April 24, 2018The UIC College of Pharmacy is pleased to announce that Samantha Spencer, Clinical Assistant Professor, has received the 2018 Frederick P. Siegel Innovative Teaching Award. The award recognizes faculty who have developed an innovative teaching or learning strategy. Dr. Spencer was selected for her incorporation team-based and group activities, coupled with independent, self-paced learning, in teaching drug information. Her approach was considered both innovative and consistent with ACPE standards to use teaching/learning methods to actively engage learners, foster collaborative learning, and promote student responsibility for self-directed learning.

March 30, 2018Katie Ozenberger, a PSOP graduate student, will be spending 2 months in Jordan working with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency on a project that will incorporate geospatial and drug utilization methods to identify populations most at-risk for experiencing barriers in accessing primary care services and essential medicines in refugee communities in Jordan.

March 28, 2018A study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry is the first to describe a signaling pathway that affects communication — a process called quorum sensing — between Streptococcus bacteria cells. In extreme cases, or when bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, these common but serious infections can lead to death. “Quorum sensing is how bacteria regulate their behavior as a collective,” said Michael Federle, corresponding author on the study. “This social regulation may provide many benefits to bacteria and, in the case of bad bacteria, may help promote survival and help defend against the immune system.”