If the 1,200-year-old walls of the St. Peter Stiftskulinarium could talk, they might share some of the latest developments in clinical pharmacy or muse about advances in model-informed drug development.
That’s because Europe’s oldest restaurant recently served as a meeting place for the 15th Global Gators Scientific Symposium. More than 90 UF College of Pharmacy alumni from across Europe and the U.S. gathered in Salzburg, Austria, June 6-7, for a weekend of scientific exchange and networking opportunities.
“We often say that pharmacy is a small world, but in reality, it is a global profession. For many years, the UF College of Pharmacy has built meaningful partnerships with pharmacy schools around the world and welcomed pharmacists to train alongside our faculty and students in the United States,” said Peter W. Swaan, Ph.D., M.Pharm., dean and professor in the UF College of Pharmacy. “Global Gators gives us an opportunity to reconnect with those colleagues, strengthen the relationships they formed with our college and learn about the innovative research taking place across the globe that may ultimately influence patient care and scientific discovery here in Florida.”
Organized by Almut Winterstein, Pharm.D., Ph.D., a distinguished professor in the UF College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy and director of the UF Center for Drug Evaluation and Safety, alongside Stephan Schmidt, Ph.D., chair of the UF College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutics, this biennial event was established in 1997 by the late UF College of Pharmacy Distinguished Professor Hartmut Derendorf, Ph.D., to serve as a reunion for the college’s international alumni, especially pharmacists who participated in the college’s international research internship program.
Winterstein and Schmidt collaborated this year with local host Olaf Rose, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, which served as the venue for the scientific symposium. The symposium featured presentations from 22 speakers on model-informed drug development, precision medicine and pharmacogenomics and pharmacoepidemiology. Guenther Hochhaus, Ph.D., a professor emeritus of pharmaceutics in the UF College of Pharmacy, received the 2026 Global Gators Award for his achievements in model-informed drug development and his decade of support for the UF College of Pharmacy’s international research internship program.
Since inheriting the program from Derendorf, Winterstein and Schmidt have guided more than 140 interns from Europe and beyond through this six-month internship designed for pharmacy students and recent graduates to explore a career in pharmaceutical science with support from faculty from all college departments. Winterstein said the Global Gators Scientific Symposium provides a welcome opportunity to reflect on all the growth the program has seen over its three-decade history, and in inspiring, historical environments.
“It’s great to see the enthusiasm and connection to UF retained over many years among alumni, and to see the growth among individuals and even entire research units that UF has contributed to,” Winterstein said. “It was particularly special to dine at the oldest restaurant in Europe. The floors are definitely not even, and the walls are crooked, but it’s still beautiful and warm. As a relatively young program ourselves, we have a long time to go, but we are on a good trajectory.”
The 16th Global Gators Scientific Symposium will be held in summer 2028.
June 6-7, 2026
15th Global Gators Scientific Symposium
