In the first of its kind lecture series, the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) at Belmont University College of Pharmacy recently sponsored a seminar entitled “HIV 101″ in partnership with the non-profit organization Nashville Cares.  The seminar was attended by 80 pharmacy students and faculty.  “Through this ongoing partnership with Nashville Cares” said Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz, SNPhA faculty advisor, “our pharmacy students are gaining an edge to better serve and counsel patients with HIV/AIDS in the community.”  Nashville Cares representatives Amy Walter and Lisa Binkley will return to Belmont in the months ahead to present a second part of the lecture series.

Fifteen students from Belmont University College of Pharmacy volunteered this past Saturday to administer flu vaccine to children of the Vanderbilt Pediatric Clinics and their parents.  The event was set up in a disaster drill format, with dozens of Vanderbilt faculty and staff serving in various roles.  The immunizations were logged into a Vanderbilt database for future use.

Belmont student volunteers included: Kelly Maguigan, Shaneika Walker, Erica Wass, Hozan Hussain, Young Oh, Baogi Liang, Myong Yoo, Lisa Tackett, Jennifer Corder, Whitney Dulin, Cody Hall, Melissa Holloway, Pamela Wong, Gena Curl, and Mandy Newman.

The students were able to administer vaccine to adults, adolescents and children – a new experience for several.  Virtually all of the 500+ vaccinations were administered by student pharmacists from Belmont and Lipscomb Universities.

For the second straight year, a student team from Belmont University College of Pharmacy has advanced to the quarterfinal round of the national Clinical Pharmacy Challenge sponsored by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP).   Belmont will now compete among the top eight teams from universities throughout the United States at the ACCP annual convention in Hollywood, Florida starting October 20.  A national champion will be crowned on October 22.  Last year, Belmont finished as the fifth best team in the country.

The competition began early in September with student teams from 90 pharmacy schools.  Competing online, Belmont advanced through four rounds of competition, the first narrowing the field to 64 and then in three elimination rounds to reach the “elite 8”.

The Belmont team includes Kim Bentley, a fourth-year student; Courtney Curtis, a fourth-year student; Kris Lozanovski, a fourth-year student; Jesse Howell, a fourth-year student; and Dana Spenser, a third-year student.   Dr. Cathy Ficzere worked to facilitate participation among students in the College of Pharmacy last spring along with Dr. Rachel Franks who worked to prepare the selected team over the summer for this challenging competition.

“We are very proud of the efforts and accomplishments of our student pharmacists and the faculty who have prepared them for this competition,” said Dr. Philip Johnston, Dean of the College of Pharmacy.  “They have accomplished so much already.  We have received several comments and congratulations from other pharmacy schools already.  I can verify that the competition is amazing, and that the questions and cases they are challenged with are complex.  It is wonderful to see Belmont able to compete nationally, and for the second year in a row.  Go Bruins!”

Belmont is the only team in the country to make a repeat trip to the national quarterfinal.  The other seven team advancing this year are from pharmacy schools at Drake University, Northeastern University, Purdue University, Samford University, Thomas Jefferson University, University of California San Diego and University of Colorado.

About Belmont’s College of Pharmacy
Belmont University College of Pharmacy is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education (ACPE).  With an enrollment of nearly 300 students, the College is preparing a new generation of health professionals to meet the changing needs of pharmacy practice with a future-oriented Doctor of Pharmacy degree.  Building on a solid educational foundation in pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy practice from a faculty of experienced practitioners and educators, students are engaged in an innovative academic program and extensive experiential component designed to provide depth and breadth of knowledge and skills to prepare students for an emerging array of career options in pharmacy. This is accomplished by specialized study available in pharmacy management, information management, missions/public health, pharmacotherapy or interdisciplinary care delivery.

The College of Pharmacy celebrated the establishment of the Student National Pharmaceutical Organization (SNPhA) on Belmont’s campus on Sept. 14.  Student organization advisers Edgar Diaz-Cruz and Angela Hagan presented each officer with a pin recognizing his or her service in the establishment of this organization on Belmont’s campus.

