News & Announcements
- In Memoriam: Theresa M. Rush
- Visit USP's College of Graduate Studies at the DIA Meeting in Boston, MA June 22-25
- Mayes College Officially Dedicated
- MBA Students Travel to Japan
- Alumni Give USP Students Career Advice
- Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity, Confrontation, and Compromise
- Using Computers to Unlock the Secrets of Molecules
In Memoriam: Theresa M. Rush
Theresa Rush, a long time employee of USP passed away on Saturday, May 31st. Theresa had worked at USP/PCPS since 1984 - the last eleven years in the College of Graduate Studies. Theresa will be remembered and missed by her many friends and colleagues at USP. Donations in Theresa's memory can be sent to Fox Chase Cancer Center, 333 Cottman Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19111.
Visit USP's College of Graduate Studies at the DIA (Drug Information Association) Annual Meeting in Boston, MA
The 44th Annual DIA meeting is being held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, MA from June 22-25, 2008. USP's College of Graduate Studies is exhibiting. Visit us at booth number 1352 for information on our graduate programs and to meet a representative from the college.
Exhibit Schedule:
Sunday, June 22
4:00 – 6:00 pm
Monday, June 23
10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Tuesday, June 24
9:00 am – 5:30 pm
Wednesday, June 25
9:00 am – 2:30 pm
We look forward to seeing you there!
For more information on DIA visit there home page at: www.dia.org
Mayes College Officially Dedicated
For Kathleen Mayes P’76, PharmD’78, the ribbon cutting and college dedication of the Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy, was the realization of an inspiration.
Dr. Mayes was inspired 12 years ago by the vision of USP President Dr. Philip P. Gerbion to grow PCPS. That inspiration led her to give back to the institution that helped form the foundation of her success. She was further inspired by the vision of creating a college that combined scientific education with making advances in healthcare to a growing population.
And thus, nearly eight months after the USP Board of Trustees gave the green light, the Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy, USP’s newest college, was officially dedicated on May 8, 2008.
“Besides addressing policies of healthcare for our future, our graduates will be the leaders of tomorrow’s companies that produce pharmaceutical and biotech products as well as the healthcare provider and service companies,” Dr. Mayes told the crowd of family, friends, USP faculty and staff, students, and industry leaders who gathered in the new Mayes College office space for the ribbon cutting. “The Mayes College will also produce the leaders of tomorrow’s managers, innovators, entrepreneurs, regulators, and economists, and the academicians as well as the communicators to address tomorrow’s healthcare policy and business needs.”
The Mayes College was given a jump start with existing USP programs and was infused with over 300 students, 25 faculty, and 100 adjuncts. New programs and courses are being explored to grow the college further.
“We are very proud of this talent,” Dr. Gerbino said. “We feel that we are meeting some of the emerging needs of healthcare. We think we have the right leadership to bring us to the future and certainly the right idea for all of the challenges that face us in the future.”
Interim Dean William Ashton has been hands on in the formation of the college from the advisory group to overseeing its continued development and growth as dean.
“How do you describe Mayes? Mayes is designed to paint the big picture of healthcare,” Ashton summarized. “We are going to build graduates who really understand that big picture and can handle it. The days of healthcare…where you knew the doctor, who knew your family members and you got the prescription filled, and they knew everything about your family, they are long gone…Things are changing and so the Mayes (College) was created to try deal with those changes. And we want to be a part of that change, and we want to embrace it and we want to help drive it.”
Event Photo Album
Contact: Brian Kirschner (215-895-1186)
Additional Info: www.usp.edu/mayes
MBA Students Travel to Japan
As many of you know the MBA program is going global. Their 2nd annual trip to Japan will take place this summer from June 29th to July 9th.
While in Japan students will have the opportunity to meet with high level executives of the Japanese pharmaceutical and health care industry.
Companies to be visited include Eizai Headquaters, Wyeth Japan, AZ Japan, and Dai-Ichi R&D Center.
Last year students had the opportunity to meet with students from several universities including the renowned Tokyo University.
All MBA students are encouraged to join them for this trip. It offers each student a chance to understand another culture and how it affects the pharmaceutical/health care field.
We hope that all MBA students can make this trip. If you know any graduate of the program that may be interested in the opportunity please let them know.
This is truly an experience to remember.
To view photographs from last years trip Click Here.
For additional information contact the MBA Program Specialist: Cassandra Henderson
Alumni Give USP Students Career Advice
Thinking about your post-college plans can be overwhelming; even within one program of study, there can be dozens of possible career paths. To help students navigate this sea of choices, three successful USP alumni shared their experiences and offered advice during a career panel on December 6.
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Joseph M. Betz, PhD, P’88, recalled the long and unpredictable journey that led him to his current position at the National Institutes of Health as director of the analytical methods and reference materials program in the office of dietary supplements. “Things never go exactly the way you expect them to,” Dr. Betz professed. “I thought that I’d be out on a ship at sea directing a research program at this point in my career, but it’s completely different.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree in biology from USP in 1976, Dr. Betz went to Long Island University for his Master’s degree in marine and environmental science. While his original interest was in field biology and zoology, he began studying venomous and poisonous sea life throughout his Master’s coursework. When he was ready to pursue his PhD, a mentor at Long Island University suggested he contact USP’s Ara DerMarderosian, PhD.
