Pharmacy Dean J. Lyle Bootman wins top honor

[Source: UA News] - J. Lyle Bootman, dean of The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, has been awarded the 2008 Remington Honor Medal, widely considered to be the profession's highest honor. Administered by the American Pharmacists Association, the award will be presented to Bootman during its annual meeting and exposition on March 16. Bootman was selected to receive the award because of his lifetime of achievement in pharmacy. His studies on drug-related morbidity and mortality in the mid-1990s were a wake-up call to health care providers to better understand the high cost of medication-related errors and to appreciate the role of pharmacists in reducing harm by managing patients' pharmaceutical care.

He is one of only eight pharmacists to be admitted to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and was the first pharmacist to serve on its Board of Health Care Services. In 2006, he served as co-chairman of the Institute of Medicine Committee that produced the influential report "Preventing Medication Errors."

Bootman is the founder and executive director of the UA Center for Health Outcomes and PharmacoEconomic Research, one of the first such centers in the world. He has been dean of the UA College of Pharmacy since 1990, following three years as acting dean. Bootman holds a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the UA and a master of science and doctorate in pharmacy administration from the University of Minnesota. He also was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Named for eminent community pharmacist, manufacturer and educator Joseph P. Remington, the award was established in 1918 to recognize distinguished service and/or outstanding achievement on behalf of American pharmacy during the preceding year, culminating in the past year, or for a sustained period of time. The American Pharmacists Association's awards program is pharmacy's most comprehensive recognition program. The American Pharmacists Association, founded in 1852 as the American Pharmaceutical Association, represents more than 63,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and others interested in advancing the profession. The association, dedicated to helping all pharmacists improve medication use and advance patient care, is the first-established and largest association of pharmacists in the United States.