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2023 News
Thu Dec 21, 2023
Clockwise from top left: Giacomini, Krogan, Manglik, and Shoichet
Recognizing UCSF’s research excellence, several faculty members from the School have been included in the Clarivate 2023 list of Highly Cited Researchers, recognizing the significant impact of their scholarly contributions.
Researchers were chosen by their authorship of multiple Highly Cited...
Tue Dec 19, 2023
Robert Langridge, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry.
Robert Langridge, PhD, a professor emeritus in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry who was an icon in the field of molecular computer graphics, passed away just a few weeks after his 90th birthday on November 11, 2023.
Langridge was honored in 2018 with the UCSF Medal, the University’s...
Wed Dec 13, 2023
David Adler, PharmD ’70, who began his studies at the School in 1966 and among many accomplishments earned recognition as the 2016 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by the Pharmacy Alumni Association, passed away at his home on Saturday, November 4, 2023, surrounded by family.
Adler was a pioneer...
Mon Dec 11, 2023
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)-Association of Black Health-System Pharmacists (ABHP) Joint Leadership Award winner Dr. Sharon Youmans is presented with the award during the ABHP Luncheon on December 5, 2023, at the 2023 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in Anaheim, California.
Executive Vice Dean Sharon L. Youmans, PharmD, MPH, a faculty member in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, has been named a recipient of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)-Association of Black Health-System Pharmacists (ABHP) Joint Leadership Award for 2023.
Established in...
Mon Nov 27, 2023
Su Guo, PhD, has been appointed the inaugural director of a new Center for Collaborative Innovation that aims to stimulate collaborative innovations involving basic, translational, and clinical sciences across all departments in the School.
The Center will serve as the nexus of cross-departmental...
Thu Nov 16, 2023
Susan Merrell
The UCSF doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree curriculum features an evolving course of study that prioritizes new combinations of instruction and experiential learning to keep pace with diverse and dynamic careers in pharmacy and beyond.
Students explore these expanded opportunities—notably...
Wed Nov 15, 2023
Video of School of Pharmacy Town Hall (October 17, 2023)
At the Town Hall on October 17, 2023:
Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm, shares updates on the School of Pharmacy.
Chief Research Informatics Officer Ida Sim, PhD, MD, shares UCSF’s broader vision for AI.
Director of Postgraduate...
Tue Nov 14, 2023
PhD candidates Jaysón Davidson, Christina A. Stephens, Sydney D. Williams, and Executive Vice Dean Sharon L. Youmans, PharmD, MPH, each received the Chancellor Award for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership.
Four members of the School of Pharmacy were honored with UCSF Chancellor Awards for Diversity at Mission Bay’s Robertson Auditorium on October 24, 2023, recognizing their outstanding leadership in expanding diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and advancing anti-racism, while reflecting the School’s...
Wed Nov 8, 2023
With approximately 97% of PharmD students receiving financial support, student aid helps our community thrive. A combination of campus scholarships, professional school scholarships, and other need-based aid ensures that financial hardship doesn’t prevent promising students from receiving an...
Wed Nov 1, 2023
Tanja Kortemme, PhD, a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS), a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, has been appointed as the School’s vice dean of research, effective October 1, 2023. She succeeds James Fraser, PhD, who was...
Wed Nov 1, 2023
Marilyn Stebbins, PharmD, emeritus faculty member in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, was named Pharmacist of the Year by the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) at the organization’s annual seminar in Long Beach on October 14. The award is the CSHP’s most prestigious,...
Wed Oct 11, 2023
Juggling multiple roles as a pharmacist specialist clinician while advocating for underserved patients in the heart of San Francisco’s Latino/a/x community has put alum Maria Lopez, PharmD, on what she calls “the last frontier of pharmacy.”
Lopez, who grew up in a rural farmworker town in...
Tue Oct 10, 2023
Marco Sanchez
Crystal Zhou, PharmD
In recognition of her work implementing innovative models of pharmacy practice, faculty member Crystal Zhou, PharmD, has been awarded the Cardiology PRN Practice Award by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP).
The ACCP Cardiology Practice and Research Network (PRN) advances the...
Mon Oct 9, 2023
Akinyemi Oni-Orisan, PharmD, PhD
Department of Clinical Pharmacy faculty member Akinyemi Oni-Orisan, PharmD, PhD, has been named a 2023 Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine (ELHM) Scholar by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
Oni-Orisan’s lab, which lab is part of the Institute for Human Genetics, investigates therapies...
Wed Oct 4, 2023
Noah Berger
Rosa Rodriguez-Monguio has been appointed to a newly formed WHO advisory group on antimicrobial resistance.
Rosa Rodriguez-Monguio, PhD, MS, a health economist and faculty member in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, has been appointed to the newly formed Quadripartite Technical Group on the Economics of Antimicrobial Resistance (QTG-EA) at the World Health Organization (WHO).
