First of the Month Newsletter - November 2008

The final event celebrating our 125th anniversary is rapidly approaching...the 2008 Pharmacy Alumni Association (PAA) Reunion Weekend on November 14 and 15. The citation of merit award winners this year are Dan Rich (PharmSci emeritus), alum Tom Thielke (UWHC/ PPD), and alum Duane Kirking; Jim Wright will not be able to join us, unfortunately, due to an unexpected FDA visit, so will be on the list for next year. Kathy ¡°Skibby¡± Skibinski (former ESP) will receive the Alumna of the Year Award. Similar to past years, SOP faculty and staff are welcome and encouraged to attend the Friday event as my guests, but you do have to RSVP. Dean's Club members (donors at or above $500 for the year) will also be invited as my guests. Those faculty and staff that are also Dean's Club members will get twice the thanks! As extra special parts of the Friday event, we will dedicate the new Donor Recognition Wall recently installed in the south foyer and seal a time capsule intended to be opened at the 150th anniversary in 2033. Football tickets for the Minnesota game are still available. The registration form for all events is attached or contact Pam French (Alumni Affairs) for details.

Items on the "save the date" list include:

• New: Get your flu shot! UW-Madison Faculty and Staff Flu Shot clinics will be held November 3-14, 2008. Not for spouses, children, or students. See here for more information and a schedule of clinics.
• New: The Executive Committee meeting on Tues, November 4 has been canceled.
• New: Vice-Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs Steve Stern invites you to a forum on faculty pay and base adjustments. He will present data on the current situation, discuss possible new initiatives, and solicit feedback. Three separate gatherings have been arranged: Mon, November 10 at the Memorial Union; Thurs, November 13 at the Memorial Union; and Tues, November 18 at Union South, all from noon to 1:15.
• The annual Busse Lectures, honoring Professor Emeritus Louis Busse, will be held on November 13 and 14. The Busse Lecturer this year is one of our distinguished alumni, Dr. Kinam Park from Purdue University.
• New: Another forum for the full faculty to discuss PharmD curricular revision ideas will be scheduled in November. Stay tuned for more information and details.
• New: The Wisconsin alumni breakfast at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) meeting in Atlanta will be held Monday, November 17 from 7:00-8:00am in the Hickory Room at the Omni Hotel.
• New: Our alumni gathering at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) conference in Orlando is scheduled for Sunday, December 7 from 6:00-9:00pm in the Peabody, Plaza A. Flier attached FYI.
• Please set aside Tuesday, December 16, 11:30-1:30pm for a faculty meeting to take care of year end business. Please note: 25 faculty (all tracks, all ranks) are required to constitute a quorum to hold formal votes. New: Food will be provided!

Thanks to everyone who attended the 125th Anniversary Scientific Symposium, including the 2008 Rennebohm Lecturers in early October. The attendance was, in a word, dismal, embarrassing even, and I take responsibility for poor communication or sending mixed messages to faculty, staff, and especially students. It's a real shame because the program was incredibly rich with a look back at the history of the school (Greg Higby, AIHP) and the value of a UW education (alums Roger Tung, Azita Saleki-Gerhardt, and Bruce Scott), a session highlighting our present excellence and impact especially in translational work (Jon Thorson, Jeff Johnson, and Jon Kao (PharmSci); Chris Sorkness (PPD); and Bonnie Svarstad (SAS emerita)), and a glimpse toward a future where drug development, in particular, and science, in general, might be focused and conducted in a very different way with very different motivations. Dr. Ahvie Herskowitz from the Institute for OneWorld Health (the only non-profit pharmaceutical company in the world) served as the 2008 Rennebohm Lecturer, who was absolutely amazing and inspiring. We had many school and campus partners participating (Jeanine Mount (SAS), Jeanan Yasiri (Center for Nonprofits, SoHE), Betty Chewning (SAS/Sonderegger Research Center), Ed Elder (ZPES), Carl Gulbrandsen (WARF), and Anne Miner (Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship, Business)) Fri morning, and several global health experts (Cindy Haq (Center for Global Health, SMPH), Chris Olsen (VetMed), Connie Kraus (PPD), and Pat Remington (MPH Program, SMPH)) with us on Fri afternoon to explore potential points of intersection between UW-Madison and iOWH. Bill Mellon (PharmSci), Warren Heideman (PharmSci), Jeanine Mount, and Curt Johnson (PPD emeritus) served as session moderators and Bill Mellon, Marc Drezner (ICTR, SMPH), and Gilles Bousquet (International Studies) provided reflections about what had been covered in various sessions. Connie Kraus, Jeanine Mount, Dan Rich (PharmSci emeritus), and George Zografi (PharmSci/ dean emeritus) served as campus hosts for our visitors...thanks for all these important roles. We even managed a special lunch honoring our emeritus faculty. Special thanks go to the organizing committee for this amazing event: Mel Weinswig (chair; ESP/dean emeritus), Darin Furgeson (PharmSci), Al Hanson (ESP), Greg Higby, Jeanine Mount, Dan Rich, Chris Sorkness, and George Zografi...simply an incredible program. Thanks also to the Dream Team members: Pam French (Alumni Relations), Linda Halsey (Development), Laurie Leininger (Dean's Office), and Diane Stojanovich (Communications) without whom none of these beautifully organized and perfectly executed celebrations would occur. Many thanks to the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation for supporting the Rennebohm Lectures for now 53 years.

