University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy

11/19/2025

Alumna Kate Gainer (PharmD ‘04) has served as the CEO of the Iowa Pharmacy Association (IPA) since 2012, passing monumental legislation, strengthening partnerships, and growing membership during her 14 years in the position.

This year, she's decided to take a step back and consider her next opportunity.

"In stepping down from this position, I am not immediately starting a new role. With intention, I am taking a professional pause," she says.

Find more thoughts from Gainer and other alumni updates in Class Notes: https://bit.ly/4nkWwpz

Stay in touch with UW–Madison School of Pharmacy alumni across the country by checking Fall 2025 Class Notes.

11/18/2025

As Wisconsin’s new provider status opens doors for pharmacists statewide, alum Eric Geurkink (PharmD ’99), clinical pharmacy specialist at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, points to the VA model as a preview of what’s possible. When physicians rely on pharmacists to manage targeted aspects of care, patient wait times drop and medical teams can focus on the cases that most need their attention.

“Patients deserve this efficient, streamlined care,” he says. “And pharmacists are ready and able to provide it.” https://bit.ly/3WBBPuu

11/17/2025

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Heather Barkholtz on being selected as a 2025–26 STRIDE Scholar through the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research! This early career faculty program will help her expand her mentor network and support her ongoing success: https://bit.ly/3Xyt7xz

Most recently, Barkholtz has been studying how cannabis products affect road safety. In one study, participants took a dose of Delta-8, Delta-9, or a placebo and then drove in a simulator.

“They were involved in a head-on crash in a simulation, but they said, ‘I did fine,’" she says. "There’s a disconnect, which is really concerning from a traffic safety perspective."

Read more on WPR: https://bit.ly/4i14rHk

11/17/2025

“I love this job,” says Jim Olson (BS '71). “I’ll serve as a pharmacist as long as I possibly can. My philosophy has always been to roll with the punches and do the best job you can.”

For half a century, alum he and his family have run Yellow River Pharmacy, a community staple in rural Wisconsin and a training ground for future pharmacists. And it all started with a chance meeting during a hunting trip in the Northwoods.

Discover the story behind this enduring legacy: https://bit.ly/3Xx3AES

11/14/2025

Even as undergraduates, the School's Pharmacology and Toxicology students are leading exciting research projects! The School recently held its second-annual FlashTox event, giving PharmTox students the chance to share their innovative and impactful science and healthcare-related experiences.

The event featured an impressive slate of student research projects, spanning vaccine research and environmental toxins to lung cancer, including:

⭐ Leslie Gray — Anion exchange chromatography, quantification of polysaccharides after hydrolysis in upstream vaccine samples

⭐ Solita Kaster — Screening SARS-CoV-2 relative NL63 Inhibiting Prospective Probiotic Compound Cytotoxicity

⭐ Halle Rezin — Generating γ-hydroxy β-methyl Amino Acids by Expanding the Substrate Scope of a Decarboxylative Aldolase

⭐ Katie Dickrell — Engineering isoprenoid synthesis pathways into Z. mobilis

⭐ Nate Klitzke — Effects of environmental toxicant PCBs on bladder innervation

⭐ Nicole Ning — Evaluation of Environmental Enrichment and Psilocybin as Modulator of Behavioral and Neurobiological Outcomes in Rats

⭐ Caroline Mork — Development of a Novel Theranostic Agent Targeting MET in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

11/13/2025

When he was 2 years old, Chris Gitter (BS '20) went from running playfully around the house to struggling to drag himself around. A visit to the doctor found 18 hairline fractures up and down both of his legs — a discovery that would lead to his diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

After three years of treatment, he has remained cancer-free and motivated to pay it forward, healing families the way his was healed. After graduating from the School of Pharmacy, Gitter earned his MD and is now in the first year of an internal medicine residency at Duke.

"When you’re on the other side of that doctor-patient relationship, it changes your perspective, and I think it certainly makes me a better doctor,” he says.

Learn more about his journey from patient to provider: https://bit.ly/4h1hSXf

11/12/2025

The Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Response Center (WOORC) will continue its life-saving work for another year, thanks to a federal grant extension from SAMHSA!

In its first year, WOORC provided resources to more than 4,600 individuals across Wisconsin and worked with over 75 community pharmacies to distribute fentanyl and xylazine test strips, mail-back envelopes, and educational materials on reducing overdose risks to reach more than 185,000 Wisconsinites.

“Our approach to focus on community pharmacies and their staff to deliver critical, forward-thinking public health and patient safety solutions […] is effective and could be a model for other states,” says Associate Professor Cody Wenthur, a faculty co-founder and director of WOORC.

Learn how the funding extension will help: https://bit.ly/4i0BT0O

Wisconsin Opioid Overdose Response Center Receives a grant extension to expand pharmacy-based solutions to the overdose crisis.

11/11/2025

Alumna Brooke Foster (PharmD ’18) is reshaping pulmonary care at Froedtert Hospital by expanding pharmacist-led services for patients with cystic fibrosis, COPD, asthma, and complex biologic therapies.

“We’re trying to streamline getting people the right inhaler the first time," she says.

Learn more about how she's transforming care for patients with chronic lung disease, from building population health programs to guiding care teams through new treatment options: https://bit.ly/4pUlQFv

11/10/2025

'Tis the (respiratory virus) season!

Our first-year PharmD students are preparing to protect their communities by learning to administer vaccine injections, led by Professor Mary Hayney, resident Vito Lagioia, and third-year PharmD student Micaela Bakman.

11/10/2025

Through a new Research Forward grant from the University of Wisconsin-Madison supporting "high-risk, high-impact, and transformative" research, Professor Weiping Tang and collaborators are exploring how to degrade the protein aggregates linked to neurodegenerative diseases.

"It is extremely challenging to develop therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, but we’ll aim to make as much progress as possible," says Tang.

Learn about the team's new high-impact approach here: https://bit.ly/4i10rqA

11/07/2025

One of the best parts of being a Pharmacy Badger is belonging to a broad, interdisciplinary network that begins right here on campus.

Alongside the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Pharmacy joined a Health Sciences Welcome Reception to build community, connections, and support among faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Together is how Badgers move forward!

11/07/2025

Statistics show that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) disease burden is highest in Wisconsin’s most rural counties — where patients often live far from the needed specialty care.

With support from a Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Seed Grant, graduate student Sara Hernandez is piloting a pharmacist-powered intervention to improve rural patients' outcomes.

“Pharmacists play a unique role in these rural communities; they’re often one of the only health care providers in town,” says Hernandez.

See how she's been working with Wisconsin pharmacists: https://bit.ly/480ONbD