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New pharmacy school in Suwanee

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:58:51 +0000

SUWANEE – The new Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy (PCOM) is scheduled to open in August 2010 in Suwanee with a focus of providing students with a four-year doctor of pharmacy degree that will prepare them for regional needs.

At its January 2008 meeting, the PCOM Board of Trustees authorized a search for the founding dean and chief academic officer of the new School of Pharmacy. In October 2008, Mark P. Okamoto, PharmD, was named to that position. A national search has brought a distinguished group of pharmacy educators to Suwanee to form the core leadership of the new school.

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The decision to move forward with the School of Pharmacy and the search for a dean was based on a feasibility study that highlighted the critical demand for pharmacists as being second only to the demand for nurses within Georgia. Pharmacy Manpower Project projections, coupled with a Georgia Board of Regents report, pointed to the need for more than 2,100 pharmacists in Georgia by 2012.

The curriculum will be composed of courses in Biomedical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Social / Behavioral / Administrative Sciences, and Clinical Sciences.

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Additional information about the PCOM School of Pharmacy program is available from the Dean’s office at 678-407-7330. Information about the application process is available on the web at www.pcom.edu.

New pharmacy school in Suwanee is a post from: Pharmacy in jobs, news, schools

Pharmacy school bars covering of the face

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:55:51 +0000

The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has banned students, faculty, and staff from covering their faces on its three campuses in an effort to ensure public safety, a college spokesman said yesterday.

But the new policy has drawn flak from a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, which wants the school to exempt Muslim women who veil their faces for religious reasons.

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“It’s a very strange policy,’’ said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. “I don’t know where it came from. The only thing we can conclude is that it’s designed to specifically target Muslims.’’

Sarah Wunsch, staff attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, called the policy “puzzling and possibly illegal.’’

Michael Ratty, a spokesman for the college, which has campuses in Boston, Worcester, and Manchester, N.H., said the rule was imposed after a “periodic assessment of public safety policies’’ at the private college.

“It’s no surprise that college safety has become a huge issue of importance in the past couple of years. This is another measure that public safety [officials at the college] wanted to implement to keep the campus safer,’’ Ratty said of the policy, which went into effect Jan. 1.

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The ban applies to anything that covers the entire face. In addition to veils, that could include ski masks and scarfs drawn over the face, he said.

Ratty said college public safety officials want to be able to identify people who are in college buildings. He also said development of the policy had no connection to the arrest last year of a 2008 graduate of the school, Tarek Mehanna, on terrorism charges.

“Unequivocally, it has nothing to do with that case,’’ he said.

Ratty said that the college found two students who would be affected by the rule and that officials met with them and both agreed to comply with it. “We have faith that [the policy] is appropriate,’’ he said.

But Hooper said he had not heard of such a policy adopted at any other American school. And he argued that because the policy includes a medical exemption, it should also include a religious exemption.

“People should have the right to practice their faith as they see fit, not as others see fit,’’ he said.

Founded in 1823, the college says it has prepared more men and women for professional careers in pharmacy than any other academic institution in the world. It has 4,300 students in pharmacy and a variety of other health care programs.

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Mac’s Pharmacy stays independent by focusing on customers’ needs

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:15:50 +0000

“That’s why we’re here, and that’s really the only reason we’re here,” said Wilhoit, who bought the business in 1989 after working as a pharmacist in Kingsport and Maryville. “We’re not just waiting for the next $4 prescription. We’re being proactive in wellness and going through the process to offer even more screenings, such as for diabetes,” alerting people who are unaware they have a problem.

Try telling Mac Wilhoit there’s nothing new under the sun. He knows better.

The 61-year-old independent pharmacist has reinvented his North Knoxville business several times, and he’s not through.

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Since 1989 Wilhoit has offered his thousands of customers free deliveries, drug screenings and counseling. Now an innovative medication alert service is free to customers, all from the humble building on Washington Pike.

The small pharmacy stocks no groceries, cosmetics or beer at the store’s front end. Instead, medication counseling takes up that space. Prescription medicines are the bulk of the business, and Wilhoit and his staff greet his return “patients” by first name, accompanied by a pat on the back.

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For years Wilhoit has responded with a flat “no” to national drugstore chain buyout offers. And Mac’s Pharmacy recently added another store – this time with his son managing. Wilhoit recently bought Edgemoor Pharmacy in Claxton, renamed it Mac’s Pharmacy and celebrated a reopening in October.

