A
St. Louis College of Pharmacy President
Thomas F. Patton, Ph.D.
As many students, faculty, and staff can probably attest, I
usually eat lunch at 11:30 a.m. at the Parkview Café. In fact, I
think some people on campus set their watch by my daily ritual.
I do this for two reasons. One, the food is good, and two, I
like being in an environment of young people. They keep me
on my toes. It’s kind of trite to say that they keep me young,
but that’s part of it. The other part is that I truly believe we,
at the College, have an obligation to help our students become not just good pharmacists but good citizens. Yes, our
students come here to be pharmacists, but they also come here
to receive a well-rounded education. Everything we can do
to make ours as complete a college experience as possible is
very important to me and to so many generous alumni, too.
On Aug. 27, the Alumni Association sponsored the annual
Welcome Back BBQ for a record-setting 1,190 students
(enrolled for the 2008-09 school year). New to the event
this year was a resource fair packed with students sharing
helpful information with their peers about campus clubs
and organizations, professional associations, intramural
sports, and even voter registration. Despite the sultry
temperature, students had a great time as they settled into
another year, or perhaps their first year at StLCoP.
From the outset, I think we were able to show our students
that we get it: the College and its alumni understand that this
is not just a training ground where young men and women
come to be pharmacists. We value opportunities for our
students not just in the classroom but outside the classroom.
More activities and more things to do mean more things related
to creating a college experience, expanding the boundaries of
learning and, ultimately, developing the citizens of the future.
I have no doubt that our students will continue to bring a
fresh perspective and creative intelligence to the College.
And we will continue to rely on our alumni and friends
to provide inspiration and support as we ensure that the
pursuit of knowledge is not a short-term venture.
Fall 2008
ST. LOUIS COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
SCRIPT
V O L U M E
1 8 ,
N U M B E R
3
Editor
F E AT U R E S
Sheila Haar Siegel
4
Designer
Colleen Krutewicz
Contributing Writers
Bryan Daniels
Maureen Harmon
Stephanie Hoffmann
Proofreader
Nancy Busch
Sandy Doyle
7
Contributing Photographers
Sara Doran-Atchison, pp. 7-9
Jay Fram, opposite page
Colleen Krutewicz, pp. 4-6, 15-16
Keri Sims, pp. 10-11
Leighton Wassilak, p. 12
Getty Images, cover
President, Alumni Association
Tom Meyer ’71
Ronald T. Hofmeister
President
13
Thomas F. Patton, Ph.D.
Vice President for Marketing
and Communications
Marc Long
Vice President for Advancement
Brett T. Schott
Script magazine is a joint effort
of the College and the Alumni
Association, published three times a
year for alumni, students, and friends
of the College. Questions or comments
may be addressed to Sheila Haar
Siegel at shaar@stlcop.edu.
314.367.8700
314.446.8397
President’s Office
314.446.8307
Deans’ Office
314.446.8342
Admissions
314.446.8312
Financial Aid
314.446.8320
Alumni Office
314.446.8398
Development Office
314.446.8395
Public Relations
314.446.8393
Continuing Education
314.446.8344
W W W . S T L C O P. E D U / S C R I P T
Alumni submerse themselves in distant corners of Alaska, Guatemala,
and New Orleans to provide pharmaceutical care for patients — without
the tethers of a fully stocked pharmacy, technicians, insurance cards, and
sometimes, roads.
Just One Question
Find out alumni’s answer to the question: “What do people in your
profession know that you wish everyone knew?” And send in your
response to the next question.
sheila haar siegel
16
ST. LOUIS COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
CONTACTS
Script Magazine
Pharmacy Outback
maureen harmon
Chairman, Board of Trustees
Whether 1958, 1978, or 2008, every class of StLCoP students has had
their favorite gathering spots, watering holes, and fashion trends. Here’s
what current students are saying they can’t live without.
stephanie hoffmann
Class Notes
College Receptionist
The Must List: StLCoP Trends
My Other Life: Jack Burke
The “Clark Kent” of Pharmacy Practice, Professor Jack Burke does a
quick change into a Boy Scout leader uniform on weekends, under the
radar of StLCoP students and alumni.
bryan daniels
D E PA R T M E N T S
2
15
Student Profile: What did you do this summer?
