About Claire Lee, and more news

Who is Claire Lee?

Claire Lee, a senior analyst with the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, is one of the many support staff members who makes teaching and research possible. You know the ones. They always know the answer, or will find it for you; they make sure every detail is correct and everyone is satisfied—often at the last minute. In addition, Claire is a tremendous help to her department, School, and campus community. She has served on various committees and assisted with staff development. When receiving a service award a few years ago, the word that was chosen for her was caring for her warm empathy with students, staff, and faculty.

What do you do in your position?

I help Mike Winter and the clinical pharmacy faculty with the administrative needs of our teaching program. I also assist PharmD students with information about courses, rotations, and the academic planning process. As a longtime member of the clinical pharmacy staff, I help to facilitate the work of the MSO and the administrative support team.

When did you start at UC?

I have been with UC for a long time one way or another. My mother went to Cal and worked at UCSF for over 30 years so I was always calling her or meeting her at her lab. I went to college at UC Davis, spent freshman year as a Cal Aggie, then transferred to Cal Berkeley to study art history. Many years later, I came to UCSF to work. I have been a UC employee for the past 14 years, the last 11 in the clinical pharmacy education program.

What did you do before this?

I worked at IBM France and IBM Europe where I was an English teacher, then a communications skills trainer, then an executive assistant to the director of personnel, and finally an international personnel administrator. I had the good fortune to live in Paris for 17 years and travel widely. I was in Afghanistan in 1970 before the Soviet invasion, in Nepal when the primary mode for getting from temple to temple was a bicycle, and in China just after Nixon’s ping pong diplomacy opened the country to American tourism. I was able to visit countries in Central America, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

What are you doing now for fun?

I am much more home-based raising my family. I have two children and three stepchildren, the youngest now 16 years old. My favorite fun thing is doing wedding and party flowers. I am a weekend florist. Flowers are my passion, and I love to work with them, whether it be making bridal bouquets or graduation leis or tending my garden. My life as a gardener started with a Mother’s Day rose bush over a decade ago, and now hundreds of plants, thousands of pages of horticultural lore, and two gardens later, I have a San Francisco plot, a Noah’s Ark overcrowded with one of everything. I am also an avid reader and draw and paint.

ACPE accreditation

Dean Mary Anne Koda-Kimble provided and introduces this section:

Local historian Bob Day declares, “In all the accreditation cycles I have witnessed for this School of Pharmacy—and there have been many—this report is by far the strongest and most favorable!” Given this “unbiased” accolade, I thought it appropriate to share with you the observations made by the evaluation team appointed by our accrediting body, the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE).

The purpose of the team’s visit was to validate the School’s self-assessment or self-study. I have read the team’s draft report, and although we will not receive a final decision until the full council has reviewed the report this summer, I feel confident, along with Bob, that UCSF’s PharmD program will be re-accredited for the full six-year term. The following verbatim excerpts are taken from the report. A full copy of the draft will be available in S-926 and C-156.

Programmatic strengths

The School of Pharmacy at UCSF and its Doctor of Pharmacy program exhibit a number of characteristics that deserve commendation and recognition as strengths. A summary of these characteristics is presented as follows:

• The Dean is viewed to be a major strength of the School. She is to be commended for her leadership and management style, which has been instrumental in encouraging the faculty to work harmoniously to achieve the progress noted above. She has created an environment that has supported success, and has been effective in a balanced and entrepreneurial way.

• The School’s Leadership Group is also a strength of the School. It has played a key role in providing advice and feedback to the Dean regarding policy and decision making, and serves as an important communication link with faculty and staff in the academic units.

• The School’s 2000–2005 Strategic Plan is viewed to be exemplary. The Plan sets forth a clear statement of the School’s mission, and an organized series of goals and objectives under five critical issues designed to provide focus for ongoing developmental efforts.

• The new curriculum for the Doctor of Pharmacy program that has now been fully implemented is viewed to be a strength. This curriculum has taken into account the expectations of the newest ACPE accreditation standards (Standards 2000), which establish the Doctor of Pharmacy program as a true, four-year graduate/professional program, designed to produce doctoral-credentialed professionals prepared to assume key roles as members of the health care team. The program is unique and innovative, particularly in terms of the focused curricular pathways now made available for selected students.

