Pharmacy School Named for Fred Eshelman '72

Carolina has its second “named” professional school.

The UNC School of Pharmacy has been renamed the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy after Fred Eshelman ’72, founder and chief executive officer of Wilmington-based PPD Inc. The company specializes in managing clinical trials for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries

Eshelman, who earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy at Carolina, donated $20 million to the school in 2003. His gift funded five $1 million distinguished professorships, six scholarships for doctor of pharmacy students and eight fellowships for graduate students. In addition, Eshelman’s gift went toward the construction of 70,000 square feet of laboratory space in the University’s Genetic Medicine Building and the renovation of Beard Hall, one of the buildings housing the School of Pharmacy. Eshelman also created a fund to encourage innovation, which allows money from the fund to be spent on a new initiative or idea each year.

In 2007, Eshelman pledged another $10 million to start the school’s new centers that will focus on cancer research. His gift was matched by the University Cancer Research Fund to pursue new cancer treatments. Eshelman’s total gifts to the school amount to nearly $33 million.

Eshelman has been a member of the pharmacy school’s board of visitors for more than a decade and has given lectures in the school as an adjunct faculty member.

The other named professional school at Carolina is the Kenan-Flagler Business School, renamed in 1991.

Related coverage is available online:

• Gift, Match Net $2 million for Pharmacy Education
  News report from February 2008
• Faculty Members Named to Distinguished Professorships
  News report from February 2008