The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS) announces its 2012 excellence in teaching and staff awards.

The honorees are:
Prism Award for Innovation in Teaching – Martha Schiller, director of clinical education and assistant professor-clinical, Physical Therapy, Department of Health Care Sciences.
Excellence in Teaching -- Full-time faculty Candice Garwood, associate professor-clinical, Department of Pharmacy Practice; and Joshua Reineke, assistant professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences; and part-time faculty Valdor Haglund, assistant professor-clinical, Nurse Anesthesia, Department of Health Care Sciences.
Outstanding Staff – Sherry Pruitt, secretary III, Business Affairs, Human Resources.

The honorees were nominated for the awards by their peers, reviewed and recommended by a committee of past award winners with final approval of  Dean Lloyd Young. Each of the awards brings a commemorative gift and monetary award to be used towards educational materials, speakers for academic or professional development, or travel to present innovative work.

The Prism Prize for Innovation in Teaching recognizes Schiller’s exemplary service learning strategies engaging students in two student-run clinics. The pro-bono Diabetes Education Wellness Clinic (DEW Clinic) engages students in occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, and the School of Social Work to serve under-insured and uninsured women and children. The second student-run clinic is the pro-bono Physical Therapy Clinic. Both clinics are located within the S.A.Y. Detroit Family Health Clinic in Highland Park. These experiences are characterized by academic objectives, student volunteerism, community partnerships, and reflective practice, which are the criteria for purposeful service learning opportunities impacting the growth and development of student practitioners in the health sciences.

The Excellence in Teaching Award acknowledges Garwood’s outstanding knowledge of curriculum, teaching learning skills, her commitment as educator, mentor and preceptor. She is recognized as a professional role model for her students. Her expertise excels in ambulatory care, geriatric medicine and primary care issues. Garwood is extensively published in the area of anticoagulation and in demand as a speaker for national meetings. She is co-coordinator of the highly popular anticoagulation course in Pharmacy Practice and lectures in at least two of the pharmacotherpeutic modules, using active learning techniques to increase student involvement in the classroom. She also is director for the postgraduate year two (PGY2 ) pharmacy residency Ambulatory Practice at Harper University Hospital. Garwood exemplifies for her students a practicing clinical pharmacy specialist who fosters and develops relationships with patients, physicians and other health care providers.

An Excellence in Teaching was awarded to Reineke based on his stimulating and lively teaching techniques in the classroom and in the laboratory. While projecting a caring attitude, he maintains strong standards. He is available to provide guidance and counsel students both inside and outside the classroom. In the laboratory, he instructs students on study designation, experimental operation and laboratory regulations and guides them into involvement in the scientific community, teaching scientific advancement in the field and exploring available resources to plan long-term research goals. A professional role model for his postdocs and students, Reineke holds himself to high ethical standards and encourages those standards in his students. Under his academic direction, students graduate from his research group well-prepared and confident to excel in their professional careers.

Receiving the Teaching in Excellence Award as part-time faculty, Haglund is described as a dedicated educator, who is detailed oriented and thorough. His lectures go beyond the scope of textbooks. Through his association and involvement in professional associations, he stays current on issues and shares his knowledge and enthusiasm for the profession with his students. Haglund is cited for his strong student interaction, communicating well with students "in" and "out" of the classroom. He also was recognized for his artful use of humor to liven up his presentations and to make important concepts and clinical scenarios memorable for students. “Learning is often effortless in his otherwise challenging classes,” said a student nominator.

Receiving the Staff Service Award, Pruitt is described as a seasoned professional who has expanded her knowledge and performance within job responsibilities beyond expectations. Her enthusiasm and commitment to service is acknowledged by colleagues both on the college and the university’s main campuses. Characterized as a versatile employee, Pruitt successfully works to improve relationships among personnel and departments, to resolve complex problems, and to take on unexpected personnel processing issues, reporting and special projects while meeting her day-to-day responsibilites.
 

  Wyn Schumann Wendelken (left), retired EACPHS asistant dean for Student and Alumni Affairs, who established the Prism Prize presents the award to Martha Schiller.

   Excellence in Teaching Award recipients (from left) Candice Garwood, Joshua Reineke, Dean Lloyd Young and Valdor Haglund

Staff member Sherry Pruitt receives the Outstanding Service Award from Dean Lloyd Young.

February 4, 2013

Media Contact: Kathleen Karas, APR
Phone: 313-577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.edu

The Pfizer Medical Education Group has awarded a grant to a collaborating research team from Wayne State University’s Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS) and the School of Medicine (SOM); and the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS).

The project “Pneumococcal Disease Prevention Initiative: Integrated Interventions for Improved Adult Immunization Rates” aims to establish a proactive program for adult immunizations that engages key stakeholder groups and improves consumer and health provider knowledge in HFHS outpatient clinic facilities. “We anticipate this project will lead to sustainably high rates of adult immunization coverage among those 65 years of age or older,” said co-principal investigator Paul Kilgore, MPH, MD, associate professor, EACPHS Department of Pharmacy Practice.

Detroit is typical of many large urban areas that have a large, ethnically diverse population with varying access to health care. Kilgore said, “The complementary clinical, patient safety and research resources of Henry Ford Health System and Wayne State University enable a highly balanced interprofessional strategy and infrastructure to identify barriers to care and to ramp up adult immunizations."  The research team will develop and integrate an electronic health provider education program for prevention of pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease.

Kilgore will provide overall scientific direction of the project and day-to-day technical support for implementation of immunization, feedback, and monitoring procedures. Co-investigator Emily Martin, PhD, assistant professor in the EACPHS Department of Pharmacy Practice, will support implementation of immunization intervention components and epidemiological issues that represent barriers to vaccine uptake. Carolyn Archer, a member of the EACPHS research group, also will provide assistance.

Other members of the research team are co-principal investigators Marcus Zervos, MD, specialist in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease, and Christine Joseph, PhD, associate scientist in Public Health Services, both from Henry Ford Health System; and Linda Kaljee, PhD, associate professor, Pediatric Prevention Research Center, WSU School of Medicine.

February 7, 2013
 

Ashley Builta, PharmD candidate 2014, is the first chair of the Student Executive Council of the Student Michigan Pharmacists Association (SMPA) and becomes the first student pharmacist to hold a seat with full voting rights on the Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA) Executive Board.

The recently created Student Executive Council consists of three students from each of the three colleges of pharmacy in Michigan – Wayne State University, University of Michigan, and Ferris State University. From these nine students, one is elected chair of the Council and sits on the MPA Executive Board, acting as a liaison between the student and parent groups.

Builta became involved with the SMPA in her second-year through the MPA Annual Convention and Exposition in 2012. It was there that she found her passion for representing students and promised to follow up with the proposed bylaw changes that would create a Student MPA Executive Council. After the MPA members passed the bylaw changes creating the Student Executive Council in November 2012, Builta was able to attend her first MPA Executive Board meeting and was sworn in at that time.

