SAVE THE DATE: Grand Opening of the New Pharmacy Building

May 4, 2012

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The Calendar Turns

Finals have been completed and students headed home for the holi-days and the semester break. So far the weather has been relatively mild in Kingston and as a result our new building is progressing rapidly. Many of our Class of 2012 who will soon be leaving the comforts of college life are now thinking in earnest about placements in further post graduate training sites or the practice positions of their choice in community pharmacies, health systems, managed care organi-zations, public health, military, and other federal agencies. We have others headed to medical school, the pharmaceutical industry and academe from both our Doctor of Pharmacy and other phar-maceutical science graduate programs. In other words, the clock and calendar continue to turn at URI and the age old traditions of educating pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists continue without missing a beat.

Despite the challenges facing humankind around the world, people set goals for themselves, have dreams, seek better lives and do their best to care for others. Your college of pharmacy continues its long history of contributing to students efforts at this and your University steps up its efforts to excel in higher education. Our President and Provost set transformational goals for the University a few years back and we are moving toward achieving the global teaching, research, community outreach, and inclusive diversity milestones they set. This year more than ever, we have seen the spirit and passions of young people at-tempting to change the world for the better. At the URI College of Pharmacy we are working toward that same end and in health care. Our faculty and students are contributing to improvements in science and practice that will benefit people locally, nationally and even glob-ally.

This spring and fall, we will begin to celebrate the new building plat-form that the voters of Rhode Island entrusted to our college. We have met their promises of increasing our class size and throughput of sci-entists and Doctors of Pharmacy. On May 4th, Rhode Island Independ-ence Day, we will hold a grand opening celebration of our new facilities and capabilities. I hope you can attend! Also coming this fall, on September 14th, we will hold a one day Symposium “The Science of Medicines in the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges of Promoting Human Wellness” which will explore the breath of science and practice issues our college of pharmacy seeks to address. Later in the month, we will hold a 3 day international conference in Kingston “Frontiers in Pharmaceutical Sciences: Global Perspectives (FPS-GP1)” with our collaborating scientists and guests from around the world. Both of these events, we hope to continue in years to come, will help set the

The University of Rhode Island

College of Pharmacy

Kingston, RI 02881 401-874-2761

uri.edu/pharmacy

Dean Ronald Jordan

Dr. Joan Lausier Associate Dean,

Academic and Student affairs 401-874-5888

Dr. Bongsup Cho Associate Dean, Research and

Graduate Education

Dr. Marilyn Barbour Chair, Pharmacy Practice

Dr. Clinton Chichester Chair, Biomedical and

Pharmaceutical Sciences

Alumni Newsletter:

Editors: Richard Popovic Michael Simeone, and

Dawne Strickland

Layout: Ian Lester

Please visit us on our web site at:

www.uri.edu/pharmacy/alumni

Email us at: pharmce@etal.uri.edu

Welcome to the PharmD Class of 2015

and the BSPS Class of 2013

true north of our 5 year strategic plan to advance and accelerate our work with the new tools and facilities we have been generously provided.

Our faculty, staff, alumni and friends all contributed to the new building fund and have made this all possible. We thank you for your support in the past and hope you might continue to consider the college in your charitable giving plans in the future. We want to help more students and continue to enhance our new facility with the fixtures and equipment that can continue our growth. Additionally, we are working to honor one key faculty member who gave more than 50 years to the betterment of the college and our students. We continue to raise funds to name our Stu-dent and Academic Affairs suite after Dr. Joan M. Lausier, a fitting tribute to one of the college’s best citizens.

I wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season and a very prosperous New Year. See you in King-ston soon in your new College of Pharmacy.

Dean Ronald P. Jordan ‘76

Dr. Akhlaghi promoted to Full Professor

Congratulations on their promotions

Dr. Marcoux promoted to Clinical Associate Professor

Dr. Deng promoted to Associate Professor

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Erica Hosek ’10 is a second year Post-Doctoral Fellow at

Bayer HealthCare in Wayne, New Jersey. Erica graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2010 with her Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Shortly after graduation she began her post-doctoral training with Bayer in conjunction with the Rutgers Pharmaceutical Industry Fellowship (RPIF) Program.

