As many of us prepare to head back to our building on a more regular schedule, I want to return to some things I said during Monday’s All-College Town Hall: Wear your mask, physically distance, wash your hands, maintain your social circles; but also practice self-care, take a breath and don’t panic.
We have all been affected by what is happening in our world right now. No matter your politics, religion, or identity, this is a difficult time. Let’s not pretend otherwise. Instead, let’s be patient with each other, offering the benefit of the doubt, and working to live well together. Let’s recognize the stresses we are all feeling and make an effort to understand what the people around us need to feel safe and valued.
As we make our way through to who we want to be in the midst of this, we must remind ourselves that being good is important. It is what truly sets us apart. We must continue to come together and take care of each other. To have a culture of inclusion and a community that supports one another, we must be intentional. It is on all of us to do the work. We must recognize the unique burdens each person in our community carries and act to support each person, according to their unique needs, simply because it matters to us that they are okay.
I also want to remind you to maintain your in-person social circles, whatever that looks like, for two reasons. First, to reduce exposure—the one way we’re sure to prevent COVID-19. Maintaining a limited group of regular in-person contacts and being mindful of the people who you are in regular contact with, minimizes your and their unnecessary exposure. And if one of you becomes sick, it controls spread.
But equally important, maintaining your social circles ensures you can still connect with people—to your, and their benefit. Regularly take the time to see how others are doing and to let them know how you are. Have fun together and work together. I believe we can come out of this as a stronger, more cohesive community that fights for the needs of the people around us.
The priority of my team and me is to keep you safe. Because of this, many of our people are working from home, our classes have switched to a hybrid model, our community spaces look different, and we’ve moved all meetings to Zoom. We are also very focused on minimizing the impact of these changes on your work and wellbeing. We will continue to be as transparent as possible so that you are aware of changes in our situation.
In the next two weeks, we have 30,000 people coming back to campus during a pandemic. No one has done this before. We want things to run as smoothly as possible, and we’re figuring our way through this right along with you. We’ve run through multiple scenarios and have a few different plans in place if things change. But, I am sure that we will have to make changes on the fly because we cannot predict every possible outcome. It is times like this that I’m grateful for the infectious disease expertise within this College. We’ll continue to adapt based on data as it becomes available. Drs. Martin, Romanelli, and I are here if you have questions.
This Sunday our College turns 150 years old, which is a testament to the people who came before us, but also to you. We couldn’t do what we do without you. You are part of this College’s legacy. So, make sure to celebrate that. It is one more reason to not only survive through the pandemic but find ways and reasons to thrive and enjoy life.
We’ll keep getting through this together,
Kip
R. Kip Guy
Dean & Professor
UK College of Pharmacy
P.S. Starting on August 14, you’ll see “Happy 150th UKCOP” on a lawn sign outside our building on South Limestone. Make sure to tag the College in your photos so we can celebrate together (even if it’s online).
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KIP'S CORNER
Reading
Listening
Eating
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RECENT WINS
- We now have 12 alumni who are serving as deans at U.S. colleges of pharmacy! The most recent, Samuel Poloyac (PharmD 1995, PhD 1999) appointed Dean of UT Austin’s College of Pharmacy.
- A tiny plant that may treat several types of cancer and COVID-19? Faculty member Jill Kolesar discusses how ‘Sweet Annie’ could make an impact in this article.
- Taylor Elliott (Class of 2021) and faculty member Joe Fink recently discussed COVID-19 and telehealth in Pharmacy Times.
- Ryan Mynatt, R357 (PharmD 2008), is an infectious disease pharmacist at UKHC and offers guidance on seeking medical care related to a tick bite.
- Bob James (PharmD 2006), Director of Medical Affairs at US WorldMeds, featured in a piece announcing a partnership that will help address the opioid crisis in the context of COVID-19.
- Kris Preston (BSPharm 95, PharmD 2004) featured in Holler Back! podcast.