Builta said, “She is honored to represent student pharmacists all across Michigan, especially those at Wayne State, and looks forward to improving the student member experience.”

February 11, 2013
 

Pfizer has presented a 2012 Award in antibacterial research to pharmacy faculty member Emily T. Martin, MPH, PhD. Known as ASPIRE (Advance Science Through Pfizer-Investigator Research Exchange), the award brings a $95,000, 12-month research grant to principal investigator Martin for the project “Outcomes following Linezolid Therapy in Complicated Skin and Soft Tissue Infections: A Multi-Center Retrospective Study.”

Martin is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS), Wayne State University (WSU). Collaborating investigators on the project are Susan Davis, PharmD, associate professor , EACPHS Department of Pharmacy Practice; Keith Kaye, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, WSU School of Medicine, and corporate director of Infection Prevention, Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship, Detroit Medical Center; Michael Rybak, PharmD, MPH, professor, EACPHS Department of Pharmacy Practice, and director of the Anti-Infective Research Laboratory; Jason Pogue, PharmD, clinical pharmacist, Detroit Medical Center; Linda Jaber, PharmD, professor, EACPHS Department of Pharmacy Practice; and Carolyn Archer, MSc, epidemiologist, EACPHS Department of Pharmacy Practice.

The mission of the 2012 ASPIRE Awards in antibacterial research is to advance the medical knowledge to better understand disease pathogenesis, risk factors, host response and treatment outcomes of linezolid in complex adult patients with approved indications. According to Pfizer, considerable clinical trial data exists for linezolid in a variety of patients with known infections; however, most of the information is from controlled clinical trials and patients with certain disease complexities are underrepresented. The ASPIRE is presented to innovative clinical research proposals that evaluate linezolid’s role in the treatment of infections in complex adult patients within approved indications.

Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation, headquartered in New York City with research headquarters in Groton, CN. Pfizer develops and produces medicines and vaccines for a wide range of health conditions including immunology and inflammation, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuroscience and pain.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, one of the founding colleges of Wayne State University, is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society through the preparation of highly skilled health care practitioners, and through research to improve health care practices and treatment from urban to global levels.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.

Photo cutlines: (from left) Richard L. Slaughter, associate dean for pharmacy; Kimbal D. Ford, regional medical and research specialist, Pfizer, Inc.; Emily Martin; and Brian Crabtree, chair, Department of Pharmacy Practice.

February 19, 2013

Media Contact: Kathleen J. Karas
Phone: 313-577-2312
Email:  kkaras@wayne.edu

The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, announces the topics and guests speakers for its Winter 2013 Seminar Series. All are welcome to attend the seminar presentations, which begin at 4 p.m. in Room 3105 of the college. There is no charge.

For additional information, please contact Zhengping Yi, PhD, associate professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, at 313-577-1047 or email: zhengping.yi@wayne.edu.

The Eugene Appelbaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is located at 259 Mack Ave. at John R.  The entrance is on Brady Street, directly across the street from the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM). WSU Campus shuttles do stop at the college. Parking is available in WSU Parking Structure 7, John R at Mack Ave.
 

Each year Wayne State’s Alpha Chi chapter of the Rho Chi Society confers the Roland T. Lakey Award on an individual who has made a significant impact on the profession of pharmacy. This year’s recipient is Richard B. Silverman, PhD, John Evans professor of chemistry at Northwestern University, Chicago.

The Lakey Award Symposium is scheduled for 5 p.m., April 1 (Monday) in the auditorium of the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. At that time, Silverman will present “Drug Discovery: Ingenuity or Serendipity?”

Silverman is the inventor of Lyrica, marketed by Pfizer for the treatment of neuropathic pain. His research is focused on the molecular mechanisms of action, rational design, and syntheses of potential medicinal agents, particularly for neurodegenerative diseases. Among his awards and honors include the 2009 Perkin Medal from the Society of Chemical Industry; 2011 E.B. Herschberg for medicinal chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS) and member of the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame. Silverman also has received numerous teaching awards from Northwestern University. He is the author of several critical books in medicinal chemistry and has close to 300 peer reviewed papers.

Rho Chi Society is an academic honor society in pharmacy. Its mission is to encourage and recognize excellence in intellectual achievement and foster fellowship among its members. The Society also encourages high standards of conduct and character and advocates critical inquiry in all aspects of pharmacy.

Roland T. Lakey, PhD, is the college’s first dean, beginning in1924 and continuing for 28 years.

For additional information on the Lakey Award Symposium, please contact Steven Firestine, PhD, at 313-577-0455 or email: ay1872@wayne.edu or Latoya Rice, 313-577-5416 or email: ag4355@wayne.edu.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, one of the founding colleges of Wayne State University, is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society through the preparation of highly skilled health care practitioners, and through research to improve health care practices and treatment from urban to global levels.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.

March 27, 2013

Contact: Kathleen J. Karas
Phone: 313-577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.ed

DETROIT – Wayne State University (WSU) has received a $225,000 commitment from the Arab American Pharmacists Association (AAPA) to support a new fellowship in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS). The WSU-AAPA fellowship will provide a pathway to develop research expertise in community health outcomes and prepare the fellow for a future career in higher education. Additionally, the research will assist in serving the health needs of the Arab American community in southeast Michigan and advancing the delivery of care from pharmacists to the community. The fellowship will operate under the direction of Linda Jaber, PharmD, professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice.

“The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is grateful to the Arab American Pharmacists Association for its generosity,” said Dean Lloyd Young. “Research fellowships are critical to preparing the next generation of practitioners, academic leaders and researchers, and this particular fellowship will enable us to learn more about the health needs in our community and to support those needs through training for advanced pharmacy practice.”

The WSU-AAPA fellowship is a two-year program that will begin with an assessment of the demographic, behavioral and health-related characteristics of Arab Americans in southeast Michigan, which has the highest concentration of Arab Americans outside of the Middle East. Under the direction of Jaber, the fellow will determine how community pharmacies can help meet the health needs of Arab Americans and provide assistance in the development of pharmacy-based patient care practices.

“The WSU-AAPA fellowship is an excellent example of how we can interact with the uniqueness of our community, the particular talents of our faculty, and the innovative thinking and commitment of our practitioner partners,” said Brian Crabtree, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice. “We are thrilled to have Dr. Linda Jaber, with her background and skills, to lead the fellowship.”

Jaber has decades of research experience, teaching excellence and clinical practice skills, as well as an in-depth cultural understanding of the Arab-American community. Through her research, Jaber provided the first representative, population-based, cross-sectional estimates of diabetes incidence among the Arab-American population, drawing national attention to health disparities affecting Arab Americans.

“With Dr. Jaber’s expertise, Wayne State University and its College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences have an important role to play in assessing and serving the health needs of the Arab-American community,” said Alex Obeid, chair of the Arab American Pharmacists Association Board of Directors. “It is our pleasure to support the fellowship and contribute to this important mission.”

