College of Pharmacy

Annual report 2024-2025

An exterior view of the main entrance to the College of Pharmacy Apotex Centre.

Annual report 2024-2025

Acting dean’s message

  • It was my pleasure to serve as the acting dean for the academic year of 2024-2025. Our leadership team is very proud of our undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff, preceptors, supervisors, administrators and everyone involved in delivering our College of Pharmacy programs.

    Thank you to our colleagues within the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and the University of Manitoba for their collaboration in teaching, research and administrative duties. 

    In addition, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to our alumni, students and everyone who have generously contributed to support the college. Your generosity and thoughtfulness are recognized and appreciated.

    We’re pleased to provide a summary of activities in this annual report for 2024-25. 

    Dr. Lavern M. Vercaigne 
    Acting dean and professor

  • Lavern Vercaigne, associate dean academic

Our students

We are proud of our 240 students within the College of Pharmacy’s undergraduate and graduate education programs. The majority, or 86 per cent (207), of the students are enrolled in the undergraduate Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program, while 14 per cent (33) are enrolled in the pharmacy graduate programs.

PharmD undergraduate program

two pharm d students training in the college's pharmacy.

Facts and figures

  • 60 students admitted
  • 207 students enrolled (Years 1-4)
    • Seven self-identified Indigenous students
  • 31 graduates
    • 77 per cent female; 23 per cent male
    • Three per cent Indigenous
  • 100 per cent employment rate

Student achievements and acknowledgements

College of Pharmacy 2024-2025 scholarships, bursaries and prizes

Award yearTotal amount awardedTotal number of award recipients
2024-2025$130,82544 students

There are no new scholarships, bursaries and prizes for the 2024-2025 academic year.

PharmD graduating student awards

AwardRecipient
University Gold Medal in PharmacyShaelyn Gustafson
College of Pharmacy Silver MedalKathleen Watts
College of Pharmacy Bronze MedalJordan Moore
Convocation Award for Excellence in Clinical CoursesShaelyn Gustafson
Convocation Award for Outstanding Achievement in ResearchChristina Hua-Nguyen
Convocation Award for Dedication to the Provision of Patient CareAshley Harris
Abraham Schwartz PrizeShaelyn Gustafson
Dr. J.R. Murray Convocation PrizeJennifer Einarson
Frank Edick Memorial PrizeShaelyn Gustafson
Pharmacy Class of 2009 Passion and Commitment AwardMarc Herrera

Special events

  • White Coat Ceremony: September 9, 2024
  • Academic Awards Ceremony: October 28, 2024
  • Welcome to the Profession Ceremony: May 15, 2025

Graduate programs

a pharmacy grad student explains their research to a person who is viewing the student's research poster.

Facts and figures

  • 11 applications
    • Five to the PhD program
    • Six to the master’s program
  • Eight new admissions
    • Two to the PhD program
    • Six to the master’s program
  • 33 students enrolled in graduate programs
    • 22 in the PhD program
    • 11 in the master’s program
  • Nine graduates convocated from graduate programs
    • Three from the PhD program
    • Six from the master’s program
    • 46 per cent female; 51 per cent male; three per cent nonbinary

Graduate program highlights

  • Processed admission for 11 graduate students
  • Hosted the graduate student celebration in March
  • Organized a graduate student stipend increase to $20,000 for MSc and $25,000 for PhD students
  • Revised the Graduate Student Professional Development Fund Terms of Reference
  • Revised the Pharmacy Grad Studies Committee’s Terms of Reference
  • Revised the Supplemental Regulation Guidelines:
    • Length to transfer from MSc to PhD was changed
    • Any BSc can apply to the program
    • Seminar classes can be taken anytime during the program
    • New equity, diversity and inclusion workshop requirement
    • Candidacy exam preparation
    • Removal of Pharmacy Grad Studies Committee appeals committee
  • Adjudicated several internal and external graduate awards and scholarships
  • Revised the timeline and process for pharmacy graduate student awards for the coming year
  • Developed and conducted a graduate student survey
  • Developed a logic model for graduate program evaluation (with help from the program evaluation and accreditation committee)
  • Approved a name change for our graduate program to “Pharmaceutical Sciences”
  • Managed numerous graduate examinations eg, PhD thesis proposals, candidacies, oral defenses
  • Provided regular updates at College of Pharmacy staff meetings.
  • Held town halls
    1. Aug. 29, 2025
    2. Dec. 4, 2025
  • Represented the College of Pharmacy on numerous University committees including the Faculty Grad Studies’ Programs and Guidelines, FGS Council, and Rady Faculty of Health Sciences’ graduate studies discussion group.

