April 18, 2006

VCU School of Pharmacy receives $250,000 from CVS

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By Loreal Bond
University News Services

Front row: Gordon Howard, CVS area vice president; Victor Yanchick, dean of VCU’s School of Pharmacy; Papatya Tankut, vice president of CVS Pharmacy Services; Lynette-Bradley-Baker, manager of professional and college relations; Kimberly Scott, Lawrence Lopez and Daivd Mills, pharmacy students. Back row: Wade Chi, Ryan Andeson, Paul Caudill and James Renner, pharmacy students. Photos by Loreal Bond, University News Services
Front row: Gordon Howard, CVS area vice president; Victor Yanchick, dean of VCU’s School of Pharmacy; Papatya Tankut, vice president of CVS Pharmacy Services; Lynette-Bradley-Baker, manager of professional and college relations; Kimberly Scott, Lawrence Lopez and Daivd Mills, pharmacy students. Back row: Wade Chi, Ryan Andeson, Paul Caudill and James Renner, pharmacy students. Photos by Loreal Bond, University News Services

Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Pharmacy has received a $250,000 donation from CVS Pharmacy for the support of a satellite campus program at INOVA Hospital in Fairfax.

The satellite program was designed to help offset the shortage of pharmacists in Northern Virginia. The endowment from CVS will help provide technological resources and distance-learning tools, including PDA-initiating support software, videoconferencing and webcasting equipment, computers and drug information resources.

“We are very pleased with our partnership with CVS. We want students to see CVS as a valuable carrier in pharmacy,” said Victor Yanchick, dean of the School of Pharmacy. “We can benefit each other by providing pharmacists where they are needed, especially in Northern Virginia.”

VCU and INOVA Health Systems have established a satellite campus on the Health Systems grounds for VCU pharmacy and medical students. Beginning in 2007, 20 pharmacy students will join a group of 24 VCU medical students to complete their final two years of study at the INOVA campus. Students will receive course work on site as well as through distance-learning technologies.

Papatya Tankut, vice president of CVS Pharmacy Services, and Victor Yanchick, dean of VCU’s School of Pharmacy, talk with pharmacy students.
Papatya Tankut, vice president of CVS Pharmacy Services, and Victor Yanchick, dean of VCU’s School of Pharmacy, talk with pharmacy students.

A CVS Pharmacy Student Learning Resource Center will be established on the INVOA campus to assist in the distance-learning initiatives, which Yanchick says will expose students to new technologies and help prepare them to integrate technological innovations into their pharmacy practices.

“The endowment from CVS will give the school an opportunity to develop an interprofessional educational program where we will be able to bring both pharmacy students and medical students together in small groups to expose them to interdisciplinary health care so that better patient outcomes can be realized,” said Yanchick.

The VCU School of Pharmacy is rated among the top professional graduate programs in the nation.

CVS Pharmacy is the leading pharmacy and drug store in the United States, with more than 5,400 retail outlets. CVS supports colleges and universities of pharmacy and provides scholarships for students through corporate funds and grants from the CVS Charitable Trust. The support is designed to advance the education of students who will become future leaders in the pharmacy profession.