My research activity has mainly been focused on assisting with studies investigating the effects of alcohol and stress on brain and behavior. My interest in neuro-psychology and pharmacology led me to join the lab group of Dr. Leslie Devaud here at the School of Pharmacy when I was a second-year pharmacy student. I am also interested in studying potential gaps in adherence to discharge medications among hospital patients in order to improve patient health outcomes.

Dr. Arndt practices ambulatory care at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center. As a part of this clinical service, pharmacists operate under collaborative practice agreements that give prescriptive authority over common chronic disease states. This allows pharmacists to educate and make interventions to help patients understand and manage their medications and overall health.

The Executive Assistant to the Dean provides daily administrative support to the Dean in the development and implementation of policies, organizational development, project management, financial analysis, and budget compliance.  Other responsibilities include supporting the Dean in public relations and community outreach.

The Director of Experiential Affairs reports to the Assistant Dean for Experiential Education. Responsibilities include operations scheduling, management of the experiential database (E*Value), and the creation and release of student schedules for Advanced and Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE & IPPE).

My basic science specialty is in the study of action of the drugs in neuropsychiatric disorders and chronic pain. My current scholarship focus is in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL), which focuses on identifying the best teaching methods to help students learn and succeed.

The long term goal of our research is to understand how Leishmania, a pathogenic protozoan parasite, adapts to changes its host environment to acquire essential nutrients for its growth and viability, and survive environmental stress. Our current research is focused on characterizing the parasite machinery used to capture purines (essential nutrients) from the host environment and in identifying pathways and cell components critical for the survival of the parasite when nutrients are limiting.

My research focus is on identifying and understanding sex differences in brain and behaviors caused by alcohol. We also study interactions between stress and responses to alcohol in several animal models.

My research interests revolve around two main projects related to drug metabolism:

• Studying the Effect of Herbal Remedies on Drug Metabolizing Enzymes
• Studying the Effect of Herbal Remedies on Arachidonic Acid Metabolism as a Target for Hypertension Treatment

Our research in the last 5 years has discovered several small and natural molecules (e.g. sulforaphane from broccoli) that inhibit the endogenous metabolism of arachidonic acid and reduces blood pressure in hypertension animal models. Additionally, we investigated the potential effect of these molecules on drug metabolizing enzymes to predict possible herb-drug interactions.

Dr. Faro specializes in Pediatrics, Hematology/Oncology, Palliative Care, Parenteral Nutrition Support, Acute Care Pharmacy, Clinical Pharmacogenetics, continuing professional development (CPD) and interprofessional education.

Dr. Fortner's practice and research interests include pharmaceutical compounding, patient-centered care in the community setting, and pharmacist provided clinical services. He maintains a practice site at an independent community pharmacy which also specializes in non-sterile compounding and long-term care medication preparation.​

Dr. Gibbard has practiced pharmacy primarily in the hospital setting with some moonlighting in the retail setting. His teaching responsibilities relate primarily to acute cardiovascular disease and the intersection of social sciences and humanities to patient-centered care. His research interests are typically related to the "soft skills" of pharmacy, including empathy, cultural sensitivity, and health literacy.

Manages school sponsored events and work study programs, budgets, & communications. Provides widely varying administrative support to all students, faculty and administration including office operations, admissions, student support and the Assistant Deans.

I assist students in making sure all their paperwork is ready to submit to sites for their experiential education. I make sure that all student hours have been recorded correctly so students can receive full credit for their time. I help Coordinator for Experiential Education Melanie Belles with scheduling rotations as needed.

I currently practice in ambulatory care at Mountain View Medical Center in Forest Grove, OR. My particular area of interests are in motivational patient-care joint decision making, care of older adults, and interprofessional healthcare.

The Assistant Dean of Academics and Assessment (ADAA) is the academic administrator who oversees curricular and programmatic assessment initiatives within the School, while providing leadership and support in instructional design, teaching development, assessment of student learning, accreditation, interprofessional education, and mentorship to assist faculty, post-graduate learners, staff, and pharmacy students in fulfilling the School’s mission.

My primary research focus is connected through my interests in post-graduate training, experiential education, and preceptor development. I additionally have some projects focused in teaching methods and pharmacy school program assessment. Current projects include: a survey of grading systems in US Schools of Pharmacy including a focus on Pass/Fail/competency based programs; trends and factors impacting pharmacy residency match rates; quality assessment methods of experiential education sites; and development of critical appraisal of the medical literature training modules for residents and preceptors.

In her role as a PGY-2 resident, Dr. Merlo divides her time between teaching at Pacific University and caring for patients at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center. Her clinical interests include chronic disease state management including diabetes, COPD, and cardiovascular risk reduction.

My practice area is ambulatory care pharmacy in a primary care clinic within a federally qualified health center. I see patients for management of diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, asthma and COPD as part of an interprofessional patient centered medical home. I also work closely with our post-graduate learners in helping to prepare them to be independent clinical practitioners. My research area of interest is related to student and post-grad learning. My current research is focused on student learning particularly in skills based courses. 

The neglected tropical disease leishmaniasis affects ~12 million people annually, with resulting illnesses ranging from cutaneous ulcerative lesions to fatal visceralizing infections. A better understanding of parasite biology and host-parasite interactions is critical for the development of much needed new therapeutic strategies and the overall goal of our research is to validate the polyamine pathway as a medical target. Polyamines are metabolites that play central roles in rapidly proliferating cells, and recent studies have highlighted their critical nature in Leishmania parasites. We are using a variety of techniques, including molecular biology, biochemistry, and tissue culture to elucidate the functions of polyamines for parasite proliferation and survival.

The Research Lab Manager manages the research lab and provides support for the students, faculty, and administrators including equipment maintenance, collaborative operations, safety adherence, policy and procedure management, and equipment procurement and inventory. The RLM also provides support for the compounding lab.

Brendan Stamper's research is focused on projects that utilize comparative genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic approaches to identify pathways critical to propagating or preventing liver injury. 

Dr. Suzuki is an ambulatory care pharmacist. Her practice site is Kaiser Permanente Clinical Pharmacy Services in Portland.

Interest areas include hepatology, gastrointestinal disorders, metabolic disorders, pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenomics, and active learning techniques.

The Research Assistant supports the daily operations of the pharmaceutical science laboratory by training students and other researchers, performing research techniques, and general laboratory maintenance.

Jon received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the Portland State University in 2010. Since then, he has worked at different research labs and gained a series of valuable skills in biochemistry, microscopy, immunology, tissue/cell culture, and laboratory animal models.

As a PGY2 pharmacy resident, Dr. Ulrich spends time teaching at Pacific University School of Pharmacy as well as practicing at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, caring for an underserved population in the outpatient setting. He primarily works with patients to manage diabetes and high blood pressure, in addition to other chronic diseases. In the academic setting, he provides lectures and facilitation in the endocrine block and in the pharmacy practice courses. His professional interests include creating high-quality written medical communication and education materials.