INSIDE > History of CWE pharmacies | Student exchange to Egypt | Blogging from Singapore | On the job: Rx Outreach

Running on Empty Patients can’t wait for the drug shortage to end.

ST. LOUIS COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

SCRIPTV O L U M E 2 2 , N U M B E R 1

Editor Sheila Haar Siegel

Designers Adrienne Hooker Colleen Krutewicz

Contributing Writers Stacy Austerman

Bryan Daniels Maureen Harmon

Vicki Hodder Katie Kelly

Connie Mitchell

Proofreader Nancy Busch

Class Notes Kristine Bryant

President, Alumni Association Janene Verrant ’98/’99

Chairman, Board of Trustees Nancy Konieczny ’77

President John A. Pieper, Pharm.D.

Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Marc Long

Vice President, Advancement Brett T. Schott

Director, Alumni Relations Necole Powell

Director, Institutional Giving Jason Huff

Script magazine is a joint effort of the College and the Alumni

Association, published three times a year for alumni, students, and friends

of the College. Questions or comments may be addressed to Sheila Haar

Siegel at shaar@stlcop.edu.

ADDRESS CHANGES OR TO UNSUBSCRIBE

Office of Advancement, 314.446.8394 or alumni@stlcop.edu

ST. LOUIS COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

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W W W . S T L C O P. E D U / S C R I P T

Winter 2012F E A T U R E S

Egypt ExchangeAmong many other things, fifth-year student Shannon James learned that Egyptian students’ careers are determined by a standardized aptitude test during a pharmaceutical exchange program to Cairo. (Pharmacists are the third tier in Egypt’s educational and career pyramid).

Connie Mitchell

Running on EmptyThe drug shortage crisis is one of the most pressing problems confronting health care today. Shortages of certain drugs, such as chemotherapy treat-ments and antibiotics, are forcing providers to use second-best or costly alternatives—or postpone care. And some patients simply can’t wait.

Maureen Harmon

Around the CWENot long ago, the Central West End was home to dozens of pharmacies, which were a community within the community. Each pharmacy had its own niche, yet worked in tandem with the others. Here’s a glimpse into the history of community pharmacy in STLCOP’s neighborhood.

Vicki Hodder

On the Job: Rx OutreachTiffany Redman ’06 and Brian Newton ’90 practice at Rx Outreach, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable prescriptions for low income and uninsured patients. Every day, they—along with six other alumni—are on a mission to help those who have nowhere else to turn.

Bryan Daniels

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D E P A R T M E N T S

2 News Briefs

6 On Campus: Momix in Motion

26 Alumni News

30 Class Notes

PHOTOGRAPHS BY FIRST-YEAR STUDENT ERIC PAN

Going Bald for Kids with CancerSTLCOP students and faculty help to raise money for childhood cancer research.

n Nov. 4, students, faculty, and staff of St. Louis College of Phar-

macy came together to raise funds for kids battling cancer by hosting a head-shaving event on campus. The fundraiser benefit-ted the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven charity that funds grants for childhood cancer research.

At 3 p.m., supporters gathered on the Quad to watch 38 “sha-vees” lose their locks for charity. Among the participants was Dr. Margaret Weck, director of basic and pharmaceutical sciences. Weck was one of three faculty members, along with Pat Rafferty, associate professor of pharmacy practice, and Tom Zlatic, professor of English, who participated in a faculty head-shaving competition. Whoever raised the most money had the honor of getting their head shaved; Weck received the honor.

“My mom had multiple my-eloma,” Weck shared. “She went through chemo and kept her head hidden. I have been personally affected and have empathy for the people who do not have a choice as to how long their hair is; this seemed like a small thing to do.”

Weck, who is part of the Knit ’n Nosh group at STLCOP that knits hats for chemotherapy patients, added, “I haven’t done anything very wild in a long time, and no one could give me a compelling reason not to do it. The experience has been liberating.”

The event was spearheaded by Kappa Psi fraternity and raised more than $5,300 for the St. Bal-drick’s Foundation.

Margaret Weck (right), whose mother had multiple myeloma, was the “winner” of the head-shaving contest.

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News BriefsNews Briefs

STLCOP 20/20The College community has committed to a strategic plan, STLCOP 20/20, which builds on our historic strengths to become globally prominent in pharmacy and health care

education, interprofes-sional patient-centered care, and collaborative

research. The Board of Trustees unanimously approved the plan in June 2011, and the College is moving forward with studies to determine the feasibility of growing our academic pro-grams and offering joint degree programs. Results of the studies are expected in 2012.

Can you understand me now?STLCOP has received a $199,382

grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health to strengthen the health literacy component of the College curriculum. The goal of the two-year grant award is

to enhance pharmacist-patient interac-tion and improve communication with patients.

Tricia Berry, professor of pharmacy practice and director of experiential

programs, says the grant exemplifies how pharmacy is changing and expand-ing through increased responsibilities for patient care.

“In addition to prescribing the right medicine, the right dosage, and provid-ing information and instructions, this is about pharmacists partnering with pa-tients to ensure that they know how to use their medications properly, monitor them at home, and communicate with other health care providers,” Berry says. “For a patient to properly utilize the rec-ommended treatments, health literacy is critical. Better understanding will help patients to navigate the health care system, follow through on treatments, and make healthy lifestyle decisions and changes that improve outcomes.”

The grant will be used to help students in years three through six through hands-on practice in lab set-tings, with real patients, and through community outreach activities in con-junction with Health Literacy Missouri.

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College Accreditation

The College welcomed the site visit team

of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC)

of the North Central Association of Colleges

and Schools for its comprehensive evalua-

tion visit October 24-26. The four-member

HLC team met with faculty, staff, students,

alumni, community, and Board of Trustees

members and reviewed self-study findings

the College had prepared for the visit.

The team provided feedback regarding

STLCOP’s accomplishments in the HLC’s

five criteria for institutional accreditation:

mission and integrity; preparing for the

future; student learning and effective

teaching; acquisition, discovery, and

application of knowledge; and engage-

ment and service. STLCOP initiated a

highly successful campus campaign, called

Strive for 5, to help educate students,

faculty, and staff on HLC’s criteria.

Dr. Kim Kilgore, dean of arts and

sciences, who led the two-year preparation

of the College’s self-study, says “Although it

is not official until the commission reviews

and accepts the team report, we have been

recommended to be reaccredited for the

maximum length of time (10 years) with

no follow-up letters or focused visits in the

interim. This is the best possible outcome

an institution can expect during an accredi-

tation visit, so we are all very pleased.”

St. Louis College of Pharmacy has been

accredited by the commission since 1967.

The Strive for 5 committeeBack row from left to right: Alicia Wojciuch, Residence Hall administrative assistant; Dan Bauer, director, human resources; Kim Kilgore, dean of arts and sciences and vice president, student affairs. Front row: Erin Boswell, student life coordinator; Anne Brackett, Residence Hall coordinator; Sheila Haar Siegel, director of publications; Tyler Edwards, third-year student.

The phosphorescent glaze from the muted television diffused with reflections from the fireplace flames, creating shadows that flickered across the beamed ceiling. Stillness replaced the suf-focating silence. I thought of my dream. Sarah had pulled me back from the ledge.

A harsh ring broke our serenity. It was Katie. Her flight had been diverted to Nashville.

Sarah trembled as I told her about Katie. She said, “There’s so much I wanted her to see.”

I looked across the valley. “Yes, she would have loved the aspen.”

Sarah clasped my hand. “Let’s

get some air.”We walked to the trail where

I’d seen people hiking earlier and stopped in a grove of aspen trees. A sharp breeze blew across the valley, sending a flurry of leaves fluttering to the ground. Torrents of gold swirled at our feet.

Clasping hands, we started up the trail, meeting other couples along the way with looks of dread and needfulness cast on their faces, exchanging glances with us as they passed that echoed a shared sense of knowing, a reordering of priorities.

A wall of clouds moved from the face of Longs Peak.

FROM The Parallax (Abbott Press, a division of Writer’s Digest) by Donald Rickert Ph.D. ’71, professor of pharmacy administration.

“The Parallax is a book about seeing things differently,” Rickert explains. “We’ve all been there—times when tumultuous events collide with our lives, sending us down a rabbit hole of anger, fear, confusion, and despair.”