• The students are viewed to be a significant strength of the School. They demonstrate maturity, professionalism and an eagerness to have a positive impact on the health care system and the well being of patients.

• The faculty is also viewed to be a significant strength of the School. The quality of the faculty is evident in their commitment to teaching, their successes in research and scholarship, their innovations in pharmacy practice, and their involvement in School, University and professional service.

• The University library is a strength for the entire campus. It provides the faculty and students with access to a broad range of information resources for use in both education and research.

Comments and recommendations

Based on the changes and progress described earlier, and the School and programmatic strengths noted above, the evaluation team characterizes the School as an entity that truly demonstrates a commitment to excellence in all areas. In this regard, the School is a leader nationally in professional and graduate education and in the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge through sponsored research and scholarship. It is clear and notable that the School’s successes in research and scholarship are critical to its ability to provide leadership in professional and graduate education.

Challenges remain

As noted in the School’s self-study, and as observed by the Evaluation Team, a number of significant challenges remain in spite of the successes that have been achieved. If unaddressed, these challenges could have a negative impact on the quality of the Doctor of Pharmacy program as well as other key programmatic areas within the School. In order to provide guidance and assistance to continuing development, a summary of the major challenges facing the School is presented as follows and should be considered and appropriately addressed by the institution:

A need exists to stabilize support for a critical nucleus of full-time faculty members in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy. In the view of the evaluation team, the ratio utilized for allocating faculty FTE to the School of Pharmacy is inappropriately high, and does not recognize the nature of the Doctor of Pharmacy program as a true graduate/professional degree, a characterization that is more evident than ever consistent with national trends in pharmaceutical education. While the School has been successful enough to have access to a variety of sources of soft funds to provide this support, it is viewed, in essence, to be somewhat of a victim of this success, as adequate support for key faculty positions is based on a constantly changing array of soft funding.

The evaluation team urges continued support from the University to address these key issues to the extent possible. The Evaluation Team wishes to underscore the need for enhanced permanent funding for faculty salaries via any mechanism to alleviate the present and potentially tenuous situation that relies heavily on leveraged, non-recurring support.

Other funding priorities for the School, as presented to the UCSF administration, are also viewed to be very important by the Evaluation Team. Funding for faculty recruitment, particularly in the form of non-recurring start-up funds is critical to the School’s ability to attract the type and caliber of individuals necessary to fulfill and sustain the School’s goals. Funding to support new programs and centers that are being developed is also needed to sustain the School’s growth and development.

As the School has provided the vision for the establishment of new programs and centers, it is important that the School maintains its leadership role as the programs and centers continue to develop and mature. It is the view of the Evaluation Team that the UCSF administration, particularly the Chancellor, and other campus leaders are supportive of the School and its needs.

A need exists for additional staff and infrastructure support for a range of School endeavors. This includes infrastructure to support faculty research efforts (e.g., grants, etc.), as well as additional support to assist faculty members in preparing for and delivering the new curriculum, particularly the focused curricular pathways, as they are especially labor intensive to deliver.

As stated by the Dean, “The quality, quantity, and location of space designated to the School continue to be problematic.” While relief to a certain extent is anticipated with the development of the Mission Bay campus, this development alone will not address all of the School’s space needs.

Evaluate and refine new curricular pathways. Now that the new curriculum for the Doctor of Pharmacy program has been fully implemented, efforts should focus on review, refinement and maturation. As noted earlier, the faculty is to be commended for its efforts to develop and implement the new Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum. This new curriculum is viewed to be innovative, and is particularly labor intensive when considering some of its unique elements, such as the focused curricular pathways and the student projects. It is thus noted that the programmatic changes that have been made have significant resource implications.

While recognizing that this has been an arduous task, it is critical that momentum be maintained, so as to ensure the curriculum achieves its desired outcomes.

