On the CUSP: January 2026
Awards and Recognitions Dr. Amy Kang has been selected to serve as an author panelist for the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s guidance paper on resource framework and staffing for hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs. Dr. Rachita Sumbria was awarded 2025 BPS Paper of the Year for her publication “Hepatic LRP-1 plays an important role in
Chapman Achieves Outstanding NAPLEX Pass Rates
Chapman University School of Pharmacy is proud to report excellent results on the 2025 North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX), demonstrating CUSP’s commitment to excellence in education and practice. Our 2025 Pharm.D. graduates achieved a 93.7% first-time pass rate on the NAPLEX, outperforming both California (86.7%) and national (86.8%) averages, placing Chapman pass rates at
Patient Safety: The Foundation of Care
From pediatrics to geriatric care, all patients are affected by the choices their healthcare practitioners make. Clinical decisions, medications dispensed, and every treatment delivered carry the potential help or harm. At Chapman University School of Pharmacy, faculty have spent more than a decade advancing patient safety through research that addresses real-world risks, from medication errors
Ashley Daffron Rejoins Chapman University
We are pleased to announce that Ashley Daffron, Pharm.D., has rejoined Chapman University as an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice. Daffron, who served as an Assistant Professor and founding faculty member at CUSP from 2017 to 2018, brings additional years of experience from her time at the University of Colorado. After departing Chapman in 2018,
On the CUSP: December 2025
Awards and Recognitions Dr. Sherry Yun Wang served as an invited grant reviewer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Systems Research (HSR) Scientific Merit Review Board (SMRB). Grants Dr. Jeff Goad was awarded a grant ($106,094) from the Merck Foundation as primary investigator on the study “A Prospective Survey Study Using Discrete
On the CUSP: November 2025
Grants Dr. Keykavous Parang (Conference Chair) and Dr. Enrique Seoane-Vazquez (Conference Chair): The Fight Against Infectious Diseases: Addressing the Challenges of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, 2026-2027 On-Campus Conference Award, $8,000. Publications Dr. LB Brown and others published “Consumer data insights on pharmacy utilization: Comparative study of 2015 and 2021 surveys.” in the Journal of the American Pharmacy
Mary Gutierrez Retires, Leaving a Lasting Impact in Education and Health
After nearly 35 years of service in academia, Mary Gutierrez will retire in December 2025, concluding a career marked by expertise and a commitment to advancing pharmacy. A nationally recognized authority in psychiatric pharmacy, Gutierrez has long been board-certified by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties and has contributed to the evolving practices of mental health
R15 Grant Awarded to Parang and Yang
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded a $415,500 Academic Research Enhancement Award (R15) to Keykavous Parang, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and Sun “Coco” Yang, Ph.D., to support their innovative cancer research at Chapman University. The project develops next-generation peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs) designed to improve the safety and effectiveness of doxorubicin (DOX), a chemotherapy drug commonly used
NIH Awards $3 Million to Yang to Advance Care for Melanoma
Sun “Coco” Yang, Ph.D., has been awarded a $3 million 5-year R01 from the National Institutes of Health as Principal Investigator to advance care for melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. Yang, Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, is a clinical scientist with dual expertise in clinical pharmacy and basic research. In
Center for Targeted Drug Delivery Launches at Chapman
The Center for Targeted Drug Delivery (CTDD) is our latest research center, created to advance precision drug delivery technologies and translate novel technologies into impactful therapies. The CTDD provides a formal structure that will deepen interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty researchers, industry partners, and other leading research institutions, while also attracting new partnerships. By uniting researchers