Erica was first introduced to the pharmaceutical industry during a summer in-ternship with Eisai Inc. in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. During this time she

worked with the Drug Information Department and through this experience her desire to have a career in industry was solidified. While at Eisai Erica met a RPIF program alum and through this contact she recognized the Rutgers program as the necessary stepping stone for starting a ca-reer in industry.

Erica is currently involved with RPIF on many levels. She has been co-coordinator of the Leader-ship for Pharmacy Professionals elective for two semesters and has also been a guest lecturer for

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the Pharmacy Practice Management course. One highlight of the Rutgers program is the appointment as adjunct faculty to the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. In addi-tion to Erica’s involvement with teaching, she works one on one with the leadership of the program, Dr. Joseph Barone PharmD FCCP. During Erica’s first year she was co-chair to the university outreach committee and since July she has taken on the role of Co-Chief Fellow. The Co-Chief position thus far has

challenged Erica as she is one of two individuals managing the fellowship class and all program related activities. Both leadership positions have allowed Erica to improve her public speaking abilities and project management skills to name a few.

During Erica’s first year at Bayer she worked in Medical Communications and supported the Spe-cialty Therapeutics division [Hematology/Neurology]. Erica held the role of a medical information specialist and worked closely with two products, Betaseron and Kogenate. She also attended the Drug Information Association’s annual medical communications meeting and during the Fellow/Residency showcase she presented the poster “Pharmaceutical Industry Practices on Copyright”. The end of Erica’s first year with Bayer focused on in-house rotations. For a total of five months, Erica was able to work with the Advertising and Promotion team [Regulatory Affairs], Health Eco-nomics and Outcomes Research as well as Business Development, Strategy, and Innovation. Al-though these rotations have formally ended, she is continuing to work longitudinally with Health Economics and Business Development.

For the second and final year of Erica’s Fellowship with Bayer, she is supporting US Medical Af-fairs Hematology and Neurology. In her role she is working on neurology publication manage-ment as well as reviewing investigator sponsored study and continuing medical education grants (ISS/CME) in both therapeutic areas. Erica is also the main Medical Affairs contact with the clini-cal research organization (CRO) for the Betaseron Pregnancy Registry, an FDA-mandated, pro-spective observational study. She helped plan the registry’s annual Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB) meeting; a venue that facilitates independent review of the registry status, recruit-ment and data. Erica is now working to ensure proper closure of the study. Two key projects Er-ica will be working on going into 2012 are Medical Advisory Boards for both Betaseron and Ko-genate. After the fellowship Erica hopes to continue her work in the industry, particularly within Medical Affairs.

Since moving back to New Jersey, Erica has also become a licensed pharmacist and currently works per diem at Haworth Apothecary in Haworth, NJ. Interesting enough, the owner of her pharmacy, Denise Hayes ‘78, is also a graduate of URI!

(continued)

Fe at ur e

on Fel lo w s :

Er ic a H o sek ’ 1 0

& El a i n e

A l e xa n d er ’ 1 0

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Feature on Fellows

Elaine Alexander ’10 is a 2nd year Post-Doctoral Medical Affairs Fellow at Bayer HealthCare. She graduated from the University of Rhode Island, where she earned her Doctorate of Pharmacy degree in May 2010. Upon graduation, Elaine began her career in the pharmaceutical industry at Bayer, in conjunc-tion with the Rutgers Pharmaceutical Industry Fellowship (RPIF) Program.

Elaine is a licensed pharmacist in New Jersey, ACPE certified to immunize, and has worked in retail pharmacy prior to starting at Bayer in July 2010. She

is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy of Rutgers University, where she coordinates the spring semester Introduction to the Pharmaceuti-cal Industry professional elective course. She is an active member of the Pharmacists at Bayer (PhAB) employee network group and is the chair of the RPIF ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting Committee.