- Allison Butts, R422 (PharmD 2013) discusses the APHINITY Trial during the Pharmacy Times’ Directions in Oncology Pharmacy Insights.
- James Blackmer (PharmD 2017) and Doug Oyler (PharmD 2010) talk about the implementation of an opioid stewardship program at an academic medical center on the ASHP podcast.
- This summer, our grad students have started up Coffee Conversations with our PhD alumni. You can view all their online conversations in the new alumni feature portion of our website.
- Emma Uchida (PharmD 2019) published an AJHP paper on how pharmacy residents are rising to the challenge during the COVID-19-pandemic.
- Eric Nybo (PhD 2011) was recently awarded a cancer research grant from the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Center Institute.
RESEARCH WINS
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards $11.2 million for pharmaceutical research innovation at UKCOP thanks, in part, to efforts by Alla Arnold, Linda Dwoskin, Mark Leggas, Jon Thorson, Dave Watt, Tonya Vance, Vince Venditto, Chang-Guo Zhan and several additional COBRE project mentors and research core staff from the College.
- Approximately $11.8 million in funding from the NIH was awarded to a research team led by Chang-Guo Zhan and Fang Zheng to further substance use disorder research.
- Mark Leggas, Jürgen Rohr, and Oleg Tsodikov received $3 million in NIH funding to develop new treatments targeting Ewing Sarcoma.
- Bjoern Bauer received $2.9 million in NIH funding for novel therapeutic strategies to resolve neurovascular inflammation and repair blood-brain barrier dysfunction in epilepsy.
- Congrats to Joe Chappell on being awarded patent #10,738,328 for “method and system for terpene production platforms in yeast.”
NEW HIRES & AUGUST ANNIVERSARIES
- Welcome to Dr. Pan Deng, who joined the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy as a Research Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
- Vince Venditto (PS faculty) - 5 years
- Trenika Mitchell (PPS faculty) - 15 years
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QUICK UPDATES
Please consider getting your flu vaccine sooner rather than later. Many symptoms of the flu overlap with COVID-19 and your immunization will help keep our people safe.
UK Work-Life Events is offering sessions on parenting, elder care, caregiver burnout, and more via Zoom.
Holiday accruals are loaded for the Labor Day (7152) holiday on Monday, September 7, 2020. Please submit your leave requests for this holiday.
Virtual White Coat Ceremony will take place on August 21 at 3 p.m. We will live-stream the event on YouTube, and student participants will receive a separate Zoom link to attend. More details next week.
Research Lunch & Learn Series. On August 16 at 1:00 p.m. Lisa Cassis, will present on the state of UK’s research, looking at our resources and infrastructure. Join via Zoom.
Single-Day Parking Permits are available for faculty, staff, and students. More information is online.
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TESTING & WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Is the University tracking positive cases and where can I view this information? Yes. UKY COVID-19 testing results will be maintained on UK's website. Individual results should be returned in 24-48 hours, although the website is not updating in real-time. UK is aware of current delays in relaying results to individuals and is working to remedy.
What happens if a student tests positive? If a student tests positive, they will be contacted and connected to contact tracers and case managers in the UK Health Corps who will provide them with the support and resources needed for recovery. Those students will be expected to self-isolate and should not continue in any face-to-face student activities until cleared by health officials. Other contacts of positive students may be asked to quarantine. No action is required or expected on the part of individual faculty or staff who become aware of students who test positive or who are asked to quarantine.
How are people notified of positive cases? Official notification and recommended action steps will come from the assigned contact tracers who would formally reach out to affected faculty or staff, should that be the appropriate course of action. For questions about testing, tracing, and related support on campus, reach out to UK Health Corps at 859-218-SAFE. Per University guidelines, faculty members are asked to appropriately accommodate those students who are required to isolate or quarantine.
Is there an infection threshold that the University must hit in order to initiate a lockdown? There is no defined threshold, closing the University is a decision made only by the President, not the College.
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