Antimicrobial resistance...
Mon Oct 2, 2023
Wikimedia Commons
2 milligrams of fentanyl—a lethal dose in most people—next to a penny.
Volunteer faculty member Tessa Rife-Pennington, PharmD, works at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and with UCSF’s Addiction Research Program. In 2019, she was part of a successful pilot project to distribute fentanyl test strips to veterans. The pilot paved the way for similar...
Fri Sep 29, 2023
PharmD student Emil Tran (left) vaccinates Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm (right) in 2023.
With the looming threat of another “tripledemic”—when a potent flu virus, resurgent COVID-19, and rebounding RSV have the potential to peak simultaneously and strain health care systems—Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm, emphasized the importance of getting a flu vaccine by rolling up her sleeve...
Wed Sep 27, 2023
The Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), which sits within the Office of Research, is seeking applications from current UCSF faculty for the position of CTSI Participant Recruitment Program (PRP) faculty director.
This position is charged with creating and sustaining programs,...
Thu Sep 21, 2023
Research!America President and CEO Mary Woolley (left) with QBI Director Nevan Krogan, PhD (center), and Pfizer Senior Vice President and Head of Vaccine Research and Development Annaliesa Anderson, PhD (right).
A study led by the labs of Nevan Krogan, PhD, director of the School’s Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) and senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes, was published online in CELL, reporting breakthrough findings on convergent evolutionary mechanisms shared by COVID-19 variants that allow...
Wed Sep 13, 2023
Dear UCSF School of Pharmacy family and friends,
Building on the collective expertise and insights of our community, the UCSF School of Pharmacy has a new Strategic Plan, published this summer. This living framework sets exciting new strategic directions for the next five years and aligns with...
Tue Sep 5, 2023
Nkem P. Nonyel, PharmD, MPH
The UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Clinical Pharmacy will host speaker Nkem P. Nonyel, PharmD, MPH, a clinical associate professor at Howard University for the fifth installment of the Amplifying Voices Speaker Series. The seminar and discussion, “Addressing Social Determinants of Health...
Fri Sep 1, 2023
Scientists have shown for the first time that kidney cells—housed in an implantable device called a bioreactor—can survive while implanted and mimic several important kidney functions without triggering the recipient’s immune system to go on the attack.
The findings were published in Nature...
Fri Sep 1, 2023
Eric Davila
On August 22, a delegation from South Korea visited the School of Pharmacy to engage in information-sharing and to sign a Memorandum of Understand (MOU).
Led by the Korea Regulatory Science Center (K-RSC), the delegation was greeted by Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, PharmD; Sharon Youmans, PharmD, MPH...
Mon Aug 28, 2023
UCSF is participating in the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk fundraiser to help support the AHA in its goal of creating a world free of heart disease and stroke.
Two teams closely affiliated with School of Pharmacy are walking this year to honor two very special colleagues who passed away...
Fri Aug 25, 2023
Four projects that have the potential to move forward the mission of the UCSF School of Pharmacy in new ways earned the 2023 Mary Anne Koda-Kimble Seed Award for Innovation this spring. The Seed Awards intend to fuel endeavors for which there is no ready or traditional source of funding, and this...
Tue Aug 8, 2023
Nico Oved
James Fraser, PhD
James Fraser, PhD, has been named the new chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS). The appointment is effective August 1, 2023.
Fraser has served as vice dean of research for the UCSF School of Pharmacy since 2022 and has been a professor in the Department of...
Fri Aug 4, 2023
The UCSF doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) Class of 2026 officially entered the profession on July 21 at the 22nd annual White Coat Ceremony. Led by Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm, the poignant event was held for the first time at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre.
In her opening remarks, Giacomini...
Tue Aug 1, 2023
A team from UCSF’s School of Pharmacy has been named champions in the 2023 American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Clinical Research Challenge (CRC). Pollyanna Leung, Ryan Sue, and April Zhou, all PharmD Class of 2024 students, were honored for their winning proposal, “Pharmacist Intervention...
Tue Jul 18, 2023
Nathan Dang
Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm (left); Dan Hartman, MD (center); and Frank Gupton, PhD (right), discuss global regulation of medical products at the 2023 CERSI Summit.
The FDA Office of Regulatory Science and Innovation (ORSI) has announced the Centers of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSIs) program funding, granting a $50 million renewal of UCSF’s joint effort with Stanford University (UCSF-Stanford)—led by co-principal investigators Kathy...
Fri Jul 14, 2023
Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Willis G. Gregory Memorial Award, the most prestigious award given by the Alumni Association at the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Giacomini, who...
