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Researchers Give Presentation on Malaria Before Congressional Groups
May 11, 2012
Two scientists from the University of Mississippi recently spoke at the U.S. Capitol about the university's scientific and technological advances in the field of malaria research.
"Malaria research is important because it causes close to 1 million deaths every year," said Babu Tekwani, principal scientist and professor of pharmacology for the UM School of Pharmacy's National Center for Natural Products Research. "Half of the globe is under the risk of getting exposed to malaria."
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Pharmaceutical Company Gift to Support Pharmacy Research, Education
May 5, 2012
Pharmaceutics International Inc. has made a gift to the University of Mississippi to support pharmaceutical education for graduate students and create a center devoted to research related to hot melt extrusion and other pharmaceutical processing technologies.
The Pii Center for Pharmaceutical Technology will collaborate with private industry, government agencies and other universities to conduct research aimed at developing novel, cost-effective, patient-friendly and efficacious formulations for delivering new and existing pharmaceutical products.
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Professor Organizing Pharmaceutical Group's International Meeting
April 30, 2012
Christopher R. McCurdy wonders if his plate could get any fuller. The University of Mississippi pharmacy professor has spent the year planning the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' 2012 annual meeting.
McCurdy is co-chair of AAPS's program committee and is responsible for securing the meeting's keynote speaker, as well as speakers for its plenary sessions. Along with the committee chair, he is also overseeing all of the scientific and programming logistics of hosting nearly 5,000 members at the Chicago meeting.
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Second UM Pharmacy Student Selected for Prestigious FDA Rotation
April 23, 2012
Andrew Loeffler, a student in the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, is among a handful of students selected from around the country to work at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., this fall.
The New Jersey native will be working in the FDA's Division of Nonprescription Regulation Development, which oversees over-the-counter, or OTC, products.
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ASHP Leader to Deliver Annual Hartman Lecture
April 16, 2012
Diane B. Ginsburg, immediate past president of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, is to deliver the 2012 Charles W. Hartman Memorial Lecture on Friday (April 20) at the University of Mississippi.
Ginsburg plans to discuss "Practice Beyond the White Coat: Staying Focused on What Matters" at 11 a.m. at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for Performing Arts. The lecture, sponsored by the UM School of Pharmacy, is free and open to the public.
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Two UM Students to Gain Pharmacy Association Management Experience
April 12, 2012
Two of six students selected to work at the headquarters of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in the nation's capital this fall are from the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.
Robin Parker and John Michael Segars, both enrolled in the third year of the professional pharmacy program at Ole Miss, were selected from applicants across the country and are looking forward to acquiring association management experience.
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Pharmacy School Receives Major Gift from Alumna's Estate
April 10, 2012
Thanks to the generosity of the late Madeline O. Sciacca of Slidell, La., who remembered her alma mater in her will, generations of pharmacy students at the University of Mississippi will receive scholarship support.
Sciacca, who obtained her pharmacy degree from UM in 1953, left $400,000 to the Ole Miss School of Pharmacy to create the Madeline Occhipinti Sciacca Memorial Scholarship Endowment.
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Natural Products Center to Host 11th Botanical Conference
April 9, 2012
Scientists from around the world will convene in Oxford to discuss botanical quality and safety issues during the 11th annual International Conference on the Science of Botanicals, set for April 16-19 at the Oxford Conference Center.
The conference is hosted by the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.
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School Honors Three with Distinguished Alumni Awards
April 4, 2012
Three University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy alumni were honored for their outstanding careers and contributions to the school during Pharmacy Alumni Weekend (March 30-31).
Recipients of the school's 2012 Distinguished Alumni Awards are Kristie Gholson of Tupelo, William B. Harlan of Brandon and Richard Allen Jackson Sr. of Sarasota, Fla.
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Alcohol and Drug Abuse Expert to Deliver Annual Borne Lecture
March 28, 2012
Michael Owens, director of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Studies at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, is set to deliver the annual Ronald F. Borne Distinguished Lecture in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Mississippi.
The lecture, at 11 a.m. April 10 in the Thad Cochran Research Center auditorium, is free and open to the public. Owens plans to discuss "Therapeutic Antibodies for the Treatment of Addiction – At the Interface of Chemistry and Biology."
