Well, the state budget for the next biennium has been signed into law, for better or worse. 1% (~$85,000) of the school’s budget was “removed” last semester, and we are now subject to an additional 2% cut (~$170,000), along with the loss of 2.1 FTEs. Several items remain very murky, however, particularly how the furloughs will be managed, but I’ll keep everyone updated when I know more. Thanks again for helping me think creatively and identify opportunities to strengthen the school and our programs even in difficult financial times.
One particularly newsworthy item this month is the retirement of Associate Dean Tim Gossens, effective July 6, 2009. Don’t be surprised to see him around for awhile, however! A celebration of his decades of service to the university and the school will be planned later on, so stay tuned for that.
Items on the “save the date” list include:
- New: Several sessions remain for the required updates and training in the biosafety area:
- July 1 – 9:00-10:00, Ebling Auditorium, Microbial Sciences Building
- July 8 – 10:00-11:00, Biotech Auditorium
- July 22 – 9:00-10:00, 1325 HSLC
- July 29 – 10:00-11:00, Ebling Auditorium, Microbial Sciences Building
- The 2nd Annual Get to Know ICTR Day will be held on Wednesday, July 15 from 10:00-4:30 in the HSLC atrium/room 1325. Learn more about the services offered, new features, and research resources of the Institute. Not yet a member? See ictr.wisc.edu.
- The 2009 Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (PSW) Annual Meeting will be held on August 27-29 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. See www.pswi.org for more information.
- New: Save the date of Monday, August 31 for our fall all-school retreat.
- The first of our named lectures to be held in the fall will be the Rennebohm Lectures. Bill Evans, Director and CEO of the St. Jude Children’s Hospital, will be giving two lectures on Thursday, September 10. More information to follow. Thanks to Paul Hutson (PPD) for serving as Bill’s campus host. A great article about Bill, “Father of Clinical Pharmacogenomics,” was recently published in Pharmacy Today and can be accessed at http://apha.imirus.com/Mpowered/imirusApp.jsp?volume=pt15&issue=6&page=44, along with a podcast interview.
- New: The second named lectures of the fall will be the Busse Lectures, scheduled for October 22 and 23. We are pleased to have Valentino Stella, Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Kansas, visit us as the 2009 Busse Lecturer.
- New: Make plans now to attend the 2009 Pharmacy Alumni Association Reunion Weekend on November 13 and 14. Similar to past years, SOP faculty and staff are welcome and encouraged to attend the Friday event as my guests. 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! Pam French (Alumni Relations) will be providing additional details later.
The process to conduct the 5-year review of my performance as dean is complete. Well, I don’t have my reappointment letter yet… Anyway, my thanks to the review committee members: Vet Med dean emeritus, Barney Easterday (chair), Margaret Clagett-Dame (PharmSci), Curt Johnson (PPD emeritus/Global Health), Dick Peterson (PharmSci), and Dale Wilson (Sonderegger Research Center) and to all of you who provided feedback and comment, attended meetings, etc. I deeply appreciate the positive and supportive nature of the report, as well as the ideas about important things for me to work on into the future.
We have officially “decommissioned” the computer lab formerly located in the Commons (room 2215). The labs/classes/etc. formerly using the lab will be accommodated by a variety of means…using the computer lab in the HSLC, relying on laptops, etc. The former computer lab space will be converted to a general use classroom/seminar/discussion room, and room 2233 in the Commons will be reconfigured as an emeritus/visitor office to ensure we have good, useable space to support the continuing work of our emeritus faculty and visitors to the school. There is little construction involved, so there shouldn’t be must disruption to normal activities.
Some faculty activities that have crossed my desk recently:
- Efforts to finalize the PharmSci faculty position for Robert Thorne continue.
- The official Notice of Award was received for Warren Heideman’s (PharmSci) 5-year competing renewal of his long-running project looking at TCDD-induced cardiotoxicity. Congratulations!
- I’m not sure if the Notice of Award letters are in yet, but chances are very good for two R01s of Jeff Johnson (PharmSci) to receive funding. One focus is on antioxidant mediated effects in Lou Gehring’s Disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Schlerosis), and one on beta-amyloid aggregation and toxicity in Parkinson’s Disease. Outstanding!
- Lara Collier (PharmSci) received a highly competitive award from the Goldhirsh Foundation for brain tumor research. I seem to recall that Lara was recently awarded an R21 as well, but I’ve lost track of her multiple successes!
- Connie Kraus and Curt Johnson (both PPD/Global Health) were asked to serve another term on the steering Committee for the UW Center for Global Health.
- Speaking of Global Health, Tom Thielke (PPD) and long time UWHC leader and administrator will be joining Curt and Connie in their efforts around the globe. Tom was granted emeritus status by our ExecComm and the paperwork continues upstream.
- Congrats to Jeanine Mount (SAS/Academic Affairs) for serving as PI on a grant to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for almost $100,000 to support our most financially disadvantaged PharmD students.
- Several promotions, elections, and/or selections take effect today. Congratulations, all!
- Beth Elliott (PPD) for a second 3-year term as Vice Chair.