18
Alumni News
22
Class Notes
News Briefs
4
News Briefs
News Briefs
Full Court Press
Sports enthusiasts might
not expect to see a team of
future pharmacists playing
organized basketball or
better yet, competing
against pastors-in-training,
but that is exactly what
happens each year when the
StLCoP men’s basketball
team battles Concordia
Seminary on the hardwood.
Although the game isn’t
exactly what comes to mind
when fans think of March
Madness, it is an emerging
rivalry between cross-town
institutions. One team
takes pride in producing
medication experts and
the other compassionate
religious leaders. The
game has been coined by
some fans and alumni as
“Steroids versus God.”
Recently, ESPN.com
shared the unusual rivalry
with the world in the article,
“Eutectics, Preachers Face
Off in Unknown St. Louis
Hoops.” The article focused
on how both programs exist
far from the glamour of bigtime college basketball. It
drew attention to StLCoP’s
recurring struggle with
filling the bench due
to the academic rigors
of pharmacy school.
“One year we ended up
with eight [players], and two
of the guys had never really
played, so we were going six
On Board
Stephen Calloway ’78
Renato Cataldo
The St. Louis College of
Pharmacy board of trustees
welcomed three new members:
Stephen Calloway ’78, Renato
Cataldo, and Gary Reeve.
Calloway has spent his
entire career at University
Hospital and Clinics in
Columbia, Mo., where he
is currently manager of
pharmacy services. In this
role, Calloway oversees 90
staff members who fill
approximately 1,600 prescriptions a day for 200 patients.
His work at the hospital led
2
FA L L 2 0 0 8
Gary Reeve
him to a governor-appointed
position with the Missouri
Medicaid Drug Utilization
Review Board in 2003.
A strong proponent of
education, Calloway has
an extensive background
in educational reform and
parental involvement.
He is a member of the
Minority Men’s Network
Educational Foundation
and serves as vice president
of the Columbia School
Board. He and his wife, Iris,
were founding members of
deep,” said former StLCoP
player and current Assistant
Coach Mark Boyer to
ESPN.com reporter Dana
O’Neil. “Playing time is
normally not an issue here.”
Concordia has the same
problem with attracting and
retaining players, combined
with the fact that its team’s
home games are played
inside a converted airplane
hangar built in 1949.
And as any good-natured
StLCoP graduate might
expect, the piece also
poked fun at the unique
mascots of both schools: the
Eutectic and the Preacher.
“When the opponent’s
mascot, a green-goblin
hybrid critter, stalks the
sideline trying to menace
with a mortar and pestle
and when you need a
dictionary to know what the
team nickname – Eutectics
– even means (a scientific
process relating to the lowest
possible temperature of
the solidification of two
or more constituents), a
traditional “you suck” just
won’t do,” said O’Neil.
StLCoP and Concordia
will compete twice this year.
On Jan. 27, the Preachers
will visit the Pillbox court.
To read the article,
go to http://sports.espn.
go.com/ncb/columns/
story?columnist=oneil_
dana&id=3462805.
the Columbia chapter of
Parents for Public Schools.
They have two children,
Michael and Jeremy.
Cataldo is president and
CEO of St. Louis-based CPI
Corporation, a $500 million
portrait photography company
with 15,000 employees and
3,000 locations, including
Sears Portrait Studios and
PictureMe™ Portrait Studios
in Wal-Mart. He was the
CEO and chief technology
officer of Publicis eHealth
Solutions. He is also
the former president of
HealthTech Solutions.
From 1990 to 1994,
Cataldo served as associate
professor of pharmacy at
St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
He earned a bachelor’s degree
in biochemistry from the
University of San Diego in
1983 and received his Doctor
of Pharmacy degree from
Creighton University in 1987.
He and his wife, Bette, live
in St. Louis with their two
children, Andre and Ana.
Gary Reeve is president
and CEO of MMS, A
Medical Supply Co., which
has annual sales of more
than $335 million and is the
only independent national
health care distributor
in the United States.
