2014 News

Altschuler and Wu
The most recently hired faculty members to join the UCSF School of Pharmacy have research interests that range from the treatment of blood clots to mapping biological networks in cancer cells to understanding the molecular workings of ion channels in cell membranes. But they all share the common purpose of ultimately discovering new ways to better address disease through therapeutics. These eight are now at work in the School’s three departments.
Lance
Research in the laboratory of Tejal Desai, PhD, is creating new kinds of drug delivery devices to reduce the scarring and inflammation that can undermine stents—metal mesh tubes implanted to prop open blocked arteries, including in the heart.
Asthma
A new analysis of nearly 5,500 Latino children with and without asthma led by School scientists has found that variations in their genetic ancestry can partially explain major differences in their risk of developing the disease.
Burchard
Authoring the lead commentary in the current special issue of Nature devoted to diversity, School faculty member Esteban Burchard, MD, MPH, asserts that the clinical and biomedical research infrastructure “needs to be retooled” to include more diverse patient populations in studies.
Guglielmo
Strategic planning, research funding: Savic, Fischbach, Huang; recent publications: Wells, Giacomini, Savic, Desai; patient care: OneUCSF Pharmacy: Wandres, formulary review: Brodowy, Tsourounis, VanOsdol; MedList Clinic: Stebbins, Cocohoba, Kroon, Lee, Rodondi, Youmans; automated system: Stebbins, Lee; SB 493: Kroon, Corelli, Stebbins, Rodondi, Cocohoba; education: Youmans; programs: The Kidney Project (Roy), CERSI (Giacomini, Altman); honors: Cocohoba, Kroetz, Fong, Barcelon, Shahrooz-Foo, Won
Desai
Tejal Desai, PhD, has been named the new chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS), a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine. Her appointment is effective August 1, 2014.
Hawgood
University of California President Janet Napolitano has announced that her choice for the 10th chancellor of UC San Francisco is Sam Hawgood, MBBS, the UCSF School of Medicine dean who has served as interim UCSF chancellor since April 1. The UC Board of Regents will vote on Napolitano’s selection and the terms of the appointment on July 17. More President Napolitano Selects Sam Hawgood as Next Chancellor of UC San Francisco – UCSF
AIDS Walk San Francisco, July 20, 2014.
The entire UCSF enterprise—including the School of Pharmacy—is gearing up for AIDS Walk San Francisco. This year’s walk will take place on Sunday, July 20 in Golden Gate Park. Michael Nordberg, associate dean of finance and administration, is the leader of the 2014 School of Pharmacy Team. Nordberg encourages everyone in the School to join in—administrators, leaders, faculty, staff, and students.
Burchard
The most comprehensive genetic study of the Mexican population to date has revealed as much genetic differentiation as the variation between some Europeans and Asians.
Giacomini
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tapping the UCSF School of Pharmacy and Stanford University to launch its first West Coast regulatory science center, focused on spurring innovation in the development and evaluation of safer and more effective medications. The UCSF-Stanford Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI) has been formally launched with an initial FDA grant of $3.3 million.
Guglielmo
Survey results; Strategic planning, retreat results and education; Recently received research funding (Szoka, Wells, Bandyopadhyay); Recent faculty publications (Kortemme, Renslo and Arkin, Van Osdol and Tsourounis); SB 493: Pharmacist provider status legislation; Walgreens at UCSF; Safeway partnership; Honors (Fraser, Gartner, Oppenheimer, Schweitzer, Tong, Penick Brock); New holders of endowed chairs (Cutler, Kroon); Student honors (Yokoyama, Cheung, Du, Fong, Lee); more.
Fraser
Biophysicist James Fraser, PhD, has been named a 2014 Searle Scholar. His laboratory will be awarded $300,000 in funding over the next three years to support his research into more accurately and precisely describing the ways that protein molecules change shape to carry out the functions of life in our bodies.
gloved hand pipetting into test tubes
For the 34th consecutive year, the UCSF School of Pharmacy has received more research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) than any other pharmacy school in the United States. School researchers were awarded $29.2 million during the 2013 NIH fiscal year, from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013.
Roy
A research team including co-principal investigators Shuvo Roy, PhD, and Mozziyar Etemadi, PhD, who trained in Roy’s lab, has been awarded a three-year $2.7 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further develop a remote monitoring and early warning system to reduce premature births.