CORVALLIS - The associate dean of the University of Washington's School of Pharmacy has been named dean of the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University.

Wayne A. Kradjan, who directs the professional programs for the UW school, will begin his duties at Oregon State on Jan. 1. He will take over the reins of Oregon's only major, comprehensive pharmacy program. The OSU College of Pharmacy has about 500 students, 27 faculty and 250 "preceptors" or courtesy faculty, who supervise the students through internships and clerkships all over the Pacific Northwest.

The college also works in collaboration with Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, where OSU students go to receive on-site clinical training, and where the present Pharm.D. program is jointly offered.

"Our students have access to multiple clinical sites in Portland due to the close proximity of several hospitals," said Tom Chandler, director of advancement for the College of Pharmacy. "They also benefit from their exposure to the many teaching and research resources the OSU campus has to offer. It's really the best of both worlds."

Kradjan succeeds Richard Ohvall, long-time dean of the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State, who recently retired.

A specialist in pharmacotherapeutic applications of adult general medicine, Kradjan has been on the University of Washington faculty since 1971. In addition to his administrative duties at the UW School of Pharmacy, Kradjan has been a clinical consultant in general medicine and acute care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle since 1981. He is a registered pharmacist in Washington and California.

A noted researcher, Kradjan has written or co-authored more than 30 journal articles and nearly a dozen book chapters or reviews, on topics ranging from the treatment of cholesterol to the study of congestive heart failure.

His most recent research has looked into the effects of community pharmacists' interventions on the treatment of asthma patients. Other research interests include treatment of heart failure, lipid disorders, peptic ulcer disease, hepatitis, and hypoglycemia.

Kradjan earned a Pharm.D. degree from the University of California Medical Center at San Francisco in 1970, and is board certified as a pharmacotherapy specialist.

While at the University of Washington, Kradjan led the School of Pharmacy's efforts to implement a Pharm.D. professional program. OSU is making a similar transition in its College of Pharmacy.

"Wayne Kradjan's diverse background as a registered pharmacist, a clinical researcher, a teacher and an administrator make him uniquely qualified to lead the College of Pharmacy into the next century," said Roy Arnold, OSU provost and executive vice president. "The complexity of modern health care treatment and issues including end-of-life care have made the role of the pharmacist increasingly important in the United States, and especially in Oregon."

About 60 percent of OSU pharmacy graduates start their careers in outpatient pharmacies, including community pharmacies, nursing homes and assisted care facilities. The other 40 percent work within health systems, including hospitals and clinics.

Kradjan will become only the fifth dean in the 100-year history of pharmacy at OSU. Established as a department in 1898, pharmacy became a college in 1917. The first four deans were: Adolph Ziefle, 1914-45; George Crossen, 1945-58; Charles O. Wilson, 1959-76; and Ohvall, 1976-98.

Source: 

Roy Arnold, 541-737-2111

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