1438G/A and T102C) and G-Protein Beta Subunit (GNB3 C825T) Polymorphisms and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI)-Associated Sexual Dysfunction
Other Author(s): Vicki L. Ellingrod, PharmD, BCPP; Jessica Moline, BS: Susan K. Schultz, MD

CAP Research Day
The College’s Division of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy held its sixth annual Research Achievement Day Symposium and Poster Session on April 25. Vicki Ellingrod coordinated the event. Keynote speaker Howard McLeod, PharmD, director of the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center Pharmacology Core and an associate professor in the oncology division of the department of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, spoke on “Pharmacogentics for Every Nation Initiative: Taking the Genome to the Masses.”

Posters were recognized in four categories:
PharmD Student: Cynthia A. Weber, PharmD candidate, for “Medication Adherence and Obstructive Sleep Apnea,” with Rachel Gravel, PharmD, Karen Farris, PhD, Beth Bryles Phillips, PharmD, Mark E. Dyken, MD, John Dopp, PharmD, Bradley G. Phillips, PharmD.

Resident: Ryan McClellan, PharmD, for “The Relationship Between Body Mass Index and VA Health Care Costs,” with Nancee Waterbury, PharmD, and Bruce Alexander, PharmD.

Graduate Student/Fellow: Yifei Liu, MS, for “Drug Information-Seeking Intention and Behavior After Exposure to Direct-to-Consumer Advertisement (DTCA) of Prescription Drugs,” with William R. Doucette PhD, Karen B. Farris, PhD, and Dhananjay Nayakankuppam, PhD.

PharmD Student/ Resident Work In Progress: Dawn Recker, PharmD, for “Evaluation of pharmacist intervention and pedometer use to increase physical activity,” with Jay Currie, PharmD, Karen Farris, PhD, Molly Adams, PharmD, Candice Garwood, PharmD, Lori Hoffman, PharmD, Amy Jackson, PharmD, Robert Keane, RPh, Marla Tonn, RPh.