On May 23, the College of Pharmacy hosted the first Research Day in the Truhlsen Event Center on campus. The event was dedicated to Dr. Jonathan Vennerstrom, a world leader in drug discovery and faculty in the college. Invited speakers included keynote speaker Dr. Dan Flaherty, Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University, alumnus of the UNMC College of Pharmacy, and former mentee of Dr. Vennerstrom A distinguished lecture was also presented by Dr. Courtney Aldrich, Editor-In-Chief ACS Infectious Disease and faculty member at the University of Minnesota. He previously wrote a tribute to Jonathan in a special edition of that journal in honor of Jonathan.

The day featured presentations by college faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and Nebraska Medicine residents. Chancellor Gold and Vice-chancellor for Research Ken Bayles, PhD were in attendance along with several of the college's faculty. A poster session was held in the afternoon and awards were presented in the following categories:

PGY2 Podium Presentation- Dr. Sydney Harrison

PGY1, Poster Session- Dr. Shawna Stricker

PSGP Student, Best Podium Presentation- Aayushi Laliwala

PSGP Student, Best Podium Presentation- Nusrat Ahmed

Elaine Payne Retires from College

Elaine Payne, accountant at the College of Pharmacy, retired June 2 after 27 years at UNMC. 

Elaine started her career in the Sponsored Programs Accounting department and has been with the College of Pharmacy for the past 23 years. 

Professor Emeritus Dennis Robinson and his wife Sandra were able to surprise Elaine on her last day at the College. Dennis mentioned he was in the College on Elaine’s first day and was happy to be here on her last day. Elaine said she will miss the faculty and staff and is looking forward to more free time to spend with her family and travel. Congratulations and thank you Elaine!

Now Hiring! Assistant/Associate Dean for Student Affairs

The College is pleased to announce an exciting opportunity to join the faculty. We are actively recruiting for the Assistant/Associate Dean for Student Affairs. Attached you will find the job description. If you enjoy working with students, please consider this opportunity to apply.

More information and to apply

The Class of 2024 was welcomed to their P4 rotation year during the annual College of Pharmacy Pinning Ceremony. 57 students enjoyed breakfast, provided by the Alumni Association and words of rotation wisdom from P4s Josh Vergin and Haliee Dahl. Dr. Kim Scarsi led students in reciting the Oath of a the Pharmacist, and Dean Olsen instructed the students to place their pins on their white coat lapels.

Two pharmacy teams participated in the UNMC 2023 Innovators in Education E-Learning Showcase on April 11.

Dr. Kristen Cook was the faculty advisor for the P3 team of Karen Hoff, Zachery Kenyon, Morgan Schenck, and Raeanne Whitcomb who presented their E-module 'Statins: Drug Selection and Patient Education'

Ashley Meacham (P3), Carissa Wilson (P2), and faculty advisor Dr. Linda Sobeski's E-module titled 'Codependency and Family Dynamics' took home first place honors at the event.

All seven E-modules from the competition can be viewed here.

2023 Gold Student Summer Fellow

Austin Johnson (P4) has been named as a 2023 Gold Student Summer Fellow, along with UNMC medical students Safwan Elkhatib & William Miklavcic. The team was selected for their service project, RESPECT for PrEP: Advertising and Implementing PrEP for Primary Prevention of HIV at a Student Run Free Clinc. 

 The project team will be composed of a group of interdisciplinary student volunteers who will first conduct an online social media advertisement campaign focused on recruiting at-risk patients from the greater Omaha area. It will also place special emphasis on reaching marginalized and underserved populations. The team of volunteers will then educate, enroll, and maintain eligible patients on PrEP medications. 

On April 18, two College of Pharmacy faculty members were honored with Faculty Senate Awards.

Kristen Cook, PharmD, clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice and science received the Outstanding Teacher Award. When asked how do you know when you've been a successful teacher, Dr. Cook said "I feel most successful when I’ve worked with other educators to develop an innovative session, case or simulation that students are actively engaged in and walk away from feeling like they can better take care of patients. It’s important for learners to see educators work as a team, which helps them feel supported and invested in. I’m lucky that I get to work with fellow educators and students every day that value learning together."

Dong Wang, PhD, professor in the department of pharmaceutical sciences was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Graduate Students Award. Discussing his mentoring impact, Dr. Wang said "Most of my students have been very successful in their careers. Several of them are serving in different leadership capacities. I am pleased that I have been a positive influence on their career development."

Vada Kinman Oldfield Award

The Vada Kinman Oldfield Award for Research in Alzheimer's Disease was presented to Dr. Paul Trippier on April 19.

Dr. Trippier and his team regularly work on cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. “A lot of it is finding interesting protein targets, especially targets that haven’t been tried before that we think we can apply our chemistry to,” Dr. Trippier said. In doing so they came upon 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 10 (17beta-HSD10). It’s “a mouthful,” Dr. Trippier said. And it was a potential answer.

The enzyme 17beta-HSD10 binds to a protein known to aggregate in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, Dr. Trippier said. This binding stops the enzyme from working as it should. The literature suggests that the enzyme not working normally may lead to three major hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

The team worked to create compounds that bind the enzyme target and prevent the disease-associated protein from doing so — “really get in there as early as possible in Alzheimer’s and prevent the toxicity,” Dr. Trippier said.



“So, we should hopefully have a protective effect." and "we’ve shown this in a number of cell lines and some (small animal model) neurons, as well, that this works.”

Dr. Jensen Completes iLEAD program

Shelby Jensen, PharmD, was one of 32 recent UNMC graduates of the Faculty Development's iLEAD (Interprofessional Leadership for Excellence and Academic Development) certificate program.

iLEAD is a one-year applied-learning experience designed for individuals who are committed to accelerating their leadership skills and performance within and outside the organization.

2023 Kevin Robertson Memorial Award

ACTG (Aids Clinical Trials Group) recently awarded Kim Scarsi, PharmD, MS, with the 2023 Kevin Robertson Memorial Award.

The award was developed to honor the memory of Dr. Robertson, and is presented to ACTG Investigators who exemplify his compassion, collegiality, and commitment to junior investigators and who have made significant contributions to interdisciplinary research within the ACTG.

During the nomination process, Dr. Scarsi was described as; "Like Dr. Robertson, she is generous of her time and sharing of her experience, yet is humble and mild-mannered; easy collaborative personality and shared her experience and expertise with many throughout ACTG and beyond" and as a "Superstar in the world of HIV pharmacology and women's health!".