Officers within SNPhA are Tiffany Lin (president), Saransh Midha (vice president), John Shenoda (treasurer), Lauretta Onuoha (secretary), Shaikat Banerjee (service chairman) and Tracy Okoli (historian).

The mission of SNPhA is to increase the number of minorities or underrepresented students in the pharmacy profession and to increase awareness of underrepresented populations in health care.  This semester SNPhA will focus on a HIV/AIDS national initiative in conjunction with Nashville CARES.  As part of this initiative, SNPhA will host speakers and participating in the Nashville AIDS Walk on Oct. 6.  The SNPhA organization is open to not only pharmacy students but also pre-pharmacy students as well.

The Belmont University College of Pharmacy American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists (BUCOP APhA-ASP) held their first patient care event of the 2012-2013 school year in conjunction with Barren Plains Hispanic Ministry. The Ministry is a mission of the First Baptist Church of Joelton that provides regular meals and church services to migrant workers that come to Middle Tennessee for the fall harvest season.

Thirteen student pharmacists and two faculty members traveled to Springfield, TN to offer free blood glucose and blood pressure screenings as well as provide patient education regarding diabetes and hypertension to promote healthy living practices to 33 participants.  Individuals were given basic first aid kits that were graciously donated by BUCOP’s faculty, students and staff. BUCOP APhA-ASP will be returning to Barren Plains Hispanic Ministry to continue their outreach with the group next month to offer flu vaccinations.

In addition, members of the Class of 2016 recently volunteered time at Second Harvest Food Bank as part of the university’s annual SERVE, Students Engaging and Restoring through Volunteer Experiences, project.  Seventy five students volunteered and were joined by three faculty members, Dr. Kristina Wood, Dr. Angela Hagan and Dr. Kelley Kiningham.  SERVE has been an annual Welcome Week tradition at Belmont for more than a decade.

Ali Foster Roberts, a 2012 PharmD graduate from the College of Pharmacy is completing a PGY1 residency at Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Her longitudinal learning experiences include pharmacokinetics, parenteral nutrition, and antibiotic stewardship. Her training involves six-week rotations in areas such as internal medicine, infectious disease, information health technology, cardiology, emergency medicine, and oncology.

Dr. Maurice Parrom, a 2012 graduate of the Belmont College of Pharmacy, has received the Mylan Excellence in Pharmacy Award.   According to its website, “Mylan Pharmaceuticals has been committed to the highest standards of quality in research and development, manufacturing and distribution and customer service since 1961. This commitment has been extended into pharmacy education through their annual Excellence in Pharmacy Award. Since 1985, the Excellence in Pharmacy Award has honored a baccalaureate or entry-level Pharm.D. graduate for his or her academic achievement, personal motivation and unique ability to communicate drug information.”

Faculty, staff and students in the College of Pharmacy recently donated school supplies to children of mothers in a recovery program at Renewal House.  This non-profit organization provides women and their families with comprehensive treatment services related to alcohol and drug addiction.  This is the second year that Belmont’s College of Pharmacy has participated in a back-to-school drive for children receiving services at Renewal House.  This year a total of twenty children received  backpacks filled with new school supplies to begin the academic year.

Assistant Professor Cathy Ficzere, of the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences, has published “Curriculum and Instructional Methods for Drug Information, Literature Evaluation and Biostatistics: Survey of US Pharmacy Schools” in The Annals of Pharmacotherapy. Ficzere and her team evaluated the state of drug information education in current pharmacy curricula using the specific recommendations regarding drug information education established by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Drug Information Practice and Research Network. Their results show an increased focus on evidence-based medicine, medication safety and informatics.

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Board of Directors has awarded full accreditation status to the Belmont University College of Pharmacy (BUCOP). ACPE, the official regulatory body that accredits all colleges of pharmacy in the United States, reviewed Belmont at its June meeting and made the announcement on June 28. The accreditation extends until June 30, 2014, which is the customary two-year term for a new program receiving full accreditation status.

