University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences hosts 2018 Infectious Diseases Fellowship Forum

The forum will feature prestigious local and national keynote speakers, and presentations by researchers and faculty members from Wayne State University, Hartford Hospital, University of Houston, University of Rhode Island, and Midwestern University. James M. O’Donnell, PhD, dean of the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (UB SPPS), will provide opening remarks.

The innovative event takes place at the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, a hub for life sciences innovation and technology-based economic development driving scientific discovery, facilitating collaboration among academia, industry and the public sector to create jobs that directly impact the region’s and state’s economies.

Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Director of Clinical Research Brian Tsuji, PharmD, is chair of the 2018 Infectious Diseases Fellowship Forum Organizing Committee, which also includes two UB SPPS alumni—Zackery Bulman, PharmD ‘15, and Justin Lenhard, PharmD ‘14—and current PhD candidate Nicholas Smith, PharmD ’18 & MS ‘18.

The keynote speakers are:

Timothy F. Murphy, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo
Murphy specializes in research on pathogens responsible for ear infections (primarily in children) and on lower respiratory tract infections in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Murphy holds more than a dozen patents related to vaccine development and is co-principal investigator on the longest-standing study of COPD, which he is conducting at the Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center. His laboratory is based at the school’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and his work is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. He has published more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine.

Eric Wenzler, Assistant Professor, Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy
Wenzler recently completed a three-year Infectious Diseases Pharmacotherapy Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, antimicrobial stewardship and clinical microbiology.

Zackery Bulman, PharmD ‘15, Assistant Professor, Pharmacy Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy
Bulman completed his infectious diseases fellowship at UB SPPS under the direction of Brian Tsuji in 2017. Bulman’s research aims to devise novel therapeutic approaches that are capable of successfully treating infectious diseases while also suppressing the evolution or perpetuation of new resistance mechanisms. Ongoing projects in Bulman’s laboratory are exploring patient specific treatment strategies for bacteria with genetically defined resistance mechanisms.

Justin Lenhard, PharmD ’14, Assistant Professor, California Northstate University College of Pharmacy
Lenhard completed his infectious diseases fellowship at UB SPPS under the direction of Brian Tsuji in 2016. Lenhard currently serves as an antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist at Lodi Memorial Hospital. Lenhard's research focuses on strategies to overcome multidrug resistance and also the co-culture of clinically relevant pathogens.

The forum is sponsored by MAD-ID (Making a Difference in Infectious Diseases), Achaogen and the University at Buffalo.