UH College of Pharmacy became one of approximately a dozen universities nationwide – and one of only two in Texas – to offer a Ph.D. in Pharmacy Administration, with the July 24 approval of the new program by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The new program will offer advanced degree opportunities for health professionals and leaders of healthcare institutions, the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory agencies and academia. To be eligible for admission into the program, applicants must already possess a master’s degree in pharmacy administration or a related field. The Ph.D. program, which makes the second UHCOP program to receive state approval in the past four months, will begin admitting students for the Fall 2009 semester.

In what may be a first – or at least an extremely rare – occurrence for the Texas Pharmacy Association, a mother and daughter have been elected to serve on the TPA Board of Directors during the same term. UH alumna Carrie M. Sacky, R.Ph. (’80), a pharmacist for CVS/pharmacy in the Dallas area, was installed as Vice President and her daughter, UH Pharm.D. student Stacie Dacus, was installed as a Director representing the Academy of Student Pharmacists. In addition, F. Paul Lott, R.Ph. (’84), was elected to the TPA Board representing the Academy of Consultant Pharmacists, while UH alumni Tammy Folsom, Pharm.D. (’98), Jenny Yoakum, Pharm.D. (’97), Lynn Simpson, Pharm.D. (’96), and David Wallace, Pharm.D. (’98), secured positions on TPA academies.

UHCOP alumna Paige Vincent, R.Ph. (’93), was honored with TPA’s 2008 Local Association Leadership Award for her service in the Capital Area Pharmacy Association, which covers Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Lampasas, Llano, Mason, Travis and Williamson counties. Vincent is pharmacist-in-charge at Walgreen’s Pharmacy in Cedar Park, Texas, near Austin. A TPA/CAPA member since 2004, Vincent is a past-president of CAPA and continues to serve on the local association’s board of directors.

UH Pharmacy Administration graduate students Prina Z. Donga and Geethanjali S. Pandey and Associate Professor Hua Chen, M.D., Ph.D., recently won one of only three Student Research Poster Presentation awards at the 13th International Meeting of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. The team’s study involved a statistical comparison – based on a state Medicaid claims database – of patients’ elevated risks of developing diabetes mellitus while taking one of two atypical antipsychotics (olanzapine and clozapine). In addition to the presentation award, UH graduate student Manvi Sharma earned an ISPOR Service Award for her leadership of the organization's UH chapter.

Alumni and officials with Lufkin-based Brookshire Brothers Pharmacy officials recently presented UH College of Pharmacy with a gift of $25,000 to establish a scholarship endowment in the company’s name. Founded by Tom and Austin Brookshire in 1921, the company remained family-owned for more than 75 years. The retirement of three sons of one of the founders in 1997 opened the door for the company’s transformation into today’s 100 percent employee-owned business, which now includes more than 60 locations in East Texas and western Louisiana. UH Pharm.D. students from East Texas or a county in which a Brookshire Brothers store is located will be given preference in receiving the new scholarship.

Jason Eriksen, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology, is latest addition to the College’s Department of Pharmacological & Pharmaceutical Sciences. With a doctorate in neuroscience from Loyola University Chicago, Eriksen had served in research and faculty positions at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Florida, since 2000. His primary research interest is in neurodegenerative disorders, specifically Alzheimer’s disease. Eriksen’s current project, funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, seeks to unravel the mechanisms governing the degradation of tau protein and develop new tools for the treatment of tauopathies and other neurodegenerative diseases. He has authored or contributed to more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and reviews in such journals as Nature and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as three book chapters. He also has filed two patent applications for the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.