Thanks to the generosity of UH College of Pharmacy's alumni and friends, 170 students have received a total of nearly $150,000 in scholarships and awards for the 2008-09 academic year. In comparison, the college awarded 40 scholarships for a total of $30,000 in 1993. More than 150 of this year's donors or their representatives and the student recipients had the opportunity to get to know each other at the 12th Annual Scholarship 50 Luncheon at the UH Conrad Hilton on November 13, 2008.

Several alumni and friends of UH College of Pharmacy marked the investiture of UH System Chancellor and UH President Dr. Renu Khator by giving a total of $35,000 to support pharmacy student education. Paul Likhari's $30,000 gift established the Prithvipal and Manmeet Likhari "Inspiring Excellence" Endowed Scholarship, while two $2,500 gifts from Walgreens and alumni Sunny Chin ('71) and John Gee ('71) will fund annual scholarships.

UHCOP alumnus Chuck Hopson, R.Ph. ('65), owner and operator of May Drug in his hometown of Jacksonville, Texas, recently won re-election to a fifth term in the Texas House of Representatives. The Texas Pharmacy Association's 2006 Pharmacist of the Year, Hopson received the college's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2004 and was named one of "50 Outstanding Alumni" during the college's 50th anniversary celebrations. Chuck and his wife Billie, a former educator and school counselor for more than 30 years, have three grown children and six grandchildren. Hopson's District 11 includes the counties of Cherokee, Houston, Panola and Rusk.

Second-year Pharm.D. student Lindsay Prekosovich was elected Regional Delegate for Region 6 at the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists Midyear Regional Meeting. Her election marks the second consecutive year that a UH student has served in the position. In addition, the UH Chapter captured second place in the ASP Regional Challenge for implementing the national campaign themed "It Starts with One: Empowering Student Pharmacists as Agents of Change." For its project, the UH chapter recently hosted an on-campus Halloween carnival that included games and sugar-free candy for children as well as wellness promotion for parents covering such topics as diabetes and peripheral artery disease.

The UH Pharmacy Alumni Association roasted the competition at the 2008 Homecoming Tailgate by winning the Best Food Award with a barbecue of smoked ribs, brisket and sausage, potatoes and beans. The cooking team of Bryan Prescott, Pharm.D. ('01), Randy Trahan and Jay Thapar, brother of UHCOP alumnus Neil Thapar, Pharm.D. ('02), not only secured bragging rights for pharmacy alums, but it also collected $250 in prize money toward the association's scholarship endowment for pharmacy students. The Best Food Award was one of four honors given by the Houston Alumni Organization's Homecoming Tailgate Spirit Challenge at the Nov. 7 homecoming event.

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UH Interim Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost Jerald Strickland, Ph.D., recently established a Dean Search Committee to recommend candidates for the College of Pharmacy's next leader. Chaired by UH College of Optometry Dean Earl Smith III, O.D., Ph.D., the committee members include faculty members Rajender Aparasu, Ph.D., Richard Bond, Ph.D. ('88, '83), Diana S-L. Chow, Ph.D., and Vincent Tam, Pharm.D., BCPS; alumni Renee Prescott, Pharm.D. ('02), and Ryan K. Roux, Pharm.D. ('99), M.S.; and staff officer David Bell, UH assistant vice president for Academic & Faculty Affairs.

The University of Houston and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore research and collaboration opportunities through the UH College of Pharmacy's Institute of Community Health (ICH) and UT-Harris County Psychiatric Center. As part of the ICH's research mission of reducing and eliminating health disparities in the area of health services delivery and utilization, one of the first projects between the institutions will be an analysis of medication errors and adverse drug events in psychiatric inpatients as well as an evaluation of the impact of prevention strategies.