Belmont’s College of Pharmacy Dean Dr. Phil Johnston said, “This wonderful announcement is the culmination of efforts from so many great people, from our Board of Trustees, our Belmont University leadership, wonderful faculty and our students.  We also must thank so many health care professionals, especially pharmacists in the Nashville region, for working with us this past five years.  We could not have provided such rich experiences without them.  And I want to particularly thank the first graduating class who were the pioneers in the program, and who now are preparing to practice throughout the country.”

After opening its doors in 2007, BUCOP provided students with the skills to contribute to the growing health care needs of Nashville. BUCOP graduated its charter class on May 5, 2012 with 65 members of the Class of 2012 receiving their Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. The initial class has paved the way for future BUCOP students, setting a high standard for academic excellence and community service. The Class of 2016, which enrolls in August, is full with 75 students taking all available seats.

Belmont President Bob Fisher said, “This accreditation represents another milestone in Belmont’s efforts to develop a premier allied health services program. I am proud of the students, faculty and staff who have worked so hard to make this happen, and deeply appreciative of Clayton McWhorter and other donors who helped to create the perfect space for Pharmacy studies to take place.”

Since the college’s first class was admitted in August 2008, students’ academic accomplishments and service has grown exponentially each year. Students have filled more than 7,800 prescriptions in Belmont’s Health Services Pharmacy.  They have earned numerous awards and honors, including ranking in the top eight out of 84 competing schools in the 2011 American College of Clinical Pharmacy’s Clinical Pharmacy Challenge, receiving the Respect, Excellence and Service in Pharmacy (RESPy) Award for excellence in pharmaceutical care and placing in the top 10 in the 2011 American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists’ Clinical Skills Competition.  BUCOP faculty and students have participated in medical mission service in Cambodia, Guatemala, Ghana and Oglala Sioux Nation in South Dakota to meet health care needs of underserved residents locally and globally and performed, and its student organizations averaged 800 hours of community service a semester through their work with nonprofits and events in Nashville.

Pharmacy Assistant Professor Leigh Ann Bynum had her article titled “Organizational Citizenship Behaviors of Pharmacy Faculty: Modeling Influences of Equity Sensitivity, Psychological Contract Breach, and Professional Identity”  accepted for publication in the Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. Using social exchange and social identity theories, Bynum and her team developed a model and proposed the potential relationships among model constructs to define the impact of psychological contract breach, identity salience and equity sensitivity on organizational citizenship behavior of pharmacy faculty.

Dr. Bynum also recently contributed a textbook chapter on “Customer Service”,  in the third edition of Pharmacy Management: Essentials for All Practice Settings (2012).

Morgan Jones, a third year doctoral student in the Belmont University College of Pharmacy, is participating this summer in a prestigious pharmacy internship at the Mayo School of Health Sciences at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.   Morgan was one of only five students selected nationwide for this opportunity.   The salaried 10-week internship provides in-depth exposure to pharmaceutical services offered by Mayo Clinic through its outpatient pharmacies and includes patient counseling, compounding and dispensing.  The program incorporates mini-rotations to acquaint students with specialty practices in outpatient clinic settings.  Mayo Clinic’s Outpatient Pharmacies employ about 200 people, including approximately 60 pharmacists.

Phi Delta Chi is a pharmacy fraternity that focuses on scholastic achievement, leadership and service. The organization is committed to raising funds and awareness for worthy causes, both locally and nationally. One of the most notable causes the fraternity is involved with is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital located in Memphis, Tennessee. Belmont’s chapter, Gamma Xi, has raised funds for St. Jude through various projects. One such project was a letter writing campaign called the Prescription for Hope. Through this campaign student members were able to raise $1,520 within the past year, totaling $4, 204 within the past two years. The group presented the hospital with a check during a visit last week.

