Category: Featured News

On March 30 in Chicago, Alin Kalayjian, Katie Necas, Kevin Li, and Sanchita Galgalikar—the student team representing UWSOP—placed third in the final round of the 22^nd Annual National Student Pharmacist Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) Competition, held during the 2022 Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) conference.

Each year, the AMCP Foundation P&T Competition challenges student pharmacists from the Academy’s Student Pharmacist Chapter ranks to think in terms of real-world experience in the formulary decision-making process. The national competition is intended to give student pharmacists an opportunity to hone and test their skills in drug information, pharmacoeconomics, and effective presentation delivery.

For this year’s event, the UW School of Pharmacy team competed against 55 teams from other universities to investigate and develop a paper and presentation to a mock insurance company about the PONVORY® (ponesimod), a study drug intended for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Juan Garcia, a PharmD student at UW School of Pharmacy, has been selected to participate in the Latino Center for Health 3rd Annual Student Scholars Fellowship Program in 2022.

This fellowship program plays an important role in helping meet the demand for Latinx and Spanish-speaking health care workers in Washington state by providing crucial financial and community support to students in the health sciences.

“The shortage of bilingual and bicultural health professionals in our state is pronounced,” says Dr. Gino Aisenberg, associate professor for the UW School of Social Work and co-director of LCH. “The Latino Center for Health is staunchly committed to help expand the state’s health professions pipeline by supporting the next generation of leaders and scholars who are doing excellent work to promote the health and wellbeing of our state’s Latinx communities.”

Last year, Juan participated in a Q&A session at a central district high school, talking to students about health care professions and steps to get there, support systems, and mentorship opportunities. He is looking forward to sharing more insights with the local community and connecting with other professionals with similar interests in pharmacy and outreach.

Juan notes that trust-building and authenticity will play integral roles in his success as a health care professional moving forward.

“Being that representative—that person of color—providing comfort and trust in patients like, ‘that person knows my culture and what matters to us, how we feel about health care, how we feel about medications and medication safety.’ That’s what I hope to do with my PharmD degree is provide that trust to our patient population and represent people of color and our Latinx community.”

 

Congratulations to Lynn and Geraldine Brady Endowed Professor Jen Danielson, BSPharm, PharmD, MBA, Assistant Dean for Experiential Education and Student Professional Development, for her election as Chair-elect of the Council of Faculties of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Jen has been an active member of AACP for many years with recognition as an Academic Leadership Fellow in 2016-17, and leadership roles in several committees. She is a recognized scholar in Experiential Education and a leader in the field of Interprofessional Education, serving as a consultant for other universities interested in developing this important area of health professions education. In addition to Jen’s recognition as a scholar and leader, she has been a member of the AACP Board of Directors for the past four years, helping lead the organization through substantial growth in pharmacy education during the COVID pandemic.

Full list of 2021 election winners here: https://aacp.informz.net/informzdataservice/onlineversion/ind/bWFpbGluZ2luc3RhbmNlaWQ9MzUwNTUzNSZzdWJzY3JpYmVyaWQ9Mzc2NzQxNjg4

 

Watch Timelapse footage of the new Health Sciences Education Building.

While recently volunteering at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic hosted by Kelley-Ross Pharmacy in Seattle, UWSOP’s Uyen Nguyen, a PY3 PharmD student, was assigned a very special patient: her husband, Albert Chan.

Albert, who works as a pharmacist at CVS Pharmacy, was one of many patients vaccinated by Uyen and her colleagues. So far this year, more than 85 UWSOP students have administered the COVID-19 vaccine at clinics across Washington State.

“It has been an honor to be a part of the vaccination clinics hosted by the Kelley-Ross pharmacy and I truly appreciate the opportunity,” said Uyen, who has volunteered at two clinics sponsored by the pharmacy. “I am proud to help with the COVID vaccination effort and I believe this learning experience is once-in-a-lifetime during this unprecedented global crisis.”

The Washington State Pharmacy Association (WSPA) recently announced its 2020 Award of Distinction Honorees, and several members of the UWSOP family have been named as recipients. A virtual ceremony will be held November 19 to pay tribute to the honorees and install the 2021 WSPA Board of Directors.

Don Downing, UWSOP Clinical Professor, has been awarded the Bowl of Hygeia, one of the pharmacy profession’s most prestigious awards. The honor recognizes pharmacists who possess outstanding records of civic leadership and encourages pharmacists to take active roles in their communities.

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Peggy Odegard, UWSOP Associate Dean of Professional Pharmacy Education, has been given the Ron D. Shafer Achievement Award, which recognizes a pharmacy professional who has made pioneering and sustaining contributions to the profession of pharmacy.