During her first year at Bayer, Elaine worked in Medical Communications as a Medical Informa-tion Specialist, supporting the Women’s Healthcare franchise. She served as a medical informa-tion resource for internal and external customers and collaborated across business units to sup-port brand and Medical Affairs activities. Elaine supported the launches of Beyaz and Safyral – two oral contraceptives that were FDA-approved during her initial months with Bayer. She also had the opportunity to rotate with Regulatory Affairs (Advertising & Promotion), as well as with the Business Development, Strategy, and Innovation departments during year one.

Elaine is spending the last 12 months of her two-year Fellowship working with the Women’s Healthcare Medical Science Liaison (MSL) team. She has already had the opportunity to carry out many of the general roles and responsibilities of a liaison, including key opinion leader (KOL) engagement, medical meeting and advisory board attendance/participation, and the review of In-vestigator Sponsored Study (ISS) proposal submissions and CME/grant requests. She has been going on ride-alongs and is enjoying a variety of field-related MSL activities. Upon completion of her Fellowship, Elaine hopes to continue her career under the Medical Affairs umbrella of the pharmaceutical industry.

ASHP Midyear Networking Reception

On December 5th over 80 alumni, students and faculty attended the Col-lege of Pharmacy networking reception at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meet-ing in New Orleans. The reception was held at the Stage Door Canteen at the National World War II Museum. Dean Jordan provided an informative update regarding the status of the College, which included the progress of the building. All who attended had a very nice time and are looking for-ward to next year’s event in Las Vegas.

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Congratulations - Mark Rogers ’08 Named The Westerly Hospital’s 2011 Employee of the Year!

Mark has been an employee of The Westerly Hospital since April of 2002. He is employed as a Clinical Phar-macist Supervisor and is known for always going above and beyond to help others as well as being pleasant, courteous and re-spectful to everyone. Mark is also a highly regarded pre-ceptor for the College of Pharmacy.

Holiday Cheer For the third year in a row, Kappa Psi brothers new and old have come together to spread some holiday cheer while doing something wonderful for the community in our Caroling for Cans event. Walking around South County neighborhoods going door to door to sing out of tune versions of such classics as Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Let it Snow, and of course the timeless All I Want For Christmas is You, Kappa Psi brothers were able to collect over 45 canned goods for the Johnny

Cakes Center of Peacedale. This event is not only good for our souls, but a heck of a lot of fun! The broth-ers capped the night off with a well deserved meal, followed by a foray over to the home of Academic Ad-viser Denise Gorenski to deliver some Holiday Cheer.

Russell Poisson, PharmD, Class of 2013

Angela Olenik, a third-year in the PharmD program, receives the American Pharmacists Association- Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) Student Leadership Award

The award will be presented to Ms. Olenik, at the APhA-ASP Awards Ceremony during the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in March. The award recognizes four stu-dents across the nation who demonstrate leadership within APhA-ASP while main-taining academic excellence.

Ms. Olenik was nominated by Dr. Brett Feret, advisor of URI’s APhA-ASP Chapter,

for her involvement in the organization. She joined APhA-ASP as a freshman at URI and is currently the Chapter President. Ms. Olenik has worked to expand the chapter’s patient education campaigns and professional development programs. Her enthusiasm and passion for the profession has also taken her to leadership positions beyond that at the local level. She was the Midyear Regional Meeting (MRM) Coordinator for the 2010 MRM in Providence and success-fully organized one of the largest meetings the region has seen. In addition, Ms. Olenik was appointed to the Crenden-tials Committee for the 2011 APhA Annual Meeting and Ex-position.

Ms. Olenik credits her success to the support she has had from friends, family, and mentors who got her involved in APhA-ASP. She is thankful for the recognition and looks for-ward to receiving the award this March.