Founded in 1996 the Arab American Pharmacists Association represents 225 registered pharmacists, 50 pharmacy students and 115 independently owned pharmacies primarily located in southeast Michigan. Its mission is to advance and support Arab-American pharmacists in serving society as the profession responsible for managing the appropriate use of medications and providing services to enhance optimal patient care and public health. The association is the leading voice of Arab pharmacists through advocacy, education and information dissemination.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society by preparing highly skilled health care practitioners and conducting groundbreaking research to improve models of practice and methods of treatment in pharmacy and the health sciences. The college’s pharmacy program is nationally recognized, with a graduation rate above 98 percent, and 98 percent of graduates pass the North American Pharmacy Licensure Exam the first time.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.

April 3, 2013

Faculty members in the Departments of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences have joined together to support a new Faculty of Pharmacy Endowed Scholarship in the Wayne State University (WSU) Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS). With 100 percent of faculty members in both departments contributing to the scholarship, the fund has reached a balance of more than $110,000 in cash and pledges. The first scholarships will be awarded in May.

“Our Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty members have made a powerful statement with their generous support,” said Lloyd Young, dean of the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. “Achieving 100 percent participation is a demonstration of their commitment to their students. Their generosity will forever impact the doctor of pharmacy program.”

The idea for the scholarship took shape last fall. Randy Commissaris, associate professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences, is chair of the college’s scholarship committee and familiar with the endowed scholarships in the college. “We had received word of a few new scholarships including the Board of Visitors Annual Scholarship, and the Hanley and Young Hee Abramson Scholarship and the Melvin Dunker Scholarship created by Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty member Hanley Abramson and his wife,” said Commissaris. But there was one particular announcement that struck a chord, a recent graduate, Shadi Saad, had established an annual scholarship in honor of  Linda Jaber, PharmD. “It made me think, if a young graduate can honor a faculty member, why don’t we as a faculty consider creating a scholarship to support our students?” In talking with several colleagues, it became clear to him that there would be support for a Faculty of Pharmacy Endowed Scholarship.

After consulting with Dean Young and Associate Dean Richard Slaughter, Commissaris asked for faculty volunteers to serve on a steering committee. In December and January, Steering Committee members personally contacted their faculty colleagues. Faculty made gifts to the scholarship via payroll deduction, cash contributions and through multi-year pledges.

“The faculty response has been wonderful,” said Commissaris. “I expected support from our faculty because we are committed to our students. Nonetheless, I was amazed by how positively this was received by the faculty. Within the first couple weeks of the campaign, over 95 percent of the faculty members had verbally committed to the idea. Mind you, these are 48 faculty colleagues, all smart, independent thinkers. Typically, if you ask their opinion about a subject, you can expect 48 different answers. But in this case, the answer was always the same: YES! I could not be more pleased with the outcome of this initiative.”

The scholarship committee members have seen an increase in available scholarships over the past several years. However, they still are unable to provide scholarship support to some very deserving students. By supporting more students through the Faculty of Pharmacy Endowed Scholarship, the committee hopes to encourage new alumni to contribute, thereby multiplying the efforts of the faculty to support pharmacy students.

“Teaching and training pharmacy students is a combined effort of faculty in Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and there is a highly collegial relationship among the faculty within the two departments,” said Commissaris. “It is a testament to this strong connection that both came together to support this important effort.”

April 5, 2013

After 10 years, Susan Ann Talley, DPT has stepped down as academic director of the Physical Therapy program in the Department of Health Care Sciences, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Kim Dunleavy, PhD, associate professor-clinical in the program, has been appointed to the position. Both transitions were effective April 29.

 “Under Dr. Talley’s direction, the Physical Therapy program has made significant strides to address expectations of a clinical-training program in a Carnegie Research University,” said Howard J. Normile, associate dean for the health sciences. “Dr. Talley must be commended for her extraordinary service to the program, to the college, to the university, to the profession and to the community.”

A member of the physical therapy faculty for more than 30 years, Talley continues her association with the program as an assistant professor pursuing her research, teaching and service goals.  In addition, she serves as president of the Michigan Physical Therapy Association and an appointed member of the State of Michigan Health Professional Recovery. Talley also is a doctoral candidate in Education Evaluation and Research in the Wayne State University (WSU) College of Education.

Dunleavy has been a member of the Physical Therapy faculty since 1995, initially on a split appointment with the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, and in 2005 as a full-time clinical faculty member. An American Physical Therapy Association Board Certified Specialist, she was promoted to associate professor (clinical) in 2012. Her area of expertise is in orthopedic physical therapy.  Dunleavy also is involved in Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO), a network of health care professionals, organizations, corporations and donors united in a common commitment to improving global health through education.

 “As confirmed in the 2009 Accreditation Report, the Physical Therapy program has excellent faculty, providing an exceptional education environment for its students who are highly value by employers and the physical therapy community,” said Normile. “We are fortunate that Dr. Talley is not leaving the program, but is returning to the faculty ranks.”

Talley stated that she is extremely proud of the many accomplishments made by the faculty and students in the program under her tenure.  During her 10 years as director, the program transitioned from awarding a master of physical therapy to a doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree.  A transitional DPT program was instituted and became the first on-line professional degree program at Wayne State. There was significant growth in the number of faculty and a doubling of student enrollment in Physical Therapy. Talley oversaw the hiring of the first full-time Director of Clinical Education in 2008 and the program now has its first Director of Research. Under her tenure, the program experienced its first promotion of a clinical faculty member from assistant to associate professor. In addition, a student-run pro bono Physical Therapy Clinic has joined the Diabetes Educational Wellness (DEW) multidisciplinary clinic in the S.A.Y. Detroit Clinic, Highland Park. Both clinics provide physical therapy services to the uninsured and underinsured community.

Dunleavy has provided leadership in the area of educational development of physical therapists in developing countries and contributed to projects to assist physical therapy educators and clinicians in Vietnam, Cambodia, Suriname, and South Africa. She was appointed to the Global Task-force for the American Physical Therapy Association and has developed courses preparing clinicians and academicians to provide educational interventions in developing countries for multiple medical disciplines including physical therapists, orthopedic surgeons and dermatologists. Dunleavy serves on the board of a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting with development of medical professionals in global settings - Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO). She is part of the Technical Advisory Group for a United States Agency for International Development grant recently awarded to HVO to assist with the advancement of Rwandan Rehabilitation Services. 

“There is no doubt that Dr. Dunleavy’s PhD in Instructional Technology in Human Performance Technology, her clinical and research experience, and her position in the international physical therapy community will provide a platform for her to contribute significantly to the Physical Therapy program's future development and growth,” said Normile.