- Dave Kreling (SAS) for a second 3-year term as Chair.
- Jill Kolesar (PPD) for her promotion to Professor (CHS).
- Steve Oakes (PharmSci) for his reclassification as Assistant Professor (CHS).
- Eva Vivian and Bob Breslow for achieving indefinite appointment status.
- Ben Shen (PharmSci) for his selection as the Charles Melbourne Johnson Distinguished Chair.
- Jon Thorson (PharmSci) for his selection as the Laura and Edward Kremers Chair.
- Several others roles will kick in for fall semester:
- Denise Walbrandt Pigarelli (PPD) was selected as the AACP faculty alternate for 1 year. She will then serve as the “real” representative for the following year.
- Chris Sorkness (PPD) will serve a 1-year as the faculty liaison to the Board of Visitors.
- Karen Kopacek (PPD) and Dave Kreling (SAS) will represent their divisions for a 3-year term on the Academic Planning Council (APC).
- Paul Hutson (PPD), Sandro Mecozzi (PharmSci), and Dave Mott (SAS) were selected to represent their respective divisions for a 1-year term on the Faculty Activities Review Committee.
- SOP representatives to UW Faculty Senate for 2009-12. The new senators (and alternates) are: PharmSci: Paul Marker (Arash Bashirullah) and Ben Shen (Weiping Tang). SAS/ESP: Josh Thorpe (Betty Chewning).
- Congratulations to Andrea Duchac (PPD) on her recent engagement!
- Congrats also to John Kao (PharmSci) for his affiliate appointment in the Department of Surgery and to Betty Chewning (SAS) for her affiliate appointment in the Department of Population Health Sciences.
- Thanks to Warren Heideman (PharmSci) for accepting Brittney Keller, an undergraduate student from Spelman College interested in a career path in pharmacy, into his lab for the summer.
- WARF has run several spots in University publications talking about start-up companies. Specifically mentioned were Centrose (Jon Thorson, PharmSci) and Mithridion (Jeff Johnson, PharmSci).
- Congrats to Jamey Weichert (PharmSci affiliate) for being recognized as primary founder of Cellectar, a start-up radiopharmaceutical company, during the Gilson Discovery Series hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), the technology transfer arm of UW-Madison.
- Thanks to Mel Weinswig (ESP/dean emeritus) for serving on multiple planning committees for programming for the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS).
- As is more and more the case, many articles, references, and recognition for our faculty and students appeared in the July/August edition of the Journal of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (JPSW). Dave Kreling (SAS) was highlighted as the keynote speaker at the 2009 White Coat Ceremony held in conjunction with the PSW Educational Conference in April. Many faculty participated in other ways at the meeting…Steve Ebert (Meriter/PPD), Andrea Duchac, Casey Gallimore, Beth Martin, Denise Walbrandt Pigarelli (all PPD) and several students. Susie Barnett (PPD) published an article about the advances in the experiential learning program, and Casey Gallimore (PPD) provided an excellent summary of SOAP note documentation.
Notable notes from the staff include:
- Congratulations are in order for several staff who were recently promoted:
- Barb Beinborn (PPD) to University Services Associate 2.
- John De Muth (IIT) to Senior Information Processing Consultant.
- Emily Gilbert (SAA) to Student Services Coordinator.
- Ken Niemeyer (PharmSci) to Administrative Program Specialist.
- Amy Zwaska (SAA) to Senior Student Services Coordinator.
- Joan Palmer (PharmSci) reports that her son George was awarded the gold medal in Auto Tech at the National Skills USA Competition in Kansas City. While we’re on the subject of Joan’s sons, Matthew is a fabulous glassblower in Cazenovia, WI and created the beautiful Friendship Ball hanging in my office window. What a range of talents in the family!
- In the recent election for new members of the Committee on Academic Staff Issues (CASI), Jeffrey Williams (ZPES) was elected to represent the research district and Jeremy Altschafl (SAA) was elected to represent the instructional/administrative district. Thanks for stepping up!
- Lauren Shawl (PPD) was the host and major organizer for the recent Drupal Camp Wisconsin held at Rennebohm Hall…a wonderful venue to bring together some 150 IT experts to continue to develop the UW’s Community for Educational Technology Support efforts.
- Bob Moore (PharmSci) has been featured in the press recently for his opinions about the furlough idea in a university research environment, as well as for the toxicity of Bisphenol A. See www.channel3000.com/print/19652330/detail.html.
From our students, residents, and postdocs:
- Some PharmSci graduate students and postdocs have been particularly busy.
- Eight people—Ofek Bar-Ilen (Heideman/Peterson lab), Thomas Diezi (Kwon lab), John FitzGibbon (Thorson lab), Yao Fu (Kao lab), Kyle Kleinbeck (Kao lab), Claire Schmerberg (Li lab), Nichole Rockich (Kwon lab), and Schalk Strydom (de Villiers lab)—recently attended the 41st Annual Pharmaceutics Graduate Student Research Meeting (PGSRM) at Purdue. Kyle gave a platform presentation, and John and Ofek presented posters. I understand that Schalk actually brought back a trophy for winning the official Rock, Paper, Scissors competition…have to find out more about that. Even more exciting is the fact that Kyle and Ofek were very persuasive, and the PGSRM will be held here in Madison in summer 2011. Great work!
