Albany College of Pharmacy News

Albany College of Pharmacy Hires New Coordinator of Public Relations and Marketing

ALBANY, N.Y. - Albany College of Pharmacy, New York state's oldest continuously operating pharmacy school and one of the only private, independent pharmacy schools in the nation, has hired Ron Lesko, a veteran journalist and communications specialist, as its new coordinator of public relations and marketing.

Mr. Lesko spent 10 years with The Associated Press and the last 3½ years at Sawchuk, Brown Associates in Albany, upstate New York's leading public relations, public affairs and strategic marketing firm. An Albany resident, Mr. Lesko was an assistant vice president at Sawchuk, Brown, specializing in communications strategies for the firm's higher education clients. He also was chair of the firm's Media Relations Group.

"We are very pleased to add a public relations professional of Ron Lesko's caliber to our staff," said President James J. Gozzo, Ph.D. "His intuitive knowledge of the media and his expertise in developing and implementing effective communications programs will be a tremendous benefit to the college as we move into a new era of health care."

Mr. Lesko, 37, joins Albany College of Pharmacy at a time of unprecedented growth as the college expands enrollment, degree offerings and research to enhance its reputation as a leading academic institution.

On the enrollment front, the college is in the midst of an effort aimed at doubling the student body to 1,400 from 2001-07. With its largest freshman class ever this fall (172), the college currently has about 800 students.

In the classroom, in addition to expanding its core pharmacy curriculum to a six-year doctor of pharmacy program to meet national requirements, the college also has added a four-year bachelor of science degree in pharmaceutical sciences to offer students a pre-med track. A certificate program in cytotechnology is new this fall, the first step in the development of a variety of programs in biomedical technology, an area in which the college is moving to address glaring workplace shortages nationwide.

The college also significantly is expanding its research initiatives to offer students cutting-edge insight into the rapidly evolving worlds of pharmaceutical science, both through continued faculty research development and the establishment of the Institute for Pharmaceutical Research, led by Shaker Mousa, Ph.D. Hired in 2001, Dr. Mousa previously was a senior scientist and research fellow at DuPont Pharmaceuticals Co. and holds several patents related to drug development.

"I am excited about the opportunities during such a dynamic time for the college," Mr. Lesko said. "Albany College of Pharmacy has been a respected institution in the Capital Region and in the pharmacy profession nationally for generations. I am proud to be a part of the college's future - a future filled with exciting possibilities as the wonders of scientific research open up new worlds in medicine and health care."

A Chicago native, Mr. Lesko grew up in Bloomfield, N.Y., in the heart of New York state's Finger Lakes region. He attended the State University of New York at Buffalo, earning a B.A. in English in 1987.

Mr. Lesko served as a sports editor and editor for several newspapers in The Bee Group chain of weeklies in suburban Buffalo from 1987-89, when he joined The Associated Press as a general assignment reporter in Buffalo. Mr. Lesko held general assignment positions with the AP from 1990-94 in Concord, N.H., Detroit and South Bend, Ind., earning Indiana AP Staffer of the Year recognition in 1993 before moving to Minnesota as the news cooperative's state sports editor from 1994-99.

Mr. Lesko joined Sawchuk, Brown as a senior account executive in June 1999, focusing primarily on the firm's higher education clients, including Albany College of Pharmacy, Excelsior College, Hudson Valley Community College, the State University of New York College at Oneonta and The Sage Colleges. He was named chair of the firm's Media Relations Group in May 2001 and was promoted to assistant vice president in March 2002.

Mr. Lesko has been a board member and a member of the Public Relations Committee of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Northeastern New York Chapter since October 1999 (the local chapter merged with the Upstate New York Chapter in 2001). He also has served as a member of the local chapter's Executive Committee, and on the Public Relations Committee of the Susan Odell Taylor School for Children in Troy.

Founded in 1881, Albany College of Pharmacy has a long history of serving its students and health-care professionals as one of the premier pharmacy colleges in the nation. The college now enters a new era in health care with a focus not only on pharmacy, but also on pharmaceutical sciences (pre-med), biomedical technology and research.