VCU School of Pharmacy Research Day on Oct. 30 included more than 60 poster presentations and remarks from Mary Peace McRae, Pharm.D., associate dean for research and graduate studies, Satish Dipali, Ph.D., vice president of Richmond Site and Platforms at Haleon, and K.C. Ogbonna, Pharm.D., dean of VCU School of Pharmacy.

Addressing a crowd of more than 100 students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty and Haleon employees, Dipali spoke about Haleon's operations in Richmond and globally – and shared with students the opportunities they would have to get involved with the organization before and after graduation. Ogbonna echoed Dipali in his remarks, citing the clear workforce needs for the kind of specialized training VCU School of Pharmacy provides.

"Creating a pipeline, creating a pathway for our students' success is at the very heart of what we do – from our master's and Ph.D. students to our Pharm.D. students to our B.S.P.S. students. Satish, you have your pipeline of talent that is in the room right now," said Ogbonna, addressing Dipali with a smile. "It is incredibly important to us as a school that we're providing opportunities for students to think critically about their journey, about their path."

Throughout the day, students giving poster presentations shared their findings on topics from how we improve our students’ training through the use of technology to how we understand and treat sickle cell disease, opioid use disorder, mental health conditions and more.

Before distributing awards to students for their presentations, McRae shared a comment from a faculty member, who said it was the most competitive Research Day they had ever been part of.

Our VCU School of Pharmacy Research Day award winners are: