Fortunately, the novel H1N1 influenza has not hit the campus or the SOP in the way it might have…at least not yet. The vaccine is arriving later and in shorter supply than anticipated and will be provided first to the following groups: pregnant women, health care professionals (including our PharmD students) involved in patient care, high-risk individuals, young children, and school-aged kids. I’m presuming college-aged students would be next. Speaking of vaccination, the schedule for faculty and staff seasonal influenza clinics is attached. Please note: The clinics set for November will only involve the nasal mist vaccine due to short supply of the injectable version. FluMist nasal spray is not recommended for people 50 years of age and over, pregnant women, and high-risk individuals. So those of us (like me) who are over 50 need to plan on attending one of the December clinics where the injectable vaccine will be available. (They may have injectable H1N1 vaccine by then too, although most of us are pretty low down on the priority list.) In any case, please continue the usual preventive measures, use the on-line reporting system if you’re out, and get immunized!
Items on the “save the date” list include:
- New: The next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3 with a number of faculty reviews scheduled. The meeting will be held at 12 noon in room 1128. Please note: 11 members and 9 advisory members must be present to constitute a quorum for general business. Also: one item involves the promotion to Clinical Professor and requires 10 full professor members and 3 full professor advisory members to constitute a quorum.
- New: It’s time to bid a fond farewell to Danuta Pyzalska (Research Admin) as she moves to a new position in CALS. Please join us on Wednesday, November 4 at 3:00 in room 1128 for cake and coffee to celebrate her service to the SOP.
- New: A faculty meeting has been called for Friday, November 6 at 10:00 in room 2002 to consider several new course requests and curricular items. Interested/involved staff are welcome to attend as well. There is also a possibility that a student may appeal an Student Promotion Committee (SPC) decision for dismissal from the Pharm.D. program that I upheld. As you know, such an appeal goes to the faculty. If the student decides to appeal, we will handle that at the November 6 meeting as well.
- New: The next “Furlough Friday” party has been scheduled for Friday, November 6 from 3:00-5:00 in the Commons. The theme this month is “fun and games,” so bring along your favorite card or board games…there will be plenty of party snacks and beverages. 4 Hands 2 You massage therapists will again be on hand. Tips are appropriate and appreciated. Come join us and unwind a bit. Also remember…I’m collecting photos and stories about “what I did on my furlough day.”
- The third named lecture of the fall will be the Hutchinson Lecture, honoring PharmSci professor emeritus C. Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson. The 2009 Hutchinson Lecturer will be Bill Fenical, Professor and Director of the Marine Research Division at UCSD and Director of the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A great article about Bill and natural products chemistry was recently published in Chemical & Engineering News and can be found at http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/87//8732sci1.html. Mark your calendars for November 13.
- 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! See http://www.pharmacy.wisc.edu/alumni/reunion2009_reg.pdf or contact Pam French (Alumni Relations) for registration forms and information. Please note: Tickets remain for the football game. Come and mingle with our devoted alumni and lead the Badgers to victory over the Wolverines!
- Our annual fall Faculty Recognition Event will be held on Thursday, November 19 from 3:00-5:00 in the Commons. Come celebrate the many accomplishments of our incredible faculty.
- Breakfast with the Dean for all assistant professors will be held on Thursday, December 10 from 8:00-9:00 in room 1128.
- Mark your calendars for an SoP Faculty/Staff Meeting on Tuesday, December 15 from 12:15-1:15 in room 2002 to tidy up end of semester business.
Thanks to everyone who planned and participated in the external site visit for our BS/MS/PhD program review, and everything that was needed to get to that point. The effort was led by the Program Review Working Group…Chuck Lauhon (PharmSci/Grad Studies (co-chair)), Jeanine Mount (SAS/Academic Affairs (co-chair)), Linda Frei (Grad Program Office), Jeff Johnson (PharmSci), Dave Kreling (SAS), Sarah Kuba (SAA), Ken Niemeyer (PharmSci), and Steve Rough (UWHC/PPD). A huge amount of work, I know. The conversations were very meaningful, I thought. I expect to receive the report from the site visit team in a couple weeks. Thank you!
The 2009 Busse Lectures, featuring Valentino Stella, Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Kansas, were a huge success. It’s a shame that Louis (PharmSci emeritus) wasn’t up to being with us again this year…it’s amazing that he will be turning 98 this month.
hanks to the members of the Dean’s Advisory Council (DAC) and the Academic Planning Council (APC) for their continuing work on our Strategic Plan 2010-2015. I’ll be getting another draft out to everyone soon.