- Thomas, Ofek, and Ryan Peterson (Shen lab) were reelected to serve as graduate student liaisons to the administration in PharmSci.
- In spite of the fact that we still don’t have a formal PharmD/PhD dual degree program in place, Nichole is forging ahead with the idea. Way to blaze the trail!
- Ofek was recently elected Chairperson-elect for the Society of Toxicology’s (SOT) Student Advisory Committee, becoming Chairperson in 2010. She currently serves as the graduate student representative from the SOT Midwest Regional Chapter.
- Tracy Williamson (Johnson lab) was recently offered a spot in Merck’s highly competitive intern program in PA. Likewise, Tsz Chung Lai (Kwon lab) is off to Tokyo after competing successfully for an internship in the lab of Kazunori Kataoka in Materials Engineering. And Howard Chen (Furgeson/Kwon lab) will be leaving soon after being selected for a co-op experience at Centocor, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, also in PA. Congrats!
- Other PharmSci students have been busy in another way. Dritan Liko (Heideman lab), Jing Tao (Yu lab), and Hanmi Xi (Yu lab) defended their PhD dissertations in June. Continued success!
- Likewise, a couple SAS graduate students have been equally busy. Both Abhijit Gadkari (Mott group) and Pallavi Patwardhan (Chewning group) also defended their PhD dissertations in June…congratulations!
- Thanks again to Yangli Wang (DPH-3) for his participation this summer, under the direction of Becky Beebe (SAA/Diversity), as the SOP intern for the 8 high school students interested in pharmacy through the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE) Program. Henry Young (SAS) and Jeanine Mount (SAS/Academic Affairs) have also been instrumental.
- Student updates in the July/August edition of JPSW included Operation Diabetes, Operation Airways, Operation Immunization, and our students’ role in MEDiC. Korby Lathrop (DPH-4) was also invited to represent activities at MEDiC at the recent UW Foundation Board of Directors luncheon.
- Four new residents in the Community Pharmacy Residency Program, directed by Marty Kieser (PPD/Experiential Ed/CPRP), start today…filling all our available sites! Joining us will be Lucas Boe from UMN going to Two Rivers; Ben Mak from SUNY-Buffalo going to GHC in Madison; Sara Lynn Peterson from UMN going to Morton’s in the Fox Valley; and Jessica Wolf from Ferris State going to Sutter’s in Horicon.
In the alumni, donor, and friend category:
- The 11th annual Pharmacy Alumni Association Golf Tournament was a huge success! I haven’t seen the final numbers, but suspect that nearly $20,000 was raised again this year to support the PAA Scholarship Fund.
- Kudos to Tom Thielke (UWHC/PPD) on his retirement after 4 decades of service to the school and the hospital. We plan to keep him busy with global health activities in conjunction with Connie Kraus and Curt Johnson. The scholarship fund established in Tom’s honor has already exceeded $130,000 in funding.
- Alum Roger Tung, CEO of Concert Pharmaceuticals in Lexington, MA was featured prominently in the June 22 edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) for his company’s substantial progress in altering drug safety and efficacy by selective deuteration. See http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/87/i25/html/8725sci1.html.
- Alum Dave Sanders and his wife Miriam have recommitted (and increased) their gift providing scholarship support to PharmD students with military backgrounds.
- To remind you about the people who have been selected as 2009 Citation of Merit recipients: alums Jim Wright, Richard Scheife, Ken Kirk, and Lynn Van Campen….what a great group! They will be recognized at the Friday Dean’s Reception during the PAA Reunion Weekend on November 13. Please plan to attend.
- I had a chance to visit a few alums/clinical instructors around town last month, including alums Robert Muller and Bonnie Orth at Group Health in Fitchburg, Teresa Geier (not a Badger, but we still love her) at Wal-Mart in Monona, and alum Amy Schellpfeffer at Shopko in Monona.
- Husband Dave and I also had a chance to visit alum Tony Sinkula and his wife Micki in Kalamazoo, MI recently. Tony was one of my scientific heroes in grad school, and it’s amazing that we’re now connected in a very new way. His commitment to scholarship support for PharmD students of American Indian descent is truly changing the world.
- Congrats to alum Lynnae Mahaney, chief of pharmacy at the VA and president of ASHP, for being cited as a “Wisconsin Woman to Watch” in the July 2009 edition of Wisconsin Women.
- Congrats to alum Julie Bartell for winning the Jennings Murphy Award from the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (PSW).
- Thanks to alum Earl Sallander and his wife Betty for establishing a sizeable charitable remainder trust ultimately benefiting the school.
- A sad good-bye to alum Bill Tillman who passed away recently.
- Another sad good-bye to former faculty member Cab Bond, husband of alum and former faculty member Cindy Raehl. Way too many sympathy cards lately…
All the best for the rest of the summer…Jeanette