About the Award
The College of Pharmacy honors graduates of the past 20 years who have achieved early distinction in their field. Nominees include those who have made considerable contributions to the theory and practice of pharmacy or have demonstrated major accomplishments in a professional pharmacy practice or in pharmaceutical research and development. Recipients have also contributed truly exceptional service to their community, the College, the profession, or the public.
2023 Genesis Award Recipients
Kristen Peterson
It was at the UI College of Pharmacy that Kristen Peterson, ’17 PharmD, first discovered her passion for oncology
pharmacy, clinical research, and mentoring both prepharmacy and pharmacy students. After graduation, which included a Certificate of Public Health, Peterson completed a postgraduate residency (PGY1) at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, and subsequently a PGY2 oncology pharmacy residency at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is now the Multiple Myeloma Clinic pharmacist at the Duke Blood Cancer Center in Durham, North Carolina.
In addition to her clinical work and research in this realm, Peterson remains active with the pharmacy residency programs as a PGY1 and PGY2 oncology residency coordinator. She has been a member of the UI Genesis Board since 2019 and looks forward to continuing her involvement with the College.
Heidi Schwanz
After graduating from Iowa, Heidi Schwanz, ’12 PhD, MBA, completed a National Institutes of Health post-doctoral Fellowship at Boston University's Whittaker Cardiovascular Institute. Today she directs a chemistry-focused research and development (R&D) team in Boston Scientific's Interventional Oncology and Embolization Division. In this role, she is the technical lead for the OBSIDIO™ Conformable Embolic product that launched in the United States during second-quarter 2023 as the first shear-thinning embolic technology to be Food and Drug Administration cleared for peripheral use. Schwanz also works with design integration and identifying/ defining the future R&D embolization pipeline. Her earlier positions with the company supported drug-eluting vascular devices.
Schwanz, as co-primary investigator, recently received a four-year, $4 million Department of Defense grant for exploratory work in the embolic space. She is enthusiastic about interventional oncology and enjoys leading her team and using her technical expertise to develop better solutions to unmet needs in patient care.
Past Genesis Award Recipients*
2022 Genesis Award Recipients
Samm Anderegg, '11 PharmD, MS
Rubi Burlage, '06 PhD
Brett Faine, '07 PharmD, MS
2021 Genesis Award Recipients
Brand Newland, '05 PharmD, MBA
Ann Schwemm, '09 PharmD/MPH
2019 Genesis Award Recipients
Monica Fay-Azhar, ’03 PharmD, MBA
Scott Hynes, ’00 PharmD, PhD
2018 Genesis Award Recipients
Nicole K Brogden, '07 PharmD, PhD
Farah Towfic, '11 PharmD
2017 Genesis Award Recipients
Brett Barker, '08 PharmD
Karunya Kandimalla, '04 PhD
2016 Genesis Award Recipients
Deanna L McDanel, '01 PharmD,
Francisco Velazquez, BS, MS, '03 PhD
2015 Genesis Award Recipient
Mike Brownlee, '01 PharmD, MS
2014 Genesis Award Recipients
Kuberan Balagurunathan, '00 PhD
Nora Stelter, '00 PharmD
2013 Genesis Award Recipients
Kelly Brock, '02 PharmD
Joanne Reiland Wakeman, '02 BS, '09 PhD
*No ceremony was held in 2020.