2006 PRESIDENT'S REPORT

We have renowned researchers who interact,
mentor and teach our students, translating
knowledge from the laboratories into the classroom.
The landscape of medicine is ever-changing
and the opportunities in pharmacy are endless.

- Donna Beall -
Associate Professor, pharmacy practice

Screening patients for bone density at a Condon, Mont., tavern is just another day for Donna Beall. She doesn’t bat an eye at the prospect of taking blood pressures in a church or testing for diabetes in a firehouse. “In small towns we sometimes just set up wherever we can,” she says.

As director of the IPHARM (ImProving Health Among Rural Montanans) program, Beall, her students, other faculty members and a clinical pharmacy specialist travel to every corner of Montana to screen for markers of heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. “Many of these screening services are not widely available in rural areas,” Beall says. “The program also provides a great learning experience for students.”

When she’s not on the road logging some of the 38,000 miles the program has covered in the last two and a half years, Beall is teaching third- and fourth-year pharmacy students in a College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences classroom and in her office at Curry Health Center.

Students assist Beall in consulting with student-patients on proper use of medications and what the effects and side effects of those medicines might be, as well as on the importance of actually taking what is prescribed.

“We improve how student-patients take their medication,” she says. Two students work with Beall in Curry on eight-week rotations, and fourth-year students are on a revolving list to crisscross Montana with IPAHRM. “All these experiences are bridges between what students learn in class or lab and the real world,” she says.

next >

contents | um home