KINGSTON, R.I., Feb. 25, 2013 – The University of Rhode Island has named Pharmacy Professor E. Paul Larrat as interim dean of the College of Pharmacy. Larrat is a member of the Pharmacy Practice faculty and the former associate dean of research for the College of Pharmacy.
“Paul has a very good understanding of the teaching and research programs in the College and he is well-connected and highly respected in the Rhode Island pharmacy community,” said URI Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald H. DeHayes. “He will provide effective leadership for the College and ensure its continued progress on important strategic priorities.”
Larrat lives in Saunderstown, R.I., and has been a faculty member at URI since 1992, and a professional staffer from 1984 to 1992. He served in the U.S. Senate as a Congressional Health Policy Fellow from 2010-11 and as a NASA Fellow at the Kennedy Space Center in 2004.
“I am excited to be taking on this challenge at a critical period in the evolution of our nation’s health care system,” Larrat said. “The College of Pharmacy is well positioned to provide leadership in biomedical research, pharmaceutical education, and clinical practice.”
Larrat’s research interests include drug benefit design issues, formulary compliance strategies, pharmacoeconomic evaluation, decision analysis, outcomes assessment, and drug utilization management. He earned his doctorate in epidemiology from Brown University and his M.S. in pharmacy administration, M.B.A., and B.S. in pharmacy from URI.
Among Larrat’s major accomplishments is an initiative involving URI’s College of Pharmacy and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections that has saved the correctional system about $13 million in prescription costs since 2001.
The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute presented a 2009 Rx Benefit Award to URI and the Department of Corrections for its new Collaborative Management Model, which was the first time the institute honored a collaboration involving a university or college and a state agency.
The College’s Healthcare Utilization Management Center, which is directed by Larrat, and Rita Marcoux, assistant professor of pharmacy research, and the corrections department’s medical staff, manage pharmacy services at the Department of Corrections.
Larrat assumed his interim dean duties Feb. 18, and he will serve as interim dean until a search for the permanent dean is completed.
URI pharmacy students, faculty, and staff moved into a new, $75 million academic home on the Kingston campus last year. The 144,000-square-foot, five-story building features bright open classrooms and laboratories, healthy indoor work spaces, energy-efficient lighting systems, high-tech mechanical systems, and a site footprint with minimal impact on the natural environment.
Pictured above
E. Paul Larrat
URI Communications & Marketing photo by Michael Salerno Photography.