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Exploring a Career Path

This past summer I participated in the New York Stem Cell Undergraduate research pro-gram (NY Stem) at Stony Brook University. As a part of the program each student was as-signed a different lab to work in, and I was thrilled when I found out that I would be work-ing in Dr. Emily Chen’s laboratory in the De-partment of Pharmacology. Dr. Chen’s lab fo-cuses on the different aspects of breast can-cer metastasis. The NY Stem program taught

me to think like a scientist and understand the ethics and conduct behind research as well as master many different lab techniques.

Working in the lab really opened my eyes to the different opportunities that are available to us. For myself, deciding a career path is a very difficult decision and before deciding a di-rect path, I wanted to ensure that I had explored all the options that pharmacy has to offer.

This summer was an unforgettable experience and I feel that it has really shaped my future, I could not have made it to this point without the help of the staff at the University of Rhode Island. When I decided to explore the field of research and apply to several different sum-mer programs, the professors that I spoke to were very encouraging and supportive. I would like to thank them for their guidance because it opened my eyes to new career op-portunities.

Jaclyn Cusumano, PharmD, Class of 2015

Dr. Bryan C. McCarthy, Jr. ’10 Thinks Big You will soon be reading and referencing The Journal of Health-System

Pharmacy Residents. Founded by Bryan C. McCarthy, Jr., Pharm.D., class of 2010, the goal of the journal is to enhance the pharmacy student awareness of the value of residency training. This peer-reviewed scholarly journal will celebrate the contributions pharmacy residents make in prac-tice as they grow both personally and professionally. Pharmacy students, residents, pharmacists and healthcare professionals may sign up for a free electronic subscription at www.jhpr.org. Also visit this website if you are interested in publishing work of any topic or specialty pertinent to health-system pharmacy practice authored during residency training.

“Among pharmacy students, there is a growing recognition of the value of residency training. This trend is strongly supported by Colleges of Pharmacy having a philosophy stressing the importance of these programs. Pharmacy students interested in residency training strive for more knowledge and experience, and a better understanding of the new and challenging roles for pharmacists in the future.” states Dr. McCarthy, Jr.

Bryan is currently a Pharmacy Administration Resident, at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN, and a M.S. Candidate, Social and Pharmacy Administration, at the Minnesota College of Pharmacy.

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Reaching out to Romania

This June, Maggie Charpentier, Clinical Associate Professor in Pharmacy Practice, traveled to Romania to provide an invited presentation on pain management and medications used in Pal-liative Care, along with a University of Rhode Island contingent from the College of Nursing, and a group from Simmons College. Faculty from The University of Rhode Island have been working with counterparts in Romania for years to improve Hospice Care, with Charpentier being involved for the past 6 years.

Despite being a country in which more than 40 percent of the population lives in poverty, palliative care in Romania is growing. Much of that is due to the efforts of recently retired URI Assistant Clinical Professor Diane Gerzev-itz, who has been working with professionals in Romania for more than a decade.

In June, this work was taken to a new level and a group from URI and Simmons went to Romania to run the second International symposium for palliative care. For four days – two days each in Bu-charest and Brasov, the group educated more than 100 nurses, physicians and psychologists in a wide range of topics, including symptom assessment, neurological issues, spirituality, bereavement, teaching techniques and medication management.

“The professionals in Romania, especially Nicoleta, knew what they were doing,” Gerzevitz said. “They wanted validation. They provide incredible palliative care despite limited resources, but they were looking for mentors. Now, they are the ones mentoring others.” Charpentier stated “It is grati-fying to see this group we have worked with for the past 6 years, gain confidence, expand their knowledge, and now to lead their own educational programs.”

The work leading up to and including this second symposia has certainly caught the eye of high-ranking officials. While in Romania, the American group was honored during a reception at the American Embassy.

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College Event Promotes Career Opportunities in Pharmacoeconomics and Health Outcomes Research On October 25, 2011 the URI College of Pharmacy's student chapter of the International So-ciety for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) held an alumni networking event to provide students with the opportunity to interact with graduates of the College's pro-gram in Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, and to learn about career oppor-tunities in this field. The event was attended, by graduate students and students enrolled in the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences programs.

