2013 News

Tsinghua University logo
The UCSF School of Pharmacy has entered into a five-year collaborative education and research agreement with Tsinghua University School of Medicine in Beijing, China. The agreement will establish a joint Tsinghua School of Medicine-UCSF School of Pharmacy program for pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences education and research at Tsinghua University, which is one of China’s top science and engineering schools.
Stebbins
A bill signed into law last month by California Governor Jerry Brown and taking effect on January 1, 2014 could be an important first step toward changing how pharmacists practice, especially in community settings.
Guglielmo
Observations and actions: First 100 days, Accreditation review of the PharmD program (Assemi), Recently received research funding (Phillips, Gartner, Abate), Recent faculty publications (Wells, DeGrado, González Burchard, Shin), Research in the public eye (Roy, González Burchard), Honors (Ahituv, Hernandez), Patient care (Tobacco, SB 493), New faculty members (Fraser, Bandyopadhyay, Pon, Gestwicki), New role for Brian Alldredge, Faculty retirements (Alsop, Soller, Leeds, Oppenheimer), more.
Gartner
Zev Gartner, PhD, has been named a recipient of the 2013 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award, which will provide his lab with up to $1.5 million in research funding over the next five years.
Brodowy
Bret Brodowy, PharmD, a leader in hospital pharmacy practice and management, has been named the new director of the Medication Outcomes Center in the School of Pharmacy’s Department of Clinical Pharmacy. The appointment was effective August 12, 2013. Established in 2007, the Medication Outcomes Center conducts medication-related research and evidence-based analyses to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of medications and models of hospital pharmacy services.
Youmans
Sharon L. Youmans, PharmD, MPH, a pharmacist and educator with a deep commitment to pharmacy education and public health, has been appointed vice dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy. Her appointment was effective July 1, 2013.
Ahituv
Research led by UCSF scientists has provided fresh insight into the operation of DNA sequences in the genome that regulate gene expression. The new study looked at the effects of inserting nearly 5,000 synthetic regulatory element sequences into mice as well as human liver cells. Specifically, these were enhancers, snippets of DNA which, when bound by protein molecules called transcription factors, contribute to gene activation.
no smoking sign
The UCSF School of Pharmacy and the Purdue University College of Pharmacy have become the first U.S. pharmacy schools to adopt a broadly worded new professional practice recommendation aimed at reducing tobacco’s public health burden.
Burchard in lab
In the largest study of its kind to date, researchers led by UCSF scientists found that infants in minority populations who are exposed to motor vehicle air pollution, specifically nitrogen dioxide (NO2), are more likely to develop asthma later in childhood.
Kroon
Lisa Kroon, PharmD, a pharmacist and educator as well as a clinical researcher in the fields of diabetes and tobacco cessation, has been named the new chair of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy within the UCSF School of Pharmacy. The appointment will be effective July 1, 2013.
Huynh, Chuang, Shin, Shen
Studies of whether patients are taking a blood thinner as prescribed, whether antibiotic treatment of cancer patients’ fevers matches guidelines, and whether one form of a leading cardiovascular drug increases the risk for a serious side effect took top honors at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy’s 15th annual Spring Research Seminar.
Roy with artificial kidney device
The San Francisco Chronicle and the Bay Area News Group, which includes the San Jose Mercury News and Oakland Tribune, have published feature articles this week focused on The Kidney Project, an effort to develop the first implantable bioartificial kidney to treat end-stage renal disease.
A new video produced by the American Museum of Natural History features the work of Esteban Burchard, MD, MPH, and members of his laboratory. “Genes and Health: Moving Beyond Race,” shows how Burchard’s lab is using differences in the ancestry of asthma patients to help find genetic variations contributing to the disorder, the most common chronic disease in children.
Guglielmo
B. Joseph Guglielmo, PharmD, an honored UCSF professor and mentor as well as a leading pharmacist and clinical scientist specializing in antimicrobial therapies, will be the new dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy. His appointment, officially announced today by UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, after being approved by UC President Mark Yudof, will take effect April 1.
Phillips
Improving technologies are rapidly cutting the cost of whole genome sequencing, a process that reveals the complete library of a patient’s genetic information. Indeed, the era of the $1,000 genome—a catchphrase for the test’s relative affordability—appears imminent.
Abate
Physicist Adam Abate, PhD, who applies microfluidics technology to speedily process millions of encapsulated biological samples to discover drugs, engineer proteins, and diagnose cancers, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award.
Hernandez
Ryan Hernandez, PhD, whose lab studies patterns of genetic variation from populations around the world, using detailed computer modeling to learn more about human evolutionary processes and to discover regions of the genome vital to function and underlying disease, has been named a 2013 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow.
Lightwood
California tobacco control efforts that cost $2.4 billion over nearly two decades reduced health care costs during that same period by $134 billion, according to a new study co-authored by UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member James Lightwood, PhD.
Two cigarettes
Faculty of the UCSF School of Pharmacy will train Safeway supermarket pharmacists to help their customers quit smoking, using a curriculum originally developed at the School. The new partnership with Safeway Inc. marks the first time a smoking cessation intervention has been applied systematically across a network of pharmacies.
Benet
During his illustrious half-century career, UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member Leslie Benet, PhD, has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, many helping to define the field of pharmacokinetics—how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes medications—or as he once put it, “what the body does to the drug.”
Bero
How well do states’ policies address possible conflicts of interest of committee members who decide which drugs get Medicaid reimbursement? The question looms especially large as impending federal health care reform increases the number of patients covered by the state-run drug formularies.
Guglielmo
Top NIH funding: Shu, Aweeka, Brodsky. Recent gifts to The Kidney Project. Honors and awards: Day, Youmans, Benet, Schoenhaus. New pharmacy care model, Safeway. John Craig remembered. Mary Anne Koda-Kimble celebrated. Achieving our vision: 2007-2012.
Shuvo Roy, silicon wafer, bioartificial kidney model
Research at the UCSF School of Pharmacy to develop the first implantable bioartificial kidney recently received exceptional private support: $1 million from the family of the late philanthropists Harry and Diana Hind, and $50,000 from the Patterson Barclay Memorial Foundation.