Kudos from Colleagues

UHCOP Faculty Honors Wanat, Boini and Schwarz for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service 

UH College of Pharmacy's faculty members acknowledged the hard work and dedication of three of their peers with the 2017-18 Faculty Excellence Awards in Teaching, Research and Service at the college's annual faculty retreat May 19 in Health Building 2. 

Teaching

Matthew A. Wanat, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCCCP, FCCM, clinical assistant professor, was honored with the Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching. Wanat has become a highly decorated teacher since joining the college in 2012, including as a recipient of the UH Provost's Teaching Excellence Award among clinical/instructional faculty; three Rho Chi Society Beta Omicron Chapter Teaching Excellence Awards (in 2013, 2015 and 2017); the UHCOP Faculty Preceptor of the Year Award in 2017; and the Society of Critical Care Medicine-Texas Chapter's Excellence in Education Award in 2015. He is also a past winner of the UHCOP Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching in 2014. 

Wanat's passion for teaching is exemplified in such activities as creation of a postgraduate training track to help P4 students better compete for the residency matching process; spearheading the formulation of academic fellowship positions in the college, with the first cohort starting later this year; and publication and state- and national-level presentations on teaching-specific topics. He also teaches in four courses and serves as a preceptor for 15-20 pharmacy students and residents each year.

Research

Krishna Boini, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology, was recognized with the Faculty Excellence Award in Research. Since joining the college in 2016, Boini has authored/coauthored 11 journal publications in 2017 alone (bringing his total scholarly output in excess of 100) and presented 10 research abstracts at national scientific meetings from January 2017 to early 2018. Boini's primary research, which is being funded by a $1.6 million National Institutes of Health grant through 2020, is focused on kidney injury associated with such disease states as hypertension and obesity.  

Boini's work as a research mentor and teacher also has received recognition, including a member of the Cardiovascular and Renal Pharmacology graduate course teaching team that was recognized with a Group Teaching Award by the UH Provost's Office in April. In addition, Gurinder Singh, Ph.D., a postdoctoral associate in Boini's lab, was honored with the American Radio-labelled Junior Scientist Award in Pharmacology at the 36th Annual Meeting & Banquet of the American Association of Scientists of Indian Origin (ASIOA) last month.

He also has been active in research-related service activities, including co-chairing a symposium at the American Society of Experimental Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASPET) Annual Meeting during Experimental Biology 2017; chairing a session at the 7th National Meeting of ASIOA in 2017; and recently completing a term of office as secretary on ASIOA's Executive Committee. 

Service

Lindsay A. Schwarz, Ph.D., instructional associate professor of pharmacology and director of Faculty Development, received the Faculty Excellence in Service. Schwarz has served on the college's Pharm.D. Curriculum Committee for a decade, including as committee co-chair of the committee for the past five years during which time the committee completed the Herculean task of leading the redesign of the professional program curriculum that is being implemented this fall.

Within her committee role, Schwarz also has been developing searchable and editable indices of topics and drugs by which placement of course content may be adjusted to ensure adequate coverage and avoid duplication. Schwarz and one of her Curriculum co-chairs also serve as ex-officio members of the college's Assessment Committee to ensure alignment between the two bodies.

Schwarz's leadership in the faculty development realm has included development of a new faculty orientation program, graduate teaching assessment workshop, summer book club, and videos on such topics as writing goals and objectives for courses and lectures, as well as organizing a workshop on rubric writing. In addition, Schwarz serves as a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Faculty Development.