The University of Rhode Island announced on Oct. 18 that Kerry LaPlante will become the next dean of the College of Pharmacy beginning in 2024.
LaPlante, who currently serves as the chairperson of the Pharmacy department, and an internationally recognized researcher and clinician will become the first female dean in the history of the pharmacy college at URI, and will replace current dean, Paul Larrat, who will be returning to a faculty position within the college.
“I’m thrilled and honored,” LaPlante said. “This will no doubt be the privilege of my career that I have the honor to lead our over 80 staff and faculty, and 750 students.”
URI provost Barbara Wolfe had high praise for LaPlante, who comes from a deep research background, having authored over 140 peer-reviewed articles.
“She’s got great established leadership, she is a passionate scholar, and she’s also a compassionate clinician,” Wolfe said. “Those are very, very nice attributes when you think about a College of Pharmacy.”
LaPlante will be bringing lots of prior leadership experience to her new role, including serving as the president of the Society of Infectious Disease Pharmacists, a national organization, the founding director of the Rhode Island Infectious Diseases Antibiotic Research Program, and was appointed to the COVID-19 vaccine subcommittee by the governor of Rhode Island during the pandemic.
She plans to continue this leadership in the College of Pharmacy and cited a continued cultivation of relationships as one of the key pillars she aims to focus on as dean.
“I’m very people focused,” LaPlante said. “Our students are people, our staff are people, our faculty are people — people are at the center of everything we do.”
Another priority is the recruiting of high-quality students in the various disciplines that make up the College of Pharmacy, such as the four-year bachelors of pharmaceutical sciences program, and the 0-6 Doctorate of Pharmacy program, among others.
“My leadership style is building a strong foundation first,” LaPlante said. “Making sure we continue with a strong foundation and structure that Dean Larrat has built, and then in the next two to three years kind of building up from that scaffolding.”
The transition process, in LaPlante’s words, has been similar to ‘drinking from a fire hose, with the combined messages of congratulations and important bits of information to know regarding the job. But luckily, she has handled the process the same way she teaches her students how to work through a patient case.
“You collect, you assess, you plan, you implement and then you monitor,” LaPlante said. “I want to just go go go, but as I would say to our students, you’re just collecting information, and then you’re going to analyze it and then you’re going to plan.”
Despite the whirlwind of the transition process, LaPlante has been taking things as they come, while also continuing her research in antimicrobials, which she has been recognized for at an international level, and will remain a pursuit of hers during her tenure as dean.
“I’m a researcher and a pharmacist and I am defined by that,” LaPlante said. “Being able to not only help our people and elevate the College of Pharmacy and elevate URI, I hope to make a huge impact in our profession.”