Thanks to everyone who attended the valuable full faculty discussion about options for revising our PharmD curriculum...good turn-out. There was useful feedback provided to the Curriculum Committee and important questions asked that remain to be worked on. I expect discussions to continue at the division level with another faculty forum coming up in November. The goal remains to have a complete draft curriculum for formal faculty approval at the December faculty meeting.

Thanks also to those who attended our fourth annual Faculty Recognition Event. It's always worth a moment to recognize and thank our faculty for all their accomplishments and contributions to research, education, service, outreach, and practice. I neglected to include Beth Martin (PPD) under the "new" category...not that she's just joined the school, of course, but in recognition of her hire as a CHS, rather than a clinical faculty member with a new focus and interests for her work. The corrected "pink sheet" is attached.

The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (AIHP) hosted a wonderful conference at the school in October entitled "Modern Medicines: New Perspectives in Pharmaceutical History", attracting visitors from all over the world.

As mentioned previously, I'm in the process of sitting down individually with all members of the SOP faculty and staff to listen to your views about whatever aspects, features, areas you feel I need to hear about. Thanks in advance for taking the time to provide feedback to me in this way.

Some recent faculty highlights to mention:

• Two poster presentations by Warren Rose (PPD) and coworkers at the recent Annual Meeting of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy were finalists in the best student poster contest. One included PharmD student Suhani Patel. The other, which received honorable mention recognition, included PharmD student Peter Poppens. Steve Ebert (Meriter/PPD) was also a co-author.
• Warren Rose also recently received a 2008-2009 New Investigator Program grant from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP).
• The R21 in which Weiping Tang (PharmSci) has a significant subcontract was recently funded.
• Lingjun Li's (PharmSci) promotion to associate professor with tenure was highlighted at both a campus-wide event and one specifically for women faculty.
• Jeff Johnson (PharmSci) was invited to speak on "Alzheimer's and More: Halting the Progression of Neurological Diseases" by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters.
• George Zografi (PharmSci/dean emeritus) was invited to speak at the 1st Asian Arden Conference in Beijing, China in October.
• Likewise, Jim DeMuth (ESP) will be visiting China in November as an invited speaker at the Third Joint Symposium of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Convention in Tianjin, China.
• Darin Furgeson (PharmSci) and Glen Kwon's (PharmSci) grad student, Thomas Diezi, recently attended the 2008 meeting of the Globalization of Pharmaceutics Education Network (GPEN) that, surprisingly, the school has not been a part of. We were, however, accepted as an associate member, with the goal of becoming a full member in the future.
• In the good news category: Two new clinical faculty will be starting with PPD in late November...Andrea Duchac and Susie Barnett, both alums of our program. They will both work partly with the Pharmacotherapy Labs and partly with the expanding introductory pharmacy practice experiential education portion of the curriculum.
• Now for the bad news: I'm sorry to report that both Gordon Sacks (PPD) and Darin Furgeson (PharmSci) will be leaving the school soon for other professional opportunities. Please join me in thanking them for their excellence and positive impact and for being especially good citizens of the school.
• Searches in both the Drug Discovery and Drug Delivery areas of PharmSci are in full swing.

In terms of staff news:

• We welcome Nikandra "Nikee" Schafer as a new student assistant in the Dean's Office. Drop by and say hello!
• Searches for the Director of Assessment and Director of Diversity within the Student and Academic Affairs Office are well underway.
• SAA and the IIT Group are also engaged in developing the technology to hold "virtual" campus visits for student recruitment and advising purposes around the state rather than traveling to the sites.
• Thanks also to the IIT Group for the outstanding new electronic directories at both entrances to the building. Additional features will be added over time...what an improvement!
• Outstanding work by Becky Beebe (SAA) on the new and improved career fair with significant assistance from and participation by Bob Breslow (PPD/WSPS faculty advisor), Audrey Fish and Marty Kieser (PPD/Experiential Ed), Beth Martin (PPD/WSPS faculty advisor), Jeanine Mount (Academic Affairs/SAS), Tina Rundle (SAA), and other faculty, staff, and WSPS volunteers that I'm sure I'm missing.
• Pam French (Alumni Relations) has jumped in to assist Marty Kieser with required site visits to clinical teaching sites due to the fact that most of our clinical instructors are alums...nice combo.

