On April 6, we proudly recognized outstanding faculty, staff, students, and alumni who, over the past year, have contributed significantly to the school's mission, the profession of pharmacy and scholarly achievements.

On behalf of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science Alumni Association, C.K. David Chu, '75, was honored with the prestigious Willis G. Gregory Memorial Award in recognition of his lifelong work in drug discovery and Tricia Lee Wilkins, ’08, received the Orville C. Baxter Memorial Professional Practice Award in recognition of her national work in health information technology.

Congratulations to these SPPS members for recognition of their professional leadership and superior service to the State University of New Yor, the University at Buffalo and the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences:  

William Prescott, '02, department vice-chair and clinical associate professor, pharmacy practice, is the recipient of the 2017 State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Donald Mager, '91, '00 & '02, professor, pharmaceutical sciences, is the recipient of the 2017 State University of New York Chancellor's Award in Scholarship and Creative Activity.

Jennifer Rosenberg, associate dean for admissions, enrollment planning and pre-pharmacy advising, is the recipient of the 2017 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Professional Service.

William J. Jusko, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, is the 2017 awardee for the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) William B. Abrams Lecture.

The UB SPPS Annual Golf Tournament was held on Monday, June 12, at the Lockport Town and Country Club. Over 70 golfers participated. Thank you to everyone who attended and our generous sponsors:

Geoff Brown, a PharmD student in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences' Clinical Research Program, and Peter Okozoro, BS '16, and a student in the PharmD/MBA program, were awarded prestigious Western New York Prosperity Fellowships.

An abstract submission authored by Fiona Yau, a PhD candidate in the lab of Sathy Balu-Iyer, professor, pharmaceutical sciences, received the 2017 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Innovation in Biotechnology Award at the National Biotechnology Conference (NBC).

The UB chapter of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) won first prize in the national SNPhA 60-Second Video Challenge for its video on seasonal influenza vaccination.

Third-year students at the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences presented projects focused on clinical, experimental and translational research as part of the school's innovative Clinical Research Program. The program is an opportunity for third- and fourth-year PharmD students to elevate themselves for placement in fellowships and residencies via individualized research programs focused on excellent original clinical and translational research.

First-year pharmacy students are getting hands-on training in administering naloxone, a medication used to block the effects of opioids, especially in overdose situations. The practicum for the Self Care Therapeutics couse was developed by Robert Wahler, clinical assistant professor, pharmacy practice, and Michael Burns, a community pharmacy resident at Middleport Family Health Center.

UB SPPS is partnering with Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart to develop creative and inspired real-world solutions for issues facing the field of pharmacy. The Innovation Challenge, sponsored by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), is a national competition where high school students and pharmacy students collaborate to identify medication or health-related problems in their communities and explore innovative solutions to solve those problems.

• The Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group (PPAG) held an interdisciplinary pediatric health fair on Saturday, April 8, at the Matt Urban Hope Center in Buffalo, NY.
• SPPS received second runner-up for the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) 2015-2016 Operation Heart award at the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Francisco, CA.
• The student chapter of American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) held their annual "Senior Prom" on April 13 at the Brookdale Senior Center in Williamsville, NY.
•  Phi Delta Chi held a very successful fundraiser on Saturday, April 22, for Comforting Hugs Foundation.

Margaret Hempling McGlynn, '82, received an honorary doctorate of science at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences’ commencement ceremony on May 20. McGlynn is a global leader in the pharmaceutical industry, and in research and advocacy for an HIV vaccine, as well as for a rare genetic disease that affected her family. She serves as founder of the Hempling Foundation for Homocystinuria Research and was a former chief executive officer of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and former president of the Global Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at Merck.

The SPPS Alumni Association honored the PharmD graduating class of 2017 with a cocktail reception at the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery on Friday, May 19.

Class officers (names) offered comments to their classmates and presented many of them with achievement awards.  The Class of 2017 was pleased to present (put in info on Woodruff)

The UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences 2017 Reunion Weekend will take place Friday, Oct. 6, and Saturday, Oct. 7. Activities currently planned include alumni panels, continuing education program, tours of Kapoor Hall and Buffalo, dinner at the Buffalo Marriott HarborCenter, tours of UB's impact on downtown Buffalo and UB Bulls football and tailgate party.

The classes of 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2012 will be celebrated.

• Susan Ksiazek, BS '82, was elected to serve as president-elect of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (term).
  
• Charles Venuto, '10, is co-principal investigator on a study about non-invasive ways to measure a person's adherence to an anti-retroviral medication prescribed to HIV-negative people who engage in behaviors that place them at greater risk for AIDS. (who is sponsoring the study/grant?)
  
• Thomas Madejski, '82, recently took office as president-elect at the Medical Society of the State of New York (term).
• Sarah Scarpace Peters, '02, was featured in a recent American Pharmacists Association article about the community pharmacist's role in the care of cancer patients.
• James DiNicolantonio, '10, released a book titled "The Salt Fix." (need more info)
  

Annette (Bentley) Jackson, '43
Francesco Stramaglia, '52
M. Donald Pritchard, '53

Wayne Anderson, professor and dean emeritus of the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is the 2017 recipient of the University at Buffalo Alumni Association Philip B. Wels Outstanding Service Award. (when did he receive and why is the Wels Award given)

With the support of a $400,000 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Javier Blanco, associate professor, pharmaceutical sciences, will investigate how therapeutic antibodies are handled in the human lung.

Joseph Balthasar, '91 & '96, professor, pharmaceutical sciences, and associate dean for research, has been selected to serve as a member of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Gene and Drug Delivery Study Section in the Center for Scientific Review.

In the fight against super bacteria, University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences researchers are relying on strength in numbers to win the battle against drug resistance. The team, led by Brian Tsuji, associate professor, pharmacy practice, (need to mention the other UB SPPS members) found that combinations of three antibiotics—that are each ineffective against superbugs when used alone—are capable of eradicating two of the six ESKAPE pathogens when delivered together.

• Karl Fiebelkorn, ’78, senior associate dean for student, professional and community affairs, has been elected to serve on the national Rho Chi Executive Committee as Regional Counselor, Region 1.
• Javier Blanco, associate professor, pharmaceutical sciences, was featured in an article by the National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI), entitled "Interindividual variability in drug-induced cardiotoxicity risk." Read the article.
  
• Dhaval Shah, '10, assistant professor, pharmaceutical sciences, was featured in an article in AACP's Academic Pharmacy Now, entitled "Building an arsenal to fight cancer." Read the article.
• Three University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty members have been elected to American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Special Interest Groups (SIG):
  • William Prescott, '02, department vice-chair and clinical associate professor, pharmacy practice, was elected chair-elect of the Pediatric Pharmacy SIG.
  • Nicholas Fusco, '10, clinical assistant professor, pharmacy practice, was elected secretary of the Pediatric Pharmacy SIG.
    
  • Fred Doloresco, director of assessment, clinical associate professor, and research assistant professor, pharmacy practice, was elected secretary of the Technology in Pharmacy Education and Learning SIG.
• Christine Stumm, registrar and associate director of admissions and advisement, was honored by the UB Professional Staff Senate for her contributions to the SPPS Dean's Ambassador Program.
  

• Nicole Cieri, clinical assistant professor, pharmacy practice