The weather was perfect and the spirits were high as the CU Pharmacy Alumni Association welcomed graduates back to campus for the Pathways from the Past Luncheon. The event was the brainchild of CU Alumni Board President Harold Okocha, PharmD. It was a way to allow alumni who may have graduated from the pharmacy program back when it was located on the CU Boulder Campus or the CU Health Sciences Campus, to come see the new pharmacy building and tour the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
“Younger graduates may not even be aware that from 1911 to 1992 CU Pharmacy was physically located on the Boulder Campus. Then from ‘92 to 2008 we were on the CU Health Sciences Campus in Denver,” Dr. Okocha said. “For many of these alumni, it was the first time to set foot in the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences building on the medical campus.”
New Campus
Although this was the first time that many of the attendees had been inside the pharmacy building, they all knew to look for the wall of graduates. CU Pharmacy has a long tradition of displaying the graduating class photos dating back to 1962. After finding their classmates' photos on the wall – and commenting on the hairstyle changes over the years – the participants enjoyed a catered lunch on the fourth floor of the pharmacy building.
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During lunch, Dean Ralph Altiere presented an overview of the School’s accomplishments over the last several decades. He noted particular challenges over the years, like the dramatic state funding cutbacks of the early 2000s and the more recent challenges presented by the pandemic. According to Dean Altiere, each barrier only proved to be a catalyst for the School to reimagine new ways to grow and remain relevant.
Some of the School successes that the Dean highlighted included the launching of the nation’s only fully online PharmD program back in 1994, securing more than $10 million from the ALSAM Foundation and the Skaggs family, and starting numerous new pharmacy and pharmaceutical science programs.
But perhaps some of the most exciting updates that alumni heard about were the more recent advances, which included the creation of the Center for Drug Discovery and the establishment of the first Endowed Chair in Translational Research.
New Therapies
It only made sense, therefore, for the new Endowed Chair Christina Aquilante, PharmD, to serve as one of the keynote speakers for the event. Pharmacogenomics wasn’t even a specialty when many of these alumni graduated, but it’s the area where Dr. Aquilante spends most of her time. Pharmacogenomics, or PGx for short, is often called personalized medicine. It’s the science of studying an individual’s unique DNA makeup for the purpose of prescribing drugs and treatments which work best with their individual genes.
Aquilante explained how the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus partners with UC Health Hospital to gather patient samples which become part of one of the largest biobanks in the nation. Researchers then use this DNA biobank to integrate predictive and personalized medicine into the existing healthcare delivery systems. According to Aquilante, this CU partnership has returned more results than any other biobank in the world, leading to better, more customized treatments for patients within the UC Health system.
New Perspectives
In addition to learning about the patient-centered advancements happening within personalized medicine, alumni got to see, first-hand, what the next generation of pharmacy professionals look like. Anna G. Figueroa, who just received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree this May, talked about her path from the classroom to the research lab.
When Dr. Figueroa joined CU Pharmacy, she knew that she wanted to focus on research. Through her Honors Program research, she found herself to the lab of Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Manisha Patel, PhD. With Dr. Patel, Figueroa started researching the role that metabolism could play in Dravet syndrome, a particularly severe form of epilepsy. Their research ended up delivering first-of-its-kind findings that could help pave the way for future treatment options for children and their families struggling with this disease.
Figueroa’s presentation not only fascinated the audience but also assured the alumni that the future of CU Pharmacy is, indeed, in very good hands.
New Sights
The afternoon event ended with a tour of the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, where alumni had the opportunity to tour the new Anschutz Health Sciences Center and stop by the Research Pharmacy, operated by the School of Pharmacy.
The next Pharmacy Alumni Association event is the annual Alumni Awards Ceremony scheduled for Nov. 6. Nominations are currently being accepted for the Horizon Alumni Award, the Alumni Impact Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award. All CU Pharmacy Alumni are encouraged to make nominations using this form. Nominations will remain open until June 30. 2025. Learn more about the Pharmacy Alumni Association here.