Reeve has been a civicminded leader in the
St. Louis community for
many years. He is a board
member at Linda Vista
Catholic School in St. Louis
and currently serves as
chair-elect of the Health
Industry Distributors
Association. He and his wife,
Colleen, have three children.
New Faculty Join Pharmacy Practice
Back row, from left: Amy Riley, Jill Sailors ’01, Amy Drew. Front row, from left:
Jacklyn Harris ’07, Victoria Vahle ’07
Amy Drew, Pharm.D., has
joined the College as assistant
professor of Pharmacy
Practice. Drew received
her Doctor of Pharmacy
degree from Midwestern
University in Glendale, Ariz.
She completed an ASHPaccredited pharmacy residency
at the St. Louis Veterans
Affairs Medical Center,
John Cochran division. Her
clinical practice site will be
at Mercy Family Medicine.
Jacklyn (Kaufman) Harris
’07, Pharm.D., received her
Doctor of Pharmacy degree
from St. Louis College of
Pharmacy and completed a
pharmacy practice residency
at Centennial Medical
Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Harris has joined the faculty
as assistant professor of
Pharmacy Practice. Her
practice site will be at
Health-System Leading Ladies
The St. Louis Society
of Health-System Pharmacists (StLSHP) has
selected Associate Professor
of Pharmacy Practice Julie
Murphy as Pharmacist of the
Year and sixth-year student
Kim Meyerhoff as Student
of the Year. The two were
selected from among peer
recommendations based
on their contributions to
StLSHP, the Missouri Society
of Health-System Pharmacists
(MSHP), the American
Society of Health-System
Kim Meyerhoff and Julie Murphy, 2008 Student and Pharmacist of the Year.
Christian Northeast Hospital.
Amy Riley, Pharm.D.,
BCPS, has joined the College
as assistant professor of
Pharmacy Practice. Riley
received her Doctor of
Pharmacy degree from the
University of Oklahoma.
She completed a primary
care pharmacy residency
at Meacham Park/John F.
Kennedy Clinic at St. John’s
Mercy Medical Center in
St. Louis. She also completed
an ASHP-accredited cardiology
specialty residency at
Midwestern University in
Glendale, Ariz. Riley will
be returning to the John
F. Kennedy Clinic for her
clinical practice site.
Jill (Hawes) Sailors ’01,
Pharm.D., received her
Doctor of Pharmacy degree
from St. Louis College of
Pharmacy and served as a
pharmacist for Walgreen’s
Pharmacy. She has joined the
College as assistant professor
of Pharmacy Practice and
coordinator of simulated
learning experiences.
Victoria Vahle ’07,
Pharm.D., MPH, has joined
the faculty as assistant
professor of Pharmacy
Practice. Vahle received her
Doctor of Pharmacy degree
from St. Louis College of
Pharmacy and completed an
ASHP-accredited pharmacy
residency at the St. Louis
Veterans Affairs Medical
Center, John Cochran
division. She will be practicing
pharmacy informatics at Drug
Digest/Express Scripts, Inc.
Pharmacists (ASHP), and
to health-system pharmacy
in the St. Louis area.
Dr. Murphy has been a
member of the StLCoP faculty
for the past six years. She
is currently a preceptor for
StLCoP students at St. John’s
Mercy Medical Center, where
she has practiced since 2006.
Murphy has been a member
of StLSHP since 2004 and
served as its treasurer from
2005-07. She also is actively
involved with ASHP and
MSHP. “Julie is always
willing to give her time,
experience, and enthusiasm
to our profession,” says Joel
Hennenfent ’96/’97, past
president of StLSHP. “She
has provided numerous
hours of service that should
not go unrecognized.”
A St. Louis native, Meyerhoff
has been a member of
StLSHP for the past year;
however, she has worked in
community pharmacies for
the past six years. “Kim has a
strong interest in improving
patient care and is excited
about the future of our profession,” Hennenfent says.
Meyerhoff currently
works at Dierberg’s Pharmacy.
She plans to do a residency
after she graduates in
2009 and then go on
to do clinical work.