“My PhD project at USP was to isolate and characterize the compounds in a jellyfish that are responsible for antibiotic activity,” explained Dr. Betz. “I was making preparations to be an academic scientist in a marine drug discovery program.” However, due to an unexpected weather pattern in the Gulf of Mexico, the jellyfish he needed to perform his research were not available for an entire year. As an alternative, he helped Dr. DerMarderosian evaluate ginseng products. When nearing the end of his PhD program, Dr. Betz applied to several marine research centers but ultimately ended up at the FDA.
“It is important to be active in professional societies, even as a student, because the people that you meet often turn out to be career opportunities,” said Dr. Betz. “If I emphasize anything to you, it’s to make and keep your connections.” While at a chemistry conference in Atlantic City, he met some representatives from the FDA and was offered a two-year post-doctoral job shortly thereafter. He remained at the FDA for 10 years until moving on to his next role as a vice president at an herbal products trade association. “The importance of networking, meeting other people, and being active in your professional societies is vitally important. This is where you meet the people who are either looking to hire somebody, or know somebody else looking to hire.”
Susan Pytel, MPT’99, is a senior physical therapist for MARC Children’s Services and a consultant with the Spring Valley YMCA working on their developing special needs program. She specializes in physical therapy for babies ages birth through three. One of her current projects involves designing a playground for the YMCA specifically made for children with physical disabilities and challenges.
“Right when I had decided I wanted to do physical therapy, a notorious TIME magazine article came out hailing physical therapy as the ‘job of the future,’” Pytel recalled. “There were only five schools in the nation with a MPT program like USP’s, but by the time I graduated five years later, the market was flooded with physical therapists.” With an influx of recent PT graduates in the job market, Pytel and her classmates could not be as choosey about their first job. This lack of options led her to take a position that she probably would have never taken if she had her choice. Although it was disappointing at first, she admits that things actually worked out better because she was forced to try something different.
For the past seven years, Pytel has been working in early intervention visiting disabled children at their homes. “I get to be a part of the children’s lives more than I would be able to in a hospital setting,” she said. “I’m a part of their family and I like that close relationship I develop with the parents and child.”
The event’s third guest, Jean Surian, P’84, PhD’90, is the associate principal scientist and global drug delivery manager at AstraZeneca. She is responsible for accessing external drug delivery technologies for AstraZeneca research as well as the development and commercial applications for all types of pharmaceutical dosage forms. Her background in pharmacy helps her develop products from the perspective of the patient. “I’ve always had the patient focus,” said Dr. Surian. “One of the things I always ask when developing a new product is, ‘What’s that going to taste like?”
At the close of the seminar, the panelists offered advice on internships and stressed the importance of gaining work experience while in school. “Choose your internship very wisely,” advised Pytel. “It’s going to be your best opportunity to be a sponge and just soak everything up.”
“All the majors here at USP give you such a fundamental background and solid foundations that once you graduate you can go into practically any science-based field,” Dr. Betz told the students. “Let your horizons be as wide as you can imagine because you’ve got the background and the know-how.”
Dr. Surian said she enjoys coming back to USP to see the changing campus and speak with the students. “USP has such a family-oriented philosophy, and it still is that way even as it grows. It still comes down to the people at the school and it feels like a family. It feels like you’re coming home when you’re an alumnus coming back to the school.”
Contact: Tom Kupfer (267-295-3167)
Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity, Confrontation, and Compromise
Breakthrough publication by The College of Graduate Studies Health Policy Director
Robert I. Field, JD, MPH, PhD, Oxford University Press, 2007
Regulation shapes all aspects of America's fragmented health care industry, from the flow of dollars to the communication between physicians and patients. It is the engine that translates public policy into action. While the health and lives of patients, as well as almost one-sixth of the national economy depend on its effectiveness, health care regulation in America is bewilderingly complex. Government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels direct portions of the industry, but hundreds of private organizations do so as well. Some of these overseers compete with one another, some conflict, and others collaborate. Their interaction is as important to the provision of health care as are the laws and rules they implement.
Health Care Regulation in America is a guide to this regulatory maze. It succinctly recaps the past and present conflicts that have guided the oversight of each industry segment over the past hundred years and explains the structure of regulation today. To make the system comprehensible, this book also presents the sweep of regulatory policy in the context of the interests, values, goals, and issues that guide it. Chapters cover the process of regulation and each key area of regulatory focus - professionals, institutions, financing arrangements, drugs and devices, public health, business relationships, and research.
Learn more about Health Care Regulation in America on the publisher's website.
Using Computers to Unlock the Secrets of Molecules
The West Center for Computational Chemistry and Drug Design
Article by Shawn J. Farrell
Chemistry Lab. For many, the words conjure up a bevy of images and memories: the hiss of a Bunsen burner, scratched safety goggles, and a lab filled with white coats and unique aromas-where knowing how to properly dispose of toxic waste is as important as knowing the Periodic Table.
It is this atmosphere that drove a young chemistry undergraduate into the University's hub of theory, the West Center for Computational Chemistry and Drug Design. "It was the thought of having to wear safety glasses that drove me to Preston Moore's office," says Raeanne Napolen (C'05). "And," she adds upon consideration, "a love for theoretical research and tackling big problems."
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