{"id":5468,"date":"2010-05-19T16:12:18","date_gmt":"2010-05-19T16:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/?p=5468"},"modified":"2010-05-19T16:12:18","modified_gmt":"2010-05-19T16:12:18","slug":"uri-pharmacy-graduate-ready-for-next-major-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/2010\/05\/19\/uri-pharmacy-graduate-ready-for-next-major-step\/","title":{"rendered":"URI pharmacy graduate ready for next major step"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Karen Thudium
URI Department of Communications & Marketing photo by Michael Salerno Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Harleysville, Pa. resident to embark on prestigious fellowship<\/h3>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 19, 2010 \u2013 University of Rhode Island pharmacy student Karen Thudium has learned numerous lessons during her advanced clinical rotations and research placements in Providence, Bay Pines, Fla., Allentown, Pa. and St. Louis.
\nBut one stands out. \u201cI learned that pharmacy students from URI are better prepared than students from other schools,\u201d said Thudium, who will earn her doctor of pharmacy degree May 23. \u201cURI students have much stronger therapeutics knowledge, experience in compounding, counseling patients, and interacting with physicians. At URI, we have such a wide range of experiences that we are prepared for almost any setting.\u201d
\nBut the Harleysville, Pa. resident who has a 3.6 grade point average, hasn\u2019t limited her learning to her professional pharmacy degree. While completing that six-year program, Thudium embarked on a master\u2019s degree in pharmacokinetics, a research-based degree that focused on how drugs are absorbed in the body, metabolized, and excreted. She will earn her master\u2019s degree in August.
\nA resident assistant in Eddy and Merrow halls for three years, Thudium was a member of the University\u2019s Division I women\u2019s swim team for three years.
\n\u201cAs an RA, I gained a great deal of confidence in mediating disputes and helping people deal with conflict,\u201d Thudium said.
\nAs a member of the swim team, she practiced four hours a day. \u201cBut it was a stress reliever for me,\u201d she said. \u201cThe team is like a family, and it becomes your emotional support. I\u2019d be so stressed out from classes and dorm life that when I walked into the pool it was like heaven.\u201d
\nNow she will take all of those lessons from the classroom, laboratory, residence hall and swimming pool to a fellowship at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute through the State University of New York-Buffalo and pharmaceutical giant Novartis. She will be at the cancer institute for a year and then move to Novartis in New Jersey for the second leg of the fellowship.
\n\u201cThe researchers in Buffalo are the tops in pharmacokinetics, and the exciting thing is Novartis is based in Switzerland, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a trip to that country,\u201d Thudium said.
\nAccepting such a competitive fellowship is a natural progression for a young woman who built a six-page resume of prestigious clinical and research experience while at URI. As part of her doctor of pharmacy program, she worked closely with Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Kerry LaPlante at the Providence Veterans Affairs Hospital. There she updated the antimicrobial guide for the hospital, attended daily meetings to discuss cases and optimization of pharmacotherapy for patients, and she presented to faculty and peers on \u201cManagement of Fever in the Neutropenic (low white blood count) Patient.\u201d
\nSince 2005 as part of her master\u2019s degree, Thudium has been a research assistant for Fatemeh Akhlaghi, professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Pharmacy. Thudium\u2019s work has focused on drug metabolism in patients with diabetes. In the summer of 2008, she was a protein therapeutics summer fellow at Pfizer Inc. in St. Louis, where she evaluated the safety and risk of therapeutic antibody agents. Her findings were included in a recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigational new drug submission.
\nShe also made presentations at the American Society of Health System-Pharmacists Mid-Year Meeting in Las Vegas in December 2009 and the Walgreens Pharmacy Student Compounding Training Program in St. Louis.
\nShe credits the URI pharmacy faculty with providing her a comprehensive education. When she was on rotation at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Bay Pines, Fla., she was allowed to prescribe medications under the supervision of her mentor. \u201cURI helped me become familiar with the process. The faculty helped me get ready for that type of experience.\u201d
\nBut once she finishes her master\u2019s degree, she will leave pharmacy practice and enter the world of oncology research. \u201cI have always been more interested in drug development and how drugs are metabolized.\u201d
\nA research fellowship at Pfizer in St. Louis involved Thudium in oncology therapeutics. \u201cThis experience and working alongside Dr. Akhglahi got me really excited about research,\u201d said Thudium, who also served as president of the pharmacy honor society Rho Chi, which is open only to the top 15 percent of each class.
\nShe has considered pursuing a doctorate in pharmacokinetics. \u201cI am not ruling it out, but right now I am happy with my decision to complete the fellowship at the State University of New York at Buffalo\/Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Novartis \u2013 it is my dream job!\u201d
\nMedia Contact: Dave Lavallee<\/a>, 401-874-5862<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harleysville, Pa. resident to embark on prestigious fellowship KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 19, 2010 \u2013 University of Rhode Island pharmacy student Karen Thudium has learned numerous lessons during her advanced clinical rotations and research placements in Providence, Bay Pines, Fla., Allentown, Pa. and St. Louis. But one stands out. \u201cI learned that pharmacy students from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":5469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[227,35,50,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-experiential","category-news","category-news-pharmd","category-news-teaching"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5468","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\/639"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}