2004 News

From the time the antiretroviral therapy AZT was introduced in the 1980s to treat AIDS, the drug demanded close patient monitoring to be effective. AZT had many side effects and strict requirements for how and when to take it. Misuse of the drug could lead to viral resistance. Since then, the number of anti-HIV drugs has increased dramatically, and the management of HIV drug treatment has become ever more complicated.
UCSF leaders in pharmacy, international health, and AIDS met with their Vietnamese peers in Hanoi this October to plan how Vietnam's pharmacy workforce can curtail the spread of HIV in Vietnam.
In August 2004 Sharon L. Youmans, PharmD, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the UCSF School of Pharmacy, traveled to Africa's developing country of Malawi as a trustee of the San Francisco-based Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA). Youmans brings her pharmacy expertise to a country where there are:
medications
Consumers should ask their doctor or pharmacist details about any new prescription before taking it, according to Bill Soller, PhD, director of the UCSF Center for Consumer Self Care in a recent interview with CBS MarketWatch. • Full story: [When the Doctor Suggests a New Drug] (link defunct as of August 19, 2010). More information: [ UCSF Center for Consumer Self Care] [link defunct].
Thinking like engineers has transformed a new wave of UCSF scientists into systems experts who use big computers and big technology to ask the biggest question of all: How does life work? A new field called systems biology looks at how all components of biological systems work together. This approach differs radically from the traditional approach to science, which often looked at the workings of individual components within a system.
Should pharmacists be allowed to refuse to fill a prescription on moral or ethical grounds? Listen to what UCSF pharmacy students have to say about conscience clause legislation now being proposed in 12 states in the US. Voice your personal opinion in an online poll.
Eleanor M. Vogt
The School of Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco is pleased to announce the appointment of Eleanor M. Vogt, RPh, PhD as UCSF Presidential Chair and Visiting Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy. Vogt is the School's first Presidential Chair, which is awarded by UCSF on a competitive basis to encourage new or interdisciplinary program development and to enhance quality in existing academic programs.
John Inciardi
The practice horizons of today's doctor of pharmacy students at UCSF extend around the globe because of a special seminar taught by John Inciardi, PharmD, a faculty member in the department of clinical pharmacy and expert on international pharmacy practice. • Full story: Panorama: The World of Drugs.
Kathy M. Giacomini, PhD, chair, department of biopharmaceutical sciences and Leslie Z. Benet, PhD, professor in the same department, were both honored at the Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress, held May 29 to June 4, 2004 in Kyoto, Japan.
Juan Argueta
UCSF doctor of pharmacy student Juan Argueta graduated from pharmacy school and practiced pharmacy in Mexico before circumstances forced him to travel north to California's Salinas Valley and work as a farm laborer. He is now 43 years old, a father, and a student who commutes 120 miles one way to attend pharmacy school at UCSF. Argueta's story is one of determination and dedication. • Full story: Pharmacy: Juan's Way.
Koda-Kimble
Bay Area Screening Center and Center for Chemical Diversity, Breathe Easy Education Program, Center for Computational Proteomics Research, AIDS epidemic in Viet Nam. New faculty members: Veenstra, Vogt, Yokoyama, Kortemme. PharmD professional fees double, governor's compact. First year using PharmCAS. Graduate program funding for international students in jeopardy. Honors, awards, standings: Giacomini, Voigt, Jacobsen, Rudd. We're #1 in NIH funding again. UCSF Medical Center is 6th with U.S.
UCSF School of Pharmacy doctor of pharmacy students received the National Chapter Achievement Award, Division A from the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Students of Pharmacy (APhA-ASP) during the APhA annual meeting in Seattle, Washington, March 26 to 30, 2004. During the same meeting, 3rd-year UCSF pharmacy student Katherine Pang received the APhA Student Leadership Award.
Betty-ann Hoener, PhD, professor, UCSF School of Pharmacy, was honored April 27, 2004 by the UCSF Academic Senate as a recipient of the 2003-2004 Distinction in Teaching Award. The award was presented to Hoener by Chancellor J. Michael Bishop at the annual Founder's Day Banquet held this year at the St. Francis Hotel on Union Square in San Francisco. Hoener is the first UCSF faculty member to be honored by the award a second time.
Introduction Pharmacists can help spot depression, improve drug therapy outcomes, lower health care costs, and reduce the risk of suicide among depressed patients. This was the consensus among speakers at a March 6, 2004 conference in San Francisco sponsored by the UCSF School of Pharmacy Center for Consumer Self Care, in cooperation with the San Francisco-based Iris Alliance Fund.
Mary Anne Koda-Kimble
Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy, is the 2004 recipient of the Rho Chi Society Lecture Award. The award was presented March 28, 2004 in Seattle, Washington, USA, during the annual meeting of the American Pharmacists Association. The award recognizes scholars from the arts, letters, or sciences who have significantly advanced the health professions.
Matthew P. Jacobson
UCSF School of Pharmacy scientist Matthew P. Jacobson, PhD is the new recipient of a prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Andrej Sali, Christopher Voigt, Ken Dill, Anthony Hunt
Some people see a future populated by billions of mechanical micromachines, robots no bigger than a speck of dust that are programmed to do our bidding. UCSF School of Pharmacy researcher Christopher Voigt, PhD sees a different future. He sees living micromachines that can be engineered into a new kind of pharmaceutical. His micromachines are bacteria.
UCSF School of Pharmacy Class of 1915 alumnus Carl Lovotti bequeathed to the School an unexpected estate gift that totals more than $6 million. Lovotti died in June 2003 at the age of 108. Full story Record-Setting Bequest Benefits School of Pharmacy
UCSF School of Pharmacy scientist Brian K. Shoichet, PhD was named by Thomson ISI in September 2003 for having written a Hot Paper in the field of chemistry.
Koda-Kimble
New faculty members (Sali, Voigt, Chen, Schwarz). Systems biology and complex systems. Results of the school retreat and strategic planning. Awards and appointments (Benet, Shoichet, Winter, Ignoffo, Louie, Soller). Reactions to Governor Schwarzenegger's state budget proposals. $6 million gift from Carl Lovotti.
By early spring 2004, five female scientists from the UCSF School of Pharmacy will have moved to Mission Bay, the University of California San Francisco's new 43-acre research campus.