Both Murphy and
Meyerhoff received their
awards at the StLSHP
meeting on Sept. 11.
SCRIPT MAGAZINE
3
On Campus
APPLE IPHONE 3G
Staying in touch with friends
and family while away at
school is a lot easier for
today's students, especially
with the newest trend in
cell phones: Apple’s iPhone
3G, which has phone, iPod, and
wireless Internet abilities.
.
Trends come and go, and sometimes come back again
or
They change with age and seasons, can last a decade
the
gh
throu
month and define the people of the times
2008?
styles, activities, and media. So what is trendy for
school
this
for
vogue
We asked several students what is in
student
year and what things and places contribute to their
culture in St. Louis.
BY STEPHANIE HOFFMANN
FLAT-SCREEN PLASMA TVS
Once a Residence Hall
lounge luxury, televisions
are found in every
student's room on
campus, with most
students opting for
the trendy flatscreen, plasma versions.
“GOSSIP GIRL”
In its second
season, “Gossip
Girl”, which airs
on the CW, follows
the dramatic and
privileged lives of
a group of prep
school teenagers
on Manhattan's
Upper East Side.
GOOD TIMES
Bonding over conversation
seems a thing of the
past as today's students
prefer playing Guitar
Hero, indoor rock climbing,
and playing ultimate
Frisbee with friends.
On Campus
STLCOP STYLE
Many of today's
StLCoP students
dress in the
preppy-meetssurfer styles of
Hollister, Victoria's
Secret comfy Pink
line of sweats and
T-shirts, and Lacoste's
iconic polo shirts.
Designers aside,
plaid shorts,
fitted tops,
jean shorts, and
animal prints
are making their
way into the
classroom and
the Central West
End this season.
Left: first-year students
Jessica Sayers and Stephanie
Frenz individualize their
trendy outfits with their
favorite large sunglasses, the
latest celeb-inspired trend.
Right: first-year Blake Moore,
in plaid shorts and Hollister
T-shirt
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FA L L 2 0 0 8
CITY LIVING
When StLCoP students move out
on their own, they have many
housing options throughout the
St. Louis area. The students'
street of choice: Lindell, which
puts them in the heart of the
Central West End's nightlife,
eateries and shops while still
being able to walk to class.
Above: glasses have made a
stylish comeback and guys and
girls can be seen around
campus in small, squarerimmed eye glasses that
create an intelligent and
sophisticated look. Pictured
here are fourth-year students
Gerard Gawrys, Blake
Carley, and Eric Venker.
SCRIPT MAGAZINE
5
On Campus
PINK
The current it-color: pink.
First-year students Whitney
Harris and Kayla Clark both
chose hot pink decorations
and belongings to decorate
their dorm room, unbeknownst
to the other!
HANGING OUT
Bottom Left: many StLCoP
students can be found at St.
Louis Bread Company at Euclid
and Forest Park Ave., visiting,
grabbing a bite to eat, and
studying in between classes.
Bottom Right: to unwind from
a long week of school and work,
students can be found throughout the Central West End. Students'
top picks: Rosie's Place on Laclede
and Bar Louie on Maryland.
Pharmacy
Outback
BY MAUREEN HARMON
M
aybe it’s the Alaskan wilderness that draws
them in. Maybe it’s their faith. Maybe it’s a
natural disaster. Whatever the reason, a growing
number of St. Louis College of Pharmacy
alumni are taking their skills to the road—and though they
get to see the world and help people who need them, pharmacy
away from home has its challenges. There are volcanoes
to deal with. And bush pilots. And villages that can only be
reached by plane. There are language barriers and cultural
barriers and physical barriers to overcome. There’s the
panic in the eyes of patients when their entire world has
floated away and the desperation in a young mother’s face
when she’s diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 36, with little
hope of treatment in her tiny, impoverished village. And then
there’s the realization that, sometimes, there’s little they can
do to help.
Many times practicing pharmacy far from home gives
these grads a look at a new way of life—a glimpse at a part
of the world they wouldn’t have ever seen had they stayed
put. Other times, hitting the road shows them just how
blessed they are.
