Past EventNMBio Lunch and Learn: How The Education & Roles of NM Pharmacists Are Changing
The University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy has over a 75-year history of training pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists to improve the health of New Mexicans. It offers the Doctor of Pharmacy degree, MS and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, and, most recently, a Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences to provide workforce development for the expanding biomedical and pharmaceutical industry in New Mexico. Recent curricular changes are improving the critical thinking and problem-solving skills of its pharmacy students.
Donald A. Godwin, PhD, Dean and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the UNM College of Pharmacy will detail how faculty researchers are committed to improving the health of New Mexicans, especially the state’s most vulnerable populations, and tackling the world’s most challenging and pressing public health issues. Its faculty are engaged in diverse areas of research, from studies on an array of substance use disorders to cardiovascular disease, cancer, infectious disease, and pharmaceutical dosing formulation studies. Its scientists are problem solvers and hold over 55 active U.S. patents. Faculty inventions have led to multiple start-up companies that seek to provide clinicians worldwide with better diagnostic and monitoring technology for pneumonia, cystic fibrosis, and treatment of tuberculosis.
It ranks in the top tier of colleges of pharmacy in the country. In 2021, the College ranked 8th in the country (out of 141 pharmacy schools) in terms of NIH funding with over $16.2M. In 2022, that number increased to over $18.2M. Beyond the dollars, the college measures its research success by the positive impact it has on the people of New Mexico including research that examines the effect of substance use by pregnant women on the development of their children as well as the deleterious effects on NM’s Native American population due to metals in the environment leftover from decades of uranium mining as well as looking at the potential benefit of some metals (zinc) in the fight against cancer.
Dr. Godwin received a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Delaware in 1991 and continued his education in at the University of South Carolina where he earned a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics in August 1996 focusing on transdermal drug delivery. He immediately began his career at the University of New Mexico in October 1996, accepting a position as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in July 2002.
Dr. Godwin then switched career tracks to academic administration in 2003 holding several Assistant and Associate Dean positions with increasing responsibilities in both student and curricular affairs until he was selected as Dean in April 2018. He maintains a significant teaching responsibility in pharmacokinetics and in the development of leadership skills for PharmD students. His current research interests lie in area of innovative programs to enhance student progression and graduation rates in a Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum.
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