In The Parallax, Rickert uses a fictional story of forgiveness to immerse readers in the process of therapeutic writing. “Over the past two decades, an increasing number of health care professionals have recognized the beneficial effects that writing about traumatic or stressful events have on physical and emotional health,” he explains.

Rickert plans to use the book in his STLCOP courses. He says pharmacists, in particular, may be able to help patients in their care through expressive writing. “If phar-macists understand patients’ and their own emotions, they will be better caregivers.”

WEB EXTRAFor more information about STLCOP’s new strategic plan, go to stlcop.edu/stlcop2020.

STLCOP in Top 50For the second consecutive year, St.

Louis College of Pharmacy has been selected as a recipient of the Annual Greater St. Louis Top 50 Award by the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA) and St. Louis Commerce Magazine. STLCOP was selected in recognition of its significant contributions to the St. Louis region and its positive impact on the future of the local business community.

The St. Louis Medication Disposal Initiative, STLCOP’s drug take-back partnership with the city of St. Louis and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), was the primary reason for this year’s RCGA recognition. The initiative—held in April 2011—encouraged people to clean out their medicine cabinets and properly dispose of expired and unused medications. The effort resulted in the collection of approximately 650 pounds

of expired and unused prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, and unknown capsules in the city of St. Louis. STLCOP alumni, faculty, and students volunteered at designated senior centers in the city to answer questions about medication safety and disposal. The DEA attributed the success of take-back efforts to STLCOP’s awareness and promotional efforts, which included radio and newspaper advertising, and television and radio interviews by STLCOP faculty.

Presented each year since 1996, the award recognizes businesses, entrepreneurs, and organizations from all industries throughout the region. STLCOP was recognized during the 2011 Gala Awards Dinner at the Chase Park Plaza on Monday, Nov. 14 and was featured in the November/December issue of St. Louis Commerce Magazine.

Faculty Experts

STLCOP faculty members are emerging as sought-after pharmacy experts and several have been featured in local and national news during the past several months.

Terry Seaton, professor of pharmacy practice, was quoted in a front-page story by the St.

Louis Post-Dispatch on Oct. 27, 2011, about the nation’s drug shortage (read what

Seaton has to say about it in “Running on Empty” on page 16). The Post-Dispatch story was picked up by national wire services and re-published by 30 newspapers and Web sites, including the Boston Herald,

Charlotte Observer, and

Seattle Times. Seaton was also contacted by KCBS in San Francisco for a radio interview about the subject.

Alicia Forinash ’00/’01, associate professor of

pharmacy practice, appeared on KTVI’s Fox 2 News in the

Morning on Dec. 12, 2011, to talk about new birth control medications that are being monitored for side effects of blood clots by the Food and Drug Administration. Ken Schafermeyer ’76, professor of pharmacy administration, appeared on Fox 2 to discuss e-prescribing on Dec. 21. Watch both of their interviews at www.stlcop.edu/news.

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News BriefsNews Briefs

On Active Duty Admissions representative Tom Goehring goes on assignment overseas.

For the past two years, Tom Goehring’s job as admissions representative for STLCOP has taken him across Northern Illinois and the northern and eastern parts of the United States visiting with potential students. Since July 2011, though, his travels for STLCOP have been put on hold for an assignment overseas with the Missouri National Guard.

Currently stationed at Camp As Sayliyah, near the capital city of Doha in Qatar, Goehring is a lieutenant serving in a military police company. His platoon is tasked with perimeter defense, manning watchtowers and heavy machine gun positions while providing 24-hour security for the camp. As platoon leader, Goehring is

responsible for 41 soldiers. “My job is to provide for their health and welfare,” he says, “as well as to give them the guidance, training, and all the necessary equipment to complete the current and any future missions.”

Goehring, who has been in the military for eight years, believes his service has played a significant role in becoming an admissions representative. “After graduating from Virginia Military Institute, my first job in the Army was at Washington University in St. Louis as a recruiter for their Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) department,” he explains. “I liked the job so much that I decided to try and stay in that field when I came off full-time military orders.”

Although he is stationed in Qatar for more than a year, STLCOP supports Goehring’s military obliga-tions. “It’s an honor and a privilege to work with someone who is willing to sacrifice himself so the rest of us can live in peace,” says Penny Bryant, registrar and director of admissions. “Because of his willing-ness to do for us, we have each taken a piece of his recruiting responsibilities this year. We have stepped up to the plate and have done so without hesitation, so when Tom returns he

will be able to slide back in with ease. Our sacrifice is minute compared to what he is undertaking on a day-to-day basis.”

Tentatively scheduled to return to the U.S. in August 2012, Goehring is looking forward to “spending every second with my fiancé,” seeing all of his family and friends, buying seasons tickets for the 2012-13 St. Louis Blues hockey season, and catching a Jimmy Buffet concert.

STLCOP is grateful for his service and wishes him a safe return home.

New Residency in Community Pharmacy

STLCOP has been awarded a $50,000 educational grant from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation through its Community Pharmacy Residency Expansion Project (PREP). The College will use the grant money to develop a new community pharmacy residency in Sikeston, Mo., in partnership with Health Priorities, Inc., Medical Arts Pharmacy, and L&S Pharmacy.

“When evaluating a site for a residency, it is important to identify locations where pharmacists are already engaged in patient care activities,” says Dr. Jack Burke, director of pharmacy practice at STLCOP. “So we are working with interested individuals to assess whether or not the practice site is ready for a resident or if additional site or preceptor development is needed before placing a resident.”

Burke will guide the creation of the new residency in partnership with Dr. Nicole Gattas, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at

STLCOP, who will serve as the residency program director, and Dr. Sandra Bollinger, Pharm.D., owner of Health Priorities, Inc., who will serve as the residency site coordinator.

“The College’s strategic plan, STLCOP 20/20, calls for expansion of post-graduate year 1 (PGY1) and post-graduate year 2 (PGY2) residen-cies,” says Burke. “We are currently identifying individuals in a variety

of settings who might be interested in partnering for new programs. We hope to contribute to the growth of residency programs that is needed to meet the needs of pharmacy graduates and the profession.”

The NACDS PREP project awards grants to 30 non-profit academic institutions for community pharmacy residency expansion.

Worth a Click!Follow student Ruth Chan during her sixth-year rotations in Singapore and the states.

Throughout the month of January, she shared her thoughts and experiences about living and practicing abroad as a student pharmacist.

Ruth is no stranger to Southeast Asia. Her mother is of Singaporean descent and still has family living there, which is why she sought out a rotation 9,000 miles away from her hometown of Dallas, Texas.

“My rotation in Singapore was definitely a challenge, but I was excited to see what pharmacy is like outside

of the U.S.” says Ruth.Ruth’s practice site was the

National Cancer Centre of Singapore, under the guidance of Alexandre Chan, Pharm.D., a graduate of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Ruth was familiar with the cancer centre and interested in the areas of hematology and oncology. After a quick chat online with Dr. Chan, Ruth was well on her

way to exploring the field in the specialized setting she desired.

“The National Cancer Centre is Singapore’s leading center for cancer research and treatment, and practicing there as a student pharmacist was the perfect oppor-tunity to determine if oncology is something I would like to pursue as a specialty,” Ruth says.

After her five-week rotation in Singapore, Ruth returned to the states to complete the remaining two of her eight required sixth-year rotations.

Read an excerpt from Ruth Chan’s blog.

The Compounding Chronicles continue! The other day we got a prescription for a Viagra oral suspension… for a 2-year-

old. A 2-year-old baby girl. And as I sat there scratching my scalp, it dawned on me: Viagra (aka sildenafil) is a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor, which causes blood vessels to dilate. And yes, while vasodila-tion can trigger Viagra’s most famous effect, vasodilation can also relieve pulmonary arterial hypertension (high blood pressure in the lungs).

What? Huh? I know, I know, it’s a bit confusing. But lucky (or unlucky?) for you dear reader, I spent four years as an anatomy TA, so the teacher side of me is about to come out. Buckle up, kids. Time to review what Mrs. Tranel taught ya. Ready? Set? Here we go:

Think of blood in vessels like water in a hose, and blood

pressure is the pressure that the water is exerting on the inside of the hose. Now, we know that the pressure that the water exerts on the hose is affected by two things: 1) the amount of water and 2) the diameter/size of the hose. The more water there is, the higher the pressure, and the smaller the diameter of he hose, the higher the pressure. For this particular patient case, it’s the size of the blood vessels that matters, so that’s what we’ll focus on. In our body, vessels can dilate or constrict (aka increase diameter or decrease diameter). Obviously dilation of a vessel (vasodilation) will decrease blood pressure and constriction of a vessel (vaso-constriction) will increase blood pressure. But sometimes you

have a situation where vessels are continuously constricted and have problems dilating, or plaque decreases the diameter of the vessel. Both of these situations can cause sustained high blood pressure, and chronic high blood pressure is what we fancy schmancy medical people call “hypertension.”

