Pharmacy students win research honors

Students Hao Zhu, Issam Zineh, Fernanda Marques and Christine Joseph won awards for outstanding posters at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy's 15th annual Research Showcase April 18.

Graduate students Zhu and Joseph received $300 awards for their research. Postdoctoral fellow Zineh and undergraduate Marques each received a $200 award. The competition was sponsored by Andrx Corp., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Graduate students Ping Liu, Caren Beck and Soo Yeon Kwon took top honors in the oral competition. Liu, senior division winner, presented comparisons of two anti-infective agents in animal and human studies to show that the free drug concentrations in the target tissue are more relevant to their antimicrobial activities. Beck, junior division, won for her research on vascular responses to hormones during pregnancy and how increased vascular responses may lead to pregnancies complicated with hypertension. The Levitt Division winner, Kwon, presented the results of a cost-benefit analysis between two drugs for treatment of migraine headaches. Each received $600. Barr Laboratories, Pomona, N.Y., sponsored the senior and junior division.

Dr. Robert A. and Phyllis Levitt, Gainesville, sponsored the Levitt Award.

Health-care professionals inside and outside UF judged the 25 poster and eight oral presentations.