Laura Morgan Frankart, Pharm.D., M.Ed., began her role as the school’s associate dean for academic and faculty affairs, effective Nov 25.

In this new role, Dr. Frankart will lead academic planning and assessment, faculty administration, faculty development and faculty engagement, in addition to providing oversight for experiential and continuing education and facilitating partnerships for interprofessional practice and education.

"Having worked with Dr. Frankart for well over a decade, I have the utmost confidence that she will continue our holistic approach to faculty development and innovation in educating the pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists for the workforce of today and tomorrow," said K.C. Ogbonna, Pharm.D., dean, professor and Archie O. McCalley Chair of the VCU School of Pharmacy.

Dr. Frankart, who most recently served as Interim Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and currently serves as Director of Education and Assessment and a professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science, has called the VCU School of Pharmacy her professional home for 22 years. After completing her pharmacy residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, she joined our school as an assistant professor in 2002. From 2002 to 2019, she went on to serve as an associate professor, a clinical faculty member in the VCU Health Primary Care Pain Clinic and the Supportive Care Clinic at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director of Foundations of Pharmacy Practice, Vice Chair of Education for DPOS and Curriculum Committee chair.

In 2019, she joined the school's leadership team as Director of Education and Assessment. In this role, she and her team support the undergraduate, professional and graduate education programs, faculty and staff development and assure the assessment of School KPIs. Dr. Frankart has co-chaired the steering committee for the ACPE self-study for our Pharm.D. program, and our Academic Program Review for our graduate programs, facilitated our school’s equity-minded faculty workload task force and was instrumental in putting into action our Pharm.D. program’s Next Generation Pharmacist curriculum, which was implemented this semester. She continues to co-coordinate two elective courses and teach topics related to pain management in the Pharm.D. curriculum.

At VCU, she has served on the One VCU Academic Repositioning Task Force and is serving as the co-chair of the ad hoc Faculty Policy Committee and a faculty facilitator for the Health Professions Faculty Development Initiative. Her contributions extend beyond the VCU community, including more than 30 publications, more than 20 national and international presentations and the completion of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s Academic Leadership Fellowship Program earlier this year. She earned her Pharm.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.Ed. at VCU School of Education.