Spring 2003

Gordon L Amidon, PhDPCeut’71, Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been appointed editor-in-chief of Molecular Pharmaceutics, a new journal from the American Chemical Society (ACS). The announcement came at the ACS 225th National Meeting in April. The print form of this bimonthly journal will begin circulating in 2004, and a continuous, online version will be launched later this year. According to the ACS, the journal will concentrate on “the rapidly advancing molecular and mechanistic research in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical fields ... and will have a distinct molecular and mechanistic focus emphasizing the chemistry of drug delivery.”

Molecular Pharmaceutics subjects will include drug and delivery system properties, drug transport and metabolism processes, and enzyme and transporter targets for drug delivery and targeting.

On Friday, April 4, Professor of Pharmacy Rosemary R. Berardi, PharmD’68, gave the annual “Anderson Lecture” as an invited guest of the Purdue University School of Pharmacy. Her audience of pharmacy students and faculty heard her speak on the topic, “Proton Pump Inhibitors: From Black Box to Nonprescription Use.”

In March, Heather A. Carlson, John G. Searle Jr. Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, organized and hosted a symposium on “Protein Flexibility” at the 225th American Chemical Society National Meeting in New Orleans. Thirty-six presenters gave talks at the symposium. Topics covered the basic biophysics of protein flexibility and new developments in computer-aided drug design. In addition to her appointment in the College of Pharmacy, Carlson holds appointments in the Chemistry Department in the College of LS&A, the U-M Biophysics Research Division, and the U-M Bioinformatics Program.

James K. Coward, chairman and professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, lectured on the topic, “UDP-(5-fluoro)GlcNAc and 5-fluoro-GlcNAc Beta-octyl Glycoside: Useful Tools for Glycobiologists,” at the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology meeting held April 11-15 in San Diego, Calif.

On May 20, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Steve Erickson presented a short course entitled, “Introduction to Health-related Quality of Life and Patient Reported Outcomes,” at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research in Washington, D.C. At this same meeting, Erickson and several collaborators presented the following posters: “Relationship between Patient Beliefs about Medication and Self-reported Medication Adherence Six Months after Discharge for Acute Coronary Syndrome”; “Predictive Models of Health-related Quality of Life Utilizing Patient Reported Outcomes Data from a Population with a History of Acute Coronary Syndrome”; and “Description and Predictive Modeling of Perceived Work Performance in an Acute Coronary Syndrome Population.”

Erickson, Professor of Pharmacy Cary Johnson, PharmD’72, and P-4 Amy Chang co-au-thored the article, “Lecture Versus Web Tutorial for Pharmacy Students’ Learning of MDI Technique,” which was published in the April 2003 edition of Annals of Pharmacotherapy. The article was based upon Chang’s PharmD research project.

Also, in April, Erickson was one of three first recipients of the College’s PharmD Student Appreciation Award. (The other two recipients included David E. Smith, professor and chair of the College’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Mustapha Beleh, an instructor in the Medicinal Chemistry Department.)

In addition to receiving the APhA Research Achievement Award in the Pharmaceutical Sciences at the association’s 2003 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, La., March 28-April 1, Duane M. Kirking, chairman and professor of the College’s Department of Social and Administrative Sciences (SAS), was co-author of two presentations delivered during the annual meeting. One, a poster entitled, “Attitudes toward Alternatives for Hormone Replacement Therapy,” was developed with P-4 Trisha Wells and SAS graduate student Sally Huston. The second, a podium presentation entitled, “Understanding Women’s Decisions about Hormone Replacement Therapy,” was co-authored with Professor of Pharmacy Leslie A. Shimp, Clinical Instructor Hae Mi Choe, and Huston.

Clinical Instructor Michelle A. Leady, PharmD’98, and Clinical Associate Professor Burgunda V. Sweet, RE’87, co-authored the article, “Survey of Alternative Supplement Use within a Hospitalized Population,” which appeared in the December 2002 issue of Hospital Pharmacy. Sweet, Leady, and Clinical Associate Professor Janice L. Stumpf, RE’86, also collaborated on the article, “The Usefulness of References Available to Health Care Professionals for Handling Requests about Alternative Products,” published in the April 2003 issue of Annals of Pharmacotherapy. Leady, Clinical Assistant Professor Daniel S. Streetman, and Beata Domagala, RE’03, also
co-authored, “Pharmaceutical Spotlight: Ezetimibe (Zetia®): The First Cholesterol Absorption Inhibitor,” which appeared in P&T 2003; 28(3):191-206.

Clinical Instructor Randolph E. Regal, BSPharm’83, PharmD’84, will have two articles published in Pharmacy and Therapeutics this summer: one on oral iron therapy written with Susan Davis, PharmD’02; the other on oral zinc therapy, co-authored with William A. Prescott Jr., RE’03. Regal presented a poster entitled, “The Effect of an Antimicrobial Restriction Program on Pseudomonas aeruginosa Resistance to Beta-lactams: Reversing History with a ‘Cephalo-sparing’ Policy?” during the ACCP Spring Practice and Research Forum in Palm Springs, Calif., April 26-30. (A paper on this same topic — authored by Regal, Heather L. VandenBussche, PharmD’95, RE’97, and Clinical Assistant Professor Daryl D. DePestel, PharmD’99, RE’01 — was published as a “Brief Report” in the May 2003 issue of Pharmacotherapy.

On April 6, Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Gus Rosania gave the lecture, “Pharmacogenomics: Dilemmas and Challenges,” as part of the inaugural University Life Sciences, Values, and Society Program (LSVSP) lecture series. The LSVSP series examines how developments in the life sciences are affecting thinking and activities in all spheres of human life. Early lectures have focused on questions associated with embryonic stem cell research, therapeutic cloning, and other ethical issues.

Rosania was one of five co-authors of the article, “Combinatorial Approach to Organelle-targeted Fluorescent Library Based on the Styryl Scaffold,” which appeared in the Feb. 5, 2003 issue of the Journal of the Chemical Society. In January, he lectured on the topic, “Bioinformatic Tools for Molecular Biopharmaceutics,” at the Second International Molecular Biopharmaceutics Conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii.

David E. Smith, professor and chair of the College’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was one of four co-authors of the article, “Effects of Organic Anion, Organic Cation, and Dipeptide Transport Inhibitors on the Renal Disposition of Cefdinir in the Isolated Perfused Rat Kidney,” which appeared in Antimicrobial Agents Chemotherapy, 47:689-696, 2003.

In late April, James G. Stevenson, associate dean of clinical sciences and professor of pharmacy in the College of Pharmacy and director of pharmacy services of University of Michigan Health System, gave a poster presentation entitled, “Altering the Prescribing Patterns of Meperidine: A Patient Safety Initiative.” The presentation was delivered at the “Second Annual Patient Safety Conference: Patient Safety Leadership through Innovation and Evolution,” held in Dearborn, Mich., and sponsored by the Michigan Health and Safety Coalition. On March 21, Stevenson gave an invited speech on the topic, “Prescription Drug Expenditures in the U.S.,” as part of the 11th Annual Frances P. Rhoades Memorial Lecture. He spoke to the Wayne County Medical Society in Detroit.

In addition, Stevenson has been named to the ASHP Council on Educational Affairs.