Pharmacy student leads project to outfit Pharmacy Building with Narcan kits

BUFFALO, N.Y. ­— The red 7.75- by 6.25-inch boxes positioned in walls throughout the University at Buffalo Pharmacy Building are small but mighty.

Installed above each of the eight automated external defibrillators (AED), the boxes contain four emergency doses of naloxone hydrochloride, known more commonly by brand name Narcan.

With a spray administered through the nose, Narcan can reverse opioid overdoses, saving lives just as AEDs save people from cardiac arrest.

“Opioid overdose rates have skyrocketed throughout the country, and Narcan can stop them,” says Karina Babina, a dual-degree graduate student in pharmacy and clinical and translational sciences. “I am passionate about reducing overdoses through Narcan access and education.”

Babina, who is entering her fourth year in the pharmacy program, spearheaded a project to install the lifesaving kits throughout the 160,000 square-feet building that houses School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences’ classes, labs, and offices.

It was a two-year effort involving UB’s Environment, Health and Safety unit; University Police; faculty, staff and students in the pharmacy school; and the Erie County Department of Health.

Along the way, she garnered the support of Gary Pollack, dean of the pharmacy school.

“I strongly believe in making Narcan available not only to students but also to visitors to our building,” Pollack says. “As health care professionals, we should take the lead in the fight against opioid overdoses, and I’m so impressed by Karina and her determination to get this important project underway at UB.”

The kits reinforce Narcan boxes that are already available at all UB residence halls and in University Police vehicles.

“Even if there isn’t an immediate need,” Babina says, “it’s an important resource to have on hand in case they, a friend, or a family member ever face an emergency.

Interest in fighting drug addiction started young

Born in the Ukraine, Babina grew up New Hampshire. During her undergraduate study of biomedical science at the University of New Hampshire, she became interested in addiction, starting with nicotine.

Now a Western New York Prosperity Fellow, Babina serves as co-chair of the Operation Substance Use Disorder Committee of the UB student chapter of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA).

Babina and her two co-chairs began working on the project called Narcan in Our Schools (NIOS) in spring 2023. They started by talking to students at Amherst Central High School about substance abuse and demonstrating how to use Narcan.

While she thought the experience was useful, she questioned afterward whether most kids could afford the $50 over-the-counter price for Narcan or would know where to purchase it in advance of an emergency.

“I thought to myself: How good is it to talk about something without having access to it?” she says. “If students witnessed an overdose on campus, how easily could they save someone’s life? So, I began to think about the impact Narcan access could have on the UB community.”

While Babina was working on the UB initiative, someone close to her died of a drug overdose. The tragedy, she says, elevated the importance of her efforts.

Support from constituents

With the support of pharmacy faculty and staff members John Dimura, pharmacy school facilities manager; Jennifer Rosenberg, PhD, associate dean for students success and engagement and director of admissions; Gene Morse, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Babina’s mentor; and Kristin Gniazdowski, associate dean of resource management, Babina was able to make her dream of installing Narcan in the pharmacy building a reality.

Through research, meetings, and many letters, Babina secured $20,000 in funding from the county health department, not only for the initial delivery of the Narcan kits but also for replenishments.

Babina notes that the work doesn’t stop with installing the Narcan kits. She wants students to know how to administer the lifesaving drug, which, she says, is how harm reduction is accomplished.

Such efforts are already working in Erie County. For example, in 2023, 366 people died from opioid overdoses. That number dropped to 274 in 2024, and from January through May of this year, there have been 80 opioid-related deaths.

“The fatalities are decreasing,” Babina says, “but we are still losing far too many lives.”

As such, she has partnered with the health department to offer free Train the Trainer (TOT) programs on campus. After going through the three-hour program, participants become certified to lead their own Narcan training programs in their communities.

She and her fellow APhA members held an event last October where more than 50 undergraduate and graduate students and faculty members became certified Narcan trainers.

“We hope to partner with the health department to offer more of these trainings in the future,” she says. “Once students are trained, they can take that knowledge back to their communities, which may be New York City or a rural town. That’s the beauty of spreading this education — that it can lead to sustainable change.”