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Hapten Sciences Licenses Promising Poison Ivy Preventative
March 26, 2012
Hapten Sciences Inc. of Memphis, Tenn., has licensed a compound developed by ElSohly Laboratories Inc. and University of Mississippi pharmaceutical researchers to prevent reactions to poison ivy, oak and sumac.
The compound, HPT-721, is being developed for the prevention of contact dermatitis secondary to poison ivy, oak and sumac. The molecule contains chemical derivatives of urushiol (u-ROO-she-ol), the oily substance in the plants that causes dermatitis.
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Botanical Professor Honored in India
March 22, 2012
An international expert on dietary supplements and pharmacognosy professor at the University of Mississippi has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Hamdard University in New Delhi.
Ikhlas A. Khan, who also serves as assistant director of the UM School of Pharmacy's National Center for Natural Products Research and director of its FDA Center for Excellence in Botanicals, received the honorary Doctor of Letters during recent ceremonies in India.
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Pharmacy Grads Score Perfection
March 19, 2012
Last year's graduating class of pharmacists at the University of Mississippi was perfect – literally. Every one of the May 2011 Doctor of Pharmacy graduates passed the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination on their first attempt.
The perfect score is part of a report posted on the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy website. The report, which includes pass rates for all accredited schools and colleges of pharmacy over the past five years, also reveals that UM School of Pharmacy graduates' cumulative pass rate is the nation's fifth-highest and the Southeastern Conference's second-highest.
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UM Pharmacy Student Receives Research Scholarship
March 12, 2012
Laurin Dixon, a student in the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, has been awarded a Taro Research Foundation Scholarship.
The $5,000 award is part of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation's student scholarship program, which supports development of future leaders in the chain community pharmacy industry and recognizes students with a strong interest in pursuing careers in chain community practice.
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Pharmacy Teeing Up Annual Golf Tourney
March 7, 2012
More than 60 players and some two dozen sponsors of last spring's University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy Scholarship Golf Tournament raised more than $17,000.
Officials of the pharmacy school and the UM Alumni Association are hoping for a repeat performance at the 2012 tournament, because proceeds from it could fully endow a scholarship created by the Pharmacy Alumni Chapter with proceeds from two previous tourneys.
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Pharmacy Alumni Weekend Announced for March 30-31
March 1, 2012
The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy is inviting all its graduates to return to the Oxford campus March 30-31 for Pharmacy Weekend 2012.
Celebrating their class reunions in conjunction with the event are the school's 1962, '72, '82, '87, '92 and 2002 graduates.
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School of Pharmacy Unveils New Facility at Medical Center
February 27, 2012
The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy celebrated the completion of a new education and research building on the campus of the UM Medical Center with a dedication ceremony Thursday (Feb. 23).
The new facility gives the Oxford-based school a central home in Jackson.
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New Pharmacy Education, Research Building Brings Students and Faculty Under One Roof
February 20, 2012
University of Mississippi pharmacy students look forward to being able to stay in closer touch with classmates when they relocate to Jackson, thanks to a new facility being dedicated this week at the UM Medical Center.
The School of Pharmacy dedicates its new education and research building at 1:30 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 23). Instead of dividing their time between the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center, the School of Medicine and other locations at UMMC, pharmacy students and faculty are all housed under the same roof in the new structure on the Medical Center campus.
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NIH Official to Deliver Annual Waller Lecture
February 15, 2012
A National Institutes of Health official will deliver the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy's Coy W. Waller Distinguished Lecture at 11 a.m. Feb. 24 in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts.
Dr. Susan B. Shurin, acting director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at NIH, will address the role of pharmaceutical scientists in health outcomes. The lecture is free and open to the public.
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Walgreens Helps UM Faculty Open Students' Eyes to Pharmacy Profession, Increase Diversity
February 6, 2012
With funding from Walgreens, the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy is continuing an initiative that is dramatically increasing diversity among its student body.
