WASHINGTON —
U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) announced today that the omnibus appropriations bill that has passed Congress includes a total of $550,000 in funding for College of Notre Dame’s School of Pharmacy.
  The funding includes $450,000 for facilities and equipment and an additional $100,000 for lab equipment for the new school.

“It is clear that our nation will face a serious shortage of pharmacists in the coming years, and I commend the College of Notre Dame for its plans to
 establish a new, co-educational School of Pharmacy to help meet the demand for trained pharmacists,” said
Senator Cardin.
  “I was pleased to support this funding because the School of Pharmacy will help close a gap that could seriously affect our nation’s delivery of health care services.”

The College of Notre Dame School of Pharmacy opened in August 2009 and is the first women’s college nationally to have a co-educational School of Pharmacy. A recent report by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, points to the compelling national need to understand women’s health issues in order to provide optimal health care for female patients.  College of Notre Dame’s School of Pharmacy will promote education of women’s health across the lifespan and develop the leadership skills in its graduates to be medication experts.

The new School of Pharmacy will be a 4-year program with an expected enrollment of approximately 70 students in each class. The six teaching laboratories in the design plans will play an integral part in the education of students.  These laboratories will be used throughout the curriculum for students to develop the necessary skills to manage the ever increasing complex medication regimens of patients, manage medication use systems, effectively counsel patients, and use medical informatics as well as evidence based medicine in the care of patients