In December, four College of Pharmacy graduate students received 2007 American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE) Pre-Doctoral Fellowships in the Pharmaceutical Sciences. They are:
• Medicinal Chemistry PhD candidate Kelly L. Damm; Thesis: “Protein Flexibility in Structure-Based Drug Design”; Faculty advisor: Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry Heather Carlson, PhD;
• Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD candidate David J. Good; Thesis: “Determination of the Kinetics, Thermodynamics, and Mechanisms of Moisture Induced Phase Transformations relating to the Formation and Stability of Pharmaceutical Cocrystals”; Faculty advisor: Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Naír Rodríguez-Hornedo, PhD;
• Medicinal Chemistry PhD candidate Steven A. Kawamoto; Thesis: “Structure-Based Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of Small Molecule Peptide and Non-Peptide Derived Antagonists of Survivin”; Faculty advisor: Professor of Medicinal Chemistry Shaomeng Wang, PhD; and
• Pharmaceutical Sciences PhD candidate Sarah J. Nehm; Thesis: “Thermodynamic and Kinetic Parameters That Explain the Crystallization of Pharmaceutical Complexes”; Faculty advisor: Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Naír Rodríguez-Hornedo, PhD.
AFPE Pre-Doctoral Fellowships provide recognition and support to outstanding basic science PhD candidates. They also are intended to encourage graduate students to pursue academic careers.
A 2006 survey by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy shows that 11 percent of full-time pharmacy college faculty positions were unfilled in 2006. AFPE projects that by 2010, the pharmacy faculty shortage will reach 20 percent; and by 2015, nearly 40 percent. Contributing to the labor shortfall are a growing number of new pharmacy schools and the retirement of veteran pharmacy faculty.
“Our concern is that the pharmacy faculty shortage will disrupt the ability of U.S. pharmacy schools to educate the required number of new pharmacists and scientists needed to deliver pharmaceutical care and develop new medicines,”states AFPE President Robert M. Bachman.