Release Date:  May 7, 2013

Media Contact: Kathleen J. Karas
Phone: (313) 577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.edu
 

DETROIT — A Wayne State University researcher has successfully tested a technique that can lead to more effective use of nanoparticles as a drug delivery system.

Joshua Reineke, PhD, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, examined how a biodegradable polymer particle called polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) breaks down in live tissue.

He believes the potential impact of his work is broad, as nanoparticles increasingly have been developed as carriers of drug treatments for numerous diseases and as imaging agents; they also are used in numerous consumer products. The kinetics of nanoparticle biodegradation is an important factor that can control how and where a drug is released, impacting treatment efficacy as well as potential toxicity to nontarget tissues from nanoparticle exposure.

“If nanoparticles given to a patient release a drug before particles can ever get to target tissue, then we get high toxicity and low effect,” Reineke said. “Conversely, if particles are drawn to a tissue but don’t release the drug until long afterward, then we also don’t get the therapeutic effect.”

Much previous research has studied nanoparticle biodegradation in vitro, but Reineke and the study’s lead author, Abdul Khader Mohammad, Ph.D., a recent WSU graduate, believe they are the first to quantify biodegradation rates after systemic administration.

Their study, “Quantitative Detection of PLGA Nanoparticle Degradation in Tissues following Intravenous Administration,” was published recently in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics. It was supported by funds from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Office for the Vice President of Research at Wayne State.

Keeping concentration levels the same, Reineke and Mohammad administered PLGA as particles in sizes of 200 and 500 nanometers (nm) intravenously in mice, an important administration route of nanomedicines for cancer applications, for example, and measured the quantity of the nanoparticles in all tissues and the rates at which it degraded. They then compared those rates to those predicted by in vitro measurements.

Reineke said the 200 nm particles degraded much faster in the body than in vitro, while the 500 nm particles degraded similarly to in vitro analyses. The liver and spleen had the highest concentration of polymers and therefore were easiest to analyze.

Researchers found that 500 nm particles degraded faster in the liver than the spleen, but for the 200 nm size the degradation rate in the liver and the spleen were similar.

“It’s known that larger particles degrade differently, and we verified that,” Reineke said, “but they didn’t quite degrade in vivo the way we would expect. We found that among tissue types there are differences in how they degrade.”

“That tells us that in vitro degradation doesn’t predict in vivo degradation very well, because we see so many differences.”

Reineke said that by in vivo testing of other types of nanoparticles, a mathematical model can be developed to help determine which are most effective and have the lowest toxicity for a given application.

“Optimizing a therapeutic system that utilizes nanoparticles is really about getting that timing correct. In order to do that, we have to know how and when the particles are going to release the drug.”

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Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://www.research.wayne.edu.

Relese Date: May 6, 2013

Media Contact:  Tom Tigani  
Voice:                 (313) 577-1494
E-mail:                tom.tigani@wayne.edu

On May 15, the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences sponsored its annual Donors and Scholars Awards Luncheon. More than 128 students were recognized with a total of $184,585 in scholarships. (Click here for photos of the 2013 Annual Donors and Scholars Awards Luncheon)

“This annual event celebrates the generosity of our alumni and friends, many of whom attended this annual event, and the academic excellence, leadership and service of our students,” said Dean Lloyd Young. 

Receiving scholarships were:

Hanley N. and Young Hee Abramson Scholarship
Insaf Mohammad

American Industrial Hygiene Foundation Scholarship
Eric Bernreuter, Maya Zein

Arab American Pharmacists Association Scholarship
Elisa Bahry, Ali-Rida Baidoun, Kathleen Beydoun, Khalil Chahine, Nada Farhat, Rana Fayad,
Ramzi Kassem, Insaf Mohammad, Lina Qasem, Hussein Sabbagh, Candice Yousif, Samira Zahr

Athletes with Disabilities Hall of Fame Scholarship
Hussain (Sam) Alqattan, Stephen Watts

Sidney Barthwell Scholarship
Marcia Lewis

Katherine M. Beattie CLS Scholarship
Melissa Brewer

Alfred Berkowitz Pharmacy Scholarship
Elisa Bahry, Amanda Brenske, Khalil Chahine, Anna Fiorvento, Rawan Latif,
Danielle O’Mara, Maria Ponomareva, Tram Tran-Huynh

Board of Visitors Annual Scholarship
Megan Williford, Olga Fox ,Matthew Duprey

Clinical Laboratory Sciences Scholarship
Zeinab Abouarabi, Justin Barger

CVS/pharmacy Annual Scholarship
Narcis Baran, Zheng Xu Li, Jeby Mathew, Maria Ponomareva, Lubna Zaree

Nettie & Paul C. Deutch Education Resource Endowment
Jamie Jones, Jessica Khami, Rawan Latif, Sarah Mahoney, Huong Nguyen, Danielle O’Mara

Paul C. and Nettie Deutch Pharmacy Scholarship
Nicole Pearl, Klarita Seitlari

Bernard Thomas Downs Pharmacy Scholarship
Selmir Mahmutovic

Rachael M. Duffy Memorial Endowed Pharmacy Scholarship
Selmir Mahmutovic

Melvin F.W. Dunker Endowed Scholarship in Pharmacy
Sarah Michienzi

Harry and Belle Elkiss Annual Scholarship in Pharmacy
Priyasha Patel

EACPHS Student and Alumni Affairs Outstanding Student Contributor Award
 Amanda Clarkson, Robert Portelli

Faculty of Pharmacy Endowed Scholarship
Matthew Duprey, Allison Hanson, Jessica Traster

Karen L. and Peter D. Frade Endowed Scholarship (Pathologists’ Assistant)
Robert Portelli

George C. Fuller Endowed Pharmacy Scholarship
Mrudang Shah

John Helfman Pharmacy Merit Scholarship
Kathleen Beydoun, Reta Malallah, Sarah Michienzi

Dr. Linda Jaber Annual Scholarship in Pharmacy
Marika Brezden

Barbara Jewett Scholarship in Occupational Therapy
Alanna Giordano, Shoshana Millman

Joseph S. Katz Memorial Endowed Pharmacy Scholarship
Tram Tran-Huynh

Kmart Pharmacy Endowed Scholarship
Deborah Bourquin

Dick Kuchinsky Pharmacy Scholarship
Shawn Bockelman

Meijer’s Pharmacy Scholarship
Danfeng (Daphne) Ni

Michigan Pharmacy Foundation Scholarship Award
Matthew Duprey

Michigan Safety Conference Scholarship
Eric Bernreuter, Maya Zein

Barbara Henderson Miller Scholarship in Occupational Therapy
Lindsay Hultman, Tabetha Kassab, Cara Ruggeri, Lindsay Sloan

Dr. Paul Munzenberger Endowed Scholarship in Pharmacy
Heather O’Connor

NACDS Pharmacy Education Foundation Award
Jeby Mathew

Nelson-MacLellan Endowed Scholarship in Mortuary Science
Jill Askin

Pharmacy Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship
Hussein Mansour

