WesternU College of Pharmacy dedicates Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Classroom

Left to right: WesternU Provost Paula Crone, DO '92, COP Director of Graduate Education Arbi Nazarian, PhD, WesternU President Robin Farias-Eisner, MD, PhD, MBA, and COP Dean Sunil Prabhu, BPharm, PhD, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences Classroom. (Jeff Malet, WesternU)

The Master's and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students at WesternU College of Pharmacy's Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences program now have a place to call home.

The College of Pharmacy held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Classroom on Oct. 3, 2024 in the WesternU California Health Professions Center (HPC).

"This is a real momentous occasion for the College. Those of us who have been here for 15 years and over know that how much it took for us to reach this point today," said COP Dean Sunil Prabhu, BPharm, PhD. "This is an incredible opportunity for us to create something really novel, and that is an outstanding PhD program along with an outstanding Master's program that we already have. You now have dedicated learning space to achieve this."

Prabhu thanked WesternU President Robin Farias-Eisner, MD, PhD, MBA, and Provost Paula Crone, DO '92, for their support of both this dedicated classroom and the approval of the PhD program, which opened this fall. He also thanked the COP faculty and staff who developed and supported the MSBPS program through the years.

"And, of course, I want to acknowledge our bright minds that join us each year and they have made us really proud," Prabhu said to the BPS students. "But now you don't have to go to somewhere else after your master's degree. You can stay here and get your PhD with us."

The PhD in Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences program is the first PhD program at WesternU, so this is making history, Farias-Eisner said.

"What we realize here at WesternU is that research is important, and that creates for us an entirely different notoriety and preeminence in this world of higher education," he said. "It is important to have these types of programs, to be able to get our grants through the NIH and to be able to publish and to be able to attract high-quality faculty. We are absolutely committed, as you are, to higher education, and specifically to training at this graduate level."

"This was a long journey to get to this day. I want to commend you for never giving up but never forgetting what's important and why you come to work to do this work every day, and it's for our students," said WesternU Provost Paula Crone, DO '92. "Congratulations on the PhD program and on this classroom, and I so look forward to everything that comes next."

The College also acknowledged COP faculty Drs. Stephen O'Barr, Jeffrey Wang, and Guru Betageri, who started the MSBPS program with the goal of developing a PhD program.

"They were the original engineers of the master's program back in the early 2000s," said COP Director of Graduate Education Arbi Nazarian, PhD. "When they designed the master's program their intention was to have the PhD program shortly follow that. Better late than never."

Students appreciate the new dedicated classroom. MSBPS student Iffat Hasnin Era said she and her classmates sometimes had to change classrooms because of events or because other programs reserved the space.

"Now we have our dedicated classroom, which is really helpful," Era said. "It's really good and helpful for our lectures, and we can use that after lecture for study."

"I think it makes it easier to collaborate in a space that is for us," said PhD student Denee Easy. "We can focus on being in class and having study groups here. We always have someplace to go to study together."

BPS students from left are Prince Jonathan Meziem, Iffat Era, Mohammed Chowdhury, James Patrick Villegas. Deneé Colleen Easy, Ogochukwu Orabueze, Manjot Kaur, Aparna Paudel and Isha Khairnar. (Jeff Malet, WesternU)

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