Phew. Deep breath. Did you get all that? Sildenafil causes vasodilation. Vasodilation relieves hypertension. Therefore sildenafil relieves hyperten-sion (specifically, pulmonary arterial hypertension).

And unfortunately for this poor baby girl, pulmonary hypertension is what she had, so we got started on her Viagra suspension.

WEB EXTRAFollow Ruth’s journey at stlcop.edu/students.

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On Campus

Momix in Motion

A face shyly peeks out from the center of a billowing, orange chrysanthemum. Keeping pace with nature, the flower slowly comes alive with ethereal human limbs poking out in every direction, as if coaxed by the sun. With elaborate costumes and illusions—like a mum, which dancers continue to push down to their toes into a flamenco-like gown—the Momix dancers convey the wonderful and strange unfolding of the seasons with acrobatic feats. “With Botanica, Momix turns dance into inspired theatre, rendering the exuberance of nature with the eloquent movement of the human body,” says Dr. Brian Walter, assistant professor of English and director of convocations, who brought the Momix Botanica performance to STLCOP in September as a liberal arts convocation for students, faculty, and staff.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK GILLILAND

On CampusOn Campus

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Student Profile

Shannon James watched news coverage of the Arab Spring with rapt attention. Then in her fourth year at STLCOP, James had just applied to participate in a student exchange program through the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF). And the nation she requested: Egypt.

“I applied for Egypt two days before the revolution took place,” James says. “And I found out I was accepted about two days after the revolution happened” in late January 2011.

James anxiously watched the revolution unfold in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, only blocks from the hostel where IPSF students would be housed. After her acceptance notification confirmed that James would be one of those students, she says, “I called my parents, and they both said, ‘You’re not going! There’s no way we’re going to let you!’”

Concerned with the political unrest in Cairo, James did look into her options regarding a change of venue. She also turned to STLCOP Assistant Professor Noha Salama, a native of Egypt whose family still lives in the country. Salama shared information she was receiving from her family about daily life and safety after the uprising.

Finally in late April, armed with information from the IPSF and Salama, James felt confident enough in the nation’s stability to book her ticket for the month-long exchange that was to begin on July 1. Her still-nervous parents, who reside in Cape Girardeau, Mo., arranged to join her for a two-week vacation at the end of James’ exchange period.

Prior to the unexpected events in Egypt, James had considered various countries for her exchange application. Egypt won out over Romania and the Netherlands, her other top choices, because it provides a well-organized program with opportunities to work in both community

and hospital pharmacies. Housing would be provided and English would be spoken, making her experience easier.

The IPSF student exchange program serves more than 600 students each year in travel between more than 60 national organizations. Any member of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists can apply for the unpaid work exchanges, with preference given to those who have completed their first year of study.

An avid traveler, James loves the idea of experiencing local life and immersing herself in another nation’s culture. About 6,000 miles from St. Louis and with a population of 10.9 million people, Cairo is easily the largest city James has ever visited. Bustling and crowded, most people have no type of medical insurance coverage and pharmacists are a crucial part of the health care system.

James stepped off the plane in Cairo onto a hot tarmac after

theEGYPT

EXCHANGE

STORY BY CONNIE MITCHELL | PHOTOS PROVIDED BY SHANNON JAMES

Egypt is steeped in history, from one of the seven wonders of the world to mosques and major religious sites. Fifth-year student Shannon James immersed herself in the culture of the country, visiting ancient ruins and centuries-old bazaars and learning the modern practice of pharmacy in the city of Cairo during a four-week student exchange program through the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Exchange. During the pharmacy portion of the exchange, James shadowed a pharmacist working at El-Ezaby, the nation’s largest chain pharmacy (middle).James also visited the ancient pyramids at Giza (top) and traversed the countryside outside Cairo (bottom).

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a 13-hour flight (not counting layovers), exhausted, nervous, excited, and overwhelmed. “I wasn’t sure all my visas and other papers were in the proper order, and even though the signs were in both English and Arabic, some people didn’t speak English,” she recalls. James quickly found the host student who was her escort to her lodgings at the Invitation Hotel, a dormitory-like arrangement in the heart of the city. Together, they shared a “traumatizing taxi ride” through downtown Cairo. Despite the overwhelming unfamiliarity and jet lag, James was excited to be starting a new adventure.

James shared a room with students from America and Serbia, and they joined seven other student pharmacists from

Hungary, Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Poland for two weeks of pharmacy experience followed by two weeks of cultural immersion and travel.

“The Egyptian people were very friendly and welcoming,” James says, noting that despite the political strife she never felt afraid in the city. A tent city remained in Tahrir Square and locals were eager to discuss politics.

Being in an almost wholly Muslim nation just prior to Ramadan, James was able to visit a local mosque and a performance of “El Tanoura,” a spinning dance in which performers are said to enter a trance-like state as they seek to become closer to Allah. A trip to the Khan El-Khalili, a market built in 1382 that remains

one of Cairo’s most important shopping areas, amused James with the “all-around craziness” and vendors asking, “Hello, how can I take your money today?”

As she entered the pharmacy portion of her trip, James learned that Egyptian students’ careers are determined via a standardized aptitude test. Those who score highest are routed to an engineering degree. The next highest-achieving group become physicians, and pharmacists are the third tier in Egypt’s educational and career pyramid. Tuition for a five-year pharmacy education in Egypt is completely covered by the government, and most public universities offer a pharmacy program.

For a week, James shadowed a pharmacist working at El-Ezaby, the nation’s largest chain

pharmacy. Established in 1975, the chain has 57 pharmacies and employs about 2,500 people. “The pharmacist plays a big role in diagnosing patients and helping them select therapies,” she says. All medications are pre-packaged, so there is no need for pharmacists to be involved in dispensing. In fact, Egyptian pharmacists were surprised when James explained that American pharmacists and technicians often count out prescription doses. “They were afraid that would ruin the stability of the drug,” she says.

James also noticed that it was quite common for customers to talk with the pharmacist about their health concerns, particularly if they didn’t have the funds needed to pay for an appointment with a physician. “Most

Clockwise from left: James compounded IVs with other students at 57357 Children’s Hospital. The ultra-modern 57357 Children’s Hospital provides care for children with cancer. Dressed for prayer in the courtyard of the Mosque of Mohammed Ali. Bottom: The Mosque of Mohammed Ali rises above Cairo as part of the Citadel.

James and other IPSF exchange program students visited the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari (top)—a mortuary temple dedicated to the longest ruling female of ancient Egypt, Queen Hatshepsut. The group found a quiet mosque (above) to escape the hustle and bustle of modern life in Cairo. During her exchange, James learned about the universal nature of pharmaceu-ticals in El -Ezaby pharmacy (left).

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medications are available without a prescription (with the exception being controlled substances), and all medications—even Tylenol and herbal remedies —are kept behind the counter. There are only cosmetic products available on the shelves. So even if you know that you don’t need a prescription, you still have to come talk to the pharmacist.”

In a nation where health insurance is available yet most people do not purchase private insurance plans, James recalls that Egyptian colleagues “had no idea what we were talking about when we asked how they process insurance claims.”

Following her week behind the counter at El-Ezaby, James spent a week at the 57357 Children’s Cancer Hospital, a 180-bed facility with a mission that reads, in part, “We cure kids with cancer for free regardless

of race, creed, or ability to pay with justice in quality.” The hospital’s numerical name comes from the bank account numbers to which donors can contribute, lending itself to a planned 300-bed expansion and housing units for patients’ families.

James notes that the hospital is “second in the world only to St. Jude’s for treating children with cancer, and no patient ever pays for services or medications.” Built in Cairo’s poor meat-packing district, the facility is near numerous butcher shops, which emit a rancid odor and sometimes leak animal blood into the streets.

Despite the hospital’s less than idyllic surroundings, James likes to tell a particularly revealing statistic: “The survival rate for all childhood cancer cases at the 57357 hospital is about 80 percent, while the survival rate for childhood cancers

listed by the Egyptian National Cancer Institute is about half of that.”

