Sharks RX Spring 2015 Magazine

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY r 23 COLLEGE OF PHARMACY 2015 STUEY NOMINEES The Student Life Achievement Awards, affectionately known as the STUEYS, honor members of the NSU community who represent the university’s core values. Each college nominates its own finalists for the STUEYS. A winner from each category is then selected by a university-appointed committee and the overall winner in that category is chosen during an annual awards event. Here were the College of Pharmacy’s nominees for the 16th annual STUEYS. • Student of the Year: Danielle Lerch, Class of 2016 • Executive of the Year: Goar Alvarez, Pharm.D., C.Ph. , assistant dean, Pharmacy Services • Administrator of the Year: Michelle A. Clark, Ph.D., chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences • Student Government of the Year: College of Pharmacy Student Government Association • Staff Person of the Year: Valentina Garcia, administrative assistant, Sociobehavioral and Administrative Pharmacy • Graduate Student Organization of the Year: Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) • Corporate Partner of the Year: Target Corporation • Professor of the Year: Ana Maria Castejon, Ph.D., associate professor • Cocurricular Adviser of the Year: Antonia Zapantis, M.S., Pharm.D., BCPS, assistant professor, director of Experiential Education, Student Society of Health-System Pharmacy (SSHP) Adviser • Alumnus of the Year: Richard Ashworth, Pharm.D., president, Pharmacy and Retail Operations, Walgreens Co. • Regional Campus Student of the Year: Jaimie Velasquez RESEARCHER DISCOVERS CERTAIN ARB DRUGS ARE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN OTHERS Millions of people take angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) to help treat heart failure. But not all ARBs are created equally, according to one NSU researcher’s findings. Anastasios Lymperopoulos, Ph.D., FAHA, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at NSU’s College of Pharmacy, along with his research team, conducted a study on biological models over a seven-day period that found Valsartan (Diovan) and Candesartan (Atacand) were more effective than Irbesartan (Aprovel, Karvea, and Avapro) at preventing the increased pro- duction of the hormone aldosterone, which, if untreated, can lead to heart failure. “This can help cardiologists and other clinicians tremendously when they are deciding which ARB drug to choose for the treat- ment of heart failure patients,” Lymperopoulos said. The research team consisted of Lymperopoulos’s lab team at COP; another team led by Patricia McDonald, Ph.D., at Scripps Florida; and the lab team of Walter J. Koch, Ph.D., at Temple University in Philadelphia. Their findings are published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American College of Cardiology (Vol. 64, No. 25, 2014) in an article titled “Different Potencies of Angiotensin Receptor Blockers at Suppressing Adrenal β-Arrestin1-Dependent Post- Myocardial Infarction Hyperaldosteronism.” Results of the study are also published in Scientific Reports (Vol. 5, Jan. 29, 2015), a journal of the Nature Publishing Group, in an article titled “Suppression of Adrenal β -Arrestin1-Dependent Aldosterone Production by ARBs: Head-to-Head Comparison.” The work was partially supported by an American Heart Association grant. n