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Shabir Somani, retired Director of Pharmacy for UWMC and Harborview Medical Center, has been named Health System Pharmacist of the Year. The award recognizes an outstanding health- system pharmacist and their service to the profession of pharmacy and specifically, hospital pharmacy. A pharmacist with contributions in pharmacy programs, cooperation with the entire health team as well as service to the community.

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Leslie Fox, Director of Healthcare Policy and Advocacy in the Pacific Northwest for Johnson & Johnson, has been given the Friend of Pharmacy award, honoring an individual or organization outside the profession of pharmacy whose activities promote the advancement of the pharmacist’s role of improving patient medication outcomes and public health.

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Mike Bonck, Manager, Pharmaceutical Services at Franciscan Health System in Tacoma, WA, has received the David Almquist Award, recognizing a member for outstanding work in the endeavors of WSPA promotion and pharmacy enrichment.

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Andrew Heinz, a pharmacist at Kirk’s Pharmacy in Eatonville, WA, has been named Washington State Distinguished Young Pharmacist of the Year. The award honors an exemplary pharmacist who has made outstanding contributions in the area of community service.

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Chuck Paulsen, Senior Director of Pharmacy at QFC, has been given the Excellence in Innovation Award, recognizing a practicing pharmacist or pharmacy technician using innovative pharmacy practice to improve patient care and outcomes

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Mark Richards announced this week that Sean D. Sullivan has accepted a second term as Dean of the UW School of Pharmacy. “I am honored and humbled to be able to continue serving as Dean for the School of Pharmacy,” said Sullivan, who has served as Dean since 2014. “The last five years have been among the most rewarding of my career, and I’m privileged to be working alongside such a talented, respected and supportive team of colleagues and students. I look forward to helping steer our School’s continuing growth and success.”

Representing UW Health Sciences, UWSOP Dean Sean Sullivan spoke this week with the Washington State Senate Committee to discuss the state’s health care workforce pipeline.

Sullivan shared with the committee the UW’s plans to partner with the State to build a new Interprofessional education (IPE) learning facility. The $100 million project, which is expected to meet completion in 2022-2023, will serve as a cutting-edge training hub for the six UW Health Sciences schools that train nearly 6,000 professional degree students and residents (post-graduate, specialty training) and 3,400 graduate students.

“In all cases, our professional degree students train with each other in IPE settings,” Sullivan noted. “Because of the importance of this project, the UW and the Deans are adding an additional $30 million to the effort to create a state-of-the-art training space – providing interprofessional digital and virtual simulation and other technology-enhanced learning.”

Sullivan added that although there is a shortage of health professionals in the behavioral health sciences – and the six UW Deans are committed to increasing the supply of these providers for Washington state – health care workforce gaps won’t be solved by simply producing more health care professionals. He provided two examples illustrating the importance of regulatory/reimbursement reform and innovation as effective combatants against these challenges:

Low Vaccination Rates

Twenty years ago, faculty from the UW School of Pharmacy working with Washington state DOH, King County Public Health and the CDC created the legal and regulatory framework necessary for pharmacists to provide vaccinations in community and clinic-based pharmacies.

“This was not possible or allowed prior,” Sullivan noted. “Now, in every state, vaccinations are available in community pharmacies. The consequence of this is that vaccination rates have doubled in some areas of the country principally because of better access. When the COVID vaccine becomes available, rapid access to this vaccine will very likely flow primarily through pharmacies where there is much better access for our urban and rural communities.”

COVID dramatically reduced access to care amongst non-COVID patients

“I feel certain that analyses will ultimately show large and negative impacts of reduced access on health outcomes of non-COVID patients,” said Sullivan. “Tele-health, once reserved for connecting patients in rural communities to providers in urban settings, is now – because of COVID – commonplace for primary and specialty care, social work and mental health visits, physical therapy, pharmacy and medication consults, follow-up consultations in dentistry, nursing, etc.”

Sullivan noted that although professional inertia and inadequate reimbursement kept this technology from broader use, the COVID pandemic has shown that institutions can use tele-health in much more broad and creative ways, expanding access to patients simply by using our laptops, pads and phones.

“I would encourage this committee to think broadly about possible regulatory and reimbursement reform,” he said, “and encouraging and stimulating innovative health and digital technology solutions as an added opportunity to address population health and workforce gaps.”

Watch the entire TVW broadcast from July 16, 2020: https://www.tvw.org/watch/?clientID=9375922947&eventID=2020071001

 

On June 19 the Governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, issued a proclamation allowing graduates from approved Schools/Colleges of Pharmacy to register for a 180-day temporary license through PQAC. This proclamation will cover residents coming into Washington state to participate in residency programs. The main purpose of the 180-day temporary license is to provide a bridge between graduation and the time that students are able to take and pass their examinations (given the COVID-related delays for testing).