Graduate program achievements

  • 24 individual scholarships and awards
  • 10 defenses
  • 38 conference abstracts (oral or poster presentations)
  • 10 poster awards
  • Six travel awards
  • 24 total papers with authorship on publications

Graduate student achievements

AwardRecipient
Leslie F. Buggey ScholarshipOlufola Ige
William Eamer StudentshipLara Haidar
University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship PhDMeher Kantroo
UMGF MScTrang Nguyen
College of Pharmacy MSc Endowment Graduate StipendMichael Byun
College of Pharmacy PhD Endowment Graduate StipendRushie Tyagi
Dean of RFHS Postdoctoral FellowshipUrmi Das
College of Pharmacy MSc Merit ScholarshipFloriane Houenagnon
College of Pharmacy PhD Merit ScholarshipMd. Abdul Aziz
College of Pharmacy Graduate Student Entrance ScholarshipTrang Ngyuen
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Master’s Graduate ScholarshipMichael Byun
Manitoba Training Program for Health Services Research AwardJenna Esteban Villarba
Research Manitoba StudentshipNitesh Sanghai
Dean of Graduate Studies Student Achievement PrizeMd. Abdul Aziz
Dean of RFHS Graduate Student Achievement Prize PhDNitesh Sanghai
Dean of RFHS Graduate Student Achievement Prize MScSamuel Akinola
FGS Research Completion ScholarshipsShaharyar Afridi, Lara Haidar, Trang Nguyen and Floriane Houenagnon
Health Sciences Graduate Student Association Graduate Student Merit AwardMira Safa
Raifta Shwedyk Bursary Fund (for multiple sclerosis research)Mira Safa

Office of Experiential Education

  • The office of experiential education supports clinical placements in Years 2 and 4 of the PharmD program. In Year 2, the students participate in community pharmacy (55 students) and hospital pharmacy (53 students) rotations lasting four weeks. A total of 125 preceptors supervised students across 71 different pharmacies.

    In Year 4, the 33 students each participated in rotations involving community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, primary care and an elective rotation. These rotations are each eight weeks in length and involved 144 preceptors across 70 sites.

    We could not have experiential education without the close partnership of our preceptors from a wide range of experiential sites located in Winnipeg, Brandon, Beausejour, Churchill, Winkler, Selkirk, Steinbach, Gimli, Pinawa, Pine Falls, Portage la Prairie, Stonewall, Birtle, Oakbank, Pilot Mound, Reston, Thompson and Churchill. We also had in-person rotations outside Manitoba in Montreal and Regina.  

Our research

The College of Pharmacy engages in many areas of research from the basic pharmaceutical sciences including drug discovery and drug delivery, to public health, pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics.

Our diverse research has the potential to advance pharmacy and affect patients around the globe. From 2024-25, the College of Pharmacy researchers were awarded new research funding amounting to $25 million as the principal investigator (PI) or the co-principal investigator (Co-PI).

26 research grants were awarded, nine of which were Tri-agency funded, and one was an equipment grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). 

By the numbers

Within the last five years (July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2025):

  • 18-22 researchers
  • 92 grants
  • $51.2 million in new funding

Within the last year (June 1, 2024-May 31, 2025):

  • 26 grants, nine of which were Tri-agency funded
  • $25 million in new research funding as PI and Co-PI
    • Seven Canadian Institutes of Health Research grants totalling $5,191,558
    • Two Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grants totalling $397,500
    • One CFI grant totaling $862,500
    • Two Genome Canada grants totaling $16,851,020
    • Two grants from U.S. granting agencies totaling $762,578
  • 77 publications

Notable research grants

Economics of Screening and Prevention of Type 1 Diabetes in Canada 
Breakthrough T1D (formerly, JDRF International) 
PI: Shweta Mital
Grant amount: $278,850 USD ($402,224.39 CAD)

Astrocyte NMDA receptor-mediated modulation of cortical neuron activity via purine release
CIHR Project grant 
PI: Jillian Stobart
Amount: $944,776

Reducing astrocyte P2Y1 receptor signaling to slow Alzheimer’s disease progression 
Alzheimer Society Research Program New Investigator Grant 
PI: Jillian Stobart
Amount: $200,000

Development of a biomarker-driven 'best-in-class' treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Discovery and proof-of-concept
CIHR project grant 
PI: Geoffrey Tranmer
Amount: $730,576

TAAR1 in adipose tissue is a novel therapeutic target to combat atypical antipsychotics (AAPs)-induced metabolic dysfunction via downregulation of MIF 
PI: Dake Qi
Amount: $849,150

Pan-Canadian Initiative Linking Genomic, Environmental, and Mental Health Data in Children and Youth: Pan-GEM
Genome Canada Canadian Precision Health Initiative Pillar 1 Population-level Genomic Data Generation 
Co-PI: Abdullah Maruf
Amount: $10,018,772; funding for Maruf Lab: $266,132

Polygenic applications to brain and physical reserve in multiple sclerosis
U.S. Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
PI: Kaarina Kowalec
Amount: $249,822 USD ($360,353.25 CAD)

Effects of fatty acids on gene expression and function in the immune system
NSERC Discovery Grant
PI: Samantha Pauls
Amount: $202,500

Dopamine receptor 1 (DRD1) regulates macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) expression and release in adipocytes: A novel endocrine mechanism in white adipose tissue (WAT)
NSERC Discovery Grant
PI: Dake Qi
Amount: $195,000

  • a pharmacy student conducting research in a lab.

Our programs and services

The College of Pharmacy is the only institution in Manitoba to offer the full range of pharmaceutical sciences education programming, as well as offer a micro-certificate for practicing pharmacists.

Thank you Our donors

Thank you to our alumni for their generosity.

In 2024-25, 56 donors contributed $100,997. A significant portion of that amount was from the pharmacy student referenda that was held that year.
 

  • A close up view of a historical pharmacy display case outside Steele's Apothecary.

news and events 2024-2025 A look back at our year