Within the hospital, students observed pharmacy lab practices and found that pharmacists are responsible for all data entry, sterile compounding, and monitoring patients’ drug therapies and dose adjustments. They regularly round with the medical team, and each pharmacist works directly with about 10 patients at a time. Duties include counseling inpatients, outpatients and families on drug therapy courses, administration, and anticipated side effects. “These are not simple drug regimens either,” James says. “A lot of these kids have very complex cases that require precise drug therapy combinations, so the counseling aspect is key. And there are no automated dispensing systems—the pharmacists do it all by hand.”

Any stable medication not used is sent back from the floor to be restocked for subsequent use in order to avoid waste. Another tactic to make the most of all available stock requires each pharmacist

to compound all the preparations containing a specific drug for the entire hospital’s use over two to three days.

Overall, James says her experience was eye-opening and enjoyable. “It rekindled my passion for pharmacy and allowed me to go to a part of the world that I never thought I would see,” she says. She is encouraging fellow students to apply for the program and would like to see STLCOP become a host site. “I’m developing a proposal for that. It would be a fun way to increase international awareness here at home and send our students out as ambassadors for the U.S. and STLCOP.

“Experience is the best teacher,” James says. “If I had let the fact that the revolution was going on scare me to the point where I didn’t do the exchange, I would have missed out on so much. It’s important for us to be as open and willing to learn about alternative ways of doing things because there’s not always one best way. By sharing information, we can improve the profession.”

James and her IPSF friends stopped for a rest in the White Desert near the Bahariya Oasis (top). James’s parents arranged to meet her for a two-week vacation at the end of her exchange program. They visited the Karnak Temple Complex at Luxor (right), one of the largest ancient religious sites in the world.

Political unrest in Egypt initially made James reluctant to do the IPSF exchange. Though she was confident of her safety during the trip, she did witness a protest in Tahrir Square during Ramadan (top). Students from more than seven countries (middle) shared James’s passion for pharmacy, and they all forged lasting friendships. James was warmly welcomed by everyone she met in Egypt, including a farming family from outside Cairo who served the IPSF students a delicious dinner prepared by the women of the house (bottom).

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One day in November of 2010, the patient came to the center to begin the clinical trial. She was

admitted and slid into a bed. An order for doxorubicin was sent to the pharmacy. When Peters

checked the stock, he found that the center’s pharmacy had exhausted its remaining supply of

doxorubicin. Two generic drug companies, TEVA and Hospira, had been manufacturing the drug

but ceased production in the spring. Now it was fall, and doxorubicin was in short supply. Peters

began making calls. Hospitals were out. Suppliers were out. As a last-ditch effort, he phoned his

former employer, Saint Louis University, where he had been an oncology pharmacist. A colleague

had one vial left and agreed to lend it to Siteman. Not willing to take any chances, Peters made

the drive across town and hand delivered the drug back to his staff. When the patient was being

treated, she asked to see the pharmacist who had made such an effort. She and her husband

were thankful, of course, and they were also a little dumbfounded. “They couldn’t believe that in

America,” says Peters, “you could go to the shelf, and there is no drug there.”

Byron Peters ’81

is sitting in a

conference

room

with several

other pharmacists. He’s

telling a story: A woman. Early

30s. Cancer of the head and

neck. She had been through

some conventional therapies,

but nothing worked. So she

managed to get into a clinical

trial at the Alvin J. Siteman

Cancer Center at Washington

University, where Peters works

as the director of pharmacy.

The trial involved a treatment

of an experimental monoclonal

antibody and doxorubicin.

Running on EmptyPATIENTS CAN’T WAIT FOR THE DRUG SHORTAGE TO END.

BY MAUREEN HARMON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER SILVERBERG

20 W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 S C R I P T M AG A Z I N E 21

The gray market is just that. In fact, it’s so gray that even pharmacists, doctors, and legislators are having a hard time figuring out who, exactly, is involved, and how, exactly, they’re laying their hands on drugs that aren’t available to health care professionals, and sometimes, the manufacturers themselves. “I’ll call them companies,” says Seaton, “but they could be operating out of someone’s garage, quite frankly.” These companies (we’ll just go with that for now), are somehow finding these drugs and selling them to hospitals and pharmacists who are willing to pay. And pay they will. Since the drugs are in such high demand, gray market sellers can hike the price as much as they please, a phenomenon dubbed “price gouging.” Premiere, Inc., a group purchasing organization (GPO), estimates that some drugs are going for as much as 650 percent of their original cost. Others claim that the price can rise more than that, sometimes as much as 1,500 percent. So how can pharmacists and doctors combat this elusive market? “Just don’t buy from them,” says Byron Peters.

Easier said than done, of course, when you consider Seaton’s call to pharmacists to do anything in his or her power to help a patient. But, according to Peters, the pharmacy at the Siteman Cancer Center has taken a stand and refused to purchase drugs from anyone other than trusted wholesalers and distributors. Because, really, you have to ask: Where are they getting the drug, when manufactures themselves are out? “You have to believe [the drugs] could be stolen or counterfeit,” says Peters.

The former is a theory that Seaton thinks is very plausible. He points to several drug heists that have taken place recently, most notably, a $75 million robbery from an Eli Lilly & Co. warehouse in Enfield, Conn. It is the largest drug heist of its kind on record, which is not all that surprising when you think about the fact that heists like this have quadrupled since 2006, according to industry and law enforcement experts. It’s all so Oceans Eleven that this real-life drama feels like fiction. Consider the MSNBC report of the robbery: “Authorities say the thieves cut a hole in the roof, lowered themselves into the building on ropes, disabled the alarm system and stole enough drugs to fill a tractor trailer. The stolen pharmaceuticals included best-selling antidepressants Prozac and Cymbalta.” To Seaton, it’s hard to deny the connection. And all of this is assuming, of course, that the drugs the gray market companies are doling out have come from legitimate sources, have not been contaminated or tampered with, and are what the labels say they are.

Wrapping your brain around the complexities involved in the United States’ drug shortage problem is tough. The shortages are happening with increasing frequency and for a number of reasons. The places hit hardest—or at least the areas that the media tends to latch on to—are antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs, since the unavailability of those drugs can curb or delay treatment resulting in life-threatening consequences.

The number of prescription drug shortages in the U.S. tripled between 2005 and 2010. As of November 10, 2011, 87 “medically necessary” drugs were listed on the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA) Web site as being in short supply. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which lists all drug shortages on its Web site, shows more than 200 drugs in limited supply. In 2010, there were 178 drugs that faced a shortage—132 of those were sterile injectables—and that number was expected to grow to more than 350 by the end of the year. To make matters worse, there has been a 20 percent increase in the use of injectable chemotherapy treatments—and the drug supply simply hasn’t kept up.

So what’s going on here? Part of the answer has to do with the supply chain. A drug has a long haul as it makes its way through from suppliers to manufacturers to distributors to hospitals and pharmacies. Any bump along that road—a shortage of raw materials from overseas, a contaminant introduced at the manufacturer, even an explosion at a manufacturing facility—can lead to a shortage, especially in cases of brand name drugs owned by a single entity

or generic drugs manufactured by a limited number of companies. Peters points to the case of doxorubicin, the drug he had to drive across town to get from another hospital. The reason manufacturers had ceased production stemmed from quality problems at their manufacturing facilities. Quality issues often lead to products being put on hold, while the company and the FDA investigate and correct the process or end production permanently. “Any disruption to the production process is going to cause ripple effects,” says Peters. And investigations and decision-making can take months.

So it’s no surprise that one of the leading reasons for shortages according to Terry Seaton, professor of pharmacy practice at STLCOP, are regulatory issues. Others think the problem stems largely from economic woes. In November, The New England Journal of Medicine published a perspective online by Mandy L. Gatesman, Pharm.D., and Thomas J. Smith, M.D., about the causes of the shortages. Their conclusion was pointed directly at the bottom dollar. “If manufacturers don’t make enough profit,” wrote Gatesman and Smith, “they won’t make generic drugs.” And that means physicians and pharmacists must turn to the name brands at higher costs, and when those name brands are in short supply because of manufacturing problems, physicians and pharmacists face an even bigger problem. “As a pharmacist, your professional duty is to do what’s right for patients,” says Seaton, “and if that means they need a medicine, you do whatever you can to get it for them.” Sometimes that means spending hours of time researching alternative therapies, and sometimes that means turning to the gray market.

