Breaking the wall into sterile compounding
A symbolic Wall Breaking Ceremony that took place Sept. 8 opens a new chapter for VCU School of Pharmacy. Soon to begin construction, the Center for Compounding Practice and Research will be dedicated to advancing the safe and effective use of sterile, extemporaneously compounded medications and personalized medicine via classroom and certificate training, continuing education programs and research.
The CCPR will be constructed in three phases on the fifth floor of the R. Blackwell Smith Jr. Building. Phase I should begin by the end of October, with completion projected for spring and Phase I ready for student instruction in the next academic year. Phase II will provide continuing education and certification to pharmacy practitioners, technicians and others working in pharmaceutical industry, and Phase III will offer analytical testing services.
Joining School of Pharmacy
Dean Joseph T. DiPiro as special guests for the ceremony were VCU President Michael Rao; Sheldon Retchin, VCU senior vice president for health sciences; former Dean Victor Yanchick; alumnus and Del. S. Chris Jones (B.S. ’82), R-Suffolk, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee; alumnus and Del. Keith Hodges (B.S. ’89), R-Middlesex; and Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, House majority leader.
School of Pharmacy faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends crowded the room – one of the former labs that will become part of the CCPR — as each of the hard-hatted and begoggled guests took a sledgehammer to the wall.
DiPiro thanked the delegates for their support as well as several individuals and companies that have made private donations toward the center. He offered special thanks to Carthan “Sonny” Currin Jr. (B.S. ’59), who helped spearhead the initial CCPR fundraising campaign, “not only in giving himself but for his passion in recruiting others to join him in the cause.”
DiPiro credited Yanchick’s “foresight and persistent determination” in bringing the CCPR concept to life and for leading fundraising and design efforts.
Rao noted how many of the school’s graduates have become leaders in pharmacy.
He recognized Currin as representative of all the donors who have supported or will contribute to the center; he also thanked the delegates who, as he noted, found the means to assist the state’s pharmacy school even within a tight budget year.
“What will happen here is at the heart of our profession,” said DiPiro. “It will advance the time-honored art of prescription compounding, prepare practitioners for the complexity of medications now being used in health care. It will assist practitioners to comply with evolving state and federal regulations, and it helps us meet our obligation to society to assure that medications and safe and prepared to rigorous high standards.
“Completion of this center will put our school at the forefront of schools of pharmacy around the country in compounding training. We will become a regional and national center for training.”
View more photos from the Center for Compounding Practice and Research Wall Breaking Ceremony.
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