University of New England

Nexus

UNE Launches New
College of Pharmacy

Continuing the University's tradition of educating some of the finest healthcare workers in the state, UNE President Danielle Ripich, Ph.D., announced this past fall that UNE is establishing a College of Pharmacy to be housed on the Westbrook College Campus in Portland.

At a press conference held in November, President Ripich announced plans for the College of Pharmacy and introduced its founding Dean, John Cormier, Pharm.D. Cormier is the former dean of the College of Pharmacy at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and served as a principal consultant to UNE during the exploration phase of this initiative. With 30 years experience as a dean and faculty member at MUSC, Cormier will provide expert leadership while working closely with the president, board of trustees and surrounding Maine communities to establish this much-needed and anticipated college.

Each year, more than 30,000 applicants across the nation are denied entrance to colleges of pharmacy due to the lack of available programs. While interest in pharmacy is strong, the nation is facing a severe shortage of trained pharmacists, caused in many ways by the lack of programs, especially in the New England area.

UNE’s new College is set to provide an important resource for Maine’s communities. Maine currently ranks in the upper 25 percent of states in the nation in its shortage of available pharmacists. With the closest pharmacy college campus located in Manchester, New Hampshire, UNE’s College of Pharmacy is poised to directly impact the shortage by providing interested students from around the country with the opportunity to pursue pharmacy, right here on our Westbrook College Campus.

The College of Arts and Sciences is currently accepting undergraduate students in the two-year pre-pharmacy program, which will begin in the fall of 2007. Students accepted into this program will take a myriad of courses such as chemistry, biology and physics designed to prepare them for the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm. D.) program. Students are required to have a strong academic record and pass national standardized tests in order to be eligible for UNE’s pharmacy program.

The Doctor of Pharmacy is the entry-level professional degree that will prepare students for careers as pharmacists and/or pharmaceutical scientists. The four-year, professional program is anticipated to begin in the fall of 2009.

In their fourth year in the Doctor of Pharmacy program, students are required to do nine one-month clinical clerkships. Clinical training and research partnerships are being established with Maine Medical Center in Portland, Mercy Health Care Systems in Portland, Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford, Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and Maine General Health and Medical Center in Augusta and Waterville. Community training opportunities are also being established with Hannaford Brothers Company, Shaw’s Osco Drug and Rite Aid. Future partnerships with other hospital and community pharmacies are being pursued. Students will also have the opportunity to work in pharmacies across Maine, as well as in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Dean Cormier is confident that the new college will provide many positive benefits to the state and the region. Within the next five years, approximately 400 students will be enrolled in the College on the Westbrook College Campus. Ultimately, Portland and Biddeford will benefit economically with hundreds of students living and working in the area. As the future pharmacists who will serve Maine’s families, the direct impact will be tremendous with more, and better-trained, pharmacists available to meet patients’ needs.

The first and foremost goal of UNE’s College of Pharmacy is to train students to be pharmacists. After graduating with their doctor of pharmacy degree, students will work in chain drugstores, independent pharmacies and hospitals. Currently, Maine has a shortage of available pharmacists to work at such places, leaving existing facilities understaffed and preventing companies from expanding into other markets where there may be a particular need for pharmacists. Ideally, rather than have a pharmacy located 20 miles from one’s home, with more available pharmacists and sites, there might be a pharmacy two miles down the road, providing those in Maine’s communities with easier and better access to the medications they need.

More than filling prescriptions
Cormier is adamant that UNE’s pharmacy students will not simply be taught how to fill a prescription; they will be trained to provide other services to the communities they serve. “In addition to conveying information and instructions to the patients when they dispense their medicine, they’re teaching them how to manage their condition and, thereby, improve their quality of life.” He added, “Pharmacists are being trained to provide a variety of services including the administration of flu shots, taking blood pressure, and measuring blood glucose levels. They’re not the traditional practitioners they used to be.” The pharmacy students will learn how to actively discuss patients’ diagnoses and treatments, creating higher quality patient care.

While training future pharmacists is a main goal of the College, there is a critical need for scientists, faculty and advanced clinical workers as well, Cormier acknowledged. “There’s a need for pharmacists and we’re going to address it…But we need the scientists. We need faculty for colleges of pharmacy. Preparing our students for those areas is something we feel is essential.”

Faculty and science positions require further schooling and can pay less than traditional pharmacist positions, so students tend to overlook them. Cormier hopes to encourage students to pursue these other available opportunities by reminding them that pharmacy isn’t simply about the paycheck; it’s about doing something that they like and helping others in the process.

Scientific research will also be a large component of what will be accomplished at the school. “The College’s research orientation – its strong discovery piece – will make us very different from most other pharmacy schools in the country and any other pharmacy school in northern New England,” noted President Ripich at the November press conference. During its developmental phase, Dean Cormier and the University’s administration formed an Advisory Committee that includes UNE’s own faculty, as well as scientists and researchers throughout the state, to advise the school on potential research opportunities for the College of Pharmacy.

The research goals of the College of Pharmacy are three-fold. Much of the research coming out of the College will complement research already being done in the state and region. In addition, COP faculty and researchers will collaborate with faculty in UNE’s other three colleges to further their research, such as the ocean and health research being explored through the Marine Science Center.

Finally, researchers in the College of Pharmacy hope to develop their own niche, embarking on research that has yet to be fully studied by others and focusing on current needs within the field. This research could potentially attract large pharmaceutical companies, or lead to the creation of new companies within the area that will develop and produce new drugs.

The timeline for launching the College of Pharmacy is ambitious. There is an immediate need for adequate lab and classroom space for the entering students. The administration is currently looking to utilize existing unused space on the Westbrook College Campus. Plans are in place for restoring Goddard Hall, which has been vacant since the 1990s, to provide needed space, not only for the College of Pharmacy, but also for the College of Health Professions. Classrooms will be equipped with modern technology and labs designed to mimic pharmacies, providing students the opportunity to learn real scenarios in true-to-life spaces.

There is much left to accomplish before the College of Pharmacy officially opens in the fall of 2009. Along with renovation of existing structures, new buildings must be built to accommodate needed dorm and educational spaces, offices and a drug information center. Trained faculty and administrators must be hired to run the College. Peg Donovan, formerly the office manager of the Campus Center, was hired to be assistant to the dean, and searches are currently underway for five other important administrative positions, with the rest to be filled within the next few years.

The University administration, faculty, staff and trustees are excited that in less than two years, UNE will be home to the first college of pharmacy in the state of Maine.

For more information on the College of Pharmacy, visit www.une.edu/pharmacy.

by Sarah Day

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