UGA College of Pharmacy, in conjunction with Augusta University, hosted the 8th Annual Southern Translational Education and Research (STaR) conference at the Augusta Marriott on Sept. 21-22. The conference had more than 100 attendees and highlighted translational research, specifically the role of public and private partnerships. Dr. David Hess, Dean of the Medical College of Georgia, and Dr. Steven Stice, GRA Eminent Scholar from the University of Georgia, were the keynote speakers.

The winner of the STaR Young Investigator competition was Dr. Yao Yao, assistant professor in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences and one of the college’s newest faculty members.

His project was titled, “Pericytic laminin regulates blood brain barrier integrity and pathogenesis of intracerebral hemorrhage.”

Other winners were:

Graduate Student Winners
First Place: Lu Zhu–College of Engineering, UGA
Second Place: Thomas Menk–Department of Physiology, Augusta University
Third Place: Samantha Spellicy–Animal and Dairy Science, UGA

Postdoctoral Winners
First Place: Ellen Gillis, Ph.D.–Department of Physiology, Augusta University
Second Place: Yasir Abdul, Ph.D.–Department of Physiology, Augusta University
Third Place: Heba Ahmed, Pharm.D., Ph.D.–Department of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, UGA