Thursday, March 30, 2017
Two faculty members from UMES’ School of Pharmacy were among headliners who shared their expertise at an international conference of pharmacists and educators held last month in India.
Dean Rondell E. Allen was a keynote speaker at the event held at the Chalapathi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (CIPS). The institute and UMES agreed in September 2016 to participate in mutual academic exchange opportunities starting this year.
“The agreement,” Allen said, “will allow for student and faculty exchanges and research collaboration with our pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy practice and administration faculty.”
He and Dr. Yen H. Dang, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice, were featured prominent in the two-day conference. Dang was responsible for conducting two plenary sessions at the event that drew some 1,000 participants, including students and college-level educators.
Allen said CIPS invited (UMES) to co-organize the conference, which focused on “New Insights of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics: (A) Roadmap to Harmonization of Pharmacy Education in India.”
“We participated in a health fair with (CIPS) students and faculty,” Allen said. “We also had a chance to tour one of their government hospitals.”
During that tour, Dang and Allen met with the chief medical officer and several physicians. Interactions with physicians, Allen said, was enlightening because “they gave us a better understanding of their health care system.”
UMES’ School of Pharmacy is “planning to take two of their pharmacy students in (this) October to complete a rotation,” Allen said, adding “we also plan to send two of our students to India as well.”