Summer Retreat offers collaborative planning for college's future

Curricular innovation, bench-to-bedside collaboration, strategic planning were among the topics of an intensive two-day faculty-staff retreat. 

The College of Pharmacy Summer Retreat, which took place July 8-9 at the Wellness Center on the MUSC campus, was back-to-back half-day sessions that featured research updates from both the Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences (DDBS) and the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcomes Sciences (CPOS), guest speakers, a guest student panel, and administratiave updates with a focus on curriculum, pedagogy, clinical service, and research. 

Speakers with research updates included:

• Taylor Morrisette, CPOS faculty and infectious disease expert
• Gus Alvira-Arill, CPOS faculty and infectious disease expert
• Mark Hamann, DDBS faculty and natural products expert
• Zhi Zhong, DDBS faculty and expert on mitochondria and Alcoholic Liver Disease
• Danyelle Townsend, DDBS faculty and expert on redox signaling

Speakers on other topics included:

• Cathy Worrall, associate dean with student support overview
• Julaine Fowlin, executive director, Office of Instructional Technology and Faculty Resources, on navigating curriculum change
• Yuri Peterson, DDBS faculty member with insights into collaborative integration and funding
• Lindsey Fuller, educational technology expert with team-building
• Administrative updates from dean Philip Hall (budget and strategic planning) and CPOS faculty Chris Wisniewski (self-study)
• Joe Blumer, associate professor in the College of Medicine, with insights into active learning in the COM
• Jason Haney, CPOS faculty and chair of the Curriculum Committee, with discussion on the student experience in a different curricular format

The event was planned by Shane Ryan, assistant dean for the curriculum, and he organized a student panel from another college of pharmacy to talk about their experiences and answer questions. 

"The MUSC pharmacy program requires the finest experts in multiple fields collaborating to create an effective curriculum, a seamless educational experience that includes real-world insight from our faculty's own practices and laboratories," said Philip Hall, dean of the MUSC College of Pharmacy. "It's a complicated undertaking. Bringing the faculty and staff together for this high-level concept discussion ensures that we tap into the best ideas for improving our program, driving innovation and discovery, and planning for a sustainable future."