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FA L L 2 0 0 8
SCRIPT MAGAZINE
7
“Mom, Dad: I’m
Moving to Alaska.”
The six-seat Navajo plane carrying
the mail to a remote Alaskan village
had an extra passenger back in May of
2005. Sara Doran-Atchison ’04/’05,
a pharmacist working for the Alaska
Native Medical Center in Anchorage,
was about to make her first visit to a
remote village to provide the locals
with care. As the pilot approached
the gravel runway, Doran-Atchison
realized that he had better land that
plane. There wasn’t an inch of runway
to spare before the mountain gave
way to Alaskan nothingness. But he
had done this plenty of times before,
carrying mail to this tiny village once
or twice a week, and he landed the
plane that day without any trouble.
Doran-Atchison hopped out as the
will be here to get you,” he told her.
Just as easily as the Bush pilot had
landed, he took off leaving DoranAtchison, a recent StLCoP grad from
surrounded by Alaskan
wilderness, with a useless cell phone, and
a suitcase. “I thought, ‘What did I get
myself into?’” It was then that Doran-
Above: Alumna Sarah Doran-Atchison often travels for her job. Only, she usually gets
dropped off alone by a small, passenger airplane at the end of a gravel runway – on top of
a mountain like this one on the island of Atka, Alaska.
Top right: Sarah Doran-Atchison ’04/’05 in Unalaska, Alaska, one of the 42 remote
villages she serves as a pharmacist for the Alaska Native Medical Center based out of
Anchorage. Most of the villages, like the island of Atka (above left), are only accessible
by airplane or boat. Doran-Atchison mostly travels by air, visiting each tiny village on a
yearly basis and mailing medication to patients in between. She also helps to operate a
large telepharmacy program for 21 of the villages. Above right: Crab pots at Dutch Harbor
(located in Unalaska), which is the port for fishing boats that brave the Bering Sea during
the Alaskan crab fishing season.
pilot unloaded the mail, then he asked
her to stand behind an empty truck,
so she wouldn’t be spiked with gravel
when he took off for home. “Someone
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FA L L 2 0 0 8
tiny Carman, Ill., totally alone, not
knowing who or when someone might
show up to take her to civilization.
There she was, on top of a mountain
Atchison had her first panic attack.
Doran-Atchison landed her position
at the Alaska Native Medical Center
after doing a rotation there. When she and
fellow student Kara (Thoma) King ’04/’05
met Doran-Atchison’s parents at the
airport upon returning home, they
simply announced that they would be
moving there after graduation (King
even went so far as to show her parents
a PowerPoint presentation on the medical
center in the family’s living room). As
promised, the pair grabbed their diplomas and headed out. Now King works
for the Mediset pharmacy at the Alaska
Native Medical Center, mailing out
bubble packs full of drugs and supplies
to patients’ homes in Anchorage
every week. As for Doran-Atchison,
she works alongside another StLCoP
grad, Heidi (Mau) Brainerd ’90/’97,
as part of the village pharmacy team,
which means that several times a
year, they’re on one of those planes,
bound for a remote village where clinical
pharmacy gets adventurous and sometimes takes a little creative thinking.
Barring cultural differences and
language barriers, the biggest challenge
for Doran-Atchison and Brainerd is
simply getting to these remote villages.
The only way patients can get to the
center (and the only way the team can
get to them) is by plane. And considering
Alaska’s weather, Doran-Atchison and
Brainerd often find themselves stuck
on an Alaskan Island waiting for fog
to clear or snow to stop, so a plane can
fly in, drop off the mail, and pick them
up. Once, Doran-Atchison remembers,
volcanoes on three islands erupted, and
there was ash in the air. No planes were
flying in or out of the island, so she
and her team devised a way to manage
the island’s pharmaceutical care from
afar and shipped drugs in on a barge.
The only time the village pharmacy
team gets to see patients is during a trip
to the village, and when that happens,
they take the time to counsel every patient seeking care. When the team can’t
be there, they depend on telepharmacy,
a unique way to get medication to Alaska
Natives. Of the 42 villages that the
pharmacists at the medical center treat,
21 are home to machines that essentially look like vending machines, loaded
with acute medications—from antibi-
otics to narcotics. Telepharmacy allows
Doran-Atchison to get drugs to patients out in remote villages, even when
the pharmacists themselves are working
at the medical center in Anchorage.
