Binghamton’s new pharmacy school to ‘take profession to new level’

The soon-to-open Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences will take the profession to a new level, founding dean Dr. Gloria Meredith told attendees at the joint Innovation/BU symposium on change management for pharmacy operations earlier this month.



“We're not going to be just another pharmacy school,” she said. “The idea is to create something unique; something that will impact the profession.”



Scheduled to open in May 2017 in the Johnson City Health Science and Technology Innovation Park in Johnson City, N.Y., just west of Binghamton, N.Y., the pharmacy school will include three departments — pharmaceutical science, health outcomes and administrative sciences and pharmacy practice. Meredith said she expects enrollment in the four-year PharmD program to range between 85 and 90 students a year. In addition, there will be 30 to 50 students working toward a PhD. Classes start in August 2017.



The school will have 32 faculty members, she said — 17 in the pharmaceutical science and health outcomes department and 15 clinical faculty members.



With pharmacy continuing to evolve, courses at the BU school will focus on the changing aspects of the profession, immersing students in the latest practices and technologies, and giving them exposure to course work and outside experiences that will position them as central players in the healthcare system of the future.



“Our goal is to establish an internationally recognized pharmaceutical sciences research program and train the next generation of pharmacists [to be] well-versed in drug development, prescription and patient monitoring, and health outcomes,” Meredith said.



For example, she noted, the school will focus on the development and implementation of emerging technologies in the drug development pipeline, including biomarkers, preclinical efficacy and innovations in clinical trial design and conduct. In addition, she said she expects the school to work closely with nonprofit groups and for-profit companies.



As evidence-based medicine becomes the underlying principal of American health care, and pharmacy moves from being a product-based system to one that is knowledge-based, classes will focus on such clinical practices as health information technology, rural health, telehealth and preparing for the day when pharmacists have provider status.



Meredith said that students will receive robust rotations, working in retail settings, acute care hospitals, home infusion sites and specialty pharmacies. In addition, there will be an emphasis on interprofessional education with pharmacy students working closely with schools of nursing, social work and the SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y.



The ultimate goal, Meredith said, is to ensure that as pharmacists continue to play a more central role in the nation's healthcare system, BU graduates are fully prepared for what lies ahead.



“Pharmacies are embracing new technologies, especially pharmacy automation,” she said. “These things have to be introduced at some stage of the pharmacy education.”



Innovation executives were ecstatic about the new school being right in their backyard. They said it will enable their teams to gain an up-close understanding of pharmacy duties — for example, non-productivity centric activities, such as medicinal and therapeutic practices; practice compliance and dynamics; socioeconomic attributes, etc. — and actively participate in the pharmacist development process. This will result in new insights and opportunities, and potentially facilitate customer recruitment and Innovation staffing needs, including internships.