Pharmacy Program Scholarships
Indrit Agalliu, Melissa Arai, Shawn Bockelman, Seema Chackunkal, Sabrina Grandi,
Allison Hanson, Amber Hanson, Rawan Latif,  Jeby Matthew, Clara Nassif,
Melanie Nickerson, Ayesha Noorulla, Raymond Phung, Maressa Santarossa,
Sapna Sutariya, Lubna Zaree

Physical Therapy Program Scholarship
Hussain Alqattan, Joyce Balagot, John Calati, Enas Eraqi, Jonathan Malilay,
Dalia Mhaid, Robert Neda, Amanda Samuels

Robert Rembisz Memorial Scholarship
Kyle Mangan

Joseph and Linda Ringer Endowed Scholarship
Sarah Mahoney

Rite Aid Pharmacy Endowed Scholarship for Pharmacy
Siddikur Rahman

Gordon Wilson Rose Mortuary Science Scholarship
Tye VanBoven

Lara M. Rutan, MS, PA-C Memorial Scholarship
Elizabeth Bailey, Candice Gergis, Laura Kaska, Emily Oshnock

Kaye J. Schlomer Endowed Scholarship for Occupational Therapy
Trudy Bazzy, Angela Blanchard, Kristen Bogden, Farah Choukeir, Jennifer Lenz,
Sumaiyah Mahmood, Courtnie Sinclair, Molly Teagardin, Steven Watts, Megan Williford

Kaye J. Schlomer Endowed Scholarship for Physical Therapy
Jordan Amodeo, Brooke Binder, Robert Blaesser, Nicholas Bresso, Eileen Chiu,
Erin Courtney, Stacy Dewald, Travis Eason, Hannah Fairbanks, Zubair Fayyaz,
Christine Gavel, Kyle Hawley, Carolyn Lee, Selim Mahmutovic, Marie McRandall,
Christopher Orow, Matthew Pierce, Megan Wolf

Dr. Martha E. Schnebly Endowed Scholarship (Occupational Therapy)
Maria Ortman

Nate S. Shapero Endowed Scholarship in Pharmacy
Seema Chackunkal, Heather O’Connor

Geralynn and Alan Smith Scholarship in Pharmacy
Shannon Jacobs

Sarah Stier Memorial Scholarship
Anna Fiorvento

Frank O. Taylor Pharmacy Scholarship
Gyan Modi

David & Dr. Bonnie Thornton Endowed Scholarship in Occupational Therap
Maria Ortman

Arline Ethel Trabman Memorial Endowed Scholarship in Occupational Therapy
Katie Hutchens, Kristine Kempl, Jennifer McCuiston

Walgreens Pharmacy Diversity & Inclusion Excellence Award
Nada Farhat

Walgreens Diversity Scholarship
Rashad Fergerson, Pilar Mackey

Walgreens Pipeline Initiative Development Awards
Cherri Brown, Nada Ali Dakroub, Sai Keertana Mulakala, Laila Shammout,
Kieu-Nhi Thi Tran, Xhilda Xhemali

Dr. Alexander Wallace III and M. Ann Wallace Endowed Scholarship
Jillian Cooper, Simon Kuang

Bill and Linda Watt Endowed Scholarship
Eric Bernreuter, Maya Zein

Dr. Harvey S. Wilks Endowed Scholarship for Pathologists’ Assistant
Amanda Clarkson

Elizabeth Green Wize Scholarship in Pharmacy
Clara Nassif

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society by preparing highly skilled health care practitioners and conducting groundbreaking research to improve models of practice and methods of treatment in pharmacy and the health sciences.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.

June 10, 2013

Media Contact: Kathleen J. Karas
Phone: (313) 577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.edu

Susan Esdaile, PhD, has earned the appointment of Emeritus Professor from Wayne State University (WSU).  Dr. Esdaile served as professor and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy (OT) from 1995 to 2000 and continued as professor until her retirement in 2003 from the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS).

She was awarded the honor in early 2013, prior to her death on May 11. “I know Susan was looking forward with pride to her emeritus appointment,” said Howard J. Normile, associate dean for health sciences. “I’m very pleased she received official notification of her appointment before her untimely passing.”

“Dr. Esdaile achieved impressive levels of excellence in the areas of teaching, scholarship and service,” said Doreen Head, interim chair of the Department of Health Care Sciences and program director for Occupational Therapy. “I am pleased that she was aware of this honor and our appreciation for her exceptional contributions.”

As chair, Dr. Esdaile maintained the department’s accreditation with state and professional organizations and a high past rate (95-98 percent) for graduating OT students taking the national registration exam. “She was responsible for bringing more focus on-evidence based practice and upgrading the senior research class when the transition to the master of occupational therapy degree occurred,” Head said. “She also developed the original collaborative arrangements with the WSU College of Engineering, which has proved productive for both occupational therapy students and faculty to this day.”

During her professional career, Dr. Esdaile had more than 20 peer-reviewed papers published, 12 book chapters and more than 30 conference presentations and papers completed.  “She was a valuable mentor to the OT faculty,” said Head. Dr. Esdaile organized a series of faculty development workshop and made expert mentoring available to foster faculty scholarship development.

Her service to Wayne State was extensive. She served on numerous committees and working parties. These included the Institutes of Gerontology and the Detroit Medical Center. Her contributions to the OT profession included international and national service. Dr. Esdaile also acted as a Convener of the Qualitative Research Exchange for the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, which is a significant scholarship service to the OT Profession.   
  
Following her retirement, Dr. Esdaile returned to her home in Victoria, Australia. In 2006, she was appointed adjunct professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Primary Health Care, Monash University. Dr. Esdaile earned a doctor of philosophy degree in educational and behavioral health sciences from LaTrobe University, Dundoora, Victoria; master’s degree in education from Melbourne College of Advanced Education; bachelor of applied science in occupational therapy from the Victorian Institute of Colleges in Melbourne; and diploma of occupational therapy from Occupational Therapy Training Center in Sydney.

“Susan was a very unique, creative individual who always was thinking of others before herself. She will be greatly missed as a friend and colleague,” said David J.P. Bassett, professor in the WSU School of Medicine.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society by preparing highly skilled health care practitioners and conducting groundbreaking research to improve models of practice and methods of treatment in pharmacy and the health sciences.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.

June 10, 2013

Media Contact: Kathleen J. Karas
Phone: (313) 577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.edu

An alumna of Wayne State University, Karen Apolloni is the new director of the Clinical Laboratory Science program in the Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Certified as a medical laboratory scientist by the American Society for Clinical Pathology, she has taught courses in the department’s Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) and Pathologists’ Assistant (PA) programs since 1994.

“I am appreciative to Karen for her willingness to become program director for clinical laboratory science, particularly at a time when we are preparing for an accreditation review by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS),“ said Peter D. Frade, department chair.“She brings a rich history of dedicated service in academia and in her profession as well as having an association with NAACLS. She is well respected by faculty, students and administration.”

