Don Klepser, PhD, has been Joseph D. Williams Endowed Dean of the UNMC College of Pharmacy for a little over six months. Before that, he’d served as interim dean for about a year.
“The biggest change,” he said, now that he has the role permanently, “is that we no longer talk about the search. We’ve put some of that uncertainty behind us and can focus on the future,” Dr. Klepser said.
As dean, his vision includes a renewed focus on working to bring pharmacy services to people and communities currently underserved throughout the state. These shortages are more than just statistics in a report, Dr. Klepser said.
“When you hear people are not taking an antibiotic because it’s three hours from the nearest pharmacy …”
To address this problem, the college will work to partner with pharmacies across the state, in collaboration with Nebraska Extension.
Pharmacy also will partner with other University of Nebraska System entities to broaden and deepen statewide impact in other areas – in research, for example.
And the college is set to become the first public school in the nation to offer what Dr. Klepser calls an “extended pathway” to a PharmD degree. This opens opportunities for those perhaps working full-time, or caring for family, to pursue their PharmD over six years, rather than four.
In research, Dr. Klepser said the college will work with donors to offer support to investigators who are close to earning an R01 grant but may need additional time and funding to move the needle. And UNMC is looking to add computational chemistry – believed to be the next frontier in drug design and drug development — as a new emphasis.
“We’re fortunate we’re at a facility and campus that allows us to pivot like that,” Dr. Klepser said.
Speaking of the UNMC Center for Drug Discovery and Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education, it remains a crown jewel, but with the maintenance needs of any 10-year-old building: “I’m thinking about carpet,” Dr. Klepser said.
Meanwhile, UNMC’s first pharmacy cohort in Kearney has completed its first year. “I’m looking forward to next year and the year after,” Dr. Klepser said, “as we start to have upperclassmen.”
While this historic first class was a success, “They couldn’t just sit down at a table and talk to a P2 or a P3.” He looks forward to seeing that campus community grow.
The response in Central Nebraska? “We’ve been blown away by the support,” Dr. Klepser said.
Going forward, Dr. Klepser said, using a sports metaphor, the college will skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been, as the great Wayne Gretzky once said.
“Keith,” his predecessor as dean, Keith Olsen, PharmD, “left the house in good order,” Dr. Klepser said. “We are able to focus on the future, and that’s a good place to be.”