More space for UM’s School of Pharmacy

Posted: 7:08 pm Tue, October 5, 2010
By Ben Mook
Daily Record Business Writer

After nearly two years in the works, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy officially opened its new $85.8 million state-of-the-art addition on Tuesday.

At seven stories high, the new Pharmacy Hall, as it’s known, was designed to complement the old 80,000-square-foot pharmacy school building, while adding 66,115 square feet of research and education space.

Construction on the $62 million building began in 2008 after the Maryland General Assembly approved funding. The state allocated an additional $20 million for scientific and technological equipment, including classrooms wired for distance learning.

“The practice of pharmacy today is evolving and we have to play a bigger role in affecting patient care,” said Natalie D. Eddington, dean of the School of Pharmacy. “That’s what this addition is designed for; it gives us the opportunity to expand the innovative approach we have toward teaching our students.”

The new Pharmacy Hall adds two 200-seat lecture halls as well as 80-seat and 76-seat lecture halls. The School of Pharmacy has 640 students this semester.

Howard Schiff, executive director of the Maryland Pharmacists Association, said the addition is designed to handle the changing role of pharmacists in the health care system. Schiff said the school’s focus on areas like training students to carry out clinical examinations of patients is crucial for future pharmacists.

“Pharmacists are trained now to do much more than just dispense medication,” Schiff said. “This is where the profession is heading.”

Schiff said the expansion should also help address a forecasted shortage in the number of pharmacists in the state and nationwide. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will 105,800 job openings due to growth and replacement needs between 2008 and 2010.

“In the coming years there are going to be a lot more seniors, and they’re going to be on medication, and you’re going to have a shortage of primary care physicians,” Schiff said.

Other schools in Maryland have prepared to meet the expected shortage by creating pharmacy programs. The University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, created a pharmacy degree program that took its first students in August. The College of Notre Dame of Maryland’s School of Pharmacy opened in August 2009.

University of Maryland pharmacy school students taking classes at the Universities of Shady Grove also will benefit from the expanded facilities. Much of the technology in the lecture halls was designed to enable long-distance learning students at the Montgomery County campus to follow along in real-time via cameras, speakers and microphones throughout the lecture halls.

The new laboratory named the “Fred Lab,” in the addition allowed the school to pay homage to long-time faculty member Alfred Abramson. The words “Fred Lab” are emblazoned on the outside of the area that houses a model pharmacy, drug storage area and a new robotic drug-dispensing unit.

“He [Abramson] always taught the pharmacy lab class, and that’s how everyone knew it, as ‘Fred’s Lab,’” Eddington said. “So, we decided we should just go and call it that since that is how the students have always known it.”

The addition is expected to help bolster research at the School of Pharmacy. Eddington said as the school settles into the new space, the goal is to add more faculty and staff to beef up research. She said the anticipated increase in research could generate an estimated $14.9 million annually, adding to the $15 million they see now.