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 Sciences 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 York (SUNY), 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 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Donald Mager, '91, '00 & '02, professor, pharmaceutical sciences, is the recipient of the 2017 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence 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 Excellence in Professional Service.

William Jusko, '65 & '70, 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. This lecture honors scientists who have excelled in their specialty areas and are some of the most highly esteemed clinical pharmacologists in the field.

The University at Buffalo has been awarded $4.5 million to hire world-class scholars whose work will boost UB’s research enterprise and educational offerings while enhancing innovation in the Buffalo Niagara region.

The funding is comprised of three grants from the State University of New York’s Empire Innovation Program, which helps institutions recruit senior faculty members with track records of significant scholarly achievement and externally-funded research projects.

UB will receive $1 million to add researchers to the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, specifically the field of systems pharmacology.

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).

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 course was developed by Robert Wahler, '00, clinical assistant professor, pharmacy practice, and Michael Burns, '16, a community pharmacy resident at Middleport Family Health Center.

Fifty-two residents representing SPPS, Kaleida Health, Upstate Medical University Hospital, University of Rochester Medical Center, WNY VA Medical Center, Syracuse VA Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital Center/Syracuse, Mercy Hospital of Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute presented their research projects to over 100 attendees at the 13th annual Resident Project Presentation Day on April 20.

In addition, nine SPPS Scholars Program students, under the leadership of William Prescott, '02, department vice-chair and clinical associate professor, pharmacy practice, presented research posters at the event.

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.

• Pharmaceutical sciences student Daniel Ferguson gave a podium presentation at the 2017 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Annual Meeting of Experimental Biology in Chicago, IL, on "Elucidating the Effect of DNA Methylation on the Regulation of Human Neonatal Fc Receptor (FcRn)."
• PhD candidate Erik Hefti, MS '14 & PharmD '14, authored a publication titled "Mitochondrial DNA heteroplasmy in cardiac tissue from individuals with and without coronary artery disease."
• SPPS "Superbug Lab" researchers Sarah Spitznogle, '18, Nicholas Smith, '18, and Zachary Bulman, '15, presented at the American Society of Microbiology conference in New Orleans, LA.
  
• 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.

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 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 our building 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 2017-18 president-elect of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
  
• 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. The study is sponsored by the University of Rochester Center for AIDS Research (CFAR).
  
• Thomas Madejski, '82, recently took office as president-elect at the Medical Society of the State of New York.
• 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. Read the article.
• James DiNicolantonio, '10, released a book titled "The Salt Fix," which explores how the proper amount of salt can ward off sugar cravings, ease chronic illness and improve sports performance.
  
• Shannon Rudolph, '16, was selected for an executive fellowship position for the Iowa Pharmacy Association.
• Amy Wojciechowski, '12, was named New Practitioner of the Year by the New York State Council of Health-system Pharmacists. The award recognizes leadership, vision and continuous contributions to the field of pharmacy.

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

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

Joseph Balthasar, '91 & '96, professor and associate dean for research, pharmaceutical sciences, 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, 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. Collaborating with Tsuji are Justin Lenhard, '14, and Zackery Bulman, '15.

• 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 in NDRI.
  
  In March, Blanco also gave a presentation titled "Molecular Determinants for Anthracycline-Related Cardiotoxicity in Survivors of Pediatric Cancers" at the Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH.
  
• 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 in Academic Pharmacy Now.
• 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.
• Sara Robinson, associate director of admissions and advisement, received the prestigious State University of New York College Admissions Professionals (SUNYCAP) Admissions Professional Award at the 2017 annual conference.
  
  Robinson was also selected as the UB Undergraduate Academic Council Chair for 2017-18.
  

• Nicole Cieri, clinical assistant professor, pharmacy practice