Effort should now be focused on evaluating the new elements of the curriculum, and on making appropriate refinements based upon the data and feedback obtained. Particular attention should be focused on evaluating the outcomes of the new curricular pathways to ensure that all students achieve the professional competencies and outcome expectations set forth for the Doctor of Pharmacy program.

A specific concern in the pathways is the minimal amount of advance practice experience that an individual student might receive. Particular attention should also be focused on the continued development of the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs), with emphasis on expanding student experiences in ambulatory care and advanced community pharmacy practice.

The Evaluation Team supports the School’s goals of continuing to address issues with respect to the diversity of both the student body and the faculty. With respect to student diversity, the evaluation team appreciates the School’s goal of achieving a diversity mix that more closely reflects the diversity mix of the State. The Team would also like to reflect, however, that it recognizes strength in the present diversity of the student body, and does not view this to be of particular concern. With respect to faculty diversity, the School’s goals are supported. The Team also notes here, however, that pharmaceutical education is facing a national tightening of the faculty resource pool, and that efforts to push a diversity agenda in this arena should not overshadow the need for qualified faculty members in key areas as they arise.

What is the bottom line in terms of accreditation?

I hope you will agree that the overall tone of the report is strong. But as in all rigorous evaluations, the report points out and reaffirms our challenges as well. In our case, the evaluation team shared our concerns regarding appropriate resources to support our core programs; they also encourage us to continue to assess and refine our curriculum. We are working vigorously on both these issues.

The report does affirm why I am so proud of this school and its PharmD program—regardless of the challenges we face. This curriculum is on target for a profession with countless opportunities. This faculty is farsighted and dedicated to delivering a curriculum that succeeds. Our students are smart, full of vitality, and engaged. Our staff and my administrative colleagues succeed in holding us all together and helping us move forward.

Our many, many volunteers and alumni staunchly support us all. Thanks to everyone who participated in this self-study process. Special acknowledgment goes to our self-study co-chairs Barbara Sauer and Susan Levings, as well as to Bob Day, Angela Hawkins, Cindy Watchmaker, Deborah Petrie, Sarah Magee, Betty-ann Hoener, and Mike Winter.

Evaluation team

We had a very strong evaluation team. Participating were:

• Joseph A. Barone, Associate Professor and Chairman of Pharmacy Practice at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.
• John M. Cassady, Dean, The Ohio State University, College of Pharmacy.
• Dennis K. Helling, Pharmacy Operations Director, Kaiser Permanente, Rocky Mountain Division, and President of the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education.
• Jeffrey Wadelin, Executive Associate Director, Professional Degree Program Accreditation, the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education.

Working with the Evaluation team was Steve Litsey, Kaiser Permanenete, Los Angeles, CA, representing the California State Board of Pharmacy.

Students honored at Commencement

The Bowl of Hygeia Award, presented each year at the PharmD commencement, recognizes the individual who, in the estimation of students and the faculty, represents the qualities of an ideal pharmacist in action, thought, and attitude. Conan MacDougall was the recipient of this year’s award for the class of 2002. The Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence for the Class of 2002 was presented to members of the graduating class in recognition of their outstanding academic achievement. This year the awards were presented to: Jeff Tsai, Amy Bower, Joanne Kang, and Conan MacDougall.

Long Teaching Awards

The following faculty members received Long Teaching Awards from their classes.

Class of 2003

• 2001–2002 Teacher of the Year: Henry Sanchez, Path 135
• 2001–2002 TA of the Year: Nancy Chang, CP 131

Class of 2002

These awards are given to the outstanding 4th-year instructors at the various clinical program sites.

• Davis: Linda Phan, Cinda Christensen
• Los Angeles/Orange County: Peter Ambrose, Robin Corelli
• San Diego: David Adler
• San Francisco: Steve Kayser, Herman Wong

Tsourounis speaks to women interested in academic careers

Candy Tsourounis, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, recently hosted a dinner for women who are interested in a career in an academic setting. She discussed her personal and professional paths and the insights she has gained along the way with the twenty women attending. “The focus of the Women’s Mentoring Dinner was to share my career choices and interests. The dinner was interactive so that the students felt comfortable asking challenging or even personal questions. The scope of the discussion focused on women’s issues related to career decisions, life choices, direction, roadblocks, and successes,” said Candy. The dinner was sponsored by the Student Academic Enrichment Program and Women in Life Sciences.

