DKICP expands programs with two more Thai universities

The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo has signed partnerships with two more universities in Thailand that promise to give aspiring pharmacists opportunities to gain international perspectives in their field and provide a mutually beneficial arrangement that can help pharmacy practitioners and researchers advance pharmaceutical knowledge and practice.

Faculty of Pharmacy at both Silpakorn University, west of Bangkok proper in the Nakhon Pathom province, and Siam University in Bangkok, are involved in the new arrangement after memoranda of understanding (MOUs) were signed last October.

“These agreements help us broaden our reputation and allow us to give students in their fourth year of pharmacy school international exposure, both culturally and educationally,” said DKICP Dean John M. Pezzuto. “We were pleased to join other top-ranked pharmacy schools as part of the US-Thai Consortium and this is another example of the opportunity for opening new doors.”

Supakit Wongwiwatthananukit, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, helped shape the existing agreements.

“The program also brings students to pursue advanced professional, graduate study, residency or postgraduate training in our college laboratory, and in many of our experiential sites throughout the Hawaiian Islands,” Wongwiwatthananukit said. 

The arrangement includes at least the following areas of study: (1) Advanced Pharmacy Practice experiences (APPEs); (2) Pharmaceutical Care; (3) Pharmaceutical Sciences Research; and (4) Organization of joint research projects, including conferences and meetings. Other areas of study may be added upon mutual agreement.

Dean Jurairat Nanthanid from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Silpakorn University and Dean Chalermsri Pummangura and Weerachai Chaijamorn of Academic Staff Pharmacy Practice at Siam University came to Hilo and met with Pezzuto and discussed possibilities with other faculty. 

The partnership marks DKICP’s third and fourth agreement with Thai universities. Thai schools of pharmacy already with clinical site and research agreements with DKICP include Chulalongkorn University, signed in 2011, and Rangsit University, signed in 2013.