Premiere, Inc., a group purchasing organization (GPO), estimates that some drugs are going for as much as 650 percent of their original cost. Others claim that the price can rise more than that, sometimes as much as 1,500 percent.

The number of prescription drug shortages in the U.S. tripled between 2005 and 2010. As of November 10, 2011, 87 “medically necessary” drugs were listed on the Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA) Web site as being in short supply.

22 W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 S C R I P T M AG A Z I N E 23

Let’s imagine for a moment that your husband (or wife or daughter or grandfather or baby) has cancer. He or she is diagnosed, and an oncologist begins to devise a treatment plan. Maybe that treatment plan includes a round of chemotherapy using a generic drug that has been around for 20, 30, or 50 years. It’s proven effective, so, with the doctor’s encouragement, you’re feeling cautiously optimistic. But here’s where the coldhearted world of business steps in. There are fewer generic companies in business these days. The reason, says Peters, is simple: it’s profit margin. When a drug goes generic, says Peters, the company or companies that make it are “no frills.” Manufacturers pour into the market in an attempt to get a piece of the pie. When the market floods, they start pulling out, heading for greener pastures. “This is a capitalist country,” says Peters. “We can’t make people stay in business. We can’t make them produce a drug.” The companies that stay put can’t keep up with demand. “One or two remaining companies can’t shoulder the entire U.S. demand for products,” says Peters—and your husband (or wife or daughter or grandfather or baby) is out of luck.

So pharmacists and doctors develop a new plan and that new plan can take time and it can take money—so much time and money that it’s costing the health care industry some serious cash. It’s costing about $200 million according to Premier, the GPO that polled 311 pharmacists in more than 228 hospitals. Of the 311 respondents, 98 percent

“experienced shortages that resulted in an increase in costs,” and of that 98 percent, 88 percent said that scenario had occurred six or more times in a six-month period; 41 percent said that the cost increase occurred 21 or more times. Those costs not only come from the need to purchase more expensive drugs and treatments, but they also come from labor as more and more pharmacists and physicians spend more and more time researching other options. “It’s a challenge when you can’t get your hands on the best thing available,” says Peters. “The cancer doesn’t go away, so if the first choice drug isn’t available, then the physicians have to start looking for alternatives.” Sometimes they turn to second- and third-line therapies, which obviously, says Peters, may not produce the same results. “These peoples’ lives are depending on these agents.”

Okay, so the drugs aren’t available, or maybe your family member has already gone through treatment with no benefit. There are always clinical trials offering new drugs and new therapies that need attention, right? Not always, says Peters. Shortages are shutting down clinical trials, too. Sure, patients, doctors, and pharmacists may be dealing with new drugs that haven’t yet faced shortages, but often these trials depend on recombinant therapies, and if one of the drugs that is being utilized in a treatment plan is in short supply or currently nonexistent, the whole trial is put on hold.

So what’s the pharmacy profession to do? “There’s no magic bullet for fixing the problem,” says Cathy Goetz ’85, patient safety pharmacist at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo., and a member of the STLCOP Board of Trustees. A hospital policy for drug shortages, she says, should include a notification of affected products, a supplied reason for the shortage, and an estimated date of availability, assuming that information is available. Pharmacies then need to control distribution by removing drugs from automated dispensing cabinets and rationing and restricting the drug further within the institution. But even proactive intentions meet road blocks. Even when pharmacists have advanced warning, they can’t stockpile drugs for their pharmacy or hospital. In instances of forthcoming shortages, manufacturers begin to limit supplies. In other words, says Peters, if you normally get 10 vials a week of doxorubicin, they’re not going to start shipping you 50.

In November of last year, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices met with representatives from the FDA, as well as drug manufacturers and wholesalers for the Drug Shortage Summit. There, in Bethesda, Md., they called for increased awareness of the problem, expedited processes for government regulations, and vowed to explore the possibilities of financial incentives, like tax breaks, for manufacturers who produce “critical” drugs and upgrade their plants to meet good manufacturing practices.

The government is also taking action. On October 31, President Obama signed an executive order to reduce prescription drug shortages. The order encourages drug manufacturers to alert the FDA about possible drug shortages much earlier, allowing the agency to take action and give health care professionals precious time to research alternative therapies. The order also calls upon the FDA to “expedite its regulatory reviews, including reviews of new drug suppliers, manufacturing sites, and manufacturing changes” and obliges the Department of Justice to investigate instances of drug stockpiling and price gouging. Though the media picked up on the story, the health care world met the executive order with a “shrug,” according to a Pharmaceutical Commerce newsletter. The order seemed to mimic legislation that has already been proposed by both the Senate (S. 296) and the House (H.R. 2245), but that legislation, so far, seems to be at a standstill.

On November 14, the American Medical Association (AMA) threw its support behind the legislation that requires advanced notification of drug shortages. The group also adopted a policy that requires the AMA to push the FDA and Congress to require drug manufacturers to devise their own plans to help continue supply in the face of future shortages. For pharmacists like Peters, the answer is simple: “It’s kind of like voting for mom and apple pie,” he says. “Who’s going to be opposed to helping with the drug shortage problem?”

“One or two companies can’t shoulder the

entire U.S. demand for product,” says Peters —and your husband

(or wife or daughter or grandfather or baby)

is out of luck.

A Wish List

Cancer drugs are high on the list of must-haves as drug shortage issues plague the health care industry. Without them, doctors must seek second- and sometimes, third-tier treatment options; clinical trials are put on hold or suspended indefinitely; and some patients go without care as they wait for drugs to become available. We asked Byron Peters, director of pharmacy at the Siteman Cancer Center, to give us a list of the five drugs that he wishes he could have on hand at any given time.

Doxorubicin: an anthracycline topoisomerase inhibitor used to treat ovarian cancer, multiple myeloma, and AIDS-related Kaposi’s Sarcoma.

Daunorubicin: an anthracycline anti-tumor antibiotic used to treat acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, and neuroblastoma.

Paclitaxel: an antimicrotubule medication used to treat breast, ovarian, and lung cancers. It is also

used to tread AIDS-related Kaposi’s Sarcoma.

Etoposide: a podophyllotoxin derivative and topoisomerase inhibitor used to treat a number of cancers, including testicular and lung cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, and Hodgkin’s disease.

Leucovorin: a folic acid analog used to counter harmful effects of methotrexate, a chemotherapy medication. It is also used in combination with fluorouracil to treat colon and rectal cancers.

24 W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 S C R I P T M AG A Z I N E 25

Pho

to C

redi

t

Not so many years ago, Central West End residents had

roughly a dozen community pharmacies within easy walking

distance. Patients could talk with their pharmacists, shop for

theater-quality cosmetics while waiting for their prescriptions,

and perhaps even relax at a soda counter run by a pharmacist

just down the street who knew and catered to their neighborhood.

Or they could stay at home and ask certain pharmacies to deliver

their medications and purchases to them—at no extra charge.

David Kean ’52, who with his brother Bernard ’48, ran Kean Drug on Euclid Avenue from the mid-1950s until 1973, remembers

those days vividly. As does Art Perry ’72, a 45-year resident of the Central West End who worked at Kean Drug for 27 years. So many

pharmacies prospered in the Central West End because of the community’s concentrated population, both men say—particularly in

an era when residents walked rather than drove to do their shopping. And each Central West End pharmacy had its niche, with each

local pharmacist cooperating with the others, Kean remembers. “They all were thriving,” Perry notes. “It was a fraternity of equals.”

Together, the two St. Louis College of Pharmacy alumni recall the characters as well as myriad details about the pharmacies

embedded in the community’s everyday life. Here’s a map of where some of Kean and Perry’s memories lived.

Around the CWE

By Vicki Hodder THE PHARMACIES THAT WERE A COMMUNITY IN THE

Central West End 40 North Euclid Avenue

Forest Park Pharmacy served guests of the Parkway Hotel on Forest Park Avenue and, what was then, the Forest Park Hotel, which offered a variety of popular entertainment at the corner of Euclid and West Pine Boulevard. The pharmacy was among the oldest in the area, offering “credit accounts” through which longtime customers could ask to have their purchases placed on their tab.

100 North Euclid AvenueKnight Drug focused almost exclusively on prescription

medications. Situated in a multi-story building that also housed a number of doctors ranging from surgeons to psychiatrists, Knight Drug filled the most prescriptions of any pharmacy in the community.

