Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice

The Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice offers unparalleled training for future careers in pharmacy. Our innovative curriculum focuses on integrative health and putting the patient first. Our goal is to train students in the classroom and in the field to improve our society’s health and well-being.

The Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice is an essential component of the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences as it is the home of our clinical pharmacy practice faculty, who are developing and delivering didactic and experiential curricula for the Doctor of Pharmacy program.

“Our clinical faculty are involved in collaborative research across a range of clinical foci, such as new drug clinical trials, drug adherence research, pharmacokinetics, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacogenomics, pharmacoeconomics, and outcomes research.”

Alexandre Chan, PharmD, MPH
Founding Chair

Join Anteaters in Pharmacy

Anteaters in Pharmacy is the official UCI alumni chapter
dedicated to pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences, and the overall sector. Members engage in our community, build their networks, volunteer together, and contribute to UCI. To join, contact Meredith Kwok at m.kwok@uci.edu.

Strategic Plan for UCI Pharmacy

Since the start of 2021, pharmacy leaders from the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences (SPPS) and the UCI Medical Center’s Department of Pharmaceutical Services have met to discuss the strategic direction of the two units.

The UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences is part of the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, which combines with the UCI Health clinical enterprise to form UCI Health Affairs. The synergy between UCI Health and the academic disciplines of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, public health, and integrative health, enables UCI to transform education, discovery, and patient care.

To expand the collaboration between the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences and the UCI Medical Center Department of Pharmacy, leaders from both units will focus on six strategic initiatives from 2021 through 2023. The six initiatives will serve as the foundation for longer-term strategic planning that will begin in 2023.

Year-In-Review 2021-2022

On behalf of the University of California Irvine Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice (DCPP), we are honored to present to you our very first Department Annual Report! DCPP was founded in late 2019 and we have already gone through several historical milestones since our formation. Through this Annual Report, we hope to provide an opportunity for you to learn more about the achievements of our growing department.

Clinical Pharmacy Practice News

Mission

To engage current and future pharmacists to enhance patient care, promote health equity, and advance science through education, collaboration, innovation, and health policy.

Vision

The Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice will be at the forefront of transforming pharmacy practice, education, and research.

Hero's work here
Amal Alachar pharm sci/SOM researches neurotransmitter systems, neural circuits, molecular pharmacology
photo: Steve Zylius/UCI

Pharmaceutical Sciences & Clinical Pharmacy Practice Intertwined

Collaborations within the Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice and the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences will allow interdisciplinary research and training in pharmaceutical sciences, biomedical sciences and clinical pharmacy.

PharmD Scholarly Research Project

For questions, please email the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences Office of Research at sppsofficeofresearch@uci.edu.

The SRP presents the PharmD student with an opportunity to develop and design a research project with mentor guidance. The project will focus on pharmacy and healthcare related topics, providing an opportunity for students to interpret results and create a plan for dissemination and utilization of research results to contribute to new knowledge.

PharmD faculty, Pharmaceutical Sciences faculty, UCIMC preceptors, and affiliated pharmacist preceptors may mentor student projects; pharmacy residents may assist with supervision but should not be the primary mentor for student research (see below for details on resident projects).

Students are expected to invest approximately 200 hours of work over the course of the project (spanning 2 years). Hours include time spent in the classroom (PHMD 280A and 280B), evaluating background information, writing and submitting IRB proposals (as applicable), performing interventions, collecting and analyzing project data, drafting project updates, and developing a final poster suitable for public presentation.

Yes, under certain conditions, please email sppsofficeofresearch@uci.edu if you’d like to pursue this further. The intent of the scholarly research project is to allow the student to independently drive the development and completion of a research project. We want to ensure that the student is maintaining primary responsibility for steps leading to project completion. Data collection alone will not meet project requirements. Students may conduct follow-up analysis of resident project results, for example evaluation of long-term results from a resident-initiated program or protocol.

  • Find guidelines for authorship here.

Preceptors interested in serving as a mentor on a scholarly project can submit research ideas at any time here.

The student-preceptor relationship may organically lead to project ideas during the course of work in various pharmacy settings. Preceptors may team up to co-mentor a project for an individual or small group of students (max 4 students per group and max 2 mentors per group/project).

Students may identify and select projects as early as PY1. Students are expected to submit a signed mentor-student agreement and project synopsis at the beginning Fall quarter of PY2 per course requirements (PHMD280A). Students will complete an update in spring PY2 to summarize work completed, with poster formulation completed by spring PY3 (PHMD 280B). Final research results will be presented at the UCI SPPS Poster Symposium at the end of spring PY3.

PharmD students are trained in the generation of research questions and writing of research proposals, with attention paid to technical writing skills, defining relevant terms, and types of IRB-based research. Students are taught basic statistical analysis using SPSS, with additional support provided by SPPS faculty throughout the project.

Clinical Pharmacy Faculty

NameTitleDepartment(s)EmailPhone #
Christine CadizHealth Sciences Associate Clinical Professor Clinical Pharmacy Practice christine.cadiz@uci.edu 949.824.5969
Alexandre Chan

Chan Lab
Professor and Founding Chair Clinical Pharmacy Practice
Pharmaceutical Sciences
a.chan@uci.edu949.824.8896
Nana EntsuahHealth Sciences Assistant Clinical ProfessorClinical Pharmacy Practice nentsuah@uci.edu949.824.3543
Shawn GriffinHealth Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor Clinical Pharmacy Practice shawn.griffin@uci.edu949.824.8009
Jan HirschFounding Dean and ProfessorClinical Pharmacy Practice jdhirsch@uci.edu 949.824.1239
Keri Hurley-KimHealth Sciences Associate Clinical Professor Clinical Pharmacy Practice khurleyk@uci.edu 949.824.5952
Melanie JoeFounding Associate Dean for Pharmacy Professional AffairsClinical Pharmacy Practice mdjoe@uci.edu714.456.5514
Herman Joseph JohannesmeyerHealth Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor Clinical Pharmacy Practice hjohanne@hs.uci.edu949.824.6462
John JonesPart-Time Health Sciences Clinical ProfessorClinical Pharmacy Practice johndj@uci.edu-
Farah KhorassaniHealth Sciences Associate Clinical ProfessorClinical Pharmacy Practice fkhorass@hs.uci.edu-
Joyce LeeHealth Sciences Clinical ProfessorClinical Pharmacy Practice j.lee@uci.edu949.8246546
Sarah McBane Founding Associate Dean for Pharmacy EducationClinical Pharmacy Practice smcbane@uci.edu949.824.8948
Lee NguyenHealth Sciences Associate Clinical Professor Clinical Pharmacy Practice l.nguyen@uci.edu949.824.5953
Megan NguyenFounding Associate Dean of Pharmacy Student AffairsClinical Pharmacy Practice megan.nguyen@uci.edu949.824.4286
Aya OzakiAssistant Professor of Clinical PharmacyClinical Pharmacy Practice afozaki@uci.edu949.824.3942
Aryana SepassiAssistant Professor of Clinical PharmacyClinical Pharmacy Practice asepassi@uci.edu949.824.3792
Kevin (Zhijun) WangAssociate Professor of Teaching Clinical Pharmacy Practice zhijunw1@uci.edu949.824.2984
Jonathan Watanabe
Founding Associate Dean of Pharmacy Assessment and QualityClinical Pharmacy Practice jonathan.watanabe@uci.edu949.824.0498
Cheryl Wisseh
Assistant Professor of Clinical PharmacyClinical Pharmacy Practice cwisseh@uci.edu949.824.6123