Apolloni succeeds Janet M. Brown, who served as CLS program director for the past 6 years.  Brown will continue as assistant professor in the program. “I thank Janet for her years of service as an administrator of Clinical Laboratory Science,” Frade said. “I am pleased that she has chosen to continue on the faculty. She is an outstanding educator.”  

While working as a hospital laboratory supervisor, Apolloni became a part-time faculty member for the CLS program. She was appointed an assistant professor in 2010. Apolloni has served on the editorial board of the American Society for Clinical Pathology Tech Sample CE Series, and as a reviewer for the journal Laboratory Medicine and for the Colorado Association for Continuing Medical Laboratory Education.

She has served as a laboratory accreditation surveyor for the American Osteopathic Association and is currently a paper reviewer for NAACLS, which is responsible for accrediting university-based and hospital-based educational programs in medical laboratory science, cytotechnology, and pathologists’ assistant programs.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in medical technology from Wayne State University and a Master of Science in administration, concentrating in health care administration from Central Michigan University, Southfield, MI.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society by preparing highly skilled health care practitioners and conducting groundbreaking research to improve models of practice and methods of treatment in pharmacy and the health sciences.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.

July 30, 2013

Media Contact: Kathleen J. Karas
Phone: (313) 577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.edu

On July 1, Malcolm Cutchin, PhD, assumed the position of professor and chair of the Department of Health Care Sciences in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He comes to the College from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a tenured professor in the Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy in the School of Medicine.

In announcing the appointment, Howard J. Normile, associate dean for health sciences, said “Dr. Cutchin brings to the College significant research experience, including success in securing federally funded grants as both principal investigator and co-investigator. He has numerous peer-reviewed publications and a strong record of interdisciplinary research making him a great fit for chair of this multidisciplinary department. His research interests on the health and well-being of older adults should provide excellent collaborative opportunities for faculty.”

For the past two years, Doreen Head, PhD, served as interim chair for the department and director for the occupational therapy program. She continues her responsibilities as assistant professor-clinical and director of occupational therapy. “The department is most appreciative to Dr. Head for her leadership, dedication and support during this period,” Normile said.

On the national stage, Cutchin has a strong record of academic leadership and service at the Society for the Study of Occupation: USA, receiving the organization’s highest honor in 2012 as the invited Ruth Zemke Lecturer. He served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Gerontology for four years. He also has been actively involved in the Association of American Geographers and the Southern Gerontological Society, which honored him with the Gordon Streib Academic Gerontologist Award in 2013.

Cutchin’s academic networks are international in scope. He was a faculty member at the Institute of Public Health at the University of Southern Denmark (2010-11) and continues to collaborate with Danish and Swedish colleagues. He currently serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Centre for Ageing and Supportive Environments at Lund University, Sweden. Normile said, “Dr. Cutchin’s latest book ‘Researching Social Gerontology’ brings together the best scholars in gerontology. It is expected to set a new standard in gerontology education in the U.S. and internationally.”

Dr. Cutchin received a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and master’s degree and doctorate in geography from the University of Kentucky. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. His work generally falls into the category of human-place relationships and well-being. Project foci have included rural physician retentions, assisted living residences, ethnic populations living near petrochemical plants, and preventive home visits for at-risk older adults.

The Department of Health Care Sciences is composed of eight programs: Nurse Anesthesia, Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies, Radiation Therapy Technology, Radiologic Technology, and Radiologist Assistant.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society by preparing highly skilled health care practitioners and conducting groundbreaking research to improve models of practice and methods of treatment in pharmacy and the health sciences.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.

July 31, 2013

Media Contact: Kathleen J. Karas
Phone: (313) 577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.edu

What makes one dancer’s skills exceed another’s? Is it body structure?

How do body changes over time in people with quadriplegia affect body function?

Researchers in human movement at Wayne State University (WSU) are optimistic that a three-dimensional body scanner will provide answers to these and other questions.

Human Solutions, a German-based company and leader in its field, has chosen the University as the site to loan a three-dimensional body scanner and software. It is one of only seven such scanners in U.S. universities. Housed in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the scanner is being used in a collaborative research effort by Gerry Conti, PhD, director of the Human Movement Laboratory at the College, and Robert Erlandson, PhD, a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering in the WSU College of Engineering.

“The development of accurate digital human models requires accurate identification of anthropometric features of an individual,” Dr. Conti said.  An assistant professor in the College’s Occupational Therapy program, she is using the body scanner in her research on people with severe movement limitations. “We need  to obtain a high fidelity digital human model. Therefore, a large number of measurements is needed,” she explained.        

The body scanner uses safe laser imaging to capture data and measurements from 140 points of the body in about 12 seconds. The collected measurements are then imported into a Digital Human Model software program. Imported also are three-dimensional analyses of common movements from a large databank of healthy people.            

These movements may differ in people with spinal cord injury. As an example, Dr. Conti explained, “For someone with quadriplegia, movement analyses may include arm reach and use of simple objects, which may be difficult due to trunk, wrist or hand problems.”

Historically, human anthropometric data has been collected manually.  Manual anthropometric data collection, however, offers the potential for recording errors, and limits the ability to collect more than a few data points due to the time-intensive nature of manual collection.

In addition to their own research, Drs. Conti and Erlandson are making the body scanner available to other communities within and outside the University. They recently made presentations to University and professional athletic teams as well as to the Detroit Medical Center sports medicine.

“There is a tremendous potential for exciting research that may come from using the body scanner to collect data,” said Dr. Conti.To learn more about the body scanner and its potential use in research, please contact Dr. Conti at (313) 993-9932  or email her at ak3113@wayne.edu.   

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society by preparing highly skilled health care practitioners and conducting groundbreaking research to improve models of practice and methods of treatment in pharmacy and the health sciences.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.

August 5, 2013

Media Contact: Kathleen J. Karas
Phone: (313) 577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.edu

DETROIT — A new study reports that the small intestine uses more cells than scientists had realized to absorb microspheres large enough to contain therapeutic protein drugs, such as insulin. The finding in rats, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is potentially good news for developing a means for oral delivery of such drugs.

Detroit — The small intestine employs more cells and mechanisms than scientists previously thought to absorb relatively large particles, such as those that could encapsulate protein-based therapeutics like insulin, according to a new study. The findings, published the week of Aug. 5, 2013 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), open another window for drug makers to increase absorption of medicines taken by mouth.

Scientists at Brown University and Wayne State University worked with rats to quantify the intestinal absorption and distribution around the body of polystyrene spheres ranging between 0.5 and 5 micrometers in diameter. They found that a substantial portion of the absorption occurs via the process of endocytosis in cells called enterocytes. The conventional wisdom had long been that particles of that size would only be absorbed by phagocytosis in “microfold,” or M, cells, which compose less than 1 percent of the absorptive intestinal lining.