The networking event included dinner followed by presentations by several alumni, who dis-cussed the nature of their work and how the College's program in Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics helped prepare them for professional success. A question and an-swer session with the students followed each of the brief presentations.

Graduate students Eun Sun Noh and Saumitra Rege coordinated the event, which included securing a grant from ISPOR to help support the program's cost. For more information re-garding the chapter's mission and group membership, please visit here: http://www.ispor.org/student/rhode_island.asp

The members of the URI College of Pharmacy ISPOR Student Chapter extend their deep-est appreciation to the following College of Pharmacy alumni that participated in the event:

Aisling R. Caffrey ‘09, Ph.D. Associate Investigator, Infectious Disease Pharmacoepide-miology; Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Zlata Cerimagic ‘01, PhD. Clinical Data Analyst, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachu-setts

Chinmay Deshpande, MS. Research Associate, Mapi Values, Inc. Greg Low ‘99, RPh, PhD. Program Director, Pharmacy Quality & Utilization Program;

Massachusetts General Hospital Alexandra Ward ‘99, PhD. Senior Epidemiologist and Research Scientist;

United BioSource Corporation

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Save the Dates The end of this academic year will be marked by two events, one joy-ous, the move to our new building and one touched with a hint of sad-ness, the retirement of Dean Lausier after 50 years at the college in vari-ous roles from student to administra-tor. Each of these milestones will be marked with its own special event. The dates of these event are pro-vided below, more detailed informa-tion will be provided in the Spring.

Dean Lausier Retirement Party

Saturday, June 2nd, 4pm – 10pm URI Botanical Garden, Kingston Campus

Grand Opening of the New Pharmacy Building

May 4, 2012

John Grossomanides’84 Elected to the American Hel-lenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) highest office of supreme president

Members of AHEPA attending the recent national AHEPA con-vention in Miami Beach, Fla., voted to elect Grossomanides unopposed. Grosso-manides is a 27-year member of AHEPA

This is the first time a member of the 85-year-old Norwich AHEPA chapter has been elected to the office of su-preme president of the 20,000 mem-ber international organization. The AHEPA Supreme Lodge is the interna-tional governing body of the organiza-tion.

The newly-elected supreme president is a senior clinical pharmacist at Ad-vanced Pharmacy Concepts in North Kingstown, R.I. He earned both his undergraduate and doctor of phar-macy degrees from the University of Rhode Island.

AHEPA is the largest Greek-American association in the world.

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The University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy gratefully acknowledges the alumni, corporations, faculty, foundations, friends, students and parents whose gifts have been received by the College between July 1, 2011 and December 15, 2011.

Your continuing support allows us to educate and train the pharmacists, clinicians, pharmaceuti-cal scientists and com-munity leaders of tomor-row.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accu-racy of the information below. In the event of an error or omission, please contact Rich Popovic, Assistant Dean of Devel-opment at 401-874-9017 so that we may correct our records.

Gi f t R e c o g n i t i on — J uly 1 , 2 0 1 1 to De c e m ber 1 5 , 2 0 1 1

Champlin Foundations CVS Caremark Corporation Dr. Ernest Mario Dr. Mostafa M Omar Mario Family Foundation Omar Family Magnate Foundation The Estate of Donald H Edgar Thomas M & Cathy H Ryan

Lifetime Benefactors

Gifts $10,000-$49,999 Belviso Family Brian K Dallaire Robert H Hunter Walgreens Gifts $5,000-$9,999 Timothy E Baker &

Baker's Pharmacy of Jamestown

Scott A Campbell & Ocean Pharmacy Charlestown

Polireddy Dondeti & Yogita Desai

Ronald P* & Karen W. Jordan Andrea Panaggio Eleanor M Perfetto John A & Cheryl A Stoukides Elena Zour & Francois Menard

Gifts $1,000-$4,999 Frederick W &

Beverly Ragosta Burgess Peter N S Comella Peter M DiCristofaro Louis T & Monica Difazio David P & Priscilla G Feeney &

