June 19, 2018
Dean James Dalton (left) with U-M Pharmacy alumnus Dr. Larry Hsu (center) and Dean Li-Jiuan Shen of the NTU School of Pharmacy (right).

University of Michigan College of Pharmacy faculty members Karen Farris, David Sherman, Amit Pai, Duxin Sun, and Dean James Dalton recently returned from Taipei, Taiwan, where they attended National Taiwan University School of Pharmacy’s first Research Day and International Conference.

U-M Pharmacy alumnus, Dr. Chung-Chiang (Larry) Hsu, PhD’81, who earned his BS degree in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University, was the closing speaker of the conference. Dr. Hsu received the 2015 U-M Pharmacy Distinguished Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors U-M Pharmacy alumni who have made significant lifetime contributions in their profession or to society through practice, research, education, or public service.

Drs. Farris, Pai, Sun, and Dalton, along with faculty from Kyoto Pharmaceutical University, served as judges of the MS and PhD student podium and poster presentations on the first day of the conference. Drs. Sherman, Sun, Pai, Farris, presented their research on the second day.

Additional goals of the trip were to make connections with NTU faculty, introduce U-M Pharmacy’s research programs, and initiate research and educational collaborations between U-M and NTU ahead of the proposed launch of a “sandwich” degree program. In the proposed program, six students would complete an MS at NTU, PhD at the U-M College of Pharmacy, and then return to NTU for a postdoctoral fellowship.  NTU hopes to use this program as a way to train and recruit future basic science faculty. 

Dean Dalton also hosted a reunion for U-M Pharmacy alumni living in Taipei.