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Dr. Hieu T. Tran
In response to the
national shortage of pharmacists, on October 10, 2005, the Sullivan
University System Board of Directors approved the establishment of a new
College of Pharmacy at the Sullivan University Louisville campus.
The Pharmacy Manpower
Project has estimated that by the year 2020, there will be a shortfall
of 157,000 pharmacists to fill all the needed positions in the United
States. According to the aggregate demand index by state (on a scale of
1 to 5, with 5 being the highest demand), the Kentucky and Indiana
demand indexes were 4.56 and 4.25, respectively, as reported in the
month of April 2007.
A national search for
the Founding Dean of the new Sullivan University College of Pharmacy was
launched, and Dr. Hieu T. Tran was selected. He began this position
effective October 10, 2006. Dr. Tran earned his Pharm.D. at the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1993 with honors. He completed a
Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 1995 at Hartford Hospital and the University
of Connecticut. Dr. Tran has been a vital part of the start-up of two
Colleges of Pharmacy in the recent past: he was recently the founding
Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at a new pharmacy school in
Erie, Pennsylvania. He was instrumental in that institution being
accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).
Prior to that, Dr. Tran was Head, Clinical & Pharmacy program, Education
& Research for three hospitals in Delaware.
President Glenn
Sullivan recently announced the “Home” for the Sullivan University
College of Pharmacy. It will be located on a 5.6 acre campus, directly
adjacent to the Sullivan University main campus, which the University
leadership acquired on April 23, 2007. This new campus property
currently holds a modern 60,000 sq. ft. office building which will be
available to the College of Pharmacy, as required, to meet all
foreseeable growth needs over the next period of years. A totally new
addition will be constructed and attached to the current building which
will add an additional 18,000 sq. ft. of space. This new building will
house two 100-seat multi-media equipped auditoriums, a compounding
laboratory, two research laboratories for future faculty research, the
College of Pharmacy’s Admissions Office, and other related academic
space. The College of Pharmacy Administration, faculty and support
personnel will have offices in the current office building which will be
totally redesigned to meet the COP needs. This facility will also house
smaller conference classrooms and related College facilities. The COP
will initially occupy 30,000 sq. ft. of space in the two connected
buildings with an additional 48,000 sq. ft. of space available to the
COP for any needed growth. The total complex will have over 78,000 sq.
ft. of space.
The College of Pharmacy
applied for Pre-Candidate Status with ACPE on May 1, 2007, and has been
invited to meet with the ACPE Board of Directors on June 22, 2007. The
next two phases in the ACPE accreditation process are the Application
for Candidate Status (students from the Charter Class will be able to
sit for the Board exam when the College is granted this status), and the
Application for Full Accreditation, which will be submitted after the
graduation of the Charter Class of 2011.
The
Mission of
the Sullivan University College of Pharmacy is to prepare General
Practitioners and Clinical Scientists who will be able to:
- Provide outstanding, ethical, and
empathetic pharmacy care
- Serve the health care needs of the community, a
diverse population, and the individual patient.
- Expand
the scope of practice of pharmacy in community settings, hospitals,
managed care facilities, and government agencies.
- Be
compassionate patient advocates and leaders in their communities,
professional associations, and scholarly
research through:
-
Student-centered pedagogical experiences
enriched with services and professional extra-curricular activities
-
Cutting edge education with highly qualified
faculty in a modern facility
-
Symbiotic
and synergistic inter-professional collaboration in education,
practice and research.
-
Strong commitment to life-long education and
participation in professional associations.
-
Proficiency in technology and pharmacy informatics.
-
Communication with
and understanding of diversity and those from other cultures.
The Doctor of Pharmacy
program will be an accelerated program (“2+3”). Students, after
obtaining pharmacy pre-requisites, can apply to the program and finish
their professional training within 3 calendar years. This accelerated
program will provide a more rapid supply of pharmacists to respond to
the shortage, as well as provide a big plus for students as they can
graduate one year earlier, save one year of tuition, and enter the
workforce one year earlier than the traditional 4-academic-year student.
The program is designed
based on a very innovative curriculum to capture the trend of the
profession and to prepare the graduate for the next generation of the
drug industry (e.g., pharmacogenomics, communication and collaborative
skills). Students will go to class 4 days a week with Fridays reserved
for remediation, advising, professional activities, and rest (when
everything else is completed).
We have hired a
complete team of highly-trained administrators and faculty, who are
coming from well-respected institutions in the country, to assure the
delivery of a superior program in a modern institution.
Our Charter Class of
2011 will admit 65 students, with an addition of 10 seats with each
successive year until we achieve a class size of 95 students. Our
Charter Class is planned to start in July 2008 pending approval from
ACPE of the Pre-Candidate status. |