Oxnard Pharmacy Mary Ellen & James Hethcox Chester A & Debra G Hibbard Anne L* & George Hume Julie M Jones Saul & Susan Kaplan George H Kenson Stephen J* & Nancy Kogut Richard H Krupski Rita M Marcoux* &

James M Gutkowski Mylan Laboratories Inc Pharmacists Mutual Companies Michael & Katherine E. Sipala Sherry J Soloff SuperValu Foundation Rita J Valentino Wal-Mart Richard & Lucille Yacino

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Gifts $500-$999 Stephen J Allen Joseph G Armstrong Cecilia L Caldwell Paul B. Chace Susan Delmonico Christopher R Ensor Leo J & Khristine Lariviere Eric J Mack Matthew Malachowski Lynne C Miller Robert J. Alvine & Premier Subaru Christopher V Riel Mary Ellen Rossi Michael C Russo Danny R Simard David R Worthen*

Gifts $250-$499 Belmont Marketplace Clare Boudreau Dugald J Brown Chih-Wu & Pei-Tei L Chang Michael A & Elizabeth Dimaggio Melanie Metzger Dougherty Andrew W Marcoux Jeffrey W & Samantha L Mattiucci Deborah M Mulhearn Vincent A & Kathy J Pigula Surendra K Puri Diane Sorrentino Donald M Watson

Gifts below $250 Daniel Aber Kimberly McDonough &

Advanced Pharmacy Concepts Stephanie N Ahearn Pamela R Alexander Cynthia M Anderson Dana H Anderson William & Cynthia I Anderson Matthew J Andolfo Monica A Arbogast Jeffrey J Ares Elizabeth D & Bradford F Asher Michael B Baker Bay Realty Ltd Dea T Belazi Robert P Berman Margot B Bloom Nancy Bookbinder Jeffrey A Bourret Thomas L Breon Diana I Brixner Ellen M Buegling Andrew W Bundeff

Norman A* & Mary Campbell Kristen J Candon Henry E Carnevale David B & Rebecca Carosella CDMI LLC Camille C Charbonneau Edmond E & Maria S Charrette Warren S Chernick Jeffrey A Cohen Anthony A & Diane M Coniglio James F. Conroy Robert Thomas Corbett Samantha A Cotter Michele A Danish William L Davies Ann Marie & Stephen Devine Melody E Dickson Thomas R & Mary H Dion Amario Diorio Michael Dipetrillo Rebecca L Dobbs Robert C Dombrowski Derek S Dore Patrick P Dougherty Dunkin Donuts George E Ellis Philip T Fong Bryan C Forbes Pauline Gagnon Foss Michael A & Barbara Weiner Frost Brian L Furbush Genzyme Corporation Lynn M Gerlach Gerry Enterprises Inc Jessica L Goren Warren E Gorodess Maryanne Z Grandolfi Janice C Hawkins Roderick B Henderson Gail P Hickey Kathy R Hogan Susan C Johnson Kingston Pizza M Serpil Kislalioglu* Karen E Kopoian Liatte Krueger Matthew M Lacroix Scott C Lancellotta Frank Laurito Joan M Lausier* Debra Ann Lawlor William J G & Audrey Lawton Laura Leso Tonya L Lomastro Julie R MacCurtain Frederick H MacDonald Celia MacDonnell* David Joseph Magiera Shannon Manzi Marykristine Mazmanian Frank R Mc Grady

