Assistant Dean Appointed at Shady Grove
By: Jeffrey Raymond
Heather Congdon, PharmD, CACP, CDE, has been named the first assistant dean of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy program at the Universities at Shady Grove.
Congdon is assembling a three-person faculty for the Montgomery County campus and overseeing the construction of a lab for the first 40-student class this fall. She is also looking for clinical practice sites for the students. Classroom instruction will be delivered from professors at the School in Baltimore via the Internet, so all students will receive the same accredited curriculum. "Starting new programs and developing new programs is very exciting for me," she says.
She's done it before. In 2003 Congdon became the first pharmacy faculty member appointed at West Virginia University's Eastern Division campus in Martinsburg, where she developed and implemented an ambulatory care practice site. She also identified and enrolled new fourth-year PharmD rotation sites. She enjoys the challenge of coming in with a blank slate, saying, "That's my favorite part of the job."
Congdon earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Pittsburgh and completed her residency in pharmacy practice with an emphasis in community care at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 2003. She lives in Frederick County and practices at Harpers Ferry (W.Va.) Family Medicine.
As they are accepted into the University of Maryland program, pharmacy students will have the chance to choose to attend the main campus in Baltimore or the campus in Montgomery County. Once either campus fills, the remaining students will be slotted at the campus with vacancies.
Congdon wants to quickly reach the point where students from the area make Shady Grove their first choice. With a wealth of federal agencies, medical centers and private biotech research and development companies in the area, students will have numerous opportunities for training and employment right where they study. "I'm really excited to be a part of it," she says.