Celebrate this year's award winners including the Award of Honor, Distinguished Leadership Award, and Pharmacy Champion Award.
Award of Honor
The ASHP Board of Directors’ Award of Honor recognizes individuals outside the pharmacy discipline who have made extraordinary national or worldwide contributions to the health field. The 2022 Award of Honor recipient is Scott Gottlieb, MD, 23rd commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC.
Dr. Gottlieb is a highly esteemed physician, medical policy expert, and public health advocate. As FDA commissioner, he helped streamline and accelerate the drug review and approval process, address concerns around drug prices, combat opioid use disorder, and embrace innovation related to medical products. His ongoing support of pharmacists as medication experts and advocacy for pharmacist provider status sparked impactful, profession-wide change and advancement.
Distinguished Leadership
The ASHP Board of Directors’ Distinguished Leadership Award recognizes contributions to excellence in pharmacy practice leadership in acute and ambulatory care settings. The 2022 Distinguished Leadership Award recipients are Marie A. Chisholm-Burns, executive vice president and provost at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland and Miriam A. Mobley Smith, interim dean at the University of Hawaii at Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy.
Dr. Chisholm-Burns is a nationally renowned prolific researcher, educator, and leader in health disparities, healthcare access, social justice, and the scholarship of teaching. For nearly 30 years, her work has embraced transformational learning opportunities that create and foster diverse and equitable academic and healthcare environments and encourage dialogue and innovation between students, patients, and providers.
Dr. Mobley Smith is a highly accomplished and esteemed leader, educator, and speaker. Her strategic leadership, unyielding passion, and demonstrated commitment to training the pharmacy workforce continues to elevate the role of pharmacy professionals, enhance patient safety, and advance the pharmacy profession.
Donald E. Francke Medal
The ASHP Board of Directors’ Donald E. Francke Medal honors pharmacists who have made significant international contributions to advance pharmacy practice. The 2022 medalist is Toyin Tofade, 10th president of the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in New York.
Dr. Tofade is a well-respected and accomplished leader in global pharmacy with sustained contributions to international pharmacy leadership and continuous professional development (CPD). She has published several papers and presented her work on CPD, academic capacity, organizational leadership, and building strong relationship systems both nationally and internationally.
Pharmacy Champion Award
The ASHP Board of Directors’ Pharmacy Champion Award recognizes leadership in advocacy and public policy that contributes to significant improvements in patient care, drug safety, and medication-use outcomes and advances the vital roles pharmacists play as patient care providers. The 2022 Pharmacy Champion Award recipients are Gary Merchant, MBA, RPh, representative for Sullivan, District 4 in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the Colorado Pharmacists Society-led coalition involved in the passage of H.B. 21-1275, Medicaid Reimbursement for Services by Pharmacists.
State Rep. Merchant is a subject matter expert on 340B-participating hospitals and orphan drug exclusion, pharmacy supply chain, and hospital pharmacy management. He is an avid champion for advancing pharmacists’ scope of practice, expanding reimbursement for services provided by a pharmacist, and fostering medication safety and health outcomes. He played a significant role in facilitating legislation that recognizes pharmacists as providers under Medicaid and expands their ability to prescribe medications for tobacco cessation. Rep. Merchant also championed legislation creating a new license category for advanced pharmacy technicians authorizing them to perform most technical dispensing functions without the review or approval of a licensed pharmacist.
A coalition of pharmacy and healthcare professionals led by the Colorado Pharmacists Society worked closely with state legislators to secure passage of legislation that requires Medicaid to reimburse pharmacists for clinical services under the medical benefit, including those providing advanced clinical services under collaborative practice agreements or statewide protocols. This group of dedicated pharmacy and healthcare leaders executed a concerted, highly organized, and effective effort to improve patient access to primary care and add to the growing list of states expanding patient access to pharmacists’ services.
Pharmacy Technician Excellence Award
The ASHP Board of Directors’ Pharmacy Technician Excellence Award recognizes contributions to excellence in the role of pharmacy technicians, advancement of the pharmacy technician workforce, and advancement of pharmacy practice. The 2022 Pharmacy Technician Excellence Award recipient is Barbara E. Lacher, retired associate professor and program director at the North Dakota State College of Science.
Ms. Lacher is a highly respected pharmacy technician educator and advocate for the advancement of the pharmacy technician workforce. For more than 20 years, she has been a leading voice for the development of national, uniform standards for pharmacy technician education and training.
ASHP-ABHP Joint Leadership Award
The ASHP-ABHP (Association of Black Health-System Pharmacists) Joint Leadership Award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. The 2022 recipient of the Joint Leadership Award is Angela M. Hill, professor, associate dean of clinical affairs, and project director, WE-CARE at the University of South Florida Taneja College of Pharmacy in Tampa.
Dr. Hill is a respected educator, researcher, and leader with a passion for reducing racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare and fostering a more diverse and culturally literate healthcare workforce. Throughout her career, she has leveraged her vast expertise and community relationships to train investigators to implement culturally tailored strategies for enhancing recruitment and retention of diverse research participants, mentor the next generation of cross-culturally informed and responsive patient care providers, and ensure intercultural competent pharmacist care is available and utilized both locally and globally.