The funds enable the school to provide students at Jackson's Murrah High School and Bailey Magnet High School with opportunities to learn about the pharmacy profession and to allocate a scholarship to one of those students. This is the third consecutive year that Walgreens has provided support for the program.
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UM Pharmacy Faculty Member Wins AACP New Investigator Award
January 30, 2012
A University of Mississippi faculty member is among 18 recipients of New Investigator Awards announced today by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
Rahul Khanna, assistant professor of pharmacy administration and research assistant professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, will use the award to study the relationship between the health and well-being of caregivers of autistic children and the emotional and physical stress they experience.
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UM Pharmaceutics Chair Elected to Leadership Role in National Organization
January 4, 2012
Michael A. Repka, chair of pharmaceutics at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, is the new vice chair of the Formulation Design and Development Section of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.
Repka was elected vice-chair in October during AAPS's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. His election – a precursor to terms as chair-elect, chair and past-chair – represents a four-year commitment.
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Pitt Names UM Researcher, Oxford Entrepreneur a 'Legacy Laureate'
December 27, 2011
The University of Pittsburgh has named Mahmoud A. ElSohly, a University of Mississippi researcher, as one of its 16 new Legacy Laureates, alumni recognized for their outstanding personal and professional accomplishments.
ElSohly, a professor of pharmaceutics in the UM School of Pharmacy and research professor in the school's National Center for Natural Products Research, "has commanded a distinguished career in biochemical pharmacology," said a Pitt news release.
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UM School of Pharmacy Honored for Transformative Community Service
December 20, 2011
For its life-changing work in 12 Delta communities, the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy has won the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy's 2011-12 Lawrence C. Weaver Transformative Community Service Award.
AACP presents the award annually to one pharmacy school that not only demonstrates a major commitment to addressing unmet community needs through education, practice and research but also serves as an example of social responsiveness for others.
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Work by UM Pharmacy Researchers Helps Shed New Light on Medicinal Benefits of Plants
December 15, 2011
Scientists at the University of Mississippi, together with colleagues at a number of other institutions around the country, have developed new resources poised to unlock yet another door in the hidden garden of medicinally important compounds found in plants.
The resources were developed by the Medicinal Plant Consortium, led by Joe Chappell, professor of plant biochemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. They grew out of a $6 million initiative from the National Institutes of Health to study how the genes of plants contribute to production of various chemical compounds, some of which are medicinally important.
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Retiring UM Pharmacy Dean Leaves Impressive Legacy
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| Richard and Barbara Wells |
December 8, 2011
After more than a decade as dean of the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, Barbara Wells, 66, is retiring to spend more time with her family and pursue some long-delayed interests.
Wells became UM's pharmacy dean in summer 2001. Under her leadership, the school's facilities have been greatly improved and expanded, its curriculum has been revised, its research enterprise has nearly doubled and its programs have become more nationally and internationally prominent.
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National Pharmacy Leadership Society's Officers Are UM Pharmacy School Alumni
November 19, 2011
The Department of Pharmacy Administration in the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy reached a milestone recently, when the pharmacy leadership society, Phi Lambda Sigma, installed new officers for its executive committee.
Four of the officers, who were installed at the end of the society's 36th annual House of Delegates meeting in Seattle, have ties to Ole Miss, and three of them are pharmacy administration graduates.The department has a great tradition of producing professionals who are committed to advancing the practice of pharmacy by assuming leadership roles within national organizations, said Donna West Strum, chair and associate professor of pharmacy administration.
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Pharmacy Scholarship Honors Life of Sanderson, Family's Love of Ole Miss
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| Albert Sanderson of Nashville, a native Mississippian, has established a scholarship to honor the life of his son, Ross, and assist pharmacy students at the University of Mississippi. On hand to thank Sanderson for his gift to the School of Pharmacy is Raina McClure, left, director of development for pharmacy, and Barbara Wells, dean of pharmacy. Eligible recipients will be Ole Miss pharmacy students from Jones and Warren counties. |
November 3, 2011
When Ross Sanderson was around 5 years old, his dad, Albert Sanderson, introduced him to the University of Mississippi on a fall Saturday afternoon, and the youngster received a football from Ole Miss cheerleaders. In years to come, selected UM pharmacy students will receive scholarship support from a fund named in tribute to Ross Sanderson's life.
