At the school, she leads a successful research laboratory, working to better understand the role biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics play in drug therapy.
Eddington graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Howard University and earned her doctorate from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 1989. She joined the faculty in 1991 and was appointed director of the Pharmacokinetics and Biopharmaceutics Laboratory in 1999.
In 2003, she became chairwoman of the School of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and guided the launch of the Center for Nano-medicine and Cellular Delivery.
In 2006, Eddington brokered a unique partnership with Rexahn Pharmaceuticals to develop cancer-fighting drugs and central nervous system therapies.
As dean, Eddington will guide the first year of satellite classes in Rockville at The Universities at Shady Grove.
Q Why would a student choose University of Maryland School of Pharmacy?
A We’ve placed an emphasis for our pharmacists to become more clinically trained — what they call pharmaco-therapists.
Maryland was one of the schools that pioneered the PharmD [Doctor of Pharmacy] program, and upwards of 98 percent of our graduates pass their pharmacy boards every year.
We have nationally renowned faculty members, who are leading the way in developing cutting-edge drugs.
Q What do you look for in a student?
A Of course, we have standards in terms of test scores and GPA.
But we’re also looking for maturity, professionalism and a sense of empathy, because we work with patients. Their clients are patients, and we are looking to improve their treatment.
Q What challenges lie ahead?
A We’re now addressing the pharmacist shortage. We’re creating a pharmacy facility in Rockville specifically to attract those residents who would like to stay in that area.
There are a lot of biotech firms in the area that would like to partner and work with our faculty.
Q How will distance technology incorporate students from Rockville into this year’s class?
A When I was a pharmacy student, we sat in a classroom and looked at transparencies.
Do you know what a transparency is? Today’s students are not going to learn like that.
Students of the iPod generation would rather learn by looking at you on their laptops, rather than looking at you in person. Already in the Dental School, the students choose to watch electronically.
Q What is important for your students to know about the future of pharmacy?
A My research was focused on the challenging issues of new drug development.
A lot of time a new compound works very well in the lab and very well in animals, but it’s not very readily bio-available.
You may take 250 milligrams, but only 10 milligrams get into your bloodstream and into your tissues. When they are taken by mouth, they are metabolized and biodegraded. We want to see if there are ways to avoid those types of effects, so drugs can reach the systems of the body.
Nanotechnology is something that we’re working on. You might have a drug that’s very effective on breast cancer, but during the treatment it’s highly toxic to other tissues. With nanotechnology, it can focus the treatment at the cellular level and minimize the other types of toxic effects.
We also have a computer-aided drug-design center. We’re using [3-D] computer models in trying to identify if a protein is important in the progression of a disease and in trying to stop the disease.
Q Where do you want to take the School of Pharmacy?
A I would like to see our school lead innovative pharmacy practices. For many years, there has been a discussion of providing an intellectual component into patient service.
We would like to develop policy whereby pharmacists are compensated not only for dispensing medications, but also for their intellectual services. We’re ranked eighth nationally. I want us to be in the top three in five to seven years.
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