Hsia and Cocohoba appointed to endowed chairs

Two esteemed UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty members were recently appointed to endowed chairs in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy.

Stephanie Hsia, PharmD, an expert in psychiatric pharmacy practice, was selected as the new holder of the Divine Family Endowed Chair in Clinical Pharmacy. Jennifer Cocohoba, PharmD, MAS, a specialist in the treatment of HIV/AIDS in women as well as vice chair of faculty development, was selected as the new holder of the McKesson Chair in Pharmaceutical Technology.

The Divine Family Endowed Chair was created in 2003 by Philmore G. Divine, a 1945 UCSF pharmacy school graduate, to “support the research, teaching and service activities of the holder of the Chair related to his or her work in the area of clinical pharmacy.”

The McKesson Chair in Pharmaceutical Technology was created in 1999 by the McKesson Foundation to support the chairholder’s efforts in “reducing overall health care costs and enhancing the quality of pharmaceutical care.”

Hsia and Cocohoba are well-known to students, fellow faculty members, and staff in the School, and both are supplementing their pharmacy practices and pedagogy with new efforts to address diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In 2021, Hsia helped lead a 10-week pilot health equity curriculum for pharmacy students, which challenged students to grapple with the impact of race and equity in health care. Additionally, Cocohoba and Hsia are overseeing the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree program’s health equity internship, which brings students and faculty members together monthly to review the following month’s curricular material and suggest improvements to lecturers.

“Hsia and Cocohoba are each leaders in their fields and inspirations to our students,” said Interim Dean Thomas Kearney, PharmD. “Their appointments to these chairs couldn’t be more deserved.”