Joseph T. DiPiro, Pharm.D.

Dr. Joseph T. DiPiro is Dean, Professor and Archie. O. McCalley Chair at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, Richmond, Virginia.  He received his BS in pharmacy (Honors College) from the University of Connecticut and Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Kentucky.  He served a residency at the University of Kentucky Medical Center and a fellowship in Clinical Immunology at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to his service at VCU he was Executive Dean at the South Carolina College of Pharmacy (2005-2014) and Professor and Department Head at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy (1981-2004).

He is Past-President of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and Past Chair of the Council of Deans. He has served as President of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. He is a Fellow of the College and has served on the Research Institute Board of Trustees.  He has been a member of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, having served on the Commission on Therapeutics and the Task Force on Science.  In 2002, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy selected Dr. DiPiro for the Robert K. Chalmers Distinguished Educator Award.  He has also received the Russell R. Miller Literature Award and the Education Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the Award for Sustained Contributions to the Literature from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and was named in 2013 as the national Rho Chi Distinguished Lecturer.  Dr. DiPiro was elected a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. DiPiro served as Editor of The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education for 12 years. He is an editor for Pharmacotherapy: A Pathophysiologic Approach, now in its 11th edition.  He is also the author of Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics and Editor of the Encyclopedia of Clinical Pharmacy.  He has published over 200 journal papers, books, book chapters, and editorials in academic and professional journals, mainly related to antibiotics, drug use in surgery, and pharmacy education.

J. Russell May

J. Russell May, Pharm.D., FASHP is a Clinical Professor and Associate Department Head,Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy. Prior to his move to academia full time in 2003, Dr. May was a drug information specialist and clinical manager in the Pharmacy Department at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) Health System for 22 years, including serving as Director of Pharmacy from 1998 to 2003. Since graduating from the University of Kentucky Pharm.D. and Hospital Residency Programs in 1981, Dr. May has focused his practice in the areas of drug information and drug policy development. He currently serves on the Residency Advisory Council for the PGY-1 and three PGY-2 (critical care, oncology, and pediatrics) programs at Augusta University Health System (co-sponsored by the University of Georgia). In 2007, he was named Teacher of the Year at the University of Georgia, College of Pharmacy. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and has served on the ASHP Executive Committee of the Section of Clinical Specialists and the Commission on Credentialing. He is a past president of the Georgia Society of Health System Pharmacists. Dr. May has served as a visiting professor at Misr International University in Cairo, Egypt, and assisted with the development of its Drug Information Center. Dr. May was also the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Drug Information Practitioner Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.

Professor Naser Al Sherif

Professional
Dr. Alsharif received his Ph.D. from Creighton University Medical Center (CUMC), Omaha, Nebraska, USA in Toxicology, 1992; M.S. degree in pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), 1988 and Pharm.D. from UNMC, 1987. He joined CUMC in 1994. Dr. Alsharif is currently a full Professor of Pharmacy Sciences at CUMC.

Dr. Alsharif served as the Associate Director of the Web-Based Pharmacy Pathway (2001-2006). He is currently coordinator for International Relations for the Middle East and India.
Dr. Alsharif served on numerous university and school committees including chair of the Curriculum Committee and the Pharmacy Assessment Committee. He also chaired the Faculty Dismissal Committee and the Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility. He also served as Senior Associate in Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment and as a faculty associate in the Center for Health Policy and Ethics. He has been involved in a number of the school of pharmacy self-study and led with a colleague the reports to ACPE regarding the school’s distance pathway.

Dr. Alsharif was acknowledged by his students in winning outstanding teacher awards and by his colleagues in the school of pharmacy and health professions by winning scholarly, teaching and service awards. Dr. Alsharif was also the recipient of Creighton University John P. Schlegel Diversity Award for Excellence and Innovation (2013) and the Distinguished Educator in Teaching as Scholarship (2014). In 2016, he received the inaugural Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). He also received the Outstanding Service Award from the Global Pharmacy Education Special Interest Group, AACP.