Tue Jul 11, 2023
Marco Sanchez, Elisabeth Fall
Katherine Gruenberg, PharmD, MA, and Stephanie Hsia, PharmD, MA
Congratulations to School faculty members Katherine Gruenberg, PharmD, MA, and Stephanie Hsia, PharmD, MA, who both have been named 2023 Emerging Teaching Scholars by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP).
The prestigious award, presented by the AACP Council of Faculties (COF),...
Mon Jun 26, 2023
On May 27, in front of hundreds of friends, family, faculty and staff members, and special guests, the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s PharmD Class of 2023 celebrated their graduation at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall—a touching gathering for a class that began their journey online.
Cheers, chants, and...
Wed Jun 21, 2023
A team of UCSF PharmD students has taken the top spot in the 2022-2023 Value of Industry Pharmacists (VIP) Case Competition. Organized by the Industry Pharmacists Organization (IPhO), the annual, months-long competition aims to give pharmacy students a deeper understanding of the drug development...
Mon Jun 12, 2023
On June 12, The Kidney Project was awarded a $1 million Artificial Kidney Prize from KidneyX for advancing its prototype bioartificial kidney toward a full-sized, human scale, with manufacturing and ultimately clinical trials on the horizon.
The Kidney Project is a nationwide collaboration led by...
Tue May 16, 2023
The Office of Diversity and Outreach (ODO) Committee on Disability Inclusion is currently recruiting new membership for the 2023-24 year. The Committee on Disability Inclusion supports the mission of the Office of Diversity and Outreach by providing advisory support to Dr. Renee Navarro, Vice...
Tue May 2, 2023
, Noah Berger
Bani Tamraz, PharmD, PhD, (left) and Lisa Kroon, PharmD, (right) are leading the implementation of UCSF’s new Clinical Pharmacogenomics Program.
Starting on May 9, the health care delivered to patients at UCSF Health will be systematically informed by patient genomic data, ensuring that prescribed therapies are tailored to individuals’ unique biology.
The UCSF Clinical Pharmacogenomics Program (CPP) bridges pharmacogenomics—the science of...
Thu Apr 27, 2023
Brenda Melano, left, and Sebastián Cruz-González.
Brenda Melano and Sebastián Cruz-González, both UC San Francisco graduate students, were named the 2023 recipients of the Genentech-UCSF School of Pharmacy Diversity Fellowships in the program’s inaugural year.
Melano and Cruz-González, who are pursuing PhDs in pharmaceutical sciences and...
Thu Apr 6, 2023
Leslie Benet, PhD, was honored with the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Frankfurt Foundation Quality of Medicines (FFQM), a premier scientific organization from Germany that is dedicated to promoting and recognizing research on medicinal products.
“Les is an icon in the world of...
Tue Mar 28, 2023
The UCSF School of Pharmacy PharmD Class of 1969 included 17 women, many of whom would soon lead the field of pharmacy to new heights at UCSF and beyond.
As Women’s History Month 2023 comes to a close, we celebrate the groundbreaking leadership of women who continue to fuel progress in science, education, and health care here in the UCSF School of Pharmacy.
Today, the School is helmed by women, from the deanship to the chairs of our three...
Wed Mar 22, 2023
UCSF pharmacy students visited the California state capitol to advocate for the profession. Left to right: Emil Tran, Kathryn LeMoine, Zunaira Iftikhar, Kathy Bian, Amy Xiao, and Jakob Decano.
On March 8, six first-year students in the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s PharmD program journeyed to Sacramento to meet with state representatives as well as pharmacists, fellow pharmacy students, and leaders in the field.
The occasion was Advocacy Day 2023, hosted by the California Pharmacists...
Mon Mar 20, 2023
Unsplash/Creative Commons
The human body is neurologically wired to sense the physical world. Cone cells in the retina detect specific wavelengths of light, while cells in the inner ear detect specific frequencies of sound, giving the brain a rich palette of sights and sounds to paint the human experience.
UCSF scientists...
Mon Mar 20, 2023
Pexels/Creative Commons
March 19–25 is National Poison Prevention Week in 2023. The California Poison Control System (CPCS) is hosting a video series to educate the public on a variety of poison-related topics aiming to increase awareness around common poisons.
As part of the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of...
Tue Mar 14, 2023
Shuvo Roy, PhD, holding a prototype of the bioartificial kidney.
Dialysis, a 60-year-old technology that partially replicates the function of the kidneys, remains the frontline treatment for kidney failure. Yet it can only offer a five-year survival rate of 50%—worse than many cancers.
“Our kidneys do seven or eight different functions,” UCSF’s Shuvo Roy, PhD,...
Tue Mar 7, 2023
On February 15, Wendy Tobias and Cecile Puretz, both from UCSF’s Office of Diversity and Outreach (ODO), joined the School of Pharmacy community for the fifth installment of the Equity and Inclusion Speaker Series.
