Note: Meeting is at UT Tyler-  Fisch College of Pharmacy - Building #13

See map: https://www.uttyler.edu/maps/files/uttyler-campus-map-updated-feb-20-2020-letter-web.pdf?r=/maps/campus-map-printable.pdf

Speaker: LANE J. BRUNNER, Ph.D., R.Ph.

Founding Dean and Sam A. Lindsey Chair. Ben and Maytee Fisch College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Tyler 

After earning his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Washington, Dr. Brunner entered the pharmaceutics graduate program at the University of Houston. During his graduate studies, he was appointed as a pre-doctoral fellow in hematology at the U.T. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He completed his Master of Science degree and went on to pursue doctoral research at the University of Georgia. While there, he was awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration where he developed a simulated model of weightlessness to investigate the effects of space flight on drug effect and toxicity. During his graduate studies, Dr. Brunner studied under the guidance of Drs. Stuart Feldman and Joseph T. DiPiro.

After finishing his Ph.D., Dr. Brunner did his post-doctoral studies in nephrology and pharmacology with Drs. William Bennett and Dennis Koop at the Oregon Health Sciences University. During his post-doctoral training, Dr. Brunner investigated the effect of immunosuppressive agents on metabolic processes examining the role of gender and the endocrine system on drug metabolism.

Dr. Brunner then joined the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. Dr. Brunner received many awards for his work in higher education, and succeeded in securing funding from multiple sources including research foundations, pharmaceutical companies, and the National Institutes of Health. His scholarly investigations include the study of cyclosporine and organ transplantation, novel forms of insulin delivery and their effects on glucose levels, pharmacokinetic modeling of ethanol, toxicity of immunosuppressive agents, and hepatic drug metabolism.

Dr. Brunner is currently the Founding Dean of the Ben and Maytee Fisch College of Pharmacy at The University of Texas at Tyler. Along with his faculty, he has developed an entire professional curriculum using team-based learning as the method of teaching in a highly integrated curriculum. Dr. Brunner’s passion for using team-based learning began as he founded the school of pharmacy at Regis University and experienced how positively students responded to this novel approach to active learning.

The school was innovative in its approach to education and was the pioneer in using team-based learning to deliver an integrated curriculum. Dr. Brunner left Regis University to return to the classroom at California Northstate University, another pharmacy program using team-based learning as the primary teaching methodology. Through his experiences leading the Regis University program and advancing team-based learning at California Northstate, he has become an evangelist for using of team-based learning in academic pharmacy, providing training across the country for faculty wishing to move from passive content delivery to active, engaged student-centered learning.

The Fisch College of Pharmacy has grown into a thriving academic college with a significant research and scholarship agenda and an experiential presence throughout East Texas and across the state. Dr. Brunner remains active in professional organizations at the local, state, and national levels where he advocates for strong educational programs that transform how students learn in and out of the classroom.