The appointment of Dr. Naser Alsharif as the new Dean of the School of Pharmacy
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that, on the recommendation of the Provost and the President, the Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Dr. Naser Alsharif as the new Dean of the School of Pharmacy effective February 1, 2022.
Dr. Naser Alsharif hails from Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA, where he has been a full professor of pharmacy sciences in the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions. He holds a Ph.D. in Toxicology/Pharmacology from Creighton University Medical Center (CUMC), an M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), and a PharmD from UNMC.
Dr. Alsharif has extensive teaching and research experience that spans over 28 years. He is the instructor of record for clinical toxicology, cultural proficiency for healthcare professionals, ethics for healthcare professionals and medicinal chemistry. His areas of expertise and publications include toxicity of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, distance education, scholarship of teaching and learning, use of technology, health care disparities and cultural competency, health and healing practice of people of faith, provider bias and global pharmacy education. Dr. Alsharif is also the originator of structurally based therapeutic evaluation in teaching medicinal chemistry and has published manuscripts and presented nationally and internationally on the use of this concept in the classroom. He has also served as the associate director of Creighton University’s Distance Based Doctor of Pharmacy Pathway, the first in the US. He is the coordinator for international relations for the Middle East and India. Since 1995, he coordinated exchange visits by students and faculty from China, Egypt, England, Jordan, Sweden and South Korea and finalized a number of memorandums of understanding.
Dr. Alsharif’s scholarly, teaching and service accomplishments were acknowledged by his students and colleagues in winning the Outstanding Teacher Award, Creighton University’s John P. Schlegel Diversity Award for Excellence and Innovation and the Distinguished Educator in Teaching as Scholarship; as well as the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)’s inaugural Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award and Innovation in Teaching Award. He was the winner of AACP’s Innovation in Teaching Award Competition, 2000, 2006 and received an honorable mention for the same Award in 2002 and 2004.
Dr. Alsharif has also been a member and officer at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) since 1995 and served as chair for the Global Pharmacy Education Special Interest Group (GPE-SIG) and chair of the Health Disparities and Cultural Competency SIG. During his tenure, he led a group of colleagues to author four special papers on current practices in Global outreach and served as a guest editor on a special theme on cultural sensitivity and global pharmacy engagement, all published in the premier pharmacy journal, American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. Dr. Alsharif received the Outstanding Service Award from the AACP GPE-SIG and in 2021 from the HDCC-SIG.
Dr. Alsharif helped in establishing the Arab American Pharmacy Educators in 1997 and have since conducted a number of webinars and virtual conferences in collaboration with universities in the Arab world. Dr. Alsharif is also a certified immunizer and an immunization trainer. He has practiced as an on-call and part-time pharmacist for more than 20 years at five local hospitals and precepted hundreds of students.
Dr. Alsharif served as a member of an evaluation team for the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) International Services. He also served as a visiting professor, consultant, coordinator for strategic planning and as an external assessor at several universities in the Arab world including Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. Dr. Alsharif was also invited as a plenary speaker and presenter at several local, national and international conferences.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Alsharif to the LAU community and congratulating him on his new appointment as Dean of the School of Pharmacy.
I would like to also take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Imad Btaiche, for his many years of strong commitment, dedicated service, and steady leadership as Dean of the School of Pharmacy. We wish him well as he returns to the faculty and continues his scholarly work at LAU in the years ahead.
Michel E. Mawad, M.D.
President