In November 2021, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) community and guests gathered for the inauguration of Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, as the seventh president of UMB. Dr. Jarrell stepped into this role in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, guiding critical efforts to address this global health crisis with world-changing vaccine research, treatments, community service and outreach, and leadership across the state and beyond.

Under Jarrell’s leadership, UMB remains one of Baltimore’s most powerful anchor institutions and continues to effect real and lasting change by improving health, creating wealth, and advancing social justice in the city, the state, and around the world. This is particularly true in today’s COVID-19 climate.

 

Central to President Jarrell’s vision is that UMB expand on its success by motivating students, faculty, and staff to embrace the university’s core values, which are rooted in service, a commitment to Maryland, and ultimately improving the world. UMB inspires passionate people to apply solutions to the pressing problems facing humankind, and its health care, human services, and law professionals create innovative solutions where others see only problems.

“When I look at UMB, I see an environment that encourages innovation and creativity,” Jarrell says. “I’m surrounded by students and employees who are committed to improving the health and well-being of the people in our community and around the state. That is the magic of UMB, and it’s the secret to our great success.”

 

To maintain UMB’s standing as Maryland’s premier human services institution, these are President Jarrell’s priorities:

• Commitment to excellence in education. UMB works to attract, retain, and educate the best and brightest scholars, staff, and faculty through efforts such as the President’s Initiative on Education, scholarship programs that create opportunities for more students, and by remaining an employer of choice.

• Commitment to working for equity and justice. UMB accepts the responsibility to help improve the health and well-being of underserved populations in Maryland by expanding access in areas of need across the state, supporting our Community Engagement Center, and fostering educational programs to support opportunity and advancement for disadvantaged communities.

• Commitment to statewide collaborations. UMB is maintaining and growing its strong partnership with the University of Maryland Medical System, sustaining and propelling innovation through its collaboration with the University of Maryland, College Park under the MPowering the State initiative, and expanding relationships with other key institutions across Maryland.

• Commitment to innovation and discovery. UMB is preparing for the future with a strong focus on innovation and discovery. The university is expanding its $682 million research enterprise, strengthening its community-based research activities, and developing more interdisciplinary research programs and projects.

Through these efforts, UMB achieves its mission to improve the human condition and serve the public good of Maryland and society at large through education, research, clinical care, and service. Amidst unprecedented challenges in today’s world, UMB is evolving and developing critical innovations toward changing the future today.

 

UMB is Maryland’s public health, law, and human services university, a leading U.S. institution for graduate and professional education, and a prominent academic health center that combines cutting-edge biomedical research and exceptional clinical care.

The university enrolls more than 7,200 students in six nationally ranked professional schools and its interdisciplinary Graduate School, conferring most of the professional practice doctoral degrees awarded in Maryland each year. Serving as a powerhouse economic engine for Maryland, UMB delivers care and services that spur growth, and, in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and affiliated physician practices, the university stimulates nearly $8 billion in economic activity each year, generating 17,000 jobs and yielding $13 in economic activity for each $1 of state general fund appropriation.

UMB provides direct health, employment, legal, educational, and social services to underserved communities and impacts the future by addressing the needs of the most vulnerable populations and fostering the next generation of leaders in innovation, discovery, outreach, and economic impact.

To learn more about UMB, visit www.umaryland.edu.

The Center for Innovative Pharmacy Solutions (CIPS) at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore has begun offering training for workers in the medical marijuana industry. The patient-focused certification training (PFC), which launched on July 1, provides professional instruction and educational standards to a growing national industry that struggles with evolving regulations and science.

“Each program is a little bit different—this is not a simple one hour, quick in, quick out,” said Roxanne Zaghab, director of operations and business development for CIPS. “This is a true commitment to learning the things you need to know: state laws, federal laws, how those two interact.”

The school will offer courses through an online platform that will award certification required under the state’s law for medical marijuana. The curriculum and instruction is provided by Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a nonprofit advocacy group that the school vetted.

The program will prepare its students to “safely cultivate, process, dispense, and control the quality of medical cannabis, as well as how to manage customers.”

Courses can range anywhere from six to 10 hours of instruction that includes a combination of PowerPoint slides, videos, and course guides with a price tag of $450-$750. The proceeds from the courses go toward supporting patient efficacy and generating new content for the program.

With science and regulations evolving at a rapid pace, chief scientific officer for ASA, Jahan Marcu said this type of training is something that took 15 years of vetting to perfect. Back when there were only 11 dispensaries in the country, the instruction originally only focused on law enforcement interaction and customer service.

“We needed a more aggressive training program that turned up the heat,” he said. “The patients also require clean medicine, and testing records—things to hold these places accountable for patient advocacy and safety regulations.”

Although the regulations vary form state to state, this program is designed to fit the national industry and meet the requirements of all 29 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana.

“These regulations will continue to evolve as the industry evolves,” Marcu said.

This training is only phase one of three with the next phase—geared to more advanced professionals—is rolling out on August 15.

The program comes at a good time, as the state just granted its first medical marijuana dispensary license to the Wellness Institute of Maryland in Frederick. The first crop is not expected to be ready until September, so the Frederick dispensary is accepting pre-orders until then.

“I think regardless of how you feel about cannabis, we all have the same goal,” Marcu said. “Whether you’re for it, against it medically or recreationally, we all want to protect public health, that’s the main thing. How do you do that? With education and training.”