UCSF School of Pharmacy

Fifteen years after helping to launch the Chinese Course on Drug Development and Regulatory Science (CCDRS) with the goal of modernizing development and regulation of Chinese medical products, leaders in a tripartite collaboration came together at University of California, San Francisco to celebrate progress and strengthen connections for future cooperation.    “We’re trying to change the academic landscape to have regulatory science be more embraced and developed as a field of study,” said Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm. “CCDRS has broken new ground.”  https://lnkd.in/gm8gBmb5

Postdocs, specialists, and researchers (PSRs) were celebrated in a symposium organized by the Center for Collaborative Innovation that will become an annual gathering. Su Guo, PhD, director of the center and a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS), moderated a panel on career pathways and awarded prizes to four poster presenters. https://lnkd.in/gANfqhZY

In the Quantitative Biosciences Institute, UCSF Coronavirus Research Group (QCRG), Nevan Krogan, PhD, built a transdisciplinary, multi-lab, multi-institutional, multi-national, multi-sector open-science consortium in which over a thousand trainees and senior investigators worked together—overcoming virtually every barrier that fragments science and the science community. Read more about the challenges academic research faces when it comes to breaking down silos, and about how facilitating collaboration is the solution, in this Q&A with the UCSF SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology faculty member. https://lnkd.in/gg4D39FB

Nearly a third of the University of California Class of 2024 started their higher education journey at California community colleges, including Warif Kastoun, PharmD, whose plans to run her own local pharmacy in Damascus, Syria, were interrupted by civil war. Now Kastoun is beginning a yearlong postgraduate residency at Stanford University. She’ll be the only PharmD resident in an innovative ambulatory care program where pharmacists collaborate with physicians to manage chronic conditions for hospital patients. “When I feel self-doubt, I remember everything I’ve gone through and all that I’ve achieved so far,” Kastoun says. “I don’t let it stop me from pursuing my dreams. I just keep going.” 🎓 #UCSFPharmD #PharmGrad2024 https://lnkd.in/gBn68Eqa

Department of Clinical Pharmacy faculty member Kathryn Phillips, PhD, founding director of the University of California, San Francisco Center for Translational and Policy Research on Precision Medicine (TRANSPERS), is tackling the intersection of policy, ethics, and precision medicine in a series of collaborations with global impact. Read more about her recent publication in JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association; her selection to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee examining patterns of alignment or mismatch between innovation and unmet clinical needs in developing novel therapies; and her upcoming work on improving scientific publication and open science as a scholar in residence with the Fondation Brocher in Geneva, Switzerland. https://lnkd.in/grbXQE6W

Celebrating his 87th birthday in a symposium that paid tribute to his pioneering University of California, San Francisco career bridging lab research on pharmacokinetics with advances in clinical pharmacology, Leslie Benet, PhD, is being honored with an endowed professorship bearing his name.   “Les supported students while they were students, after they graduated, and helped them get jobs,” said Francis (Frank) Szoka, PhD. “We all learned that this is the most important thing we can do as scientists, is contribute to the next generation of scientists.”  https://lnkd.in/gRZxta7a

🎓 Congrats to the School of Pharmacy Class of 2024, who overcame a neighborhood power outage to receive their PharmD degrees on May 16 at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. University of California, San Francisco Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS, conferred the new doctoral status of 120 graduates in the commencement ceremony, which also included a reaffirmation of the Oath of the Pharmacist. 🎉 #UCSFPharmD #PharmGrad2024 https://lnkd.in/g9r3YSA3

🎊 🎓 Let’s celebrate our Distinguished Alum of the Year, Ruth Smarinsky, PharmD ’83, a strong force for good who, for the past 18 years, has worked for Direct Relief, a Santa Barbara, California-based nonprofit that has distributed more than $1.6 billion worth of medicine and supplies to 100 nations. “I like starting new, efficient programs to help people,” Smarinsky said. “I try to imagine each person on the other end who’s in a crisis. I want to make things easier for them.” Smarinsky was also named Pharmacist of the Year in 2022 by the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA). #UCSFalumni #UCSFPharmD https://lnkd.in/d8Ygxggh

Department of Clinical Pharmacy volunteer faculty member Kethen So, PharmD, MBA, challenges students to continuously expand their practice and will be honored on June 11, 2024, as a fellow by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). “In the past, there might have been very limited types of practices that pharmacists can be in,” So said, “But pharmacy is ever-changing, and the best is yet to come.” https://lnkd.in/gXQ9hxzu

Thanks to funding from the California Health Care Foundation, two new programs are being developed to expose possibilities and opportunities for applicants to pharmacy school in California’s central San Joaquin Valley. The University of California, Merced - University of California, San Francisco BS to PharmD Program is designed to remove structural barriers with an expedited program for UC Merced students, while the PharmTech-to-PharmD program takes a proactive step toward upskilling pharmacy technicians. Both programs aim to reduce the health care disparities of pharmacy deserts by cultivating interest in—and opening multiple pathways for—pharmacy careers among underserved communities. https://lnkd.in/gZW6SP5n