ACCP members Paul Boylan, Zackery Bulman, and Wesley Kufel were selected by the 2023 ACCP Awards Committee to receive the College’s prestigious 2023 New Educator, New Investigator, and New Clinical Practitioner awards, respectively. The awards will be presented in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday, November 12, 2023, during the Awards and Recognition Ceremony of the 2023 ACCP Annual Meeting.

Boylan

The ACCP New Educator Award recognizes and honors a new educator for outstanding contributions to the discipline of teaching and to the education of health care practitioners. The awardee must have been a Full Member of ACCP at the time of nomination and a member at any level for a minimum of 3 years; in addition, the awardee must have completed their terminal training or degree less than 6 years previously. Paul M. Boylan, Pharm.D., BCPS, is an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy (OUCOP) and serves as a clinical pharmacist at The University of Oklahoma Medical Center. Previously, Boylan was an assistant professor at Larkin University College of Pharmacy (LUCOP), where he practiced as a clinical pharmacist at Larkin Community Hospital – Palm Springs Campus. Boylan received his Pharm.D. degree from Wilkes University Nesbitt School of Pharmacy and completed residency training at Reading Hospital in West Reading, Pennsylvania (PGY1), and Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (PGY2, transitions of care).

The Awards Committee noted in its report to the ACCP Board of Regents:

In terms of classroom innovation, Dr. Boylan has utilized techniques such as remote asynchronous lectures with adaptive learning and the flipped-classroom model. Additionally, he has authored 16 peer-reviewed publications and 1 book chapter and serves as co-investigator on a major grant focused on adult community-acquired pneumonia. Dr. Boylan was recognized in 2019 as the Class of 2021 Teacher of the Year at LUCOP and as the 2021 Most Collegial Faculty Member, Class 2022 Educator of the Year, and 2022 Outstanding Educator at OUCOP. He was also awarded the 2022 Education and Training PRN Teaching and Mentoring Award. Dr. Boylan’s colleagues describe him as a “bright, creative, and scholarly academician” and his students as “highly empathetic, very receptive, and student-centered.” Dr. Boylan also tailors and individualizes student learning to better engage his learners in his courses. For example, he was able to increase student confidence in their drug information skills by integrating students’ societal culture and background into his lectures. Dr. Boylan is an active member of the Pulmonary PRN, the Adult Medicine PRN, and the ACCP Task Force on Career Transitions.

Bulman

The New Investigator Award recognizes an ACCP member who has made a significant impact on an aspect of clinical pharmaceutical science. The awardee must have been a member of ACCP for more than 3 years, must have completed their terminal training or degree less than 6 years previously, and must have a research program with a substantial publication record that includes a programmatic theme or an especially noteworthy single publication. Zackery P. Bulman, Pharm.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Pharmacy. He received a B.S. degree in biotechnology from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Pharm.D. degree from the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and completed an NIH-funded fellowship in infectious diseases pharmacology at the University at Buffalo. Bulman’s research program investigates novel pharmacotherapeutic approaches to overcome drug-resistant bacteria and improve patient outcomes.

In recommending Bulman for the 2023 New Investigator Award to the ACCP Board of Regents, the committee wrote:

Dr. Bulman has obtained over $4 million in research grants from the NIH and other competitive funding sources, including an NIH/NIAD R01 as PI to study precision medicine approaches to optimal antibiotic regimen selection specific to a patient’s pathogen using bacterial genotypes. This 5-year award is among the largest R01 awarded to a Pharm.D. He has published 44 peer- reviewed publications, most within the past 3–5 years, and has an h-index of 17; his work has been cited more than 790 times. He has served as first or senior author on original research studies published in top infectious diseases journals such as Lancet Microbe (Impact Factor 86.2), Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, and Clinical Microbiology and Infection. Dr. Bulman has authored two book chapters, provided multiple platform presentations at national and international meetings, and led international consortiums highlighting key areas for future research in infectious diseases. His expertise in the field of antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic selection is reflected in numerous honors and awards, including recognition as a Fellow of the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy; Editor of mSystems, an American Society for Microbiology journal; and the 2022 UIC Research and Scholar of the Year Rising Star Award.

Kufel

The New Clinical Practitioner Award honors a new clinical practitioner who has made outstanding contributions to the health of patients and/or the practice of clinical pharmacy. The awardee must have been a Full Member of ACCP at the time of nomination, as well as a member at any level for a minimum of 3 years; in addition, the awardee must have completed their terminal training or degree less than 6 years previously. Wesley D. Kufel, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCIDP, AAHIVP, is a clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice at State University of New York (SUNY) Binghamton University and has been a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases at SUNY Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, New York, since 2017. He received his Pharm.D. degree from the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and completed residency training at SUNY Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, New York (PGY1), and the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (PGY2, infectious diseases).

The Awards Committee commented in its report to the ACCP Board of Regents:

Prior to his faculty appointment in 2017, there were no formal infectious diseases consult pharmacy services at his practice site, and since that time, Dr. Kufel has initiated several novel and innovative clinical programs. He has developed or helped optimize numerous pharmacist-led services, including the Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia bundle, an antimicrobial stewardship discharge antibiotic prescription review program, a penicillin allergy management service, electronic antibiotic order sets, and a vancomycin AUC-based dosing and monitoring program. He is also the co-founder and current co-director of the Clinical Research Microcredential Program at SUNY Upstate and was appointed as a member of the Board of Pharmacy Specialties BCIDP specialty council (2023–2025). He was awarded the 2022 New York State ACCP Clinical Practitioner Award as well as the 2021 New York State Council of Health-System Pharmacists New Practitioner Award.

Kufel is also actively engaged in research and scholarship. At the time of his nomination, he had published over 45 peer-reviewed articles and held an h-index of 15 according to Google Scholar. In addition, he has received almost $200,000 in extramural grant funding to support his various clinical research initiatives.

Members of the 2023 ACCP Awards Committee were Kristi Kelley (chair), Nancy Shapiro (vice chair), Brian Hemstreet (secretary), Scott Bolesta, Alexandre Chan, Melanie Claborn, Patrick Dougherty, Amy Fabian, Christine Goth, Paul Gubbins, Young Lee, Cynthia Nguyen, Tanvi Patel, Golden Peters, Ann Philbrick, Jennifer Phillips, Chasity Shelton, Paul Stranges, Stephanie Tchen, and Kathleen Vest.