Pharmacy Assistant Professors Edgar Diaz-Cruz and Angela Hagen and College of Pharmacy Dean Phil Johnston have had their poster titled “Student Organizational Impact on Minority Pharmacy Students and Diversity Awareness Through Community Service” accepted for the 2012 AACP Annual Meeting in Kissimmee, Fla.

The authors discuss how to prepare future generations of pharmacists, representational of the diversity of the community, through the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA). This outreach directly impacts current Belmont University College of Pharmacy students as it develops their awareness of the various needs in minority communities. Inter-professional faculty advisers in the areas of the pharmaceutical, social and administrative sciences are strategically developing the organization to meet these diverse needs.

The Belmont University College of Pharmacy (BUCOP) will celebrate the graduation of its charter class on May 5 with 65 members of the Class of 2012 expected to cross the stage to receive their Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. After opening its doors in 2007, the College of Pharmacy accepted its first students in fall 2008, and the initial class has paved the way for future BUCOP students, setting a high standard for academic excellence and community service.

Belmont’s College of Pharmacy Dean Dr. Phil Johnston said, “The University and the Nashville community have enabled us to develop a stellar College of Pharmacy at Belmont. I am proud of the commitment of faculty and students to take on leadership roles in this profession to make a difference in thousands of lives. Also important is the contribution of more than 450 affiliate faculty, who open their businesses to our students to provide quality education and mentoring.”

Belmont President Bob Fisher said, “As these students hang their degrees in offices and wear their white coats in labs, retail pharmacies, hospitals and clinics across the United States, they demonstrate the University’s mission to engage and transform the world.  Belmont is especially grateful to Trustee Emeritus Clayton McWhorter who, inspired by his brother, the late pharmacist Fred McWhorter, endowed support to the state-of-the-art academic building that houses the College of Pharmacy.  We are honored to have our students follow their example of living in service to others and championing healthcare reform.”

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Dr. Eric Hobson, of the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences, had his poster titled Economics of Reciprocity in Strong NGO-Academic Global Health Partnerships accepted to be presented at the annual meeting Pharmacy Education 2012 of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in July.

As the first step in a longitudinal analysis of strong, long-term medical mission partnerships between NGOs and academic institutions, this qualitative project identifies equity-sensitivity profiles, ROI assumptions, and partnership equity assessments from the organizational leadership of two entities engaged in a long-term, mutually-beneficial medical missions project serving the children of Guatemala: The Shalom Foundation and the Belmont University College of Pharmacy.

Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Leign Ann Bynum was recently selected to have her poster titled Factors Influencing Organizational Citizenship Behaviors Among Pharmacy Faculty presented at the annual Pharmacy Education 2012 meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in July.

In her study, Bynum and her team tested the effects of perceived psychological contract breach, equity sensitivity and identity salience on the performance of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) directed towards Schools of Pharmacy by Pharmacy faculty. The effects that discipline and pharmacy licensure status have on OCB were also examined.

Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, has had his manuscript titled “The CDK4/6 Inhibitor PD0332991 Reverses Epithelial Dysplasia Associated With Abnormal Activation of the Cyclin-CDK-Rb Pathway” accepted for publication in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

Loss of normal growth control is a hallmark of cancer progression. An important strategy in cancer prevention treatment programs is to target the reversal of premalignant disease through re-differentiation. Utilizing a mouse model of dysplasia and an orally available CDK4/6 inhibitor (PD0332991) Diaz-Cruz and his team were able to identify cell cycle related proteins as mechanisms responsible for dysplasia persisting after an initial “genetic insult” was established. In particular, this study distinguished CDK4 and phosphorylated Rb as targets for cancer chemoprevention.

Dr. Kelley Kiningham, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, will have her chapter titled “Receptor Independent Effects of Retinoids”  published in the upcoming book Nutrition and Cancer From Epidemiology to Biology, with editors Pier Paolo Claudio and Richard M. Niles from Bentham Science Publishers. The chapter is a unique look at the mechanisms by which retinoids work in the body to treat cancer.