Orville C. Baxter Memorial Professional Practice Award

Scientific Program Leader in Translational Discovery at the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (MRI), Andrews works on a monoclonal antibody program for the prevention of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. She recently returned from the 8th Pan-African Malaria Conference in Rwanda. There she presented her work on the clinical development of monoclonal antibodies aimed at preventing P. falciparum malaria.

Gates MRI is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and effective use of novel biomedical interventions addressing substantial global health issues. Over the last six years, in collaboration with many partners, her team has helped develop a candidate malaria monoclonal antibody that is currently in clinical trials. She also serves as liaison to international partners including the World Health Organization, and National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

During her tenure at Gates MRI, which began in 2018, Andrews has progressed from Discovery Project Manager to Discovery Scientist, Product Development Team Leader and now Scientific Integrator on the malaria monoclonal antibody Program. In addition to her work in malaria, she was responsible for the scientific strategy and project management to develop a small molecule for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Andrews has been an invited speaker at numerous international and national conferences, including the World Health Organization. While an SPPS student, she was a 2014 recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

She began her career as a staff and clinical pharmacist while pursuing advanced degrees in pharmaceutical sciences from UB.

In 2015, Andrews joined Cognigen Corporation, where she led pharmacometric analyses and software development projects and built a pharmacometrics communication platform for malaria drug development. At Cognigen, she helped establish and grow the Global Health Portfolio and also became a Quantitative Sciences team member at the Gates Foundation during that time.

The Orville C. Baxter Memorial Professional Practice Award, established in 1992, bears the name of a long standing faculty member who was extraordinarily dedicated to the professional practice of pharmacy. This annual award is given to recognize an outstanding practicing alumni pharmacist who demonstrates high ideals of professionalism and whose practice demonstrates genuine concern for patients.

The recipient must be a practicing pharmacist with at least five years of experience and have a BS in Pharmacy or a PharmD degree from the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The recipient must be an alumni pharmacist and hold a degree from the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Nominees should be considered based on their professional and innovative pharmacy practice; concern for patients; pursuit of continuing education; mentoring of pharmacy students; participation in community health information programs; and ability to work cooperatively and effectively with others for the advancement of the profession of pharmacy.

Please Note: Current faculty members are ineligible for nomination.

Nominations for 2024 Alumni Awards are now closed.