115 North Euclid AvenueMedicare Pharmacy did not, as its name might

imply, cater to residents making use of Medicare insurance benefits. Rather, the name of the business simply reflected a marketing decision that aimed to take advantage of a high-profile word following the Medicare program’s launch during the mid-1960s. It was a prescription discount operation with few over-the-counter items.

240 North Euclid AvenueKoch Drug was among the community pharmacies

that delivered to its patients. Like Kean Drug, it provided front-end store items in addition to pharmacy services, but on a more limited scale than some of its larger contemporaries.

These vignettes primarily reference the memories of David

Kean ’52 and Art Perry ’72 and are not comprehensive. If you

remember something else or have other memories of community

pharmacy in St. Louis, please let us know at shaar@stlcop.edu.

4501 Maryland AvenueLandau Drug was a small neighborhood store. Though

the pharmacy never had more than two employees on duty at a time, its patients always received personal service and attention.

4401 West Pine Boulevard West Pine Pharmacy was situated a bit further east

than the other community pharmacies and so carried a bit of everything to serve its neighborhood. Nursing homes along West Pine, as well as Laclede Avenue, were key clientele for this pharmacy. It is still in business today.

4488 Forest Park AvenueMedical Institute of Local 88 was opened by the Meat

Cutters Union Local No. 88 and run by David and Bernard Kean. The pharmacy cared for patients of a dozen or so doctors with office hours in its building set aside for union members.

4911 Forest Park AvenueParkway Pharmacy stood in a medical building and

was something of a “cloistered pharmacy.” Most of Parkway’s business came from a dozen or so doctors in the building, and the pharmacy compounded more medications than others in the area. Still, owner Lee Birenbaum did count St. Louis Cardinals players among his patients for a few years because the team physician had an office in his building.

2 North Euclid AvenueKean Drug opened its doors during the mid-1950s

within a few blocks of three hospitals and St. Louis College of Pharmacy. It was a location—little changed by a 1965 move to a larger storefront at 1 N. Euclid—that would help establish Kean Drug’s character and make it a pharmaceutical leader in the community. The Keans catered heavily to nursing school students and hospitals while drawing a theatrical clientele from the nearby Chase Hotel with a cosmetic counter manned by trained cosmeticians offering palettes of lipsticks and long-wearing makeup. Kean Drug also served as a supplier to nearby drug stores. Illustration by Adrienne Hooker

text Brian Newton ’90PHARMACIST IN CHARGE

Newton handles compliance throughout the U.S. and works in the pharmacy at Rx Outreach. He estimates that 80 percent of his time is spent

ensuring that Rx Outreach is compliant with several state pharmacy laws, in addition to Missouri. The other 20 percent is spent working in the

pharmacy – verifying prescriptions and answering patient questions. Newton says the pharmacy’s overall accuracy rate for Rx Outreach’s manual

and automated systems is 99.99 percent.

“We’re helping people who can’t get or afford insurance,” Newton says. “They might be

unemployed or they may be elderly and just can’t afford to pay retail prices for their medications.

For some, it’s a question of ‘Do I buy my groceries for the week or my medications?’

Because our prices are very reasonable, fewer people have to make the choice between heating

and medicine, food and medicine, or electricity and medicine. It’s like doing missionary work—

helping people who don’t have much. To a lot of people, it seems just too good to be true.”

Tiffany Redman ’06STAFF PHARMACIST

At Rx Outreach, Redman is responsible for the OptiFill, an automated prescription dispensing system. Working with and supervising pharmacy technicians, she makes sure containers have the correct drugs. In addition, Redman works in the control cage, which houses Rx Outreach’s controlled substances. The remaining 10 percent of her time is spent verifying prescriptions.

“I feel like I’m making a difference,” Redman says. “When I’m at home after a busy day at work, I can say that I helped somebody. It feels good because we truly make a difference in the lives of our patients. We’re helping people who are in dire circumstances. It’s our duty. Our patients often have nowhere to turn. And, without insurance, they’re pretty much at the bottom of the barrel in terms of finding the medications they need. Every week, we receive letters from patients that talk about how they can’t afford medications and that they don’t know what they’d do without our program. The letters always make me feel that patients appreciate my work.”

ON THE JOB: Rx OUTREACHAlumni Profile

MEDICINE MISSION

health, neurology, and other chronic health conditions—to low-income and uninsured patients for a small administrative fee. Its inventory of medicines are either donated by drug manufacturers or purchased at a fraction of the original wholesale cost.

Using a home-delivery system, Rx Outreach serves about 60,000 patients each year and that number is growing by 1,400 new patients each month. Fortunately, the state-of-the art, automated facility has the ability to serve about 800,000 patients annually. “For

a lot of people, we are their last stop,” Holmes says. “Without us, they have nothing. We know that even after health care reform, about 23 million people won’t be covered by insurance. And, in today’s times, more and more people are becoming uninsured. Our goal is to fill that void

because there is such a tremendous need.”

The Rx Outreach pharmacy is staffed by eight pharmacists, all of whom are STLCOP graduates.

Story by Bryan Daniels

The impact of health care on people’s lives is well understood by employees of Rx Outreach, a St. Louis-based non-profit organization that provides affordable prescription medication for low income and uninsured patients in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Rx Outreach was established in 2010 to assist people with limited or no access to prescription drugs. It was spun off from Express Scripts, Inc. at the suggestion of Michael Holmes, who had served as executive vice president of strategy, human capital, and

emerging markets at the prescription benefits management company.

“I was praying one morning, and the idea just came to me,” says Holmes, who is a member of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy Board of Trustees. “I went to the office and wrote a white

paper. I presented it to (Express Scripts CEO) George Paz. He thought it was a great idea and agreed to it on the spot.”

Today, Rx Outreach offers more than 400 medications—including drugs for cancer, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, mental

Jennifer Silverberg

Alumni News

12 W I N T E R 2 0 1 2

Alumni News

Letter from the Alumni Association President

It is an honor to serve you and the College as the president of our Alumni Association. For several years, I have been able to observe my predecessors, Ellen Verzino ’91/’92, Garth Reynolds ’00, and Chad Graue ’00/’01, as well as many others before them as they led this organization. I am excited to be a part of the association leadership at STLCOP.

It is an exciting and challenging time at the College and in health care, and the Alumni Association board of directors is committed to advancing the mission and vision of the College and the profession of pharmacy. The College’s new strategic plan, boldly put forth by President Pieper and the College, is a great vision for our institution. In meeting with Dr. Pieper, I know he is committed to engaging with alumni and supporting our work as we, in turn, support our College. Together, we can lead in pharmacy education and the profession of pharmacy both nationally and globally.

To accomplish all of this, we need you. I hope you will see that we have many opportunities to gather socially. I encourage you to attend some of our events and connect with other alumni. I also encourage you to participate in one of our events in support of current students at STLCOP. I remember the encouragement I received from alumni when I was in school, and I find some of the current association events that center on mentoring students to be especially rewarding. I am continually impressed and encouraged by the students at STLCOP—they are the future of pharmacy and I believe we need to be supportive of them.

As you page through Script magazine, I know you will be impressed with all of the happenings at STLCOP. Please take time to participate and meet other alumni and students. If you have any questions, please call the alumni relations office at 314.446.8398 or contact me at alumni@stlcop.edu. I’d love to hear from you!

Janene Verrant ’98/’99 President

For Doc. For STLCOP. For future pharmacists. As professor of pharmacology for 40 years, Leonard “Doc” Naeger believed in you, his students, and your successes. Help continue Doc’s legacy of service to the community and health care with the Dr. Leonard L. Naeger ’63/’65 Endowed Professorship.

Your gift will: Support the position of professor of pharmacology; Enhance research at STLCOP; and Help future generations of pharmacists reach their full potential.

Give now and the College will match your contribution dollar for dollar. To make a gift or for more information, visit alumni.stlcop.edu/Naeger.

Alumni News

Letter from the Alumni Association President

It is an honor to serve you and the College as the president of our Alumni Association. For several years, I have been able to observe my predecessors, Ellen Verzino ’91/’92, Garth Reynolds ’00, and Chad Graue ’00/’01, as well as many others before them as they led this organization. I am excited to be a part of the association leadership at STLCOP.