It works like this. A health aide—a
villager with at least an eighth-grade
education who has trained under a doctor—sends the diagnosis to the medical
center electronically. Doran-Atchison
or Brainerd assesses the med recommendations, and send back a label with
two bar codes; the first allows the aide
to access the prescribed medication, the
second verifies that the machine loaded
the drugs correctly. The aide passes the
medicine to the patient, along with
a promise that a pharmacist will call
the following day to make sure all is
well, and the patient is on his or her
way without ever having to step foot in
the medical center itself. Since DoranAtchison is part of the telepharmacy
department at the medical center,
its part of her job to check on the
SCRIPT MAGAZINE
9
telepharmacy machines when she’s
out on those harrowing Bush plane
adventures, making sure they’re
loaded properly and in good working order. That is, of course, after
she’s been retrieved from the mountain where she was dropped.
Sometimes all You
can do is Pray
they owned a cot and a hot plate—had
a name among the Guatemalans. They
were called: “The People of the Dump.”
“My world just changed seeing
people live in cardboard houses—six
people in one room with one mattress,”
says Keri Sims, who was then a fellow
StLCoP faculty member with Whaley.
“I wish I could have seen this in high
school when I thought: ‘Why doesn’t
Sims and Whaley worked with
mission volunteers and other medical
personnel to establish free clinics over
a 10-day span starting in Guatemala
City and moving out to more remote
areas. They were there to explore the
educational opportunities of a mission
trip for their students, who joined them
on similar trips over the next several
years. Most of the patients they saw
When Jennifer (Kasiar) Whaley ’95
was led to a rooftop in Guatemala to
see the homes of the people she would
be treating during a mission trip,
she was floored. “I had led a pretty
charmed up-bringing in middle-class
America,” she says, “I didn’t have a lot
of cultural awareness about me at all.”
What she saw was her first lesson. The
tiny village below was lined with mud
and dirt paths, but she quickly learned
from her fellow mission workers that
those paths were actually layers and
layers of compacted garbage that had
been trodden for years by the indigenous people who lived there. This
was the city garbage dump, and these
people—who lived in homes made of
blue tarps and cardboard, who slept six
people to a room the size of Whaley’s
kitchen, who were considered lucky if
10
FA L L 2 0 0 8
Jennifer (Kasiar) Whaley ’95 and former
StLCoP faculty member Keri Sims work
with volunteers and medical personnel to
set up free clinics in Guatemala City and
other, more remote, areas of the country.
Far left: A Guatemalan girl keeps a watchful eye on the medical mission group.
Above: Whaley, Sims, and their students
provide basic pharmaceutical care for
the residents, called the “People of the
Dump,” who live in make-shift homes of
tossed-out cardboard, sticks, and tarps
on a foundation of years of compacted
garbage. Near left: Sims eases the fears of
a young patient.
the world revolve around me?’” As for
Whaley, who is now a medical liaison
for Sanofi-Aventis in Dallas, “I just
was so unprepared for the poverty,”
she says. “That’s when my eyes
were opened to how protected and
charmed my life really had been.”
needed over-the-counter care. “Cough
and cold-type things,” says Sims, and
plenty of nutritional problems due to
poor water quality and extreme poverty. They also saw plenty of respiratory
problems since the People of the Dump
cooked over open fire. In many cases
though, the people they were treating
had never seen a doctor and simply
wanted to be told they were okay.
“They didn’t even necessarily
have anything wrong,” says Sims,
who is now a stay-at-home-mom,
“We’d give them a 10-day supply of
multi-vitamins, and a little health
pack with a toothbrush and toothpaste and send them on their way.”
Sim’s and Whaley’s rudimentary
Spanish only got them so far. There
were translators, but the Guatemalan
people have their own dialect as well,
so the medical team never knew
just how much of the information
they passed on actually got through.