“Data from these studies challenge current dogma in the area of oral drug delivery,” wrote the scientists including lead authors Joshua Reineke, a Brown graduate and assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Wayne State University, and Daniel Cho, a student in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

With this new insight — especially if it can be expanded, replicated, and shown in people — drug designers could consider targeting future biodegradable drug-containing microspheres to reach enterocytes in addition to M cells, said corresponding author Edith Mathiowitz, professor of medical science and engineering at Brown.

The new research in PNAS helps explain where and how microspheres are absorbed by the intestine.

Absorb and go seek

The researchers performed several experiments to track micropshere absorption in the rat models. For some rats they administered the spheres by mouth. In other rats they injected them directly into one or the other of the intestine’s main sections: the ileum and the jejunum. Among the rats they also varied the sphere sizes. After waiting an hour or five hours, they tracked down the spheres to see how many were absorbed and what tissues they had reached.

Across the many combinations of size, location, means of administration and time, the intestines took up between 10 and 50 percent of spheres. Although by no means evenly, in each case the bloodstream distributed absorbed spheres to a wide variety of tissues including the brain and lungs, and more commonly, the liver.

Enter the enterocytes

Via microscopes the researchers could see red-fluorescing microspheres passing through enterocytes. Further, more systematic evidence for the role of enterocytes and their absorption via endocytosis came from another experiment where researchers used a variety of agents that block endocytosis.

When they did so, as for instance with 1-micrometer spheres in the ileum, where both M cells and enterocytes can be found, absorption dropped to between 5 and 15 percent of spheres from more than 32 percent in rats where the process was not blocked (an agent that blocked both endocytosis and phagocytosis blocked the most). Absorption dropped even more dramatically in the jejunum, where there are no M cells, falling to a range between 3 and 10 percent, compared to more than 45 percent in rats with normal endocytosis. Enterocytes may therefore play not only an important role, but perhaps a bigger role than M cells.

“We need to know what the intestine is doing and where the particles go,” Mathiowitz said. “This is the first time that we have quantified the process as well as documented biodistribution to specific organs. In order to be able to consider and translate the technology to humans, we also need to verify the reproducibility of the process in different animal species.”

“The most predominant cell in the intestinal tract, enterocytes, are involved in particle uptake,” said Reineke. “If properly exploited, it may lead to new and improved oral therapies.

In addition, advancing these studies might not only improve drug delivery, Mathiowitz noted, but could lead to ways to prevent absorption of harmful substances. It could at least aid toxicology research to know that more intestinal cells than just M cells can take up particles greater than a micrometer in diameter.

Reineke noted that the initial molecular pathway involved in the particle internalization in the body has an impact on the ultimate organ location that the particle distributes to.

“This allows for the potential of tissue targeting based on targeting internalization pathways,” said Reineke. “Combined with other recent research in my lab that focuses on understanding the link between particle properties and organ fate, dynamic in vivo behavior and intracellular drug release kinetics, this work lends potential to improved oral therapies in the future that can be passively targeted to a diseased tissue.”

In addition to Reineke, Cho, and Mathiowitz, other authors on the paper were Yu-Ting Dingle, A. Peter Morello III, Jules Jacob, and Christopher Thanos, all of Brown.

August 5, 2013

Media Contact:
David Orenstein – Brown University, 401-863-1862
Julie O’Connor – Wayne State University, 313-577-8845

# # #

Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research institutions in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://www.research.wayne.edu.

Internationally known expert on integrity and ethics in education, Tricia Bertram Gallant, PhD, will address “Academic Integrity,” Aug. 27 and 28 at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS), Wayne State University.

Bertram Gallant will present to faculty from 2 to 4 p.m., Aug. 27 (Tuesday). EACPHS students will have the choice of attending one of two presentations from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Aug. 27 or Aug. 28 (Wednesday). Sponsored by the Division of Health Sciences, the presentations are in the EACPHS auditorium.

Faculty members from other Wayne State colleges and institutions are welcome to attend the faculty presentation on Aug. 27.

Bertram Gallant is academic integrity coordinator at the University of California San Diego and serves as past chair on the Advisory Council of the International Center for Academic Integrity. She has extensive experience in developing academic integrity procedures and policies, working with stakeholders on creating a culture of integrity, inspiring campus interest in and commitment to addressing integrity and ethics, managing a centralized office for academic misconduct complaints, advising faculty on teaching and classroom management, and teaching students about academic integrity.

As an author and speaker, Bertram Gallant has published articles on academic integrity in the Journal of Higher Education, the Review of Higher Education, the Journal of Library Administration, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, and the Canadian Journal of Higher Education. She is the author of Academic Integrity in the Twenty-First Century: A Teaching and Learning Imperative (Wiley’s Jossey-Bass, 2008), co-author with Stephen Davis and Patrick Drinan of Cheating in School: What We Know and What We Can Do (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), and editor of Creating the Ethical Academy: A Systems Approach to Understanding Misconduct & Empowering Change in Higher Education (Routledge, 2010).

For additional information on the lecture, please contact Heather Sandlin, academic services officer in Health Sciences, at (313) 577-5523 or email her at hsandlin@wayne.edu.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS) at Wayne State University (WSU) is opening its doors to the metropolitan Detroit community for Community Apple Days – a Health, Wellness and Career Fair. The fair will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 30 (Wednesday).

“The event is designed to be a comprehensive, multigenerational and interdisciplinary educational experience,” said Mary K. Clark, PhD, assistant dean of EACPHS Student Affairs. “Our students are organizing an action-packed, fun-filled, fast-paced extravaganza to raise awareness of rewarding careers in the health sciences, while promoting healthy lifestyles through good nutrition, physical fitness, and disease prevention.”

Community Apple Days is an outreach event to increase community awareness and diversity of applicants in the health sciences by showcasing the College, its students, and community partnerships.

At the core of the fair are “hands on” workshops focusing on job responsibilities and skills of the health professionals who earn degrees in one of 12 health sciences careers, which are offered at the College. These programs include physical and occupational therapy, clinical laboratory science, radiologic technology, radiation therapy technology, pathologists’ assistant, mortuary science, physician assistant, nurse anesthesia, forensic investigation, and pharmacy.

Local hospitals, pharmacies, occupational and physical therapy companies and other employers in the health professions will showcase their services and discuss career opportunities in their respective fields. “We are pleased to offer free blood sugar testing, flu vaccinations, HIV testing, and diabetes education provided by our community partners, including CVS, Kroger, the University Pharmacy at Wayne State, and Walgreens,” Clark said. In addition, participants will be able to speak with WSU representatives from admissions, financial aid, advising, veteran’s affairs, disability services and other University support services.

“We welcome the curious, those looking for career alternatives, prospective students and those just wanting to change to a healthier lifestyle. We want to make this health, wellness and career fair an exciting and informative experience,” Clark said.