Tobias and Puretz gave an overview of the types of barriers commonly experienced by...
Tue Mar 7, 2023
The UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics is offering a 1-2 year postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Research Informatics (CRISP) and welcomes candidates from the UCSF School of Pharmacy to apply by April 3.
Clinical Research Informatics, one of the five informatics specialties defined...
Tue Mar 7, 2023
Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm, shares updates on the School of Pharmacy. Lisa Kroon, PharmD, and Bani Tamraz, PharmD, PhD, announce the planned launch of the UCSF Clinical Pharmacogenomics Program. And faculty member and staff member leads of the various thematic elements of the Strategic Plan...
Mon Feb 27, 2023
Kortemme Lab
Research from QBI revealed a variety of allosteric sites (red spheres) on the protein Gsp1 that influence its behavior at its active site (white spheres) from afar. Allosteric maps like this highlight potential druggable sites and inform understanding of mutations found in diseases like cancer.
Even the simplest of organisms must be attuned to conditions in an ever-changing environment to thrive. Intersecting networks of molecules keep cells on track, sensing and responding to both internal and external factors.
A deep analysis of a protein central to cellular function by scientists at...
Thu Feb 23, 2023
Left to right: Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD; Michelle Arkin, PhD; and Boris Bastian, MD, PhD.
UCSF’s Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD; Michelle Arkin, PhD; and Boris Bastian, MD, PhD together received a Mark Foundation ASPIRE Award for their collaborative efforts to develop a therapy for uveal melanoma, the most common form of eye cancer.
Manglik is a faculty member in the UCSF School of Pharmacy’...
Mon Feb 20, 2023
Michelle Arkin, PhD, uses a handheld model of a small molecule bound to a protein to illustrate how her research group thinks about drug discovery. Arkin was one of the School of Pharmacy’s top NIH grant earners in 2022.
In 2022, and for the 43rd consecutive year, the UCSF School of Pharmacy received more research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than any other pharmacy school in the country. School researchers netted $30,217,559 to fuel their efforts spanning drug discovery, bioengineering,...
Tue Feb 14, 2023
Ce’Aysia, a high school senior, conducted research at UCSF as an intern in the Bay Area Youth Science (BAYS) program.
Working in a research lab can be daunting, especially when you are the only Black researcher on the bench. “You’re surrounded by people who don’t come from where you come from or have had the same struggles you’ve had,” said Ce’Aysia, a high school senior from Bayview-Hunters Point who interned in...
Tue Feb 14, 2023
Noah Berger
Catera Wilder, PhD, left, and Balyn Zaro, PhD
International Women and Girls in Science Day was on February 11 and UCSF News took the opportunity to highlight some of the women behind the university’s boldest research endeavors.
School of Pharmacy faculty members Balyn Zaro, PhD, and Catera Wilder, PhD, were among eleven UCSF scientists who...
Wed Feb 8, 2023
Karen Shuster
Kathryn Phillips, PhD
A new, cross-campus collaboration, the UCSF Precision Medicine Access and Value Program, intends to shepherd precision medicine advances, like those in genomic testing, into health care policy and practice.
Housed in UCSF Precision Medicine and led by the Department of Clinical Pharmacy’s Center...
Tue Feb 7, 2023
Nadav Ahituv, PhD, was appointed director of the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics (IHG), an organized research unit in the School of Medicine, effective January 23, 2023. Ahituv is a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, a joint department of the UCSF Schools...
Tue Jan 31, 2023
Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm
In honor of her “pioneering work on membrane transporters and her exceptional leadership in the field of clinical pharmacology,” Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm, received the 2023 Reynold Spector Award in Clinical Pharmacology and Translational Medicine from the American Society for Pharmacology and...
Wed Jan 25, 2023
Dan Hartman, MD (center), speaks during a panel on global regulation of medical products at the 2023 CERSI Summit, along with Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm (left) and Frank Gupton, PhD (right).
On January 8, 2023, leaders from academia, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and industry gathered for the fourth annual Centers of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI) Summit, hosted by the UCSF-Stanford CERSI, to grapple with ongoing challenges in health care and...
Thu Jan 19, 2023
Inma Hernandez, PharmD, PhD
The UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Department of Clinical Pharmacy will host Inma Hernandez, PharmD, PhD, from UC San Diego for the fourth installment of the Amplifying Voices Speaker Series. The seminar and discussion, “Financial and Geospatial Barriers to Medication Access: A Health Equity Lens,” will...
Tue Jan 17, 2023
Susan Merrell
Jennifer Cocohoba, PharmD, MAS, faculty member in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, checks a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine minutes before it is administered.
All UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty, staff, and students have until February 1, 2023, to get the bivalent booster vaccine for COVID-19 or submit an opt-out form.
The bivalent booster provides some protection against the original strains of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the omicron variant. Studies show...