Please join us in congratulating our UAMS College of Pharmacy Jeopardy team. They won the tournament at this year’s AAHP Fall Seminar and they are bringing the traveling trophy back to UAMS! Congratulations to Jenny Caraway (P3), Sarah Volgas (P3), Ashley Spaulding (P4), and Rachael McCaleb (P4)!
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UAMS Students Talk Cholesterol on THV 11 News
Cancer drug developed by UAMS professor awarded FDA approval
LITTLE ROCK — Valchlor, a breakthrough gel for treating lymphoma developed with the help of University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy Professor Peter Crooks, Ph.D., recently won marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Valchlor gel is for the topical treatment of stage 1A and 1B mycosis fungoides-type cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a rare form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Developed by Ceptaris Therapeutics, the gel is the first and only FDA-approved topical formulation of mechlorethamine, commonly known as nitrogen mustard. Patients can apply Valchlor once a day, and it dries on the skin.
Mycosis fungoides is the most common type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. It has no cure, and its cause is unknown. The malignant T-cells migrate to the skin, causing lesions to appear. Lesions first appear as a rash and then may grow into disfiguring tumors.
“The big problem with this skin condition is that if it is not treated, the affected T-cells can move into the lymph system,” said Crooks, who worked on the drug before joining UAMS as chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy. “Not only does Valchlor help treat people who have these lesions from a fungal source or ionizing radiation, with early diagnosis it can prevent CTCL.”
Crooks was a cofounder and chief scientific officer (CSO) of Yaupon Therapeutics, the company that later became Ceptaris, which is located in Malvern, Penn. He began developmental work on Valchlor in 2004. He helped solved such problems as how to chemically stabilize the drug in the topical gel formulation, and how to keep it from entering a patient’s bloodstream. He stepped down as CSO of the company in 2011 when he joined UAMS.
During his work on Valchlor, Crooks said he learned a tremendous amount about drug development, manufacturing and the FDA approval process. He is applying that knowledge to new research and new projects at UAMS, such as clinical development of new drugs for the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), the most common form of leukemia, and for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. Named best Little Rock metropolitan area hospital by U.S. News & World Report, it is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has more than 2,800 students and 790 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com.
UAMS, Kroger Invite Public for Free Oct. 5 Health Screenings Statewide
LITTLE ROCK – University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy students and Kroger invite the public for free health screenings at 29 Kroger pharmacies throughout the state Oct. 5.
The screenings will include blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar checks and will be held on a walk-in basis from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at all Kroger pharmacy locations in Batesville, Blytheville, Benton, Cabot, Conway, England, Hot Springs, Jacksonville, Jonesboro, Little Rock, Maumelle, North Little Rock, Russellville and West Memphis. At select locations, pharmacy students are partnering with students from the UAMS Department of Dietetics and Nutrition to offer nutrition and weight loss counseling.
This is the third year of the partnership, with nearly 100 students screening more than 1,100 patients at Kroger locations statewide last year. All screening supplies are being provided by Kroger, while all screenings will be conducted by UAMS College of Pharmacy students.
“We are proud to partner again with the UAMS College of Pharmacy and to have their expertise working with our valued pharmacy customers,” said Joe Bell, marketing and public affairs specialist with the Kroger Delta Division in Memphis. “We want our pharmacies to have open, friendly and personal relationships with the people they serve. This is a fantastic way for us to show customers that we care about their health.”
The event kicks off a series of activities sponsored by the UAMS College of Pharmacy student group – the American Pharmacists Association – Academy of Student Pharmacists – to celebrate American Pharmacists Month.
“The theme again for this year is, ‘Know your medicine, know your pharmacist,’” said Eddie Dunn, Pharm.D., associate professor of pharmacy practice. “By sending our students out into pharmacies to offer a public service, we feel like we’re promoting active and beneficial relationships with pharmacies and their customers.”
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. Named best Little Rock metropolitan area hospital by U.S. News & World Report, it is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has more than 2,800 students and 790 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com.
Clinton School of Public Service students to complete project for UAMS 12th Street Health and Wellness Center
Four students in the Clinton School of Public Service will partner with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), College of Pharmacy this academic year on a project that will “Develop a Communication Plan to Improve Access to Health and Wellness Services of the UAMS 12th Street Health and Wellness Center.” To read the official news release from the Clinton School, click here.
