School of Pharmacy graduates, faculty honored with special awards, recognitions
The UMKC School of Pharmacy recognized a number of graduating students and two faculty members with special awards and honors during the 2019 Commencement Ceremony on May 17 at the Swinney Recreation Center.
2019 Student Awards
Kimberly Ehrhard — Douglas Adcock Memorial Award: Graduate who exhibits concern for others with a desire to practice pharmacy in the public health sector.
Alexandra Ruby — American College of Apothecaries Community Pharmacy Achievement Award: Student with outstanding scholastic achievement, participation in school activities, and plans to pursue a career in independent community pharmacy.
Haley Hilden, Amanda Morelock, Nichole Sherwood — APhA-ASP Senior Recognition Certificate Award: Graduates who have done the most for the UMKC student branch of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP).
Kaitlyn Hollenberg — American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Award: Professional achievement, recognized leadership, and commitment to serving others.
Curtiss Lane, Michelle Sproat, James Unverferth — Merck Academic Excellence Award Students with noteworthy academic achievement in the area of medicinal chemistry.
Amanda Rackers — Mylan Excellence in Pharmacy Award: Recognizes a student with superior academic achievement, professional motivation and a demonstrated ability to communicate drug information.
Madelin Leal, Amanda Morelock, Alexandra Ruby — Pharmacy Alumni Association Award: Students who exhibited outstanding leadership in school affairs.
Sierra Richard, Nichole Sherwood — UMKC Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Honor Recipient: Recognizes exceptional students who maintain high scholastic performance while actively participating in University and community leadership, as well as service activities outside of the classroom.
Jacquelyn Bradley — United States Public Health Service Excellence in Public Health Pharmacy Practice Award: Significant leadership contributions to and participation in programs that benefit medically underserved communities.
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School of Pharmacy researcher looks to reduce medication discrepancies during transition of care
Mark Patterson, Ph.D., M.P.H.
It’s not uncommon for nursing home patients to have discrepancies in their medication lists when they transition from hospital to the nursing home. In fact, published reports show that up to two-third of hospital patients being discharged to nursing homes will have at least one discrepancy in their medication list.
Resolving the mismatched prescribing information between hospital and nursing home and the potential risk it poses to patients places additional burdens on nursing home staff that shouldn’t be ignored, says Mark Patterson, Ph.D., M.P.H. associate professor of pharmacy practice and administration.
“It’s a problem that’s hard to solve because there are so many details,” Patterson said. “A patient’s medication list is an ever-changing source of information. Keeping medication lists current across care settings is difficult, but it needs to be resolved somehow.” READ MORE
Pharmacy winners announced from Health Sciences Student Research Summit
Vrinda Gote presents her winning poster at the 2019 UMKC Health Sciences Student Research Day.
Adult macular degeneration is estimated to affect more than 200,000 people each year in the United States. The most common and effective treatment involves a periodic injection into the eye.
Vrinda Gote, a Ph.D. student at UMKC School of Pharmacy, is working to make the treatments less traumatic for patients.
Grote has been conducting a research project using nanotechnology to develop eye drops that can be easily administered by almost anyone as an alternative to the more costly and invasive injections.
“I like doing research and working around nanotechnology particles to see how they behave,” Gote said. “I would like to create a patient-friendly method for treating macular degeneration. The drug that I’m using is cheaper and could save patients a lot of money also.”
Gote was one of 13 students from the School of Pharmacy to present research posters at the 2019 UMKC Health Sciences Student Research Summit. Her presentation, “One -step self-assembling tacrolimus nanomicelles as a topical treatment for wet AMD,” won first place for basic sciences research among the pharmacy students.
