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College of Pharmacy museum rededicated by Roby Hill S.C. College of Pharmacy (MUSC campus) Agrarian poet Allen Tate once wrote “With the war of 1914-1918, the South re-entered the world— but gave a backward glance as it stepped over the border: that backward glance gave us the Southern renaissance, a literature conscious of the past in the present.”   During Alumni Weekend Feb. 29 - March 1, the College of Pharmacy went one better and had the past in the present … and both of them in the future.   The South Carolina College of Pharmacy (SCCP) honored the past by rededicating a museum on the first floor of the pharmacy building. Ralph Wilkie, Class of ’53 and former faculty member, led a fundraising drive among MUSC pharmacy alumni which netted nearly $10,000, more than enough to create additional cabinets and bookshelves for more display space. The MUSC Pharmacy Alumni Association Museum has many fascinating reminders of the way drugs used to be stored, compounded and dispersed, and is appropriately located in the Distinguished Alumni Hallway.   SCCP Executive Dean Joseph T. DiPiro, PharmD, and SCCP MUSC Campus Dean Arnold Karig, Ph.D., presented Wilkie with a certificate of appreciation for his painstaking preservation work.   “The alumni were very supportive and stepped up to the challenge,” DiPiro said. “They took real ownership of the project and, under Ralph’s leadership and with the help of some industrious students, did an excellent job of updating the displays.”   Other reminders of the past in the present were the prestigious awards given out to alumni and friends of the college, the recipients of which were an unusual blend of faculty, staff, alumni, administrators and students.   MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., presented Professor Emeritus William Golod, Ph.D., a Presidential Citation for his more than 50 years of service as professor and dean of the College of Pharmacy, marking both a rare achievement and honor—since Greenberg became president, fewer than a dozen of these prestigious awards have been given.   When he became dean of the pharmacy college in 1965, Golod was the youngest dean in the pharmacy profession. By the time he retired as dean in 1993, he was one of the longest serving. Golod joined MUSC in 1958 as assistant professor and held positions as director of pharmaceutical services (MUSC Hospital Pharmacy), associate professor and full professor before becoming assistant dean in 1963. The many accolades he has received in a storied career at MUSC include memberships in Rho Chi Pharmaceutical Society and Sigma Xi as well as the Myrtle Wreath Achievement Award for Advancements in Medical Education and the Order of the Palmetto. He has also received the MUSC Distinguished Faculty Service Award, the Honorary Distinguished Alumnus Award and has been inducted as an Honorary Golden Graduate.   Under his leadership, the College of Pharmacy became the first college in the country to achieve a number of milestones, including requiring clinical experience for all undergraduates, utilizing a comprehensive computerized patient record system, developing a drug information database, providing a pharmacokinetics dosing service for all patients in the MUSC Hospital and the first college of pharmacy in the Southeast to have an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists accredited residency program.   Peter Edwards, MUSC campus director of external affairs and member of the Class of ’68, was recognized by the Alumni Association as the 2008 recipient of the Association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, presented by Alumni Association President-elect David Shirley, ’02. The presentation was a surprise.   “This place is not known as a place where you can keep secrets,” Edwards said on receiving the award. “But you kept this one.”   After graduating from MUSC, Edwards entered into private industry as a pharmacist with a number of chain drug stores before becoming an instructor in the Department of Community Pharmacy Practice and Administration at MUSC in 1989. He has continued to serve as an occasional part-time pharmacist while taking on additional instructional and administrative roles. He was made assistant professor in 1995 and associate professor in 2004. As director of external affairs, he is responsible for maintaining strong relationships with clinical and community pharmacists with whom students do rotations.   His South Carolina Pharmacy Association (SCPhA) honors have included Pharmacist of the Year (2000), Merck & Co. Pharmacist Recognition Award (1999), Merck Pharmacist Achievement Award (1998), McKesson Leadership Award (1997) and NCPA Pharmacy Leadership Award (1997). He has served as SCPhA chairman of the board of directors, chairman of the house of delegates and president as well as serving as president of the MUSC College of Pharmacy Alumni Association from 1998-2000.   Student Kimberly Kelly was honored by the American Institute of Historical Pharmacy with a certificate, presented by director of extramural programs Ron Nickel, for her work in the museum.   In addition to the award ceremony and the dedication of the museum, Bobby Bradham, ’77, presented the college with a reunion giving check for $10,220. Alumni also had the opportunity to take a tour of Ashley River Tower (ART), go to an open house at Anderson House, take some continuing education courses and enjoy a family picnic at James Island County Park.   “The highlight of any event is seeing former students and celebrating their successes,” Karig said.   For these students from the past, ART offered a glimpse into the future. The nuclear area provides an excellent example. There are two hot labs in the new facility, enabling the preparation of nuclear doses from eluting them through a generator on-site. Nuclear doses are used for a variety of medical treatments—such as for cancer—and diagnoses, such as detecting a pulmonary embolism or determining if a patient has a thyroid condition. The ART pharmacy, including the nuclear area, was designed largely by members of the Class of ’77 - for whom a nuclear track did not exist.   Bradham, manager of the pharmacy before retiring last year, was joined by current pharmacy coordinator Don Neuroth ’77, Larry Grant ’77 and Carol Smalls ’77 as each took an area to design.   “We made a real effort to make sure the pharmacy design is the most comfortable and efficient for the patients,” said Neuroth. “As long as that was our focus, I was pretty sure we’d end up with something that would work. So far, so good!”   While the equipment in the ART pharmacy looks a bit different from the equipment Wilkie patiently assembled in the new cabinetry of the MUSC Pharmacy Alumni Association Museum, there are some things that never change.     Friday, March 28, 2008 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.