In an economy where business takeovers are the norm and chain stores are in every neighborhood, Mac’s Pharmacy is bucking the trend. Wilhoit believes he joins thousands of small businesses leading the nation’s economic recovery. Mac’s Pharmacy is part of a national group of 3,500 independently owned stores. The Leader Pharmacies network helps independent stores leverage competitive medication pricing.

“I’ve had lots of offers from chains, and I have nothing against them. It’s just not for me,” says Wilhoit, who has handed down the same philosophy to his son Mike.

Mike Wilhoit, 27, worked briefly for a chain drugstore following graduation from the University of Tennessee but soon returned to the family business.

“I know this other more personal side of pharmaceutical care,” said Mike Wilhoit. “It’s what my dad has always offered. And it’s what I’ve always wanted since I was a boy, wearing my own little white coat when I would visit the store.”

The store’s customer offerings range from a wellness program of free children’s multivitamins to a computer-generated dosage alert notification.

“We’re the same since 1989, only different,” Wilhoit said.

“We began by taking care of our patients, and we’re keeping that up by changing it up and offering more. It’s another way to differentiate ourselves and make Mac’s something extra,” he said.

Recently the pharmacy piloted “Medicine on Time,” a service that offers a monthly color-coded calendar card containing maintenance medications. Wilhoit says the new system does the hard work, helping elderly patients keep their freedom longer.

Prescriptions are filled as usual and inserted into a daily dosage punch-out card. The program is offered on a free trial basis.

“This is done in nursing homes, but not usually by local pharmacies,” he says. “And when home health nurses administer medications, it is more expensive for the patient.”

Mac’s also recently created “My Dose Alert,” a free automatic notification that alerts customers by phone, text message or e-mail when it’s time to take their medications.

“Research tells us that one out of every two patients do not take their medicine as prescribed, on time,” Mike Wilhoit says. “More than 80 percent cite forgetfulness as the main reason. That means the majority of people simply need a friendly reminder, and that’s what we’re offering the entire community for free if they buy their medication here.”

The high-tech and high-touch approach appeals to UT pharmacy school interns, says Wilhoit.

About a dozen students intern annually at Mac’s Pharmacy, a relationship that is growing, Wilhoit says.

“UT’s pharmacy school is still new, so we know more students will intern. And we show the students the other side – what an independent pharmacy looks like, and they love it. They see our technology, the robotics systems that fill prescriptions, and that technology allows them to get closely involved with our patients.”

Wilhoit says independent pharmacies are competitive in price, even cheaper, but it’s not their primary focus. Wilhoit’s answer to one-stop shopping is health care for his customers.

“That’s simply why I’m here. We even call insurance companies and physicians for our patients when they are having trouble with a prescription. We get on the phone for them. This is why I remain an independent pharmacy. I’m at liberty to create my own job satisfaction and give back to the community,” Wilhoit says.

“I don’t want people to come to Mac’s for price, or leave because of price.”

Mary Leidig is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL

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Schools Manchester – Manchester’s pharmacy school finds new home at Parkview

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:11:50 +0000

When Fort Wayne Cardiology departs, it will move in

Acheson Hall, which has been vacant since 1994, will undergo a $62 million renovation and will be renamed Kapoor Hall.

UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO

Event kicks off pharmacy school project

Dormant building on South Campus to undergo makeover

By Jay Rey

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

September 12, 2009, 7:06 AM /

A long-dormant building on the University at Buffalo’s South Campus will get a $62 million makeover and become the new home for UB’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

UB officials held a ceremony Friday officially kicking off the construction project at the former Acheson Hall, which has been vacant since 1994.

While the shell of the Main Street building will remain, it will be completely renovated and renamed Kapoor Hall, in honor of alumnus John Kapoor, who has given nearly $11 million over the years to UB’s pharmacy program. The project is expected to be finished in 2012, when the Pharmacy School—now located on the North Campus in Amherst — will move into the 147,000-square-foot building on Main Street.

“We have reached another defining point in our future and this space will allow us to set new standards in pharmacy education statewide and throughout the U. S.” said Wayne K. Anderson, dean of the Pharmacy School. “Kapoor Hall will provide a special place where education, training and improved patient care will flourish.”

It’s the third major construction project to begin this year at UB.

The university broke ground in April for a new engineering building on the North Campus. In August, UB and Kaleida Health broke ground on a 10-story vascular and research center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

The School of Pharmacy’s move to the South Campus unites the program with UB’s other health-related schools — medicine, dental medicine, nursing and public health and health professions.

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