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College of Pharmacy’s White Coat Ceremony

On January 21, 2021, the College of Pharmacy held its formal White Coat Ceremony to welcome first-year students to the pharmacy program.

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Alumni of Distinction Award

Ronald Guse [B.Sc.Pharm/79] was honoured with the 2020 Alumni of Distinction Award. The UM alumnus is known for his long, productive tenure as the registrar of CPhM (1999 to 2016).

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New graduate students

The College of Pharmacy would like to welcome the following new graduate students to our program starting in January 2021:

• Lisha Li joined the PhD program, advisor: Assistant Professor Dr. Dake Qi

• Mukta Moni joined the MSc program, advisor: Associate Professor Dr. Lucy Marzban

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Academic Awards Ceremony

On October 19, 2020, we celebrated the achievements of our students with a virtual Academic Awards Ceremony.

Along with the student award presentations, the online event also highlighted our summer student research awards, teacher recognition awards, as well as introducing a new student award, the Rusty Ames Therapy Dog Award. This award honours the life and legacy of Rusty and is awarded to a student who demonstrates qualities that the therapy dog was well known for; volunteerism, compassion and dedication to a cause.

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Pharmacists play an essential role in COVID-19 response

Pharmacy alumni Alia Marcinkow and Nicole Nakatsu were featured in UM Today, highlighting how their roles have evolved since the pandemic. Read more in UM Today.

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College of Pharmacy strategic planning mid-cycle retreat

On November 13, 2020, the College of Pharmacy held a retreat to reflect on and review it’s stratic plan. The retreat took place virtually over half a day and included discussions through breakout rooms. The retreat provided a valuable opportunity for faculty and staff to help inform our strategic plan. Please see the College’s website for our current plan.

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Pharmacy Leadership Series

The College of Pharmacy successfully offered  the leadership series for pharmacy students virtually this year.

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Innovative teaching strategies: Use of small group Case Study Seminars in the PharmD Program

Pharmacists Colin Reeve, Taisa Pankewycz and Salil Prashar volunteered their time in the fall term to facilitate the Clinical Therapeutics 2 course at the College of Pharmacy.

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Medications, Evidence, and Decision Support (MEDS) conference

The annual Medications, Evidence, and Decision Support (MEDS) conference was held virtually on January 30, 2021.

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Happy holidays!

A virtual holiday celebration was held on December 17, 2020 for staff and faculty of the College to celebrate the festive season. Trivia games were played in groups and fun faculty awards were presented as colleagues enjoyed some laughs and time together before the winter break.

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Faculty member featured in Rady UM 

Alumna and faculty member Dr. Sheryl Zelenitsky [B.Sc.Pharm/89] was featured in Rady UM for her interprofessional work on the optimal use of antimicrobials (antibiotics). 

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Welcome to Maria Shokpeka, who joined our team on November 30, 2020 as the new executive assistant to the dean.

The college welcomes back Dr. Christine Leong from her research and study leave.

We welcome on board Sylvie Backman as the experiential education administrative assistant. Sylvie takes on Robyn Holliday’s role as Robyn moves on to another position within the university.

We welcome Jillian Hardy, who has joined the college on a part-time basis. Jillian will be supporting the PharmD bridging program, as well as curriculum development in the pharmacoeconomics area.

Dr. Samantha Pauls has joined the College as an assistant professor, starting in February, 2021. Her focus will be on graduate professional development for the RFHS and will also contribute to teaching, research and service at the College of Pharmacy.

Jennifer Shaw will be joining us and supporting our college as our senior finance officer as we wish Mark Boiteau the best in his new role with Shared Health.

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Student award-winners

The College of Pharmacy is pleased to share that graduate students Donica Janzen and Uma Yakandawala have received the Rady Faculty Dean’s Prize. Read more in UM Today.

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First PharmD experiential rotation in a community pharmacy

The PharmD Class of 2023 completed the first Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) for Community Pharmacies in January 2021.

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Three minute thesis competition

Congratulations to MSc. graduate student Noushin Ahmadpour (advisor: College of Pharmacy assistant professor Dr. Jill Stobart) who won her heat at the UM Faculty of Graduate Studies Three-Minute Thesis Competition. She was tasked with explaining her thesis, “Astroglial NMDA receptor signalling and modulation of cortical neuron activity,” for a general audience in 3 minutes. 

Noushin advances to the finals against 8 other students on April 21, 2021.

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Canadian Association of Pharmacy Students and Interns updates

Over the past several months, University of Manitoba students had the opportunity to compete at a variety of Canadian Association of Pharmacy Students and Interns (CAPSI) competitions and receive awards or recognition.

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CanU

Despite pandemic lockdowns preventing us from having in-person programming, CanU continued online, educating and inspiring the next generation of pharmacists! This last term we held three sessions, presenting to children from Grades 5 - 9.

During the sessions we covered topics such as cold, flu and COVID-19, headaches, and what do pharmacists do? All sessions were well attended and CanU Canada is excited to have more pharmacy workshops this winter term.

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Panel discussion on recognizing and responding to burnout

On November 18, 2020, CAPSI held a wellness panel on recognizing and responding to burnout for students in the college as part of CAPSI National’s wellness weeks.

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CAPSI-UMPhSA holiday fundraiser

This holiday season, Rebecca Zimmer inspired students and staff to give back to the community. The students held two different campaigns, holiday hampers and cards for care. The UMSU holiday hampers provided food to university students in need over the holiday season and students raised a total of $1,670 to support this cause. Students also made holiday cards for the residents of St. Amant Centre, ensuring each resident received a holiday greeting during the festive season. Some faculty and staff also contributed to both these initiatives.

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University of Manitoba Pharmacy Student’s Association updates

On January 14, 2021, the College of Pharmacy participated in its annual career fair. Due to COVID-19, the format of our annual career fair was different in comparison to previous years and it was held in a virtual format for the first time ever.

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Pharmacy students participate in podcast

College of Pharmacy students are collaborating with Let’s Talk Science on a new podcast called “The Pharm Survival Guide.”

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New student initiative: Graduate mentorship program

The need for graduate student support was brought to the attention of the College of Pharmacy Graduate Student Council during the initial months of the pandemic. Based on input from graduate students in the College of Pharmacy, a peer mentorship program was developed over the summer and was launched in October 2020.

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Annual pharmacoepidemiology workshop

The ISPE/ISPOR University of Manitoba student chapters hosted the fourth annual pharmacoepidemiology workshop on November 26-27, 2020.

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College of Pharmacy Research and Graduate Studies Celebration

The College is pleased to be holding the College of Pharmacy Research and Graduate Studies Celebration virtually on March 31, 2021. We will celebrate our students’ and research achievements. This event will include student awards, poster presentations, and the 2021 College of Pharmacy Faiman Lecture.

Rady Alumni Weekend

The Rady Alumni Weekend will take place virtually September 18-19, 2021. If you are an alumnus from the Class of 1971, 1981, 1996 and 2011, and are interested in an on-line reunion with your classmates, please connect with Darcy Routledge at Darcy.Routledge@umanitoba.ca to find out more.

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