Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy received a top ten ranking from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy for research funding.
The School ranked #3 in the Western United States and #15 nationally among 72 private schools of pharmacy for total extramural research funding awards during the fiscal year 2021. Out of 143 pharmacy schools in the United States, LLU School of Pharmacy ranked #66.
AACP’s Funded Research Grant Institutional Rankings Report provides aggregated grant data by an institution for NIH, other federal, total federal, non-federal, and a sum of all extramural research grants.
Loma Linda University earned an R2 designation from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, achieving one of the most coveted national recognitions for its commitment to “high research activity,” in April.
One of the grants contributing to the rankings involves a School of Pharmacy study of unique mechanisms related to antimicrobial resistance, which results when germs such as bacteria and fungi develop the ability to defeat the prescription drugs designed to wipe them out. Your body then becomes resistant to the germs, and they continue to grow, leading to infection.
Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health threat, killing at least 1.27 million people worldwide and associated with nearly 5 million deaths in 2019. In the U.S., more than 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur each year, with more than 35,000 people dying as a result, according to CDC’s 2019 Antibiotic Resistance (AR) Threats Report.
In addition to antimicrobial resistance, faculty and students researched ways to integrate pharmacists into behavioral healthcare teams to improve medication use and patient outcomes.
“We strive to provide opportunities for faculty and students to improve patient care and advance research in the field of pharmacy,” said Michael Hogue, PharmD, FAPhA, FNAP, dean of LLU School of Pharmacy. “Having AACP’s regional and national recognition solidifies LLUSP as a prestigious private institution for pharmaceutical research and patient care discovery.”