Governor Pat McCrory Congratulates UNC Eshelman School Of Pharmacy On Record Donation | Eastern NC Now

    Chapel Hill, N.C. - Governor Pat McCrory was on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill today to celebrate the largest financial commitment from an individual in the university's history. Class of 1972 alumnus Fred Eshelman has made a $100 million donation to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The governor joined Chancellor Carol Folt and Dean Robert Blouin at the program.

    "This historic financial commitment will spur innovation, research and create new jobs. It will position the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as one of the premier destinations for higher education," said Governor McCrory. "Future graduates will be living testaments to Dr. Eshelman's legacy of generosity and accomplishment for many years to come."

    The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is second among the nation's pharmacy schools in total federal research funding and specifically in National Institutes of Health funding. Its doctor of pharmacy program also ranked number two in U.S. News & World Report's 2013 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools.

    "Collaborative public-private investments like this new institute will drive the future of innovation at Carolina, and we cannot thank Dr. Eshelman enough for his continued support of the school's leadership and of the leaders of tomorrow we are producing," said UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol L. Folt. "Thanks to Dr. Eshelman's vision and generosity, we can pursue three critical components of the University's overarching mission: to continue to attract the very best faculty and students from around the world who have a passion to innovate; to fuel economic development arising from their discoveries in an exciting learning environment; and to educate the next generation of leaders to be innovative and competitive."

    The school enrolls approximately 650 students in its professional degree program, more than 100 students in its graduate program and has more than 100 full-time faculty members.

    "Dr. Eshelman has always encouraged us to take risks, and the Eshelman Institute for Innovation provides us with the ability to pursue high-risk, high-reward ideas with partners on campus and to push those ideas out into the world as advancements in education, pharmacy practice and health care," said Robert Blouin, dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. "Pharmacy school faculty consistently and successfully join forces with colleagues from the School of Medicine, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and the College of Arts and Sciences. The Eshelman Institute for Innovation will accelerate these interdisciplinary partnerships and drive critical problem-solving across the University."

    "I am inspired by the work being done by students, faculty and staff in the School of Pharmacy. In the past 10 years, the school has generated more than 130 patents and created 15 spin-off companies," said Fred Eshelman, who has been a member of the school's Board of Visitors for more than a decade and has lectured at the school as an adjunct faculty member. "Their success demonstrates the power and the future of drug discovery in academia, and it's a future that I am eager and proud to support."