Walgreen Co. Pledges $125,000 Toward Teaching Laboratory Renovation.

During a mid-day break at the Dean’s Advisory Committee (DAC) meeting, held Friday, Oct., 29, 2004 at the University’s Life Sciences Institute, DAC member Kevin Walgreen presented a “big check” commemorating the Walgreen Co.’s cash pledge of $125,000 toward a laboratory renovation project now underway at the College.

This project, a joint effort between the College and Walgreen Co., will “guarantee that future pharmacy students will be exposed to the most effect techniques to provide pharmacy services to the community,” explains Dean Frank J. Ascione, BSPharm’69, PharmD’73.

The $800,000 project, which began last June, encompasses the 1,200 sq. ft. space in C.C. Little Building currently occupied by the Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Dispensing Laboratory.

Receiving a Walgreen Co. check for $125,000 from Dean’s Advisory Committee member Kevin Walgreen (third from right) are (left to right): graduate student Teresa Nguyen, graduate student Vivian Chen, P-4 Ryan Foster, Dean Frank J. Ascione, BSPharm’69, PharmD’73, P-4 Heather Somand, and P-4 Tim Musselman.

Slated for completion prior to the start of fall term 2005, the project will: (1) consolidate the Walgreen Dispensing Lab and the adjacent drug assay lab into a single, 2,200 square ft. laboratory and classroom space; and (2) enlarge the neighboring instructional technology classroom by adding to it a portion of the space that houses the current drug assay lab.

The first phase of the renovation project, now underway, will convert existing storage and locker space (across the hall from laboratories) into an IV prep room and a patient interview room equipped with videotaping facilities.

In addition to its cash commitment, the Walgreen Co., provided architectural consultation on the renovation project. The firm will also be advising the College on equipment purchases to ensure that renovated lab space is consistent with to modern commercial standards.

The specialized layout of the old dispensing and drug assay laboratories limited the use of this space, notes Bruce Mueller, PharmD, professor and chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences, and associate director of the Department of Pharmacy Services at University Hospital.

“The Walgreen Lab has been used as a dispensing and compounding lab where our PharmD students learned how to make such products as ointments, capsules, etc.,” explains Mueller. “The renovated space will continue to be used to in this manner, but it will also serve as the home of our Pharmaceutical Care Lab series, offered to PharmD students every semester of their P-1 through P-3 years. Because the dispensing and assay laboratory courses were one semester courses, the laboratories sat idle for one-half of each academic year.”

“With the renovations, we will be free to program instructional offerings in this space, year-around,” adds Associate Dean Lynda Welage, BSPharm’81, PharmD. “We will have retained all of the functionality of the old labs, and we will have gained additional classroom space. Classroom space is an ongoing concern for our College, especially as our PharmD enrollment continues to grow.”

The physical layout of the new dispensing and assay lab will more accurately simulate a contemporary pharmacy, Mueller notes. Compounding and dispensing benches will line the walls with computer stations placed at regular intervals. However, the middle of the room will be more open and modular, which will facilitate the teaching of other clinical pharmacy skills and activities.