th<\/sup> in the nation among pharmacy schools, and was ranked in the top 10 in the country two years ago. The College has also expanded its faculty, both in its size and impact on health and health care.<\/p>\n\u201cWhat\u2019s really remarkable is the quality of the new faculty, researchers and clinical faculty. They are fantastic. I can\u2019t wait to see where they go five years from now,\u201d Larrat said. \u201cOur folks are always out there, always involved outside the university as health care professionals and scientists. We\u2019re very well represented, very visible. That\u2019s something we\u2019ve encouraged and accelerated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps no period has defined the impact the URI College of Pharmacy has on society than the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty and staff members, students, and alumni helped lead the public health effort against the pandemic. Faculty members trained hundreds of immunizers, administered thousands of vaccines themselves, and led dozens of community immunization and testing clinics. One professor developed a novel non-PCR based COVID-19 test, while others volunteered to fill the severe shortage of pharmacists at state field hospitals and clinics\u2014with one even leading the construction and administration of the pharmacy in the state field hospital in Cranston\u2014and worked directly with the state performing outreach to COVID-positive patients. The college donated and supported the distribution of electronic tablets to patients isolated in hospitals and nursing homes, and the Pharmaceutical Development Institute produced hand sanitizer when it was in short supply at the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably our most defining moment was during COVID,\u201d Larrat said. \u201cWe played a special role in that two-year period. This really was their best moment\u2014faculty, staff, students and alumni. As I told our students, what better time to be learning about public health, pharmaceutical treatment, and our role in the health care system than during a pandemic? Get out there and learn by doing. To their credit, that\u2019s what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n
That kind of interaction and mentorship with students has been the best part of the job of dean, Larrat said. He will continue preparing the next generation of pharmaceutical professionals as he returns to his role as professor and researcher at URI after a sabbatical during the spring 2024 semester, during which he plans to wrap up a couple of research papers and work with U.S. News & World Report<\/em> on its algorithm for ranking colleges.<\/p>\nLarrat, who also has a background as an epidemiologist, previously focused his teaching and research on health care policy and pharmacoeconomics. He plans to continue in that vein, also adding clinical classes, and working to create a new course for sophomore pre-pharmacy students focusing on professional development, pharmacy leadership and career paths. He said he is excited to work more closely with colleagues on research projects, and especially with students in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s my favorite part, the interaction with our students, as they go from being students to professional colleagues over their six years,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we do it. It\u2019s a pretty cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he said he will miss serving the college as dean, Larrat said he knows he is leaving the college\u2019s administration in good hands. \u201cKerry\u2019s great. She and I have worked closely together over the years. She has great enthusiasm. She has great perspective on the profession,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s going to do a fabulous job. She\u2019s going to do it differently, of course. There are going to be changes, and people will have to get used to that. But it\u2019s all headed in the right direction. She has a firm foundation and she\u2019s going to take it to the next level, no doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Larrat said he doesn\u2019t know how long he\u2019ll continue teaching full-time before finally retiring, but that he\u2019s not ready to stop working just yet. And, he suspects, he\u2019ll always serve a role of some sort in the pharmaceutical industry, and specifically at URI.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always going to be attached some way, as a supportive alum or as dean emeritus; I\u2019ll still be here when I die,\u201d said Larrat, who has already been named dean emeritus for the college and who, in his typical, humble fashion, downplays the significant honor. \u201cYou work for 11 years and you get a nice title, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Larrat resumes his teaching, research role in the college after 11 years at the helm During the last 11 years, the URI College of Pharmacy has tripled its research funding; launched the Pharmaceutical Development Institute; helped establish the George & Ann Ryan Institute for Neuroscience; played an instrumental role in the fight against COVID-19; and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1710,"featured_media":52821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52822,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52820\/revisions\/52822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}