Meet Skaggs School of Pharmacy’s Newest Clinical Faculty
Story by:
Published Date
Article Content
The Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is proud to welcome four outstanding new clinical faculty members whose expertise spans HIV, health economics, emergency medicine, compassionate communication and more. Together, they bring a wealth of experience that will allow them to deliver state-of-the-art patient care, advance innovative research and train the next generation of pharmacy leaders.
“We are thrilled to welcome these exceptional clinicians, educators and researchers to our faculty,” says Linda Awdishu, Pharm.D., M.A.S., chair of the school’s newly formed Department of Pharmacy Practice and Sciences. “Their scientific expertise, passion for patient care and outstanding teaching skills will not only advance our research and clinical programs, but also inspire and equip our students to become the kind of leaders our profession and communities need.”
Read on to meet our newest faculty members.
Niamh Higgins, Pharm.D., M.Sc.
Niamh Higgins, Pharm.D., M.Sc., brings specialized training in HIV pharmacotherapy and epidemiology and joins us as an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Sciences. In this role she will continue her work as an investigational drug pharmacist at UC San Diego's Antiviral Research Center, where she contributes to clinical trials focused on people with or at risk for HIV and other globally significant infections. Higgins’ main research interests include understanding the impact of opioid exposure on quality of life at the end of life, exploring the effects of opioids on tissue virology and immunology and evaluating the effects of compassion-based interventions on workplace satisfaction and well-being.
Higgins will co-chair our Pharm.D. advanced professional practice course series, where she will help our students build their clinical and communication skills for real-world challenges. As a recent graduate of the UC San Diego Health: Sanford Compassionate Communication Academy Fellowship she will also help design new Pharm.D. curriculum that teaches compassionate communication skills to pharmacy trainees.
Higgins received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and her Master of Science in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McGill University. She completed her PGY1 residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a PGY2 specialty residency in HIV at University at Buffalo.
In her free time Higgins enjoys running along the coast, meditating, traveling and hiking with her husband, 12-year-old triplet daughters and rescue dog, Stella.
Aryana Sepassi, Pharm.D., M.A.S.
Aryana Sepassi, Pharm.D., M.A.S., is an expert in economics and outcomes research and health policy who joins us as an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Sciences. In this role Sepassi will advance research on health care disparities, cancer care economics and the cost effectiveness of medications; launch our first pharmacy practice with University of California Health, which will evaluate the pharmacoeconomic impact of new drugs to UC Health among other initiatives; and she will teach our applied pharmacoeconomics courses in the Pharm.D. curriculum.
Sepassi joins us from UC Irvine School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences where she served as an assistant professor of clinical pharmacy practice. She has also held roles as manager of health economics and outcomes research at Becton, Dickinson and Company and as a pharmacoeconomic modeling consultant for UC San Diego Health. Sepassi’s research is funded by the American Cancer Society and the Arthritis Foundation, and she is the recipient of a 2024 Loan Repayment Program Award from the National Cancer Institute for her work on increasing access to targeted oral anticancer medications among self-identified racial/ethnic minority populations in the United States.
Sepassi holds several national leadership positions in her field, including serving on the leadership committee for the Society for Medical Decision Making Open-Source Health Economic Modelling special interest group and as assistant editor for the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Master of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research from UC San Diego and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in health economics and outcomes research in pharmacogenomics at UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Millennium Health.
In her free time Sepassi enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, friends and dogs, and cooking.
Kimberly Won, Pharm.D.
Kimberly Won, Pharm.D., is a critical care and emergency medicine pharmacy specialist who joins us as an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Sciences. In this role Won will advance her research on critical care, emergency medicine, interprofessional education and simulation-based learning; practice at the post-intensive care unit follow up-clinic at UC San Diego Health; and teach therapeutics courses in our Pharm.D. curriculum as well as lead the development of and teach in the pharmacology curriculum for the new UC San Diego School of Medicine Atkinson Physician Assistant Education Program.
Won joins us from Chapman University School of Pharmacy, where she served as an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice. In this position she played a pivotal role in developing their interprofessional education program and introducing the American College of Surgeons’ “Stop the Bleed” training into their pharmacy curriculum, which taught students how to identify and control life-threatening bleeding. Her clinical experience includes roles as an emergency medicine pharmacist at Providence Mission Hospital and Sharp Grossmont Hospital, and as a critical care and emergency medicine pharmacist at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center.
Won holds several leadership roles in national and local organizations. She currently serves as chair of the Academy of Emergency Medicine Pharmacists’ communications committee, chair-elect of the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s patient safety committee for the clinical pharmacy and pharmacology section and co-chair of the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ organizational performance council. She is also a peer reviewer for multiple pharmacy and emergency medicine journals and an editor for an internationally used emergency medicine textbook, EM:RAP’s CorePendium.
Won received her Doctor of Pharmacy from University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, completed her PGY1 residency in acute care at UC San Diego Health and PGY2 residency in critical care/emergency medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital and Denver Health Medical Center.
In her free time she enjoys traveling, yoga, visiting friends and family and watching live sports games and musicals.
Brittany Wright, Pharm.D.
Brittany Wright Pharm.D., is a board-certified ambulatory care pharmacist who joins us as an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Sciences. In this role she will advance research into cystic fibrosis, asthma, rare lung diseases, medication access and payer systems; provide patient care at UC San Diego Health’s Family Medicine ambulatory clinics; and teach pharmacy practice in our Pharm.D. curriculum.
Wright joins us from University of Iowa Health Care, where she launched their pharmacy services within pediatric and adult pulmonary clinics as a clinical pharmacy specialist. Additionally, she also served as adjunct associate professor at University of Iowa College of Pharmacy.
Wright has served on several national and local committees in her field, including with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy and completed PGY1 and PGY2 residency training in ambulatory care at the University of Iowa.
Outside of work, Wright enjoys spending time with her family, watching movies, reading and exploring all that San Diego has to offer.
Share This:
Stay in the Know
Keep up with all the latest from UC San Diego. Subscribe to the newsletter today.
