College of Pharmacy News

Get to know some of Texas Pharmacy's P1s. After two months of adjusting to that new Pharm.D. student life, we caught up with Precious, Rebecca, Edwin, Tammy, Shellie, Jesse, Valentina and Roopa to see how first year is going, what makes them excited about Texas Pharmacy and becoming a future Longhorn pharmacist and how they decompress after a long day of classes and studying.

A team of UT Austin student pharmacists took the top prize for the Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition during this year’s annual NCPA convention.

Postdoctoral researcher in the Gore Lab Dr. Emily Hilz is a Phase 2 winner of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services competition to reduce Black women’s risk of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Hilz’s winning program created Endoscreen, a mobile phone application to increase awareness of and reduce exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in personal care products.

The Texas Pharmacy Alumni Association has selected Drs. Robert L. Talbert, Chibuokem Amuneke-Nze, Cynthia A. Gutierrez and Ms. W. Renee’ Acosta as the 2024 Alumni Award recipients. This year's winners will be honored on November 23, 2024 at the Texas Pharmacy Homecoming Tailgate, generously sponsored by H-E-B.

Professor of Health Outcomes Dr. Leticia Moczygemba talked to the Daily Texan about her research with the Interactive Care Coordination and Navigation study, providing unhoused people with cell phones and case managers. The iCAN team pre-loads the phones with useful apps and a contact list for emergencies.

Last month, the UT Austin Student National Pharmaceutical Association (UT-SNPhA) chapter cleaned up at the 2024 SNPhA Convention in Los Angeles, California, bringing home numerous awards including the coveted Prescription for Service Award, which carries a $10,000 prize.

The Alcalde's Jade Fabello writes about the Division of Health Outcomes' Dr. Leticia Moczygemba, whose Interactive Care Coordination and Navigation (iCAN) program provides smartphones to unhoused populations to investigate how technology allows people experiencing homelessness to manage their health and social needs.

The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy’s Division of Pharmacotherapy in San Antonio is undergoing a significant transformation. Effective September 1, 2024, the group will become the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Sciences (PTSCI) to better reflect its tremendous growth, expansion and strategic collaborations over the past decade. The PTSCI Division will pursue its mission to educate and train the future leaders of pharmacotherapy and translational science, engage in innovative research and provide exemplary patient care.

Division Head and Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology and Doluisio Regents Professor Karen Vasquez, Ph.D. recently published an article in Nature Communications. The study, titled “Obesity increases genomic instability at DNA repeat-mediated endogenous mutation hotspots,” represents the first demonstration that obesity increases genetic instability at alternative DNA structures (in this case H-DNA), which are hotspots for mutations in human cancers.

The Daily Texan recently spoke with UTCOP's Dean Samuel Poloyac and members of the pharmacy community about the development of Texas PharmCare, a collaborative program which will help combat barriers and allow pharmacists to easily access medical information necessary to assist patients with obtaining needed medication treatment.