Lorraine Nelson

Winter 2003

What is this drug, and what does it do?

On a typical day, a dozen pharmacists, physicians, and other health care practitioners will call the Drug Information Center (DIC) in Spokane for some help.

“The questions run from easy ones we can answer right away to ones where three days from now we still don’t have an answer,” says Danial E. Baker, DIC director and a pharmacy professor at WSU Spokane.

The center, which was started in 1973 and is primarily funded by grants and contracts, also serves as a teaching laboratory for up to four pharmacy students at a time. Students in their final year of pharmacy school spend six weeks … » More …

Fall 2005

Diabetes: It's still up to you

Although Mary Ellen Harvey '58 knew about her type 2 diabetes for nearly 20 years, she wasn't managing it very well on her own. That changed when she joined thousands of other diabetics across the country in a diabetes management trial. » More ...

Summer 2005

Portland pharmacist uses chemistry to duplicate natural human hormones

Forget about over-the-counter pills and creams to reduce hot flashes, insomnia, and other symptoms of perimenopause. Don’t bother with prescriptions for mass-produced synthetic hormones, either.

Instead, why not use chemistry-or bio-identical hormone replacement-to duplicate natural human hormones, and then concoct the right dosage for each individual woman? Pharmacists call this individualized procedure “compounding.”

Alison Johnston (’84 Pharm.) started doing just that in January 2003 in Portland, Oregon. She reports it seems to be working.

Johnston is the only pharmacist in a compounding-only pharmacy, Marquis Compounding Pharmacy in Portland. She has her own patients and writes prescription recommendations for their doctors to sign. A few of … » More …