Sanderson, who attended Warren Central High School, died in a car accident in 2002 at age 19. Describing his son as "outgoing and personable," Albert Sanderson, a Nashville pharmacist, said he thought of his own alma mater and the days on campus he enjoyed with his son. He has committed $75,000 to an endowed scholarship, honoring his son's life by providing assistance to Ole Miss pharmacy students.
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University Recognizes Outstanding Academic Advisers
October 31, 2011
A University of Mississippi pharmacy professor and an academic counselor for athletics have been chosen as recipients of the annual Excellence in Advising Awards.
David J. McCaffrey, professor of pharmacy administration, and Drew Clinton, assistant director of athletics academic support, were recognized for their outstanding efforts to provide academic advising, said Kyle Ellis, assistant director of the Academic Support Center. "The Academic Advising Network is grateful for the impressive number of nominations for the Excellence in Advising Awards," Ellis said. "This is the second year of the award, and we were pleased with the quantity and quality of the nominees. David and Drew were nominated by multiple students and colleagues. They are wonderful representatives of our campus advising community."
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Pharmacologist to Discuss How UM Scientists Use 'HeLa' Cells
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| Kristie Willett |
October 21, 2011
A University of Mississippi pharmacologist will discuss how UM scientists use so-called "HeLa" cells to search for new cancer drugs during a public lecture Tuesday (Oct. 25) evening.
Kristie Willett, an associate professor of pharmacology, in the UM School of Pharmacy, will present "Use of HeLa and Other Cancer Cell Lines on the Ole Miss Campus" at 6 p.m. in Bryant Hall, Room 209. The free event also will highlight the historical scientific advances that have been made using HeLa cells. A light reception sponsored by the Office of the Provost follows the talk.
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Inaugural Ainsworth Leadership Scholarships Presented to Mississippi, Alabama Natives
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| Sarah (left) and Jim Ainsworth of Hernando meet the first recipients of the UM scholarship they created in their names: Laura Luther of Hattiesburg (second from left) and Katie Sims of Athens, Ala. Both students have assumed leadership roles while Ole Miss pharmacy students. |
October 12, 2011
The Jim and Sarah Ainsworth Leadership Award Fund has been created to provide scholarship assistance to deserving students in the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.
Funded by the Baptist Memorial Healthcare Foundation, the scholarships go to students in their third or fourth year of the professional pharmacy program who have demonstrated leadership throughout their careers as Ole Miss students.
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Pharmacy/Medicine Professor to Receive ACCP's New Clinical Practitioner Award
October 7, 2011
The American College of Clinical Pharmacy will present Daniel M. Riche with its New Clinical Practitioner Award during its annual meeting Oct. 17 in Pittsburgh.
The award honors a new clinical practitioner who has made outstanding contributions to the health of patients and/or the practice of clinical pharmacy.
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School of Pharmacy Recognizes Faculty for Research, Instructional Innovations and Service
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| Pharmacy faculty members (from left) Daniel Riche, Robert Doerksen, Mahmoud ElSohly, and Soumyajit Majumdar, received honors at the recent School of Pharmacy fall faculty retreat. |
September 28, 2011
The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy recognized four faculty members for research, instructional innovation and service during its annual fall faculty retreat.
Mahmoud A. ElSohly, research professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was presented with the Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. Research Award, and Soumyajit Majumdar, associate professor of pharmaceutics, received the New Investigator Award. Daniel Riche, assistant professor of pharmacy practice and medicine, received the Faculty Instructional Innovations Award, and Robert Doerksen, associate professor of medicinal chemistry, received the pharmacy school's Faculty Service Award.
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David D. Allen Named Dean Of UM School of Pharmacy
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September 22, 2011
The University of Mississippi has selected Kentucky native David D. Allen as the new dean of its School of Pharmacy after a national search to replace Barbara G. Wells, who retires Dec. 31.
Allen, 49, is founding dean of pharmacy and professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the College of Pharmacy at Northeast Ohio Medical University and professor of physiology and pharmacology in NEOMED's College of Medicine.