Pharmacy college enjoys prime spot, UT officials say

During a building tour, Dr. Curtis Black, clinical pharmacy professor, left, Mike Kitz of Kroger, and Kenneth Hohmeier, a PharmD resident, watch as assistant professor Aaron Lengel explains a torsion balance, which weighs medicinal products.

The Blade/Lori King
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The glass-fronted building links the Paul Block, Jr., Health Science Building and the Health Education Building. It took a year to equip the facility, which opened when the school year began.

The main benefits of the University of Toledo's new $25 million College of Pharmacy building, dedicated Friday, stem from its location on UT's Health Science Campus, formerly the Medical College of Ohio, participants said.

"I am way excited and I am happy to be among the medical students and the nursing students because when we go out into the work force, once we graduate we'll be prepared to work together," said Kristin Satterwhite, a first-year UT pharmacy student.

In a blue College of Pharmacy T-shirt, Ms. Satterwhite, 20, headed a small group of students who welcomed scores of participants to the spacious, glass-fronted, sunlit edifice that links the Paul Block, Jr., Health Science Building and the Health Education Building. Paul Block, Jr., was co-publisher of The Blade from 1942 until his death in 1987. He was chairman of MCO's board from 1964 to 1970 and instrumental in the establishment of the college.

The new pharmacy building was financed mostly through bonds and a $1 million donation from Discount Drug Mart, a UT spokesman said.

During a building tour, Dr. Curtis Black, clinical pharmacy professor, left, Mike Kitz of Kroger, and Kenneth Hohmeier, a PharmD resident, watch as assistant professor Aaron Lengel explains a torsion balance, which weighs medicinal products.

Shawn Mills, 23, a third-year pharmacy student and president of UT's pharmacy student council, shared Ms. Satterwhite's enthusiasm. "The most exciting thing for me is that [now] we are so close to other health-care students and professionals - a short walk away from the hospital and another short walk from where the medical students study," he said.

Added Ms. Satterwhite: "Now we have things that we didn't use to have, such as more updated equipment that is more specific to pharmacy students. The labs are larger and all the equipment is new. And we don't have to wait to use it."

Ms. Satterwhite and Mr. Mills began using the facility with the rest of the college's more than 1,500 students, faculty, and staff at the start of the academic year Aug. 23. It took about a year to build and equip the facility.

The new facility includes laboratories, lecture halls, and offices. UT's pharmacy studies had been in Wolfe Hall, which opened on the main campus in 1998.

Dr. Johnnie Early II, dean of the College of Pharmacy, one of Friday's speakers, said the new facility gives the college many more opportunities for collaborative practice and research among health sciences.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo), a speaker at the ceremony, agreed, saying new partnerships made possible by the facility's location would contribute to the economic growth of the community by enhancing innovation.

Also speaking at the event were Dr. Jeffrey Gold, UT's chancellor and executive vice president for biosciences and health affairs and dean of the College of Medicine, and Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, UT president.

Dr. Gold stressed the opportunities for interprofessional education, and Dr. Jacobs said the facility is symbolic of his vision for UT "to become one of the small handful of the great universities of the world."

"The most important function of these new buildings is not to keep the rain out, but to symbolize that vision," he said.

Contact Mike Sigov at:

sigov@theblade.com,

or 419-724-6089.