The UI College of Pharmacy recognizes outstanding faculty in each Doctor of Pharmacy class with the Teacher of the Year award. The Teacher of the Year is a student-nominated award. Recipients will be formally recognized at the Dean’s Appreciation Dinner in November.

Ramprakash Govindarajan and Dave Roman, Class of 2022 Teachers of the Year

Ramprakash “Ram” Govindarajan is a clinical assistant professor at the UI College of Pharmacy and director of Pre-formulation and Formulation Development at University of Iowa Pharmaceuticals (UIP). At UIP, he leads activities aimed at development of drug products for new chemical entities for use in clinical studies.

Prior to joining the University of Iowa in 2015, Govindarajan worked at GlaxoSmithKline in North Carolina, with responsibilities for pre-formulation, formulation & manufacturing process development for new chemical entities and product line extensions. Previously, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Minnesota (Department of Pharmaceutics). Govindarajan received his B. Pharm. Sci. (1995), M. Pharm. Sci. in Pharmaceutics (1997) and PhD in Pharmaceutics (2002) from the University of Mumbai.

One student nominated Govindarajan because “He is dedicated to making sure students understand his material and their applications to pharmacy. He consistently showed up to labs and made sure students were able to complete their experiments and learn from them.”

Another student added, “Dr. Ram is very clear in his teaching and thorough in answering questions. He is easy to work with outside of class and is very engaged in lab as well. It is clear he wants all students to succeed.”

Associate Professor Dave Roman, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Experimental Therapeutics, received his BS in chemistry & biological sciences from Quincy University and his PhD in medicinal chemistry & molecular pharmacology from Purdue University School of Pharmacy. Roman’s professional experiences include a postdoctoral fellowship from the University of Michigan Medical School, and he was an assistant professor in the UI College of Pharmacy before being promoted to an associate professor.

Roman currently teaches a foundational pharmacology and toxicology course in the UI College of Pharmacy. His research interests include the discovery and development of small molecule interventions, or “pre-therapeutic” agents that have the potential to become drugs.

Students commented:

• “Dr. Dave Roman is a great teacher. I thought his material was easy to understand and he gave clear explanations.”
• “Dr. Roman is an effective teacher, and the expectations he set forth in class were clear, fair, and provided a good avenue for learning. He really cared about student learning and was always willing to answer any questions.”

Kashelle Lockman, Class of 2021 Teacher of the Year

Kashelle Lockman earned a BS in biology at the College of Charleston and spent 10 years in biomedical research before transitioning to pharmacy. In 2013, she received a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Maryland. After finishing a PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center, she completed a PGY-2 Pharmacy residency in pain management and palliative care and a fellowship in instructional design at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. As part of this program, she earned a Masters of Arts in Instructional Systems Development from University of Maryland Baltimore County in May 2016.

Lockman is a clinical assistant professor at the UI College of Pharmacy and the Carver College of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine. She is a clinical pharmacy specialist in the outpatient Supportive and Palliative Care Clinic at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where she works on an interdisciplinary team providing palliative care to patients living with serious illnesses. She co-directs the UI College of Pharmacy Certificate in Palliative Care and the UI Teaching and Learning Curriculum for pharmacy residents.

Lockman creates and teaches pain management and palliative care content across the PharmD curriculum. Students provided the following comments:

• “Kashelle Lockman has been the biggest influence of my methodology in solving healthcare-related problems. She is passionate about teaching and facilitating our learning, and continuously trying to improve.”
• “Dr. Lockman puts in countless hours to make sure we understand her material. She always puts her students first and always makes time to help her students both mentally and with class material. She uses active learning strategies in the classroom, goes out of her way to make games for us to practice learning at home, and gives prompt feedback!”

Mary Schroeder, Class of 2020 Teacher of the Year

Mary Schroeder is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science. She received a BS in physics from Texas A&M University in 2002 and a PhD in economics from Emory University in 2011.

Schroeder’s main research area is the economics of health and healthcare, with an emphasis in how information and incentives affect treatment decisions. She is currently working on projects assessing treatment choice and effectiveness in cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Her work utilizes observational data and econometric techniques to study real-world decisions. Students remarked:

• “Schroeder was very engaging in class. It was fun to listen to her. She really loved what she was teaching and cared about her students and whether we understood her material.”
• “I chose professor Schroeder because she was so friendly and enjoyable to learn from. She made it so that everything was easy to understand, even the more complex material. She really got to know the students and that made all of us have the utmost respect for her!”