Nancy J McCarey Allison J McGowan Shirley Pinder McKee McKesson Corporation Larry Meyerson Lesley T Mifsud Baratz & Baratz Dental, LLC Donna L Miller Garry J Miller Christine O. Morrison & Mark Morrison Nancy C Motola Richard L Moultrop Cynthia L Murray Patricia R* & Neil Murray Brenda M Nazareth Linda A Nelson A Jeffrey Newell & Newell Group LLC NKI Enterprises Inc Eric W & Karen L Norberg Alice A Oravetz Christopher Ouellette Rhonda J Pacheco Suresh Palaniswamy Louis P Palmieri Eugene Anthony Parker Lawrence E Pierce George M Pizio Edward J Popkin Marian C Quan Leala Sayegh Read Martha J Roberts Fred A Rotenberg RxInsider Ltd Marissa Salvo Ann M Schumacher Pilar Seyrlehner Janet Shurtleff Amanda A Silva Susan I Soldivieri Sheila M & Jeffrey W. Sweenor Karen F Teixeira Chad Tozier Barbara Anne Trotter Joseph A Vennari Adolph E Vezza Merry-Jane Wolborsky Wolfe Granite Memorials Inc Leonard R Worthen* Qisheng Yu * Indicates a gift from member of the College’s

faculty or staff (including emeritus faculty)

Honoring a Pioneer

uri.edu/pharmacy/honoringdeanlausier

“Throughout my undergraduate

and graduate education, I relied

on Dr. Joan Lausier for advice,

direction and encouragement. I

am sincerely grateful for her

support which helped me to de-

velop my career in the pharma-

ceutical industry.”

Andrea Panaggio ’76, ‘83 PhD Director, Stability, Analytical and

Bioanalytical Development Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Inc.

“Joan was the focal point for all

of the Maine students in the

College of Pharmacy, as we

made up 20% of the students at

the time. Her deep roots and

continued ties to Maine, helped

us in our transition for our

“away” experience.”

Brian K. Dallaire ’80, Pharm.D President

Lighthouse Clinical Development

“Thank you for inspiring us to

pursue our passion in Pharma-

ceutical Sciences! You showed

us a path to excel in research.

Without you we would not have

reached our professional

goals.”

Francois Menard ’88-PhD Senior Vice President

Global Generics Research & Development

Watson Pharmaceuticals

Elena Zour ’87-PhD Executive Director

Pharmaceutical Research &

Honoring a Pioneer

Associate Dean Joan Lausier is widely admired by thousands of students who have passed through the doors of Fogarty Hall over the past fifty years. She has distinguished herself as an incompa-rable leader for the College, providing valuable service by over-seeing the comprehensive needs of students and faculty. Deans have come and gone, but the College has relied upon one con-stant – the leadership and commitment of Joan Lausier.

Dean Lausier will be retiring in June 2012, the capstone of a 50 year tenure at URI. She enrolled as a pharmacy stu-dent in 1962, graduated with her Bachelor of Science de-gree in 1967, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in Phar-maceutics in 1971. She was

soon appointed as the first woman faculty member in the Col-lege. Although she excelled as a teacher and as a researcher, she has been best known for mentoring and nurturing and guid-ing the academic careers of our students in her role as Associate Dean. Her empathy and common sense with a touch of “tough love” has assured the successful growth of many a pharmacy student.

“Joan always placed the needs of her students

first. Her “can do” attitude helped many students suc-

cessfully achieve their goals.”

Michael Sipala ’74 Executive Director of Administrative and

Ancillary Services CharterCARE Health Partners

“At a time when the phar-

macy curriculum was un-

dergoing change

with emerging clinical

pharmacy components

which re-defined phar-

macy and its traditions

and the pharmacist role, I

am forever grateful to Dr.

Joan Lausier, whose

steadiness, passion for

pharmacy, confidence,

candor and witticism was

a constant source of nor-

malcy and reassurance

for me. Congratulations

and best wishes to her in

her retirement.”

Danny Simard ‘79 Walgreens Consultant

Pharmacist Tempe, AZ

"Oh, you’re one of my

Maine kids", stated Dr.

Lausier. "Don’t worry,

you'll do fine…but you'll

have to answer to me if

you don't".

Paul Chace ‘90 Regional Pharmacy Recruiter,

Rite Aid Corporation.