Recognitions

• Martin Shetlar, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, received a three-year National Science Foundation grant in the amount of $267,000 for Roles of 5-Methylcytosine in the Photochemistry of DNA.
• Leslie Z. Benet, Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, was recently appointed as an Honorary Member of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chile in Santiago, in April.
• Betty Dong, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, was appointed to the National Pharmacy Licensing Examination Committee of the National Boards of Pharmacy.
• Karen Hudmon, Robin Corelli and Lisa Kroon, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, assisted with implementation of the Rx for Change Tobacco Cessation Training Program at the UCSF School of Medicine. Robin Corelli also assisted with the program at the Western University of Health Sciences College of Pharmacy, Pomona, California, and Karen Hudmon assisted at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles, California.
• Karen Hudmon, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, chaired a special emphasis panel for NIH grant reviews in Bethesda, MD.
• Tom Kearney, Karen Hudmon, Clifton Louie, and Leslie Wilson, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, represented the Pharmaceutical Health Policy and Management pathway at the School of Pharmacy Board of Overseers meeting on April 26, where they presented overviews of their new pathway courses.
• C.C. Wang, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, received renewal of an NIH R01 grant on giardiavirus for five years starting April 1, 2002. In March, he was also the invited speaker at at the Keystone Symposia in Keystone, Colorado on Drugs Against Tropical Protozoan Parasites.
• Kathryn Ivanetich, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, was awarded a National Institutes of Health BRS-SIG Instrumentation Grant (2002) for Quantitative Real Time PCR Instrumentation. Kathryn also won the following surfing awards in October: 1st Place, Women’s Longboard, 1st Place Women’s Kahuna Kapuna Division, 5th Place, Short Board Division (Open, Men & Women), Kahuna Kapuna Contest.
• Ronald Ruggiero, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, wrote and recorded Hormone Replacement Therapy for the UCSF School of Nursing N259.01 WebCT course. This new technology consists of 115 slides, with voice files, and a two-hour lecture to be viewed through the UCSF library. Student questions are answered via e-mail.
• Robert Ignoffo, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, had the following speaking engagements: He spoke to oncology pharmacists on New Drugs in Pharmacy at the 7th Making a Difference Conference in Oncology (MAD ONC), St. Petersburg, Florida in April. In May, Bob spoke to almost 200 international oncology pharmacists on Nutrition and Cancer at the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practice meeting (ISOPP VIII) in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He also spoke on the con side of Complementary Therapy−Points of View at this meeting. Bob was recently appointed as a member of the Antiemetic Guidelines Task Force for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2002–2003.
• Peter Koo, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, is part of the panel of experts for the American Geriatric Society (AGA) who have recently completed the new Geriatric Pain Management Guidelines for 2002. AGA will be publishing the guidelines soon.
• Kathryn Phillips, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, will be chairing a session, leading a panel, and presenting a paper at the Academy for Health Services Research Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, in June. The panel of papers, which all derive from UCSF research, is on The Impact of Managed Care on Women’s Health.

Coming soon: monthly employee awards

Mary Anne recently met with managers Paulette Powell, Debra Harris, Deborah Petrie, and Nancy Walters to discuss the results of the employee opinion survey.

Based upon the responses, Mary Anne has agreed to fund an Employee of the Month program. Each department will nominate one employee per month to receive this award. Awardees will receive a gift certificate and will be recognized in the SOP newsletter. To nominate for your department, contact your manager.

Pharmacy fact

The Office of Student and Curricular Affairs distributes 700 to 1,000 application packets each year to those interested in the School’s Doctor of Pharmacy program. Each year, approximately 500 to 600 applications are received. Two hundred fifty applicants are invited for an interview, and 122 applicants are ultimately enrolled.