The SIUE School of Pharmacy, the only pharmacy program in southern Illinois, offers a professional program leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Established in 2005, the school graduated its first class in May 2009 and received full accreditation in June 2009. Class sizes range from 80-82 students with 90% of those students residing in Illinois.
The School values excellence in teaching, pharmacy practice, research/scholarship and service. The program of study is based on current knowledge and technology from pharmacy and other disciplines and is delivered through a variety of innovative teaching strategies.
Faculty and students have accomplished much over the past year. A few of those honors and accomplishments include:
• SIUE School of Pharmacy Class of 2009 Graduates Have Success – The SIUE School of Pharmacy Class of 2009 graduates achieved a 97.26% pass rate on the NAPLEX (North American Pharmacists Licensure Examination). The national pass rate is 95.03%. The average pass rate for the MPJE (Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam) was 97.6%, exceeding the national pass rate percentage of 94.30%. We look forward to receiving the pass rates from the Class of 2010 in mid-to-late fall.
• Strategic Planning Summit for the Advancement of Pain and Palliative Care Held – Dr. Chris Herndon, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice, successfully hosted the first ever Pharmacy Pain Summit. The conference, supported by a grant from the Mayday Fund, brought pain specialists from around the country to SIUE to discuss how the concepts of pain and palliative care pertain to today’s pharmacists. The advisory board unveiled its 40-page list of recommendations about how to enhance pain management training for pharmacists at the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society. The recommendations have been endorsed by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
• SIUE SOP and SLU Pharmacology Receive $975K NIH Grant – The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy has been awarded – along with St. Louis University Department of Pharmacology and Physiology – a $974,024 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study ways of relieving chronic pain through new approaches in treating neuroinflammation. William Neumann, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry serves as one of the project’s principal researches.
• SIUE Asst. Professor Receives Grant to Study New Drugs for Alzheimer’s – A $250,000 National Institutes of Health grant will help Ken Witt, assistant professor of pharmaceutical science, study the effectiveness of new drugs in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Witt will investigate the use of novel drugs to encourage the breakdown of amyloid beta accumulation. This accumulation is associated with a reduction or reversal in the ability to learn, as well as memory loss that is characteristic with Alzheimer’s disease.
• SIUE Pharmacy Student Receives Poster Presentation Award - A Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy student recently received the Thomas L. Lemke Poster Presentation Award for having the most outstanding poster presentation at the Malto Medicinal Chemistry annual meeting. Lacey Gamblin of Granite City, who is expected to graduate from the School of Pharmacy student in 2011, received the prestigious award for her paper at the organization's meeting in May at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Memphis. The poster presentations are held as a way to allow students to present findings based on their research. A total of 113 faculty, students and postdoctoral fellows attended the meeting, representing schools and colleges of pharmacy throughout the Southern and Central United States.
• SIUE SOP Fosters Development of Post-Graduate Residencies in Pharmacy in Southern Illinois – Following graduation from the SIUE SOP, students have the option of seeking a post-graduate residency – a one-year structured program of advanced training. SOP pharmacy faculty have helped to create four local residencies, two of which are now accredited by the American Society of Health Systems Pharmacy.
• Michael Geisler, P4 Student, Receives RESPy Award from Pharmacy Times and Wal Mart Pharmacy – Michael Geisler, a 4th year Pharmacy student, received the RESPy Award, which stands for Respect Excellence and Service in Pharmacy. That national award from the Pharmacy Times is given in conjunction with Wal Mart and was created to honor outstanding pharmacy students who display exemplary behavior and great potential as community pharmacists. Only eight awards winners are chosen from the hundreds of nominated individuals.
• Associate Dean Receives Fellow Award – Dr. Gireesh Gupchup, Acting Dean, was designated as a Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). The APhA Fellow Award was established to honor APhA members for exemplary professional achievements in professional practice and outstanding service to the profession through activities in APhA and other organizations.
• George Paz, Express Scripts Chairman and CEO, Speaks at Hooding Ceremony – George Paz, Chairman and CEO of Express Scripts, served as the keynote Speaker for the May 8, 2010 Hooding Ceremony for the SIUE School of Pharmacy Class of 2010. The ongoing partnership between Express Scripts and the School of Pharmacy’s Drug Information & Wellness Center, has been transformative for the School.
• SOP Holds Minority Summer Camp – For the 2nd time, the SIUE School of Pharmacy conducted a Minority Summer Camp, held June 7-9. Sixteen students from Collinsville and Belleville West High School participated and members of our Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) served as mentors. The high school students learned about different career options for pharmacists and shadowed pharmacists in both community and hospital settings. The camp was supported by a “diversity initiatives” contribution from Walgreens.