The team will develop a communication plan designed to engage the members of the 12th Street community in activities at the 12th Street Health and Wellness Center, where UAMS faculty and students work to design and provide student-led interprofessional healthcare services and educational programs, that positively impact health.
The students are in a class of 50 Clinton School students participating in the projects during their first year while also completing in-class coursework on topics such as communication, decision-making, ethics, leadership and social change. As part of the school’s Master of Public Service degree program, they will earn academic credit for their work on the project.
The four students on the practicum team are Caroline Head and Angela Toomer, of Little Rock, Ark., Haylee Fletcher of Prescott, Ariz., and Laetitia Tokplo, of Benin – West Africa. The team is led by Lisa C. Hutchison, Pharm.D., associate professor of Pharmacy Practice in the College of Pharmacy.
For more information about the UAMS 12th Street Center for Health and Wellness, contact Lanita S. White, Pharm.D., 501- 686-5433, Wireless phone: (225) 288-6420, e-mail: lswhite@uams.edu.
Class of 2017 – White Coat Ceremony
![White Coat Ceremony 2013](http://pharmcollege.uams.edu/files/2013/09/PaulMeganHolifield.jpg)
Aug. 23, 2013 | The Class of 2017 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy took their first steps toward becoming pharmacists at an Aug. 23 white coat ceremony. This was the 10th white coat ceremony at the College, since the tradition was started in 2003.
More than 500 family members, friends and faculty witnessed the 121 incoming students in the College of Pharmacy receive their white coats, which symbolize their commitment to the profession of pharmacy, their chosen field of study.
The College of Pharmacy’s white coat ceremony has been held since 2003 to recognize students’ transition into the life of a student-pharmacist.
Stephanie F. Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., College of Pharmacy dean, explained the components of the Oath of a Student Pharmacist, taken by students later in the ceremony, and the high level of credentials the incoming class holds.
The average grade point average of the incoming class was 3.51 and the average Pharmacy School Admittance Test score was 71. Seventy-four students have undergraduate degrees, three have master’s degrees and one student holds a doctoral degree. Of the 121 first-year students, 105 are from Arkansas and the other 16 are from Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Texas.
Two New UAMS Researchers Win Funding for Asthma, Cardiovascular Studies
LITTLE ROCK – Two University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) researchers, Joshua Kennedy, M.D., and Elvin Price, Pharm.D., Ph.D., are the newest recipients of the UAMS Translational Research Institute KL2 Scholar Career Development Awards, which will provide them with salary and research support for two years. The pair of new investigators was selected from a competitive pool of applicants this summer. Kennedy is striving to reduce asthma-related hospitalizations by reducing the exacerbating effects of cold viruses on asthma. Price is studying promising genetic predictors that he hopes will help doctors prescribe the right cardiovascular medicines for their patients. The prestigious national KL2 program supports promising new researchers to advance their research so they can compete for more sustained federal funding. “We had an excellent group of applicants and we are excited to have Dr. Kennedy and Dr. Price as our 2013 KL2 Scholars,” said Curtis Lowery, M.D., director of the Translational Research Institute and principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) that supports the KL2 Scholar program. “We hope the KL2 Award will help jumpstart their research careers and put them on a path toward sustained NIH funding to further their research.” Kennedy and Price are among 13 KL2 Award recipients selected by the Translational Research Institute since 2010. The award helps them quickly develop their research programs with 75 percent salary support (up to $52,000 a year) that allows dedicated time to their research. They receive up to $25,000 a year in research funds, as well as travel funds, graduate-level tuition support, and assistance from mentors. Price earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and his doctorate in clinical pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Kennedy, a Hot Springs native, is an internal medicine and pediatrics physician who earned his medical degree and completed residency training at UAMS. He joined the UAMS faculty in July after completing his allergy and immunology fellowship at the University of Virginia.
UAMS Names Heard Provost, Gardner Associate Provost
LITTLE ROCK – The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) named Jeanne Heard, M.D., Ph.D., provost and Stephanie F. Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., associate provost as part of a leadership restructure to better serve the state.
