Christopher Daly

Being in a University at Buffalo classroom is a familiar experience for Christopher Daly. He is a third-generation graduate of UB’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SoPPS), who chose UB for graduate studies as well, entering a dual-degree program that led to Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Business Administration degrees.

Now, Daly is again in the classroom--as one of the SoPPS’s newest faculty members.

“Joining the faculty was an opportunity that presented itself last year,” says Daly.  “I wanted to find a dynamic job working with people on the forefront of creating and trying to understand new business models for the pharmacy profession.”

Daly was intrigued by the opportunity for academic entrepreneurism, a mindset that brings the intellectual capital of the university’s faculty to bear on the private sector economy, creating partnerships that ultimately advance the profession.

Daly sees the role of teacher in a similar vein, as someone who shares the best knowledge possible, but always with an eye toward the future. 

“Our profession needs to grow and enter new areas of practice,” says Daly.  “That’s what I’m doing with my research. It’s a passion. I’m always thinking about it.”

And so too are his students.

Fourteen independent study students of Daly’s are tasked with questions about how pharmacists will participate in possible future health care systems and what the next steps might be for the profession.

The experience energizes Daly; he’s excited about teaching and he’s excited for his students.

“There are so many opportunities at UB for innovative practice, whether that’s participating in patient-centered collaborative health care teams, novel continuing education instruction or multidisciplinary research opportunities,” says Daly. “When you take all that with the downtown renaissance and the infrastructure investment which includes the new medical campus, it’s hard not to get excited about the opportunity.”

Whatever the future brings, it is sure to be very different from the pharmacy practice Daly witnessed growing up. Daly’s grandfather started a private pharmacy fifty years ago, which his parents, both UB School of Pharmacy grads, currently own.

Daly says that his family’s involvement with the pharmacy didn’t necessarily steer him toward the profession, but it did show him what the career could offer.

In fact, Daly began his undergraduate studies as a classical trumpet major, before leaving the arts for the sciences. Music is still very much part of his life; Daly is in the Thursday night rehearsal band at Buffalo’s historic Colored Musicians Club and he recently joined a brass band—a  hobby that, in its traditionalism, provides an interesting juxtaposition to the forward-thinking nature of his research and teaching.

“There is an ongoing evolution to the pharmaceutical sciences,” says Daly. “What we’re doing today at UB is making way for where the profession will be in years to come.”