During the event, the American Red Cross also will conduct a Blood Drive. “The need is so great,” Clark said. “As a pharmacy and health sciences college, we are pleased to serve as a blood donation site during the health fair.”

Community Apple Days is an outgrowth of the College’s Apple Days. Begun in 2008, this career education and early exposure program reaches out to Detroit middle and high school students. Twice a year, the College hosts approximately 90 students and their counselors to learn about EACPHS health career programs through hands-on demonstrations and instructional lectures presented by students and faculty.

Wayne State’s Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is located at 259 Mack Ave at John R. Entrance to the building is on Brady Street at John R and across from the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan (RIM).
 

Researchers in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences have developed national and international collaborations of mutual benefit.  In an international environment, a diversity of opinions and experiences are exchanged, expanding problem-solving techniques, sharing resources, and attaining research grants and a mutually beneficial, higher level of research.
            Fei Chen, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a researcher in lung and liver cancer, has collaborated with scientists in China for a number of years. “Some collaborations are for joint training of graduate students; others are for resource sharing, such as tissue samples that are not readily available in the United States,” Chen said. Since 2009, he has trained three doctoral students from two Chinese universities and co-authored five publications since 2006 with his Chinese collaborators.

            Educational and research institutes in China are very interested in collaborations. “It can help them to receive project funds or center grants from the Chinese government,” Chen explained  He cited his collaboration with Dr. Hongwen Zhao of the China Medical University who won a major grant from the Chinese government two years ago.

            In turn, this collaboration benefits Chen in the ability to obtain human tissue samples at a cost savings. Among his collaborations, he works with Dr. Jian-Guo Chen of the Nantong University and Qidong Liver Center Institute.  The two researchers study protein kinases and the stem cells of human cancer. Through his association, he is able to obtain lung and liver tissue research samples that are not readily available in the United States or expensive to attain here. His ability to obtain these tissue samples provides key support for new NIH grant proposal funding. 

Photo cutlines: Dr. Fei Chen's Laboratory Staff: ( front row, from left) Jiaying Sun rom China Medical University, joint training PhD student 2012-14; Chitra Thukar, post doctoral fellow; Miaomiao Yu from China Medical University, joint training PhD student 2012-2013; Yongju Lu, lab manager; Lingzhi Li, graduate student.. (back row, from left) Ping Qin and Bailing Chen, both post doctoral fellows; Kai Wu, graduate student; Dr. Fei Chen, principal investigator; Qingshan Chang, post doctoral fellow.

DETROIT — A new study reports that the small intestine uses more cells than scientists had realized to absorb microspheres large enough to contain therapeutic protein drugs, such as insulin. The finding in rats, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is potentially good news for developing a means for oral delivery of such drugs.

Detroit — The small intestine employs more cells and mechanisms than scientists previously thought to absorb relatively large particles, such as those that could encapsulate protein-based therapeutics like insulin, according to a new study. The findings, published the week of Aug. 5, 2013 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), open another window for drug makers to increase absorption of medicines taken by mouth.

Scientists at Brown University and Wayne State University worked with rats to quantify the intestinal absorption and distribution around the body of polystyrene spheres ranging between 0.5 and 5 micrometers in diameter. They found that a substantial portion of the absorption occurs via the process of endocytosis in cells called enterocytes. The conventional wisdom had long been that particles of that size would only be absorbed by phagocytosis in “microfold,” or M, cells, which compose less than 1 percent of the absorptive intestinal lining.

“Data from these studies challenge current dogma in the area of oral drug delivery,” wrote the scientists including lead authors Joshua Reineke, a Brown graduate and assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Wayne State University, and Daniel Cho, a student in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

With this new insight — especially if it can be expanded, replicated, and shown in people — drug designers could consider targeting future biodegradable drug-containing microspheres to reach enterocytes in addition to M cells, said corresponding author Edith Mathiowitz, professor of medical science and engineering at Brown.

The new research in PNAS helps explain where and how microspheres are absorbed by the intestine.

Absorb and go seek

The researchers performed several experiments to track micropshere absorption in the rat models. For some rats they administered the spheres by mouth. In other rats they injected them directly into one or the other of the intestine’s main sections: the ileum and the jejunum. Among the rats they also varied the sphere sizes. After waiting an hour or five hours, they tracked down the spheres to see how many were absorbed and what tissues they had reached.

Across the many combinations of size, location, means of administration and time, the intestines took up between 10 and 50 percent of spheres. Although by no means evenly, in each case the bloodstream distributed absorbed spheres to a wide variety of tissues including the brain and lungs, and more commonly, the liver.

Enter the enterocytes

Via microscopes the researchers could see red-fluorescing microspheres passing through enterocytes. Further, more systematic evidence for the role of enterocytes and their absorption via endocytosis came from another experiment where researchers used a variety of agents that block endocytosis.

When they did so, as for instance with 1-micrometer spheres in the ileum, where both M cells and enterocytes can be found, absorption dropped to between 5 and 15 percent of spheres from more than 32 percent in rats where the process was not blocked (an agent that blocked both endocytosis and phagocytosis blocked the most). Absorption dropped even more dramatically in the jejunum, where there are no M cells, falling to a range between 3 and 10 percent, compared to more than 45 percent in rats with normal endocytosis. Enterocytes may therefore play not only an important role, but perhaps a bigger role than M cells.

“We need to know what the intestine is doing and where the particles go,” Mathiowitz said. “This is the first time that we have quantified the process as well as documented biodistribution to specific organs. In order to be able to consider and translate the technology to humans, we also need to verify the reproducibility of the process in different animal species.”

“The most predominant cell in the intestinal tract, enterocytes, are involved in particle uptake,” said Reineke. “If properly exploited, it may lead to new and improved oral therapies.

In addition, advancing these studies might not only improve drug delivery, Mathiowitz noted, but could lead to ways to prevent absorption of harmful substances. It could at least aid toxicology research to know that more intestinal cells than just M cells can take up particles greater than a micrometer in diameter.

Reineke noted that the initial molecular pathway involved in the particle internalization in the body has an impact on the ultimate organ location that the particle distributes to.

“This allows for the potential of tissue targeting based on targeting internalization pathways,” said Reineke. “Combined with other recent research in my lab that focuses on understanding the link between particle properties and organ fate, dynamic in vivo behavior and intracellular drug release kinetics, this work lends potential to improved oral therapies in the future that can be passively targeted to a diseased tissue.”

In addition to Reineke, Cho, and Mathiowitz, other authors on the paper were Yu-Ting Dingle, A. Peter Morello III, Jules Jacob, and Christopher Thanos, all of Brown.

August 5, 2013

Media Contact:
David Orenstein – Brown University, 401-863-1862
Julie O’Connor – Wayne State University, 313-577-8845

# # #

Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research institutions in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://www.research.wayne.edu.