In addition to her current role as chief academic officer, as provost Heard will work closely with deans of UAMS colleges on faculty affairs and college-level budgets. As associate provost for society and health, Gardner, dean of the UAMS College of Pharmacy, will work across all colleges to ensure that UAMS is educating and training health professionals to meet changing health needs and to develop interprofessional and community-based educational experiences like the UAMS 12th Street Health and Wellness Center, which opened in January.
“As we step back and consider ways in which we can restructure our organization to best serve the people of our state, we are grateful to have talented leadership already in place who are willing to take on additional responsibilities to help us move forward with our mission,” said UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D. “I am grateful to Dr. Heard and Dr. Gardner for their willingness to do this for the benefit of UAMS and all Arkansans.”
Heard, a former associate dean for graduate medical education and professor of internal medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine, returned to UAMS in 2010 from Chicago, where she helped lead the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for seven years.
Gardner has been dean of the UAMS College of Pharmacy since 2004. Before that she served as chair of its Department of Pharmacy Practice.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. Named best Little Rock metropolitan area hospital by U.S. News & World Report, it is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has more than 2,800 students and 790 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other professionals who provide care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com.
UAMS College of Pharmacy Team named a finalist in National Business Plan Competition
The UAMS College of Pharmacy student team was named one of three the top three finalists in the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) 2013 Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. The team of four P4 year students will compete with teams from the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy and the University of the Pacific Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy in a live competition at NCPA’s Annual Convention this October. This year’s competition drew submissions from 39 schools and colleges of pharmacy. The College’s team placed first in the competition in 2012.
- Bethany Jensen, of Roland, Ark.
- Emily Kordsmeier, of Sherwood, Ark.
- Tyler Martin, of Paragould, Ark.
- Melody Williams, of Springfield, Ark.
The NCPA faculty advisor is Schwanda Flowers, Pharm.D.Associate Dean for Student Affairs & Faculty Development
Associate Professor, Pharmacy Practice
To view NCPA’s officical release click here.
UAMS Pharmacy Student One of 45 Chosen Nationally for Leadership Symposium
July 2, 2013 | A world-renowned laser and nanomedicine researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) is the inaugural recipient of the Josephine T. McGill Chair in Head and Neck Cancer Research.
The McGill Family Otolaryngology Research Endowment Fund for head and neck cancer research was created by the late Josephine Tate McGill, of Camden, and her siblings (Mary Helen, Samuel and Thomas) in memory of their parents Samuel D. McGill, M.D., and Helen McRae Watts McGill. The family’s connection with UAMS started many years ago when Helen McRae Watts McGill was a patient under the care of James Suen, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery in the College of Medicine at UAMS.
Vladimir Zharov, Ph.D., D.Sc., senior scientist in the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, director of the Phillips Classic Laser and Nanomedicine Laboratory and professor in the UAMS College of Medicine, accepted the chair during a June 4 ceremony at UAMS.
“It is an honor to accept this chair and to work alongside such talented professionals at UAMS,” Zharov said. “Because of the extreme generosity of the McGill family, this chair will be used to support research, which is so important for new discoveries to cure cancer and improve the health of people in the state, country and around the world.”
Zharov is currently pioneering research in identifying circulating tumor cells in the blood vessels of cancer patients, which will have a major impact on future cancer diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
Suen presented the chair to Zharov and praised his groundbreaking research.
“I am honored to present this chair to Dr. Zharov, and to see all of the promising work he has in store to accomplish in cancer research,” Suen said. “I know under his leadership, our department will continue to thrive as one of the top head and neck cancer research programs in the world.”
Before McGill’s death in November 2012, she gave a gift to the UAMS Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, which was used to establish the endowed Josephine T. McGill Chair in Head and Neck Cancer Research. Josephine Tate McGill was born June 7, 1928 in Camden, one of four children of Samuel D. McGill, M.D., and Helen McRae Watts McGill. “Dodie,” as she was known,
Dodie, as she was known, graduated from Camden High School, and then attended the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where she was a member of the Chi Omega Sorority. She graduated in 1950 with a degree in home economics and began her career as a home service advisor for Arkansas Power & Light Co (AP&L).
After a few years with AP&L, she returned to college to become a dietitian. In 1955, she went to work at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. She also worked in the Dallas area as a dietitian for the Carrollton Independent School District. She later returned to Arkansas as a dietitian for the North Little Rock schools and then the State Health Department.