An assistant professor in Mercer University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has been awarded the New Pharmacy Faculty Research Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. The $10,000 grant provides start-up funding for research programs of junior faculty at U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy.
Kathryn M. Momary, who joined Mercer’s pharmacy practice faculty in 2007, will use her award to support research in cardiovascular pharmacogenomics. Her study examines the correlations among smoking, genetics and how patients respond to the commonly prescribed cardiovascular medication Plavix.
Tribute to a nurse: A scholarship honoring the late Brenau University alumna Lisha Carnes Page has been established to benefit students with roots in Gwinnett and Hall counties who study nursing at Brenau.
Page, who died last year at age 50, grew up in Hall County and graduated from Johnson High School. At the time of her death, she was a nurse with Gwinnett County schools. Her colleagues in the Gwinnett school system, other nurses in the county, and her husband, Marty, collaborated to create the scholarship fund.
The need-based scholarship is for nursing students who maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average and have ties to Gwinnett County — preferably graduates of the Gwinnett County School System. However, graduates of Gainesville and Hall County public schools are also eligible. The scholarship will benefit undergraduate nursing students who embody Page’s leadership skills and her involvement in community and campus activities.
To contribute to the scholarship fund, contact the GCPS Foundation Fund (678-301-7287, www.gcps-foundation.org) or the Brenau University Alumni Scholarship Fund (770-534-6160, www.brenau.edu/gift.)
New dean/old dean: Dr. E. Andrew Balas has been named dean of the College of Allied Health Sciences at Georgia Health Sciences University. He will join GHSU June 15.
Balas, former dean of the College of Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, served as a Congressional Fellow for the U.S. Senate Public Health and Safety Subcommittee, where he drafted the Healthcare Quality Enhancement Act of 1999 that first achieved government action on reducing errors in health care.
Dr. Peter F. Buckley, interim dean of the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta since August 2010, has been named dean of the college.
Buckley, a psychiatrist whose expertise includes leadership development and planning, served on the Association of American Medical College’s Leadership Selection and Development Task Forces from 2008-10.
OT’s new home: The occupational therapy department at Brenau University held a grand opening in February at its new 19,000-square-foot facility on the Brenau East campus in Gainesville.
The new occupational therapy wing of Brenau East is about 10 times the size of the department’s previous base. The state-of-the-art facility includes “smart” classrooms and seminar rooms, 15 offices and three observation/practice laboratories.
Nursing awards: The Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta recently presented Cara Brown and Melissa Schinck with the Laura Snitzer-Boozer Nursing Award. The award honors nurses who have demonstrated professional excellence and leadership in pediatric cancer care and provides financial support for continued education in oncology.
The award is given in memory of Snitzer-Boozer, an Aflac Cancer Center nurse who died in 1999. Brown and Schinck will receive a scholarship to attend a nursing conference.
Two more nurses — Erin Connelly and Cindy Couture — were honored with the 2010 Continuing Education Award.
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