PhD student Keito Hoshitsuki, PharmD, has been selected as a recipient of the highly competitive American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE) Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Sciences for the 2022-2023 year. This honor is awarded to students who display exemplary research skills, academic performance, communication, and leadership.
Hoshitsuki is a 2017 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and a clinical pharmacist with two years of post-graduate residency training. In his time in the Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences track of the Pitt Pharmacy PhD program, Hoshitsuki has been an exceptional student, researcher, and leader. His prior accolades include the highly competitive Rho Chi First-year AFPE Fellowship, as well as a two-year appointment as a TL1 Postdoctoral Fellow through the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Under the mentorship of Philip Empey, PharmD, PhD and Christian Fernandez, PhD, Hoshitsuki’s research will investigate the immunological mediation of asparaginase anti-cancer therapy in order to improve outcomes for childhood leukemias.
Madeline Lipp, PharmD has been awarded the Herb and Nina Demuth Memorial Award by AFPE for 2022-2023. This award requires that students be actively researching parenteral drugs, in addition to meeting all requirements for the AFPE Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Lipp’s cutting edge research seeks to elucidate the role of infant lung-resident T cells in Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) following maternal vaccination. The long-term goal of Lipp’s research is to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with RSV infection in infants by optimizing vaccination strategies. She conducts research under the mentorship of Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral programs Kerry Empey, PharmD, PhD.
Lipp is a PhD student in the Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences track of the graduate program in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Pitt Pharmacy. She has been recognized for outstanding academic and research excellence during her PhD training with numerous prestigious and competitive awards, including the AACP Walmart Scholar’s Awards, and the AAI Young Investigator Award. Currently, Lipp is an NIH T32 fellow in autoimmunity and immunopathology. Prior to PhD training at Pitt Pharmacy, Lipp received her BS in Microbiology from Michigan State University and completed advanced clinical training, receiving her PharmD from the University of Michigan and completing a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at the University of Michigan.
Christina Kazarov, PharmD candidate (’23) was awarded the Gateway to Research Award. This award is given to help students gain a deeper understanding of the importance of research, allowing them to improve their clinical skills. The funding from this award will go towards Kazarov’s faculty-mentored research with Pitt Pharmacy Professor Sandra Kane-Gill, PharmD, MS, FCCM, FCCP, which focuses on differences in reporting characteristics of adverse drug events for prescription versus natural products.
