Summer

Pharmacy student, Jenna Schabacker received the The American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education Underrepresented Minority Gateway Research Award.

Community Medical Center APPE student, Jessica Mount-Shotwell, Staci Hemmer, and Sarah Scoular won first place at the Northwest Pharmacy Conference for their research poster titled "Evaluation of time in therapeutic range for patients with Covid-19 treated with heparin for VTE".

Sue Ostertag, Chris Migliaccio, Jade Bosic-Reiniger, and Rachael Zins published "Promoting Older Adult Health with Interprofessional Education through Community Based Health Screening". It details the IPHARM (ImProving Health Among Rural Montanans) health screening program.  The article was published on May 27th in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Spring

Dr. Marvanova was recently interviewed as an expert in neurology by the APhA publication, Pharmacy Today, about aducanumab coverage for management of Alzheimer’s disease. The article was published in the April 2022 issue.

Dr. Marvanova delivered a 1.5-hour BCGP national live recertification webinar, “Differential Diagnosis of Parkinson Disease," on Tuesday April 19 for the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists.

In 2022, the University of Montana Skaggs School of Pharmacy's Class of 2022 achieved 85% (24/28) residency match in phase 1 on March 16 and 50% (2/4) in match in phase 2 on April 13. The overall match rate for the class of 2022 for PGY-1 residency placements was 81% taking together both phases.

The graduating Class of 2022 is composed of a total of 60 students and 43% of them will be going to PGY-1 pharmacy residency, nearly half of the class undertaking post-graduate pharmacy education. The students graduating with their PharmD in 2022 will be going to different health systems and community pharmacy residency training sites in 11 different U.S. states:

In addition, after Match I and Match II rounds, a total of 7 students from the graduating Class of 2021 and one from the Class of 2018 will be going to PGY2s in critical care, ambulatory care, oncology, palliative care, or geriatrics in 8 different U.S. states:

These results and continued success in securing places in pharmacy post-graduate education speaks highly about  the quality, determination and passion of our students, faculty, preceptors and affiliate faculty, staff and administrators for pharmacy practice and pharmacy education. Congratulations to all our students and the PharmD program in the UM Skaggs School of Pharmacy.

2021 Fall

Dr. Marketa Marvanova co-chaired a special session entitled “Clinical Pharmacy Methodology and Practical Application: Comparison of Three Countries (Czechia, Britain, and USA)” and presented a lecture, “Clinical Pharmacy Practice in the United States: The Role of Education, Training and Credentialing in the Development and Expansion of Clinical Pharmacy Services,” during the 8^th European Virtual Congress of Pharmacology, December 7, 2021.

Dr. Marketa Marvanova delivered a 1.5-hour BCGP recertification presentation “Clinical Pearls in Management of Parkinson Disease" at the largest gathering of consultant and senior/geriatric care pharmacists, the 2021 American Society of Consultant Pharmacists' Annual Meeting in San Diego this month.

Sherrill Brown is presenting a poster at the October virtual ACCP meeting titled "Impact of COVID-19 on Library Services in US Pharmacy Programs."

Hayley Blackburn recently launched a “Climate Change & Human Health in Montana” webinar training series through the Montana Public Health Training Center in collaboration with other content experts around the state. This webinar training series is available for free and open to all health professions at no cost. Blackburn also joined the Board of Directors for the Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate and is serving as faculty advisor for a newly started “student chapter” of Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate at UM. The student group is collaborating with Climate Smart Missoula to distribute air filters to individuals with medical conditions that put them at high risk of adverse impacts due to wildfire smoke. Blackburn plans to offer an interprofessional elective course on “Climate Change & Human Health” in the spring for students in the College of Health. This will be paired with a collaborative online international learning/virtual exchange program focused on planetary health education with pharmacy students and a faculty colleague in Australia. Finally, she has been working with an international group of pharmacists in recent months to promote awareness of climate-related issues in pharmacy practice and the importance of climate action within the pharmacy profession. Together they have founded Rx for Climate to promote better collaboration within the profession and build a community to share ideas and network. Rx for Climate is rapidly gaining members - join if you’re interested!  Rx for Climate is currently working to provide comments and proposed changes in ongoing discussions around updated CAPE outcomes and EPAs to include outcomes and competencies related to environmental sustainability and climate resilient health systems. Alongside this, Rx for Climate has an upcoming editorial to be published in JACCP ("Active Hope: The Personal and Professional Roles of Pharmacists in Climate Action") and a recent webinar interview on Pharmacy Times.

The Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Department welcomes nine new graduate students. Daniela Dorta, Elizabeth Lorentz and Kole Sandau, all from Montana, are Master's candidates in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Design. Emma Barrett-Catton (Santa Clara University), Avery Benton (Smith College), Annie Buchholz (Pacific Lutheran University), and Andrew Voss (University of Montana) are PhD candidates in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Design. Deborah Agbakwuru (University of Ibadan, Nigeria) and Jacob Albright (University of Montana) are PhD candidates in Toxicology.

Summer

The Federal Communications Commission awarded $679,441 to University of Montana's College of Health for COVID-19 Telehealth Programs. The funds will allow the College to purchase telemedicine kits that enable critical, remote telehealth services and to provide internet connected devices for remote patient monitoring services during the pandemic for underserved, rural, and Tribal populations within the state.

Dr. Marvanova delivered a 1.5 credit-hour BCGP-accredited webinar on July 20 entitled "Management of Reversible Cognitive Impairment" for the national audience in geriatric care for the national organization, the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists.

Hayley Blackburn received a “Best Poster” award at the annual AACP meeting this summer for her poster titled, "Assessment of Pharmacy Student Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Related to Climate Change and Human Health.”  

Sherrill Brown and Jean Carter presented a poster at ACCP this summer titled "Scaffolding assignments to help students learn to revise DI responses using various formats."

Dr. Marvanova served as an expert reviewer for a 2021 book chapter on Parkinson Disease for the ACCP (American College of Clinical Pharmacy) PSAP 2021, Book 2 on Neurology and Psychiatry.

Jean Carter is the project evaluator for a four-year $1.9 million federal grant with the Health Resources and Services Administration. The grant will fund a new Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program to train students to better serve children, adolescents and youth with mental and behavioral health needs.

Sarah Miller, Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, was recently reappointed for another three-year term as a non-specialist member of the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties Council on Critical Care.

Spring

Nano Stiffarm, a first year Pharm.D. student, was awarded the University of Montana "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Student Achievement Award" for his work with the vaccination clinic at the All Nations Health Center. 

Congratulations to all of this year’s scholarship recipients from the University of Montana Skaggs School of Pharmacy. This year, the School awarded a little over $216,000 for the 2021-2022 academic year through 70 scholarships going to 54 Doctor of Pharmacy students. This would not be possible without our generous supporters and donors, and these are most worthy investments in the intellectual and professional development of future pharmacists.

Dr. Ken Chatriand received the University of Montana's "Outstanding Service to the Campus Community Award" for his leadership and dedication in directing the COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

The University of Montana Skaggs School of Pharmacy students are making an impact in post-graduate pharmacy education. Twenty-two of the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) students graduating in May will be heading to postgraduate Year-1 pharmacy residency programs across U.S. and one to the pharmacy fellowship program.  This is an impressive 38% of the graduating class. The students had an 88% match rate. In addition, two previous Pharm.D. graduates are heading to first-year pharmacy residencies, four students from 2020's graduating class are heading to Year-2 pharmacy residencies, and one to a UM Skaggs School of Pharmacy fellowship in pharmacogenomics.

Assistant Professor Ian McGrane won the 2021 Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award from the Montana Pharmacy Association. 

The 2021 MPA and HSA Virtual Conference was held on April 8-10, 2021. We had a great presence from the School of Pharmacy. Drs. Vince Colucci, Jenner Minto, Gayle Hudgins, and Marketa Marvanova presented sessions related to their areas of expertise including cardiology, antibiotic stewardship, geriatrics and neurology. Drs. Donna Beall and Cherith Smith also provided a preceptor development session.  

Rho Chi voted Professor Kendra Procacci "Professor of the Month" because students appreciate her motivation, her ability to make lessons fun, and the way she "keeps things real."

Winter

Shayna Killam, a Pharm.D. and M.S. student in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Design, presented her research work from Dr. Woodahl's lab at the 2021 American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (ASCPT) Annual Meeting, using the “poster 2.0” style. This type of poster shows readers the conclusion and then directs them to outside resources using a QR code. Her poster, titled "Precision Medicine under the Big Sky: Pharmacogenetic Implementation in Rural Settings," received the "Best of Poster 2.0" award. Killam received a $250 cash award and was asked to present at a special panel session. 

Dr. Marketa Marvanova presented on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 to a national audience of geriatric pharmacists during the ASCP-Bootcamp. The presentations included a 2.5-hour CPE/BCGP-accredited session in management of neurological disorders in older adults and a 2.5-hour CPE/BCGP-accredited session in management of psychiatric conditions in older adults. Bootcamp article.

Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Design Professor Erica Woodahl and colleagues published a paper in Clinical and Translational Science characterizing cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) pharmacogenetic variation in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. This paper also described the function effects of the CYP3A4*1G allele and showed that people with this allele may require higher doses of medications metabolized by CYP3A4. Characterization of CYP3A NLM article.

Professor Erica Woodahl and Corbin Schwanke, Chief Administrative Officer in Medical Genetics at Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena, received a grant from the Montana Mental Health Trust to pilot a pharmacogenetic testing intervention in the pediatric psychiatric setting.

The University of Montana has recognized Professor Andrij Holian, Director of Center for Environmental Health Science, in its Vision: Research, Innovation and Imagination publication for being a researcher with 15 or more publications last year. 

The University also recognized Professor Jay Evans, Director of Center for Translational Medicine, for receiving 4 new research awards from the National Institutes of Health totaling $8.5 million last year. Also, the center and its private-sector partner, Inimmune Corp., earned a five-year, $33.4 million award in September for the development and clinical trials of opioid vaccines. It was the largest such award in UM history.

The Director of Center for Translational Medicine, Professor Jay Evans, delivers the March 9 lecture for the Alumni Association's Belief and Truth in a Time of Healing series. His lecture is titled "Healing and Modern Medicine after COVID-19."

Dr. Ken Chatriand has been voted Rho Chi "Professor of the Month" for his dedication to his students and Covid-19 vaccination efforts.

Professor of Pharmacy Practice Annie Belcourt delivered the February 16 lecture for the Alumni Association's Belief and Truth in a Time of Healing series. Her lecture, titled "Healing Following Trauma: Finding Truth and Meaning in Narratives," focused on the positive effects of Narrative Expressive Therapy on people with PTSD.

Dr. Marvanova has developed a 1.5 hour CPE/ BCGP-recertification online webinar entitled “The Quest for Better Management of Motor Fluctuations and Dyskinesia in Parkinson Disease” for the American Association of Consultant Pharmacists that is available until January 2022. 

The #1 download in January for the Senior Care Pharmacist:  Marvanova M, McGrane I. Treatment Approach and Modalities for Management of Depression in Older Adults. Sr Care Pharm 2021, 36:11-21.

In collaboration with the Missoula County Health Department, Ken Chatriand, Curry Pharmacy Manager & Coordinator of Community Advanced Student Pharmacy Practice, and Donna Beall, Director of Student Services, supervise Pharm. D. students every weekend at Covid-19 vaccination clinics in the Adams Center. The clinic on January 31 provided over 400 vaccinations to community members; the February clinics have been immunizing an average of 800 people per day.

Research Associate Professor Christopher Migliaccio coauthored the article, “Providing APPE pharmacy students rural health assessment experience following wildfire event in western Montana,” which was published in Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning in January.

Professor of Pharmacy Practice Sarah Miller is a coauthor on a position paper published by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition entitled, “The Use of Visceral Proteins as Nutrition Markers.” This was published online, ahead of print, in Nutrition in Clinical Practice in October, 2020.

Cherith Smith, Director of Experiential Education and Clinical Assistant Professor, has been administering the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to Native American and Alaska Native students, faculty and staff at UM who identify as high risk. She is also in charge of vaccinating healthcare personnel, elders and high-risk populations at the All Nations Health Center in Missoula. Pharm. D. students and Skaggs School of Pharmacy faculty have been assisting her with this important work.

UM scientist Monica Serban is on a research roll. In 2020, the UM associate professor and her team earned three awards totaling $3.9 million in funding to study preventing hearing loss among U.S. troops, combating ear infections and creating a synthetic skin product.