A $2-million gift from Pfizer Global Research and Development will establish the University of Connecticut's School of Pharmacy's first distinguished chair. The Pfizer Distinguished Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Technology will allow the pharmacy school to appoint a nationally recognized researcher, scholar, and teacher who has made significant contributions to the field of pharmaceutical technology.

Pharmaceutical technology (the applied science for the development of dosage forms) addresses product development for diverse medicinal agents. It also encompasses the physical and engineering sciences of drug delivery by multiple routes (oral, intravenous, and injection).

Proceeds from the endowment will be earmarked to support the chair holder's academic activities, including pre- and postdoctoral graduate fellowships and a pharmaceutical technology symposium. Also, the chair holder's responsibilities will include convening a working group of representatives from the University of Connecticut and Pfizer to support the advancement of pharmaceutical technology at the pharmacy school.