It is an exciting and challenging time at the College and in health care, and the Alumni Association board of directors is committed to advancing the mission and vision of the College and the profession of pharmacy. The College’s new strategic plan, boldly put forth by President Pieper and the College, is a great vision for our institution. In meeting with Dr. Pieper, I know he is committed to engaging with alumni and supporting our work as we, in turn, support our College. Together, we can be leaders in pharmacy education and the profession of pharmacy both nationally and globally.

To accomplish all of this, we need you. I hope you will see that we have many opportunities to gather socially. I encourage you to attend some of our events and connect with other alumni. I also encourage you to participate in one of our events in support of current students at STLCOP. I remember the encouragement I received from alumni when I was in school, and I find some of the current association events that center on mentoring students to be especially rewarding. I am continually impressed and encouraged by the students at STLCOP—they are the future of pharmacy and I believe we need to be supportive of them.

As you page through Script magazine, I know you will be impressed with all of the happenings at STLCOP. Please take time to participate and meet other alumni and students. If you have any questions, please call the alumni relations office at 314.446.8398 or contact me at alumni@stlcop.edu. I’d love to hear from you!

Janene Verrant ’98/’99 President

Distinguished Alumni AwardsSix alumni received awards during the 2011 Reunion Weekend.

Josh Bellamy ’97/’98 | Outstanding Achievement In 2006, Josh Bellamy founded Health Strategy, LLC, a business

services firm focused on providing solutions to drive efficiencies in the pharmaceutical supply chain. While its focus is on the end users of the pharmaceutical supply chain, Health Strategy works to enable all parties involved in the reimbursement of health plans and purchasing of pharmacy benefits to understand the economics and the clinical consequences of decisions in the phar-macy supply chain.

Today, Health Strategy influences health care decisions worth billions of dollars. Its clients represent more than $30 billion of pharmacy costs. Bellamy would also like to create private sector solutions that provide health care to patients in need, particularly veterans and their families as well as chronically ill children.

Elaine Haynes ’86 | Outstanding Achievement Elaine Haynes is vice president and general manager for Covidi-

en Pharmaceuticals Imaging, formerly known as Mallinckrodt, in Hazelwood, Mo. She is responsible for leading a commercial team of more than 200 people who provide diagnostic imaging prod-ucts, including contrast media and delivery systems, and nuclear medicine products, to the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.

Haynes says her greatest professional accomplishment was the management of a global radioisotope shortage due to unplanned reactor shutdowns. She led her team to educate stakeholders about the supply chain, deliver time supply updates, and distrib-ute limited product supply to as many patients as possible. She provided an update on her team’s efforts to the deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration and was able to lobby members of Congress on future legislation to improve long-term supply reliability.

Starlin Haydon-Greatting ’81 | Service to the ProfessionStarlin Haydon-Greatting serves as the Illinois Pharmacists

Association’s (IPhA) clinical program coordinator and the coor-dinator of the IPhA patient self management program pharmacy network, which includes programs for diabetes and cardiovascu-lar health. She also counsels patients in the pharmacist-based care management program in diabetes, cardiovascular health, asthma, and depression.

An independent clinical pharmacy consultant for the past 22 years, Haydon-Greatting has received numerous honors and awards including: the American Lung Association of Illinois Outstanding Volunteer Award; Smithsonian Award for Informa-tion Technology in Medicine; ICHP’s President’s Award; IPhA’s Innovative Pharmacy Practice; and most recently, the 2008 IPhA Pharmacist of the Year Award.

Nancy Konieczny ’77 | Service to the College Nancy Konieczny is the director of pharmacy, pulmonary, sleep

lab, and EEG/EMG services at Christian Hospital in St. Louis. She is responsible for regulatory oversight, general operations, and

business development of the departments. During her 11 years at Christian Hospital, Konieczny was named Pharmacist of the Year in 2002 by the St. Louis Society of Health-System Pharmacists and, in 2005, by the Missouri Society of Health-System Pharma-cists.

Konieczny has always lent her time and talent to the College, most recently as chair of the College’s Board of Trustees. Koniec-zny was first named to the College’s Board of Trustees in 2004 and, in 2009, was named to the board’s executive committee. She also served as an adjunct instructor at the College from 1980 to 1995.

Kathleen (Buechter) Lusk ’10 | Young Alumni Award Kathleen Lusk is an internal medicine specialty resident at

St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo. Lusk makes rounds with attending physicians, medical residents, dieticians, nurses, and respiratory therapists. She also gives presentations to pharmacy students, preceptors, and the medical staff, and is conducting an original research project.

Lusk was recently appointed as chair of the National Residency Advisory Committee for the American College of Clinical Phar-macy (ACCP). As chair, Lusk leads a committee that develops new programs and services for the purpose of training ACCP postgraduate members.

Kenneth Schafermeyer ’76 | Service to the CommunityKenneth Schafermeyer is professor of pharmacy administra-

tion and director of the liberal arts and administrative sciences di-vision at STLCOP, where he has worked since 1990. Schafermeyer’s community service work includes volunteering for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, where he has served as chairman of the First Connection Committee helping to recruit and train volun-teers, and as a First Connection volunteer who contacts newly diagnosed leukemia patients, answers their questions, and guides them to resources available through the society.

Schafermeyer also dedicates his time to Habitat for Human-ity International, for which he has served as a local volunteer since 2000 and participated in or led 15 Global Village missions in Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Asia. So far, Schafermeyer has taken 25 STLCOP students on these trips and helped them raise money to help defray their expenses. He plans to continue to bring more students on future trips to intro-duce them to international service work.

Back row, left to right: Lusk, Schafermeyer, Haydon-Greatting. Front row: Bellamy, Haynes, and Koniezney.

28 W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 S C R I P T M AG A Z I N E 29

Alumni News

S C R I P T M AG A Z I N E 31

REUNION WEEKEND 1-6 Alumni gathered for Reunion Weekend Oct. 21-22. Friday night included a barbecue on the Quad featuring the band Morning Thunder, made up of alumni Mike Pruett ’81, Rich Johnson ’81, and Scott Weber ’80. 7-11 Saturday evening Reunion honor classes gathered at the Saint Louis Zoo where the Class of 1961 was inducted into the Gold Alumni Club and a dinner was held in honor of class years ending in ‘1’ and ‘6’ and this year’s distinguished award winners. Photography by Colleen Krutewicz and first-year student Eric Pan.

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SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 2012CRESCENT FARMS GOLF CLUBRegister today for this year’s Alumni Golf Classic! Enjoy a scramble with friends, on-course contests, and dinner and drinks post-tournament. A wine class will be offered during the tournament for non-golfers.

REGISTER TODAY AT WWW.STLCOP.EDU/GOLF

32 W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 S C R I P T M AG A Z I N E 33

Tell your STLCOP friends and classmates about the latest news in your life.

Enjoy reading about your classmates in Class Notes? Share some news about your work projects, new jobs or promotions, marriages or children, awards, vacations, or hobbies. You also may send an e-mail to alumni@stlcop.edu, or submit news online at alumni.stlcop.edu/classnotes.

Class NotesClass Notes

Evers Elected to Lead IPhATodd Evers ’87 has been elected president of the Illinois

Pharmacists Association (IPhA). As president, he will represent more than 12,000 pharmacists and 700 indepen-dent community pharmacies in the state of Illinois.

One of his first priorities as president is to work with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to overturn efforts to reduce pharmacy reimbursements for Medicare brand drugs.

“These patients are our most vulnerable population,” Evers explains. “In the case of my two rural pharmacies, if I stop accepting Medicaid, patients will have to travel at least 20 miles round trip to pick up their medications. I stand ready to help the state find real solutions that do not jeopardize the health and safety of patients without putting pharmacists out of business.”

As president of the Evers Group of Pharmacies, Evers currently owns two pharmacies: Dauber Pharmacy in Mascoutah, Ill., and Millstadt Pharmacy in Millstadt, Ill. He is also a member of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy Board of Trustees.

1970s Stephen Clement ’74 received a 2011 Belleville News Democrat Readers’ Choice Award for pharmacist of the year. He also received the Faith in the Marketplace Award—one of only six given per year—from the Diocese of Belleville, which serves all of southern Illinois. Steve has owned Copper Bend Pharmacy in Belleville for more than 27 years. He and his wife, Elaine, live in Belleville, Ill.

1980sStarlin Haydon-Greatting ’81 was interviewed for the Nov. issue of MORE magazine in the article “10 Great Careers for Women Who Want a Life” for her input about the flexibility of the pharmacy profession for women. Starlin is a clinical pharmacy consul-tant. She and her husband, Mark Greatting, M.D. ’81, reside in Springfield, Ill.

