Last Friday’s White Coat Ceremony kicked off a new academic year for the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy. The faculty/staff esprit de corps was high and the students, their families and friends in the audience clearly enjoyed the ceremony – a great start to the year. JLWCOP enjoyed a surge in Pharm.D. enrollment this fall after expanding its recruitment zone, signing articulation agreements with universities 10 miles from UC and on the other side of the world, and a lot of hard work from Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs Kelly Epplen and her team. The College grew its faculty and staff numbers as well, adding nine new members to the JLWCOP family in 2025 to meet professional and graduate student demand and to move in new research directions. A major goal was realized in that the College now has the people and resources to launch a UC-serving medicinal chemistry core (MCC) facility that will promote cancer drug discovery and development. Opening for business in September 2025, the MCC will allow JLWCOP, UC’s medical school, the UC College of Arts & Sciences, the UC Cancer Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and UC Health to collaborate toward discovery and development of novel cancer drug candidates, initiate early-phase clinical trials on campus, and develop new IP via UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub. It’s an exciting time to be a faculty or student cancer researcher at JLWCOP.