Pritchard Announces New Department, Leadership Appointments

Smesny Promoted to Executive Associate Dean; Aparasu Named as Chair of New Department

UH College of Pharmacy Dean F. Lamar Pritchard, Ph.D., R.Ph., recently announced the appointment of two new leadership positions and the creation of a new administrative/academic department within the college.

“I am very pleased that we are able to move forward with these important UHCOP organizational updates as our team continues to strive to accomplish the laudable goals set forth by our UHCOP Vision 2020 Strategic Plan,” Pritchard said.

Clinical Associate Professor Andrea L. Smesny, Pharm.D., MPH, R.Ph., who has served at assistant and associate dean level over academic affairs for the professional pharmacy program since 2004, has been appointed Executive Associate Dean for the college. In the new role, Smesny’s responsibilities will include overseeing the Development and Business offices; serving as liaison with the University of Houston on university-wide initiatives; leading new initiatives and coordinate execution of formal agreements with other UH units and external parties; overseeing and moving key college initiatives forward (strategic plan, accreditation, etc.); and advising the dean on personnel and budget matters.   

Search committees have been established to find a successor to Smesny’s previous position of Associate Dean of Academic Affairs as well as the newly created position of Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs. 

A new academic department – Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy – has been established in the college to allow faculty, students and staff members to focus on the national priority of providing patients, clinicians and policymakers with the scientific evidence to make informed health decisions.

The new department will be chaired by Professor Rajender R. Aparasu, Ph.D., MPharm., FAPhA, a UHCOP faculty member since 2006 who is currently working on a federally funded multiyear project on the risk associated with cognitive decline and dementia associated with the use of anticholinergic agents in the elderly. Aparasu has delivered more than 150 presentations at national and international meetings and published more than 80 peer-reviewed publications. He serves as an associate editor of BMC Geriatrics and has edited two books, Research Methods for Pharmaceutical Practice and Principles of Research Design and Drug Literature Evaluation.

Faculty members currently assigned to the Department of Clinical Sciences & Administration who will be moved to the new department are: Susan Abughosh, Ph.D., assistant professor; Hua Chen, Ph.D., M.D., associate professor; E. James Essien, M.D., Dr.PH., professor; Marc Fleming, Ph.D., MPH, R.Ph.; Michael Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor and director of Graduate Studies; Pritchard; and Sujit Sansgiry, Ph.D., associate professor. 

Health outcomes and policy research is involved in such fields of inquiry as drug therapy safety and effectiveness, patient and provider health behaviors and preferences, health system organization and delivery, and the impact of the pharmacy profession on public health. 

As explained by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: “For clinicians and patients, outcomes research provides evidence about benefits, risks, and results of treatments so they can make more informed decisions. For health care managers and purchasers, outcomes research can identify potentially effective strategies they can implement to improve the quality and value of care.”

From the academic side, department members will continue to teach in the Pharm.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmacy Administration degree program, as well as the concurrent M.S./PGY1-PGY2 in Pharmacy Administration program.

“This new department will be well positioned to take advantage of the heightened emphasis on this broad-based field of research through the federal government’s new Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute as well as the ongoing initiatives of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,” Pritchard said.  “This new research and academic initiative will be very important as our nation transitions to new systems of healthcare delivery and policy.”