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Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Summer 2024

As our class of 2024 crossed the stage to receive their diplomas, I couldn't help but feel immense pride and joy at their tremendous accomplishments. This cohort's ability to adapt and thrive during unprecedented changes gives me great confidence they are the future leaders our profession needs. Meet some of our new graduates in our latest story.   

Additionally, I am deeply proud of the numerous national accolades our faculty, staff and alums achieved. We were named the #12 best pharmacy school in the nation (tie) by U.S. News & World Report—our highest ranking to date—and #7 in the nation for research funding awards according to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Read on to learn about our specific educational, clinical and research accomplishments. 

I am also looking forward to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy annual meeting, where our faculty and staff will present on pharmacy education best practices and more. If you are attending, you may be interested in viewing our onsite activities.

Thank you all for your continued support of our schooI and team, who continue to push boundaries and overcome hurdles to ensure the well-being and health of people around the world. I look forward to continuing to share updates on our accomplishments.

Brookie M. Best, Pharm.D., M.A.S. (she/her/hers)
Dean and Professor

Assistant Professor Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir provided guidance on how the United States can combat drug resistance globally at the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria's public meeting. The council's recommendations were summarized in a report provided to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine named Professor and Associate Dean of Admissions and Recruitment Rabia Atayee among the most influential leaders in hospice and palliative care. The organization asked its membership of more than 5,000 health care practitioners to nominate leaders in the field to receive this distinction.

We are proud to share we were named the #12 best pharmacy school in the nation according to U.S. News and World Report (tie)—our highest ranking to date. We were also honored to be the youngest school in the top 20 by more than a century. These rankings are based on a peer survey of more than 140 schools and programs.

Cementing our decade-long winning streak, Associate Professor Mark Bounthavong received the prestigious Distinguished Teaching Award from UC San Diego's Academic Senate. Awardees are selected for their innovative teaching methods, extraordinary level of teaching commitment and other criteria.

From matching to highly competitive residencies, securing prestigious industry fellowships and serving historically marginalized communities, we couldn’t be prouder of our class of 2024—and we can’t wait to see what they will achieve in the future. Read on to meet a few of our newest graduates and learn where they are heading next.

Featured on the cover of Science Signaling, a new study co-authored by Associate Professor Irina Kufareva reveals the cause of a cellular miscommunication involving proteins called GPCRs—the targets of around a third of all FDA-approved drugs. The discovery may improve the development of new medications and shed light on the origin of many human diseases.

Our faculty secured more than $34 million in grants from federal and non-federal sources, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NIH and other organizations, placing us #7 in the nation for research funding awards according to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. The funding will help eradicate malaria, protect breastfeeding infants and more. 

More than 100 high school students joined us for our annual Pharmacy Day, learning skills such as drug compounding and medication identification and discussing topics such immunization, drug delivery and more. This year’s event was our largest to date, involving six high schools that primarily serve southeastern San Diego and seven of our student groups.

Nearly 40 of our students attended the Western Pharmacy Exchange conference in Las Vegas, presenting posters, participating in the annual quiz bowl, networking and enjoying a school reception at Gordon Ramsay Burger in Planet Hollywood. Our dean, faculty members and preceptors also enjoyed facilitating networking opportunities for our students and connecting with school alums. 

Kenneth Bentum Otabil, Ph.D., is screening indigenous Ghanaian plants for anti-pathogen activities in collaboration with the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, led by Professor Conor Caffrey. His ultimate goal is to create safer medicines for neglected diseases and use this training to develop a center of drug discovery at his university, the University of Energy and Natural Resources.

In honor of Administrative Professionals Day, our talented administrative professionals were honored at a lunch at Bali Hai, a restaurant featuring stunning views of San Diego. We remain deeply grateful for their hard work supporting our students and faculty in our mission to educate future pharmacist and pharmaceutical scientist leaders, advance cutting-edge research and serve our community.

Our exceptional preceptors were honored at our Annual Preceptor Excellence and Recognition Awards Program (Note: Not all award winners are pictured). Awardees were selected based on student evaluations, evidence of strong, sustained preceptorship and overall support of our experiential program. 

More than 100 undergraduate students who are members of underrepresented groups joined us to explore career paths in healthcare at the Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) conference. This year’s event was the largest to date, and allowed students to hear from professionals who share their identity/identities, including our own faculty members and students.

Created by Assistant Professor Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir, the inaugural course launched this spring and was already enrolled at full capacity. Students learned how racism and social determinants of health together impact infectious disease treatment outcomes, and wrapped the class by developing a potential community-based participatory research study. 

In our latest alumni spotlight, we catch up with Kiana Keyvanjah, Pharm.D., ‘09, who currently works at Amgen as a medical director for early clinical development oncology. She shared more about her work in drug discovery and how her time at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences prepared her for her current role. 

Professor Inmaculada (Inma) Hernandez spoke to Fortune about how pharmacists improve health through both personal interactions with patients and expanding medication access.

NBC San Diego/Telemundo San Diego profiled one of our summer STEM programs that inspires low- and moderate-income, first-generation and underrepresented students to pursue careers in health science.

Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is committed to improving human health through inspired teaching, groundbreaking research and outstanding patient care. Gifts at every level help accelerate our life-saving research and strengthen our ability to train the next generation of pharmacists, pharmaceutical researchers and drug developers. 

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