Relating to students:

• Our activities to honor Adam Nickel's memory continue. PharmD students Sarah Balzar and Ashley Liegel ran in the Chicago Marathon in October in Adam's honor. Thousands of dollars have been raised by our students, staff, and faculty (and GHC colleagues) to support the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society that Adam was so dedicated to. A very nice article highlighting the Adam Nickel Memorial Scholarship Fund was published in the Fall 2008 Wisconsin Insights from the UW Foundation and will be reprinted in the next edition of DISCOVERx. Remember that I will personally be matching all gifts to the Nickel Scholarship Fund from all students, staff, and faculty of the school until the end of 2008. Thanks for keeping Adam's memory very much alive.
• The Drug Action core of PharmSci will once again be offering the undergraduate course called "Drugs and their Actions", which has been dormant for several years, next spring. Thanks for resurrecting this valuable and popular course.
• The Pharm/Tox Program (especially Jeff Johnson, Director, Dick Peterson, and Ken Niemeyer (PharmSci)) is ramping up recruitment efforts for next fall. With the decoupling of the BS and PharmD courses, we have the opportunity to increase enrollment in this very powerful, research-based BS degree. An information session will be held at the school on Tues, November 18 with invitations out campus-wide.
• Great work too, by the student assistant in SAA, DPH-1 student Megan Heim, for championing the organization of the Student Ambassador Program. For a certain commitment to school events, tours, etc., the Student Ambassadors get to add a meaningful line item to their resumes. The interest has been amazing, and it is really helping out.

In the alumni, donor, and friend category:

• The People & Programs Campaign continues to gain momentum. Substantial commitments were recently received to the Pharmacy Forward Fund for Faculty Excellence, a key priority of the campaign, from alum Dave Sanders and his wife Miriam and alum Phil Lindsey to bring the total so far to $5M. Phil also committed $25,000 to the PAA's need-based scholarship effort to insure that all contributions to this scholarship fund will receive matching funds (50 cents on the dollar) from the UW Foundation. We have actually exceeded the original $18M goal for the campaign, and I will be proposing to increase the goal to our BOV at the November meeting.
• Alum Erv Dohmen and the F. Dohmen Company made a $500,000 gift to the school recently, half to establish a Dean's Level scholarship (full tuition for a PharmD student; will also be matched 50 cents on the dollar) and half to support graduate education and research in Pharmaceutical Sciences.
• Alum Dave Zgarrick and his wife Michelle recently established the Zgarrick Family Scholarship.
• Alum John Marvel indicated his intention to significantly build his charitable remainder trust to eventually establish a full graduate fellowship in Pharmaceutical Sciences.
• 125th Anniversary/People & Programs alumni events organized by Linda Halsey (Development) continued in October:
• We hosted a wonderful dinner in Princeton to connect with the many Pharmacy Badgers engaged primarily with the pharmaceutical industry in NY, NJ, and PA. A very lively group, indeed!
• Alum and BOV chair Greg Schuenke offered his beautiful home in Eagle River as the site for another alumni reception in the north woods. What a setting!

• Linda and I had the pleasure of having lunch with the two Sinkula Scholars, Delaine McKenzie (DPH-1) and Jessica Greenlee (DPH-2), recently. Alum Tony Sinkula supports two Dean's Level (full tuition) scholarships for PharmD students of American Indian descent with the goal of making a difference in health care for this underserved population. Tony also supports travel and living expenses for students doing advanced pharmacy practice experiences on or near Indian reservations.
• I'm continuing my visits to pharmacies and clinical instructors (who are mostly alums) in the Madison area. In October, Pam French (Alumni Relations), who organizes these outings, took me to the east side to visit Women's International Pharmacy (Gina Bestemen, Michelle Violi), the Medicine Shoppe on Monona Drive (Gerhardt Fregien), Walgreens on Cottage Grove Road (Donald Colwell, Terry Hustad, Alexandra Williams), and the east side ShopKo (Amy Reithmeyer).

• Alum Marla Ahlgrimm, founding partner of Madison Pharmacy Associates, was honored for her achievements as a "Fabulous First" in the community at a recent A Fund for Women event.
• Peggy Weiderholt, wife of our late faculty member Joe Weiderholt (SAS) and continuing friend of the school, won the inaugural Nurse Excellence Award from the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).

Thanks for "listening"! And enjoy the fall...Jeanette