June 19, 2017
By Anna Herd
OXFORD, Miss. – The UM School of Pharmacy recognized four professors and researchers for their excellence in and commitment to service, research and teaching at the annual faculty and research scientist retreat on June 15.
Kristie Willett won the Instructional Innovation Award.
“Our faculty and scientists are consistently recognized externally for their efforts,” said David D. Allen, dean of the pharmacy school. “I was honored to present them with awards from the School of Pharmacy for their outstanding accomplishments.”
Kristie Willett, chair of the biomolecular sciences department, received the Faculty Instructional Innovation Award, which honors cutting-edge teaching techniques.
In one of Willett’s courses, she assigned a project that asked students to design solutions to environmental challenges using the fundamentals of research and critical thinking. Her goal was to connect classroom experience to current public interest issues.
Laurie Fleming won the 2017 Faculty Service Award.
Clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice Laurie Fleming received the Faculty Service Award. Each year this distinction is given to a faculty member who demonstrates exceptional service to students, the school or the profession.
Fleming is active in several state and national pharmacy organizations, having served as President-Elect, President and Past-President of the Mississippi Society of Health-System Pharmacists. She is committed to mentoring students and volunteers at the G.A. Carmichael Family Health Center in Canton.
Pharmaceutics professor S. Narasimha Murthy won the Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Researcher of the Year Award for his innovative research.
Meagen Rosenthal won the New Investigator of the Year Award.
Murthy investigates non-invasive drug delivery, looking specifically at improving transdermal drug delivery using electrical currents, as well as searches for new ways to deliver drugs to the brain intranasally.
Meagen Rosenthal, assistant professor of pharmacy administration, won the New Investigator Award, which recognizes a new faculty member who has made significant contributions to the school.
S. Narasimha Murthy won the Cumberland Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Researcher of the Year Award.
Rosenthal joined the School of Pharmacy in 2014. Since then, a paper she co-authored won a Best Paper Award from the journal, Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. In addition, she is the principal investigator for the project, “PaRTICIpate in Diabetes Self-Management Research Collaborative,” which aids diabetes patients in better managing their symptoms.
The faculty and research scientists also enjoyed a special performance by world-renowned pianist and UM Chancellor’s Honors College Artist-in-Residence, Bruce Levingston.