Thanks also to John Kao (PharmSci) for organizing the visit of a delegation of faculty from Zhejiang University in Shanghai. A draft MOU is on the table to develop a formal relationship for faculty/student exchanges, research collaborations, and hopefully another international clinical rotation site for Pharm.D. students. Glen Kwon (PharmSci) also introduced us to a research institute in Japan (whose name escapes me right now) to build a similar relationship although no School of Pharmacy is involved. These are terrific opportunities! Thanks to the SOP Office of Global Health (Connie Kraus, Curt Johnson, and Tom Thielke (all PPD)) for their valuable and expanding work in these directions.
Thanks also to Melanie Schneider (SAA) and the entire SAA staff and many student volunteers for organizing the recent career fair for Pharm.D. students. It gets better and better every year, although fewer employers participated this year…the job market is getting interesting all of a sudden.
Some faculty highlights that have crossed my desk recently:
- There continues to be definite positive motion in the hiring of Robert Thorne’s (PharmSci candidate) wife, Aparna Lakkaraju, by the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Keep your fingers crossed for just a bit longer.
- I had the pleasure to attend a reception along with Jill Kolesar (PPD) honoring her recent promotion to Professor (CHS).
- Jill also is to be congratulated for serving on the Pharmacogenomics Editorial Board, which produced a new edition of Pharmacogenomics: Applications to Patient Care through the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP).
- Jamey Weichert (Radiology/PharmSci) let me know that the small animal imaging facility is the proud home of a new in vivo optical scanner that does both bioluminescence and fluorescence. They are planning an open house to inform interested users about the instrument in the near future.
- Thanks to the efforts of Anna Legreid Dopp (ESP) and Karen Kopacek (PPD), the SOP will soon have an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) located in the atrium. Stay tuned for more information about installation and training.
- Congratulations to Michelle Chui (SAS) for obtaining grant funds from the Community Pharmacy Foundation for her work on pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) services.
- Congrats also to Lian Yu (PharmSci) for recent funding from Abbott Laboratories to continue his studies of the impact of polymers on the crystallization of amorphous drugs in solid dispersions.
- Also to Paul Hutson (PPD) who is serving as co-investigator on a project through the Gynecologic Oncology Group studying the effect of acetyl-L-carnitine for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy.
- And to Ben Shen (PharmSci) for receiving funding as co-investigator on an RC1 (federal stimulus funded) grant studying histidine kinase for anti-fungal therapy.
Notable notes from the staff include:
- As part of our efforts to gear up recruiting to our graduate programs, Ken Niemeyer (PharmSci) attended Purdue’s Big Ten Grad Expo along with grad students, Kyle Kleinbeck and Nirca Nieves. Ken also organized a PharmSci Grad Open House where faculty and grad students talked about their work with interested UW undergrads.
- Lauren Shawl (IIT) is part of the planning team for the Health Sciences Teaching Symposium to be held next January. More info to come.
- Rhonda Sager (Ebling) let us know that they are offering a new direct delivery and pick-up service of any library book to SOP personnel. For more information, see http://ebling.library.wisc.edu/services/delivery/index.cfm?panel=2.
- Not only did Jeremy Johnson (PPD) recently celebrate the birth of his fourth child, but also received the news that the R21 on which he serves as a co-investigator will be funded. He will be studying ways to enhance the bioavailability of resveratrol, the bioprotective component present especially in red wine.
- Congratulations also to Sharon Vetter (Research Admin) on the recent birth of a new grandson!
- More congratulations are in order for Tina Rundle (SAA) on her recent reclassification.
From our students, residents, and postdocs:
- Thanks to DPH-3 student, Jacob Mortag, for organizing the recent Spanish Language Table through the Pharmacy Global Health Interest Group (PGHIG).
- Thanks to the many Pharm.D. students in Operation Immunization for holding a seasonal influenza vaccination clinic for students in the Commons recently.
In the alumni, donor, and friend category:
- Dave and I had the pleasure of hosting alum Jordan Cohen and his wife Jana in the Chancellor’s Box at Camp Randall for the Iowa football game. Jordan was dean of the School of Pharmacy at Iowa for many years and is now the Vice President for Research there. I thought it was quite rude of Iowa to win the game! Anyway, we were also able to reconnect with Jordan’s PhD advisor, Ken Connors (PharmSci emeritus) and his wife Pat for dinner.
- I continued my visits to local pharmacies and our Clinical Instructors by stopping by the Dean Clinic Pharmacy (alum Staci Rieder) and O’Connell Pharmacy (alum Mark O’Connell) both in Sun Prairie.
- I’m very pleased to let you know that alum Bob Buerki and his wife Leslie have provided a sizable lead gift toward establishing the George Urdang Chair in the History of Pharmacy at the SOP. The Chair is intended to reinvigorate the scholarship and teaching of the history of pharmacy here where it all started. Much greater connection with the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (AIHP) is intended, along with their developing UW Center for Pharmaceutical History and Policy.
Stay well and enjoy the rest of the semester! Jeanette