Bea is back in Michigan and back at the University of Michigan!  Bea Domagala grew up in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and spent her first year of college at the U of M.  In 1993, she moved to Texas with her family and obtained her Bachelors degree in biology from the University of Texas at Arlington.  With an interest in the medical field and also an interest in having spare time, Bea chose to go to pharmacy school (rather than med school) at the University of Texas in Austin, and received her Pharm.D. in May.  Leaving her family and beloved dog, Brandi, behind she is back in MI for a pharmacy practice residency.  This year Bea will be researching cefepime step-down therapy as empiric treatment for neutropenic fever in BMT patients, writing on the use of intraperitoneal antibiotics for CAPD-related peritonitis, and sharpening her skills as a clinical pharmacist.  Speaking of that spare time . . . when she isn’t busy attending weddings, Bea enjoys the outdoors, traveling, and dancing.  Bea plans to pursue a specialty residency in infectious diseases next year, but we all know that professional bridesmaid is her true calling!

(Written by Jessica Ellis)

Simona B. Ouzounova, chef extraordinaire, comes to the University of Michigan after receiving her PharmD in 2002 from the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, OK.  Simona grew up in the city of Shoumen, located in northeastern Bulgaria.  Her older brother, sister-in-law, parents, and adorable new nephew Alec currently all reside in Bulgaria.  She came to the US in 1994 as an exchange student, and decided to come back in 1996 to pursue her PharmD degree.  Simona definitely has many talents; as alluded to above, she is an amazing cook (can you say Bulgarian feast?).  In addition to her enviable culinary skills, she also is multi-lingual, having studied the Bulgarian, French, Italian, Russian, and English languages.  When not tending to her “suicidal” plants, she enjoys dancing, singing, and crafts of all kinds.  Simona is researching the differences in lymphocyte P-glycoprotein content between adolescents and adults, and her writing project focuses on the role of ace inhibitors and ARBs in pediatric hypertension.  After the completion of her pharmacy practice residency, Simona is interested in possibly doing a specialty residency (specialty to be determined), and eventually would like to practice in academia.

(Written by Stephanie Taber)

Stephanie Taber is one of the 2002-2003 Pharmacy Practice Residents here at the University of Michigan.  She is originally from Illinois, and completed her undergraduate work at Northwestern University in psychology.  She attended the University of Washington School of Pharmacy, graduating in 2002 with a PharmD.  Steph particularly enjoyed the climate in Seattle and may return there after completing her residency.  Stephanie’s writing project is investigating the impact of pharmacogenomics on pharmacy practice, and her research project is pharmacogenomics and adverse drug events in cardiovascular drug therapy.  Stephanie is preliminarily interested in pharmacogenomics, oncology, and infectious disease, and may pursue a specialty residency or fellowship in one of these fields.  Away from work, Stephanie enjoys going to the gym, movies, and on many occasions, going out dancing.

(Written by Susan Crowe)

Susan Crowe received her Pharm.D. degree from the University of California in San Fancisco in 2002.  Prior to being an inspired and knowledgeable pharmacist, Susan got her B.S. in nursing and practiced in intensive care units for 14 years in sunny California.  She is originally from northwestern New Jersey, but was drawn to Cali because of the weather. So, now the question is if being closer to her family and friends will be worth the harsh, cold, long winter in Michigan.  Susan is a fine swing dancer who contributes greatly with experience and advice to our residents’ dance troupe lessons and outings.  In her spare time (but don’t get the wrong idea, she does not have much spare time) she likes biking, working out and spending time with George, her cat.  In the future, Susan would like to work as a clinical pharmacist, possibly in a hospital ICU setting.

(Written by Simona Ouzounova)

William Prescott received his Pharm.D. from SUNY Buffalo in May of 2002 and is currently doing a pharmacy practice residency. When not golfing, Bill focuses his pharmacy interests on pediatrics.  He is currently researching the “Incidence of cross-hypersensitivity with carbapenem among patients with documented beta-lactam allergy versus patients without beta-lactam allergy.” As busy as Bill is, he still finds time to go swing dancing with the rest of the resident dance troupe, host foosball tournaments at his place, and, of course, go golfing! Next year, Bill will continue pursuing his interest in kid care and would like to do a specialty residency in pediatrics with a focus on infectious diseases.

(Written by Bea Domagala)

Jessica Ellis attended Western Nebraska Community College for her undergraduate studies. The experience enlightened her to pursue a profession in pharmacy at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she attended the College of Pharmacy. There she also met a strapping young lad by the name of Jeffrey Ellis. They fell in love and soon after her graduation they were married. In the light of this young couple’s living-happily-ever-after fairy tale with a pharmaceutical twist, Dr. Ellis went on to a pharmacy practice residency at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, MI. Ambitious as she is, she continues to pursue a clinical career by accepting a position as the critical care specialty resident here at the University of Michigan. 

(Written by Loretta Chiu)

As a small boy growing up in Hong-Kong, Simon Leung had aspirations of one day crossing the vast blueness of the great Pacific and coming to America to pursue his life-long dream of becoming a retail pharmacist. Simon moved to the United States during high school as an exchange student and has since lived here and with our Canadian neighbors to the north. The first of Simon’s several degrees was attained at the University of Toledo where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy. Following a brief stint as a community pharmacist, Simon knew he wanted more out of his career, thus he went on to the University of Toronto where he earned his Masters of Science degree. Many individuals are content with one or two degrees, but not Simon, who next moved to the University of Cincinnati, where he attended pharmacy school once more and graduated as a Pharm.D, his last degree, at least for now. Simon is presently in his second year of his residency at the University of Michigan, completing a pharmacy practice residency last year and is in the midst of a specialty residency in nephrology. What will Simon do after the completion of this year, will he go back to school for a fourth degree, probably not, but only time will tell. I’ve heard rumors that Miami may be the next move. My thoughts, the University of Miami may want to ensure there’s an opening in their incoming class of 2003. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, man, can this guy dance.

(Written by William Prescott)      

We’re very happy this year to have Loretta Chiu as our Pharmacy Specialty Resident in Infectious Diseases.  Loretta finished her pre-pharmacy at Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington and later earned her Pharm.D. degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.  Speaking of Seattle, Loretta said that she was never sleepless in Seattle as a pharmacy student.  Reluctant to abandon the huskies’ homeland but yet ambitious and eager to explore new territories, reminiscent of Christopher Columbus, Loretta made a big leap to the east and traveled to New York to gain her valuable pharmacy practice residency experience from Bassett Healthcare, Cooperstown where she developed a kin sense to antibiotics.  Spending a year to get acquainted with the Giants, Loretta realized that her passion was really for the microscopics.  Reading an ad from the New York Times about this great pharmacy specialty residency program in infectious diseases offering at the University of Michigan Hospitals, Loretta made a decision to join the wolf peck, thinking that the huskies and the wolverines are the same species.  Don’t let her know that we are not.  What can we say about Loretta?  Not to mention bright and diligent, we know she is a good cook, especially Chinese food, very athletic, has a great sense of humor and loves to dance, which is one of the requirements for this graduating residency class.  What will Loretta do after this residency?  Go to Disney World?  Get married?  Become the antibiotic police?  Travel around the world?  To be continued…

(Written by Simon Leung)