The Joan M. Lausier Student Affairs Suite As a fitting tribute to someone that has left such an indelible imprint on the lives of so many students and academic colleagues, the College is reaching out to our pharmacy fam-ily so that we can all give a little back in Dean Lausier’s honor. Our goal is to enhance the legacy of this wonderful leader by dedicating a special place in our new building to Dean Lausier. The unofficial “heart” of the college has always been the student affairs office. It has been a place for advice, encouragement, comforting, and yes, even a much needed cookie. Our national campaign hopes to garner $500,000 to name the Joan M. Lausier Student Affairs Suite – a fitting tribute to the career of this pharmacy pioneer. We will be announcing a number of leader-ship level commitments to this campaign in the coming weeks, but it will take gifts to all levels to achieve this ambitious goal. Details of how you can play your part are given on the next page.

Five Decades of Excellence

Joan Lausier has served as the Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island for over 2 decades. A native of Maine, she graduated from URI with her Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy in 1967 (summa cum laude) and her Ph.D. in Phar-maceutics in 1971.

After receiving her doctorate, she was an academic pio-neer as she began teaching as the only woman faculty member in the Col-lege. Her research interests have been focused on drug de-livery and non-

prescription drug use. In 1983 she received the University Teaching Excellent Award for her highly rated presentations in her over-the-counter drug course. After serving as the Director of the Univer-sity Honors Program for three years, she became the Associate Dean for the College in 1990, and has spearheaded a number of important College initiatives throughout her tenure. She has been appointed Interim Dean of the College on two occasions and is responsible for all matters pertaining to Student Affairs. Dean Lausier has taken special effort to mentor new female faculty members, and to encourage young women in the pro-fessional curricu-lum. As Associate Dean she provides lead-ership to faculty and professional staff on a wide range of matters associated with University and College policies, cur-riculum development and academic stan-dards. She also counsels faculty on matters concerning promotion and tenure, work-

Continued on the next page

uri.edu/pharmacy/honoringdeanlausier

load, and faculty expectations to ensure that their personal career objectives are achieved. Through all of these diverse responsibilities, Dean Lausier's primary focus is the students. She works diligently to encourage them to do their best, she challenges them to find bal-ance in their lives so that they will be better professionals and humans, and she teaches them that small failures are not the end of the world, but in fact provide opportunity to learn about life. During her tenure at URI Dean Lauiser has been extensively involved in many profes-sional activities. She is a member of Rho Chi, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Lambda Sigma and AACP. She has also participated in APhA, AAPS, RIPA, AAUP, and the Business and Professional Women's Club. Over the years she has served her community as a member of the Vocational Education Committee, Re-cycling Committee, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the South County Health Center.

The New Home for the College of Pharmacy The future home of the College will house the latest research and teaching spaces designed to foster interaction and teamwork. Building highlights $75 million / 150,000 sqft Five classrooms including a 160 seat 3D auditorium Seven conference rooms Two Teaching labs 2,000 sqft advanced patient simulation center Eighteen 1,350 sqft research modules 3,000 sqft analytical instrumentation facility 7,000 sqft cGMP Facility 1,000 sqft NMR Facility Student study and informal gathering areas Extensive medicinal garden State-of-the-art teaching technology Advanced green technologies to minimize energy con-

sumption

How You Can Help Make a gift online To make a gift online, use the link below. Once you are on the giving page, you can designate your gift to honor Dean Lausier by clicking on "Choose a Program," scrolling down to "Other Giving" and selecting "COP: Dean Joan Lausier Pharmacy Future Fund." www.uri.edu/pharmacy/giving Send a check Make the check out to "URI Foundation - COP" with "Dean Joan M. Lausier Pharmacy Future Fund" on the memo line and send it to: The University of Rhode Island, College of Pharmacy, Office of the Dean, Fogarty Hall, 41 Lower College Road, Kingston, RI 02881 Make a Pledge If you would like to make a pledge to spread out your gift over a period of time please complete the pledge form available online at: www.uri.edu/pharmacy/honoringdeanlausier/

Five Decades of Excellence Continued from the previous page