Doctor plans state’s first pharmacy school in downtown development

Valerie Miller

Thursday, March 23, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

A Southern Nevada doctor plans to open the state's first pharmacy school next year in a retail and office development that is considered a key to redevelopment in downtown Henderson.

Dr. Harry Rosenberg, formerly dean of the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., confirmed Wednesday that he plans to put his private school in Fountain Plaza, which is planned for Water Street and Basic Road in Henderson.

The school will be an anchor tenant, said Victor Vincent, vice president of the Phyllis Thompson Co., Fountain Plaza developers. Rosenberg hopes to be operating in the yet-to-be-constructed building by September 2001.

Thompson Co. is still negotiating with the Henderson Redevelopment Agency over funding of the project, which if it is completed will be the first major private development in Henderson's effort to revitalize its downtown. Thompson Co. hopes to begin building later this year.

Rosenberg, who moved to Southern Nevada a year ago, plans to begin classes in temporary facilities by this fall, he said.

"We would like to select a class for the fall of 2000 of about 50 to 60 students," he said. "We would eventually like to grow to about 100 students."

Rosenberg would be opening the school with a nonprofit group known as Southern Nevada Educational Services. He had originally headed up a task force from his former college in Pomona to look at the feasibility of a pharmacy school in Nevada, he said.

The university "decided not to pursue it, so we (Southern Nevada Educational Services) decided to open a school up ourselves."

Before Rosenberg's pharmacy school can take applications for its first class, the school must be licensed by the Nevada Commission on Post Secondary Education and receive temporary accreditation known as "candidate status" from the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education, he said.

"We would like to have our license and candidate status for accreditation by the summer so we could begin taking applications in the summer," he said. "Once we graduate our first class, we receive actual accreditation."

Rosenberg said he sees a need for more pharmacists in Southern Nevada because of its rapid growth, and he plans on locating his school in Henderson whether or not the $100 million Fountain Plaza becomes a reality.

Tuition for the private institution would likely start out in the $20,000s for the first year, Rosenberg said. The school would probably compress the last four years of pharmacy school into three years, with students taking their first two years of pre-pharmacy classes at either a university or college.

While Rosenberg said he has not worked out any partnerships with public institutions, Nevada State College Founding President Richard Moore said he would consider working with the pharmacy school.

"I haven't had any discussions with them, but we are pursuing both public and private partnerships for the state college, and we know that there definitely is a need for more pharmacists in Nevada," Moore said.

Keith Macdonald, the executive secretary for the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, agrees that there is a need for more pharmacists in Nevada.

"While the number of pharmacies has doubled from around 174 to close to 300 in Nevada, the number of pharmacists has not," he said. "During that same time period, from 1996 to 2000, the number of pharmacists in Nevada has grown only from about 1,000 to 1,500."

Macdonald praised the idea of opening the pharmacy school in Henderson.

"I think it is very productive and outstanding idea," he said. "Now Nevada students will be able to go to pharmacy school in Nevada instead of having to go out of state, like I did."

The aging of America's population, possible legislation that would extend Medicare coverage to prescriptions, and the widespread advertising of prescription drugs are some of the reasons Macdonald feels is driving the demand pharmacists nationwide.

Not everyone supports the possibility of a private pharmacy school opening in Henderson, though.

Iain Buxton, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, said that he has concerns about the proposed school, including the cost of tuition.

"When you have tuition starting out at $24,000 a year, there are going to be a lot of students who can't afford to go there," Buxton said.

The School of Medicine is planning to propose a public pharmacy school that would be a cooperative effort between the University of Nevada, Reno and UNLV, Buxton said.

While the plans for the public pharmacy school are tentative, Buxton hoped it could start its first year of professional training by fall 2003. He said no site had been determined, but he hoped that tuition could be as low as $5,000 or $6,000 a year.

Valerie Miller is a reporter for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2319 or by e-mail at valerie@lasvegassun.com.