Dr. Alsharif is instructor of record for courses in Clinical Toxicology, ethics for Healthcare Professionals and Cultural Proficiency for Health Care Professionals. He is also coordinator of the Chemical Basis of Drug Actions courses. In addition, he give lectures in communication skills and provides support in the skills lab courses. He is a certified immunizer and an immunization trainer. Furthermore, he taught for five years two distance courses: advanced pharmacology and pharmacotherapy management, for the Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Dr. Alsharif has been a member of the Society of Toxicology since 1987 and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) since 1995. He is a winner of the Innovation in Teaching Award Competition, 2000, 2006 and received an honorable mention for the same Award in 2002 and 2004 from AACP. He served as a member and officer of several Sections and SIGs in AACP. In 2013, he was elected as chair elect for the Global Pharmacy Education (GPE-SIG). As chair in 2014, he led a group of colleagues to author four special papers on current practices in Global/ International APPE, hosting international pharmacy students at US institutions and service trips. He also coordinated webinars on different aspects of the above topics and finalized a strategic plan for the SIG to promote the vision and mission of the GPE SIG. He served as a guest editor for the AJPE on a theme issue: Cultural Sensitivity in Global Pharmacy Engagement. The theme will have 8 papers addressing cultural sensitivity in global engagement in 4 regions of the World. It is set for publication in the spring issue of the Journal.

Dr. Alsharif is the originator of the Structurally Based Therapeutic Evaluation concept in teaching Medicinal Chemistry. He has published several manuscripts and presented nationally and internationally on the use of this concept in the classroom to provide clinical relevance to the teaching of medicinal chemistry and other science courses. Other research interests include projects to measure how provider bias (pharmacists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, pharmacy interns and pharmacy technician) affect how services are provided to patients from diverse cultures and how provider bias may contribute to health care disparities. He also conducted a research project on factors that influence health and healing practices for the Muslim Patient. He has presented numerous presentations on his research locally, nationally and internationally. His toxicology research on the acute and chronic toxicity of polyaromatic hydrocarbon and specifically 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin is highly recognized and referenced.

Dr. Alsharif serves as a reviewer on several toxicology Journals and pharmacy journal. He also serves on the editorial board of the prestigious American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE). In addition, he has been involved in global outreach since 1994. He has served as a curriculum consultant and as a visiting professor for a number of universities in Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Qatar and UAE. Further, he served as external assessor for the University of Nizwa, Oman for their pharmacy program and a reviewer of the strategic plan for the same university and universities in Egypt and Palestine. Dr. Alsharif was invited as a plenary speaker and presenter at several conferences in the Middle East.
Personal
Dr. Alsharif is an American-Muslim of Palestinian origin. He is married to Linda, a Palestinian. She is a lawyer but has completed her social work degree at Creighton and is currently working at Heart Ministry Center. She is also a Mary Kay Consultant and Wilton instructor. They have two children, Zaki (17) and Melina (15). Zaki is a good soccer player and enthusiast (like his dad). He plays on the varsity team for Millard West (MW) High School and is set to start as a psychology major/premed at Creighton University in Fall of 2019. Melina plays the piano and is into competitive dancing. She is on the JV Cheerleading team at MW. They all enjoy travelling together, spending time with family and going to the movies.

Dr. Alsharif provides a lot of community services. He educates the people of Nebraska about Arab and Muslim culture, Palestine/Israel conflict, the Middle East issues to, to sensitize and educate about the Other. He is the President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (Omaha Chapter, since 1996); Director of the Middle East Cultural and Educational Services-Omaha (2012- present); Advisory Board, Conference for Inclusive Community (Midlands Region, 2000 – present), Board Member of Avenue Scholars (2011-present); Secretary and board member of the American Institute of Islamic Culture Studies (2008-2012) and a board member of the Trifaith Initiative of Omaha (2008-2012).

Dr. Ebtesam Ahmed

Dr. Ebtesam Ahmed is a Clinical Professor at the Department of Clinical Health Professions, St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in New York, USA. She is also the Director of the Pharmacy Internship at the MJHS Institute for Innovation in Palliative Care. Dr. Ahmed earned her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) from St. John’s University and completed a post-graduate pharmacy residency at the University of California, San Francisco. She also holds a Master’s degree in Bioethics from Columbia University. Following her residency, she joined the Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care (DPMPC) at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, where she became the first Clinical Pharmacist to provide clinical pharmacy services for the DPMPC.
Since 2014, Dr. Ahmed has been extensively teaching globally to pharmacists, physicians and healthcare professionals; she gave numerous training workshops for pharmacists in Egypt, Guatemala and Kyrgyzstan. She has presented at national and international medical conferences about pain management; palliative care, ethics, and end-of-life care. Dr. Ahmed is a co-author of the first comprehensive guidelines for “managing chronic pain in people living with HIV” issued by The HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA). She is an international palliative care consultant at the Open Society Foundation Public Health Program responsible for develop training programs for policy advocates regarding access to essential palliative care medicines and controlled substances for pain management. Dr. Ahmed joined the IAHPC Board of Directors in 2019. She coordinated the second phase of the Opioid Price Watch Project (OPW), a project monitoring and reporting the dispensing price of opioids around the world. She has numerous scientific publications, book chapters and peer-reviewed articles on pain management and palliative care.