Gregg Stolinski ’86 married Dr. John Leonardo on July 17, in Toronto, Canada. Gregg is a supervising pharmacist for Rite Aid Pharmacy in Manhattan. John is an anesthesiologist in private practice. The couple resides in New York.

1990sChristian Tadrus ’96 recently participated in the DEA’s nationwide drug take-back program in Moberly, Mo. Christian’s employer, Sam’s Healthmart, was one of two drop-off locations on Oct. 29. Nearly 125 pounds of medications were collected as a result of the program.

Traci (Hindman) Robinson ’98/’99 was selected as the assistant pharmacy specialty leader in the United States Navy in September. She is currently stationed at the Naval Medical Center San Diego as the assistant pharmacy chairman.

Margaret Skiljan-Wolff ’98/’99 and her husband, Mike, welcomed their fifth child, Johanna Rose, on May 10. She weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 19 inches. She joins big brothers Alex, 9, Andrew, 6, Aaron, 4, and Aiden, 2. The family resides in Labadie, Mo.

Amie (McCord) Brooks ’99/’00 and her husband, Steve, welcomed their second child, Liam Burgess, on Sept. 21. He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and measured 21 ½ inches. He joins big brother Ledger, who is 2. Amie is an associate professor of pharmacy practice at STLCOP. The family lives in St. Charles, Mo.

2000sIsabella (Lombardo) Naeger ’01/’02 and her husband, Mark, welcomed their first child, Rocco Lombardo, on May 15.

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He weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 21 ¼ inches. Isabella is currently a pharmacy manager for Schnucks Markets. The family resides in St. Louis.

Christine (Kurtzeborn) Cohn ’02 and her husband, Brian, welcomed their first child, Lucas Adrian, on Feb. 8, 2011. He weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and measured 20 ¼ inches. Christine is working as a clinical editor at Wolters Kluwer Health. The family lives in St. Louis.

Lisa (Lovekamp) Osterbur ’03 and her husband, Chris Osterbur ’03/’04/’06, welcomed their second child, Lucas Henry, on July 6. He weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces, and measured 20 ¾ inches. He joins big brother, Conner. Lisa is employed by Express Scripts and Chris is employed by Omnicare. The family resides in Ballwin, Mo.

Julie (Peradotto) Nobbe ’04/’05 and her husband, Matt Nobbe ’01/’02, welcomed their second child, Ryan Charles, on July 27. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and measured 20 ¼ inches. He joins big sister, Alayna Kate. Julie is a clinical pharmacist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Matt is a pharmacy manager at St. Anthony’s Medical Center. The family resides in Columbia, Ill.

Heather (Meislahn) Goeckner ’06 and her husband, Nathan, welcomed their third child, Bryce Henry, on March 26. He weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and measured 18 inches. He

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Remembering Loren G. Cunningham ’50

To the St. Louis College of Pharmacy community, Loren George Cunningham ’50 was simply known as “L.G.”

L.G. was part of a generation that knew the secret to a successful career was staying with one company. He started out at as a sales representative for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals but, after returning from the Korean War, went to work at Coca-Cola USA. During his 39 years with the soft-drink company, he built his career from a chemist in a traveling lab, to vice president of quality assurance and, ultimately, vice president of crisis management. He retired in 1991.

Always a strong advocate of education, L.G. was the benefactor of the Byron A. Barnes Excellence in Education Awards, created in 1998 and presented each year to STLCOP faculty and staff members for outstanding service. In 1995, he established the Cunningham-Thayer Chemistry Scholarship at the College. He was a founding member of the Mortar and Pestle Society and, in 1998, received the society’s Distinguished Service Award. He received the Alumni Association’s Service to the College Award in 2000.

L.G. also helped to build the Bell Conference Center at the University of West Alabama, where his wife, Sarah, and mother-in-law attended college. The building was named in honor of Sarah’s parents. The Cunningham dining hall was named in honor of L.G.’s parents.

L.G. Cunningham, 82, died on September 17 in Chamblee, Ga. He was born on June 22, 1929, in Slater, Mo. He is survived by Sarah, his wife of 56 years; his son, John, and daughter-in-law, Emily; his grandson, Tyler, and granddaughter, Caroline.

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joins brother Wyatt, who is 3, and sister Aubrey, who is 2. Heather is employed by Walmart Pharmacy in Carlinville, Ill. The family lives in Worden, Ill.

Ingrid Kettmann ’06 and her fiancé, Dmitry Golovko, welcomed their second child, Nadia Elin, on March 24. She weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces, and measured 20 3/4 inches. She joins big sister, Sasha, who is 3 years old. The family lives in Arnold, Mo.

Jason Medows ’08 and his wife, Keri, welcomed twin boys, Carter Cole and Cooper Stone, on Nov. 19, 2010. They join big brother, Levi, who is 6 years old. The family lives near St. James, Mo.

Jennifer Elser ’09 married Vincent Lenzi ’06 on Aug. 27. Jennifer was a member of Kappa Epsilon at STLCOP. Vincent and Jennifer are both employed at Walgreen Co. The couple resides in St. Louis.

Kathleen (Buechter)Lusk ’10 has been appointed as chair of the Association College of Clinical Pharmacy National Resident Advisory Committee.

In MemoriamJack G. Williams ’49 died July 2 in Cape Coral, Fla.

Jule E. Kamm ’51 died Oct. 8 in Nokomis, Ill. Robert O. McDonald ’51 died Oct. 17, 2010 in Union, Mo.

Mary Lou (Helm) Gilomen ’52 died Aug. 1 in Barrington, Ill.

Richard D. Hase ’54 died July 30 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Clifford W. Weldon ’54 died Aug. 28 in Fairview Heights, Ill.

Rostislaw Diakon ’60 died April 13 in Chicago, Ill.

Ronald D. Short ’68 died Sept. 13 in Farmington, Mo.

Steven B. Scatcherd ’00/’01 died July 16 in Kailua, Hawaii.

A Long and Great Bumpy RoadGetting a pharmacy degree took Victor Cartwright ’47/’01

(hon.) more than 10 years. At the insistence of his mother, Sarah, Cartwright moved

with his brother, Bert, to Missouri from his family’s farm in Utah during the summer of 1936. Sarah was convinced that Victor, the youngest of seven children, should learn the pharmaceutical business. But this was the time of the Great Depression and, after an unsuccessful search for a job in the field, he decided to attend STLCOP.

Tuition cost $150 a semester and Sarah saved the change she collected from selling eggs to pay for her son’s first year’s tuition. She sent him $7 a week: 40 cents for carfare and the rest for food and clothing. At the end of the second term, his mother died.

Cartwright was able to gather enough funds, with help from his family, to return to STLCOP in 1938. But, in 1942, he enlisted in the army and served for nearly five years. In the fall of 1946, Cartwright started his final year of study at the College and graduated at the top of his class in 1947.

Cartwright’s professional career started with the purchase of a small pharmacy in Orem, Utah. He soon realized that community pharmacy was not for him, so he sold the business and took a position with Parke-Davis as a medical service representative in southern Utah. The position opened doors for him and would later serve as

the foundation for his own business. During his time with Parke-Davis, he visited dozens of doctors’ offices and learned about their needs. He began toying with the idea of starting his own company. He called his close friend, Dale Ballard, and in 1956, they opened Deseret Pharmaceutical, a disposable medical device manufacturer.

Cartwright served as a Board of Trustees member from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1985 to 1986. In 1997, he received the Alumni Association’s Service to the College Award. He was a Lifetime Member of the Mortar and Pestle Society and, in 2000, received the society’s Distinguished Service Award.

In 2001, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the College. The Sarah Ellen Cart-wright Student Center was named for his beloved mother.

Cartwright died on Nov. 8, 2011, at his home in Provo, Utah, at the age of 93.

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Puzzle

Cell BlocksTake a look through our microsope and test your cell smarts! Can you identify:

Influenza virus

Red blood cells

Neuron cell

Sperm cell

Stem cell

Meningococcus

Spirillum bacteria

Proteus Bacteria

ANSWERS: 1. Neuron cell 2. Spirillum bacteria 3. Sperm cell 4. Influenza virus; 5. Stem cell 6. Meningococcus 7. Red blood cells 8. Proteus bacteria

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