“When you give a mother 10-days
worth of Flintstone vitamins for her
child, that’s like candy, and you didn’t
want them taking them all in one
day,” Sims says, “So even that was a
concern.” And sometimes Sims and
Whaley had to treat a patient the
best way they knew how. Then pray.
Green-hued Lake Amatitlan (about 40 minutes outside Guatemala City) is the water
source for the area, contributing further to disease among local people. For the past three
years, Sims and the group have gone to Amatitlan to set up a clinic and bible school for a day.
Whaley remembers one woman in
her mid-thirties who came to the clinic
to have her small children checked out.
During the course of the doctor’s
interview, Whaley recalls, the woman
broke down and told them that she had
been diagnosed recently with ovarian
cancer. “She was facing her own
mortality at 36, and she had three
young children,” Whaley says. “We
could not help her from a medical
standpoint … [so] we prayed with her.”
As for Sims, she remembers another
patient—a young boy. He came in
to see her with a machete wound on
his finger. He was already febrile.
“The wound was bad, and I think
that kid would have been admitted
in the States,” she says. “We basically
sent him home with amoxicillin.”
Sims wasn’t sure the boy would live,
but when she arrived the next year,
he showed up at the clinic—alive and
well. Sims pulled together the little
Spanish she knew to tell him how
thrilled she was to see him again.
In the Face of Catastrophe
When Hurricane Gustav boiled up
in the Atlantic Ocean in August and
threatened the Gulf Coast in a repeat
of Hurricane Katrina, Leighton
Wassilak ’69 had his bags packed and
kept an eye on the weather from his
home in Missouri. He knew what to
expect. Wassilak, like the rest of the
country, feared Gustav would be a repeat
of Katrina, and though he hadn’t
been there for the storm, he had been
there for Katrina’s aftermath as part of
Missouri’s Disaster Medical Assistance
Team (DMAT). Before Katrina even
made landfall, Wassilak and his team
headed first to Memphis, then on to
SCRIPT MAGAZINE
11
Alumni Profile
Jackson, Miss., before driving
toward Bay St. Louis, Miss. “On the
way down, the roads were just barely
open,” Wassilak says. “There was standing water, boats and houses in trees,
and homes literally gone or destroyed.
Businesses were wiped out, and at one
service station, cars floated together
in one spot.” Wassilak had never seen
anything like it.
48 hours until another DMAT team
from Florida showed up, the pharmacy
at the hospital had been located on the
second floor—saving it from the wave
off the coast that tackled the building
located a mile and a half inland and
wiping out everything on the first floor.
Wassilak went scavenging through the
hospital pharmacy, which had been
turned over to him by the staff, and
Above: Leighton Wassilak ’69 tries to
keep cool in a 10 x 10 octagonal tent: the
temporary pharmacy set up on the parking
lot of a New Orleans hospital following
Hurricane Katrina. Right: As part of the
Missouri Disaster Medical Assistance
Team (DMAT), Wassilak helps unload
supplies for people affected by the hurricane.
When the crew reached the parking
lot of a Bay St. Louis hospital, they set
up shop. A tent would protect the medical staff and patients from the stifling
heat and sun. In a 10 x 10-foot octagonal
tent, Wassilak set up his make-shift
pharmacy. He had some medications,
syringes, and other supplies—the basics
provided to him by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA). But it wasn’t nearly enough.
Luckily for Wassilak, who would act
as the only pharmacist over the next
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FA L L 2 0 0 8
managed to gather more medicines and
supplies to treat the wave of patients
that followed the storm.
But sometimes, what the patients
in Bay St. Louis needed wasn’t
pharmaceutical care. Wassilak remembers
one woman in particular. “I walked
out into the triage area,” Wassilak says.
“One elderly lady was there, and she
said ‘Can you help me?’” She didn’t
know where her husband was. Or her
dog. And all Wassilak could do was sit
with her, and hold her hand. “I became
a mini-social worker,” he says. “I gave
her as much sympathy as I could, but
there wasn’t much I could do for her.”
There wasn’t much he could do
either for the addicts who came out of
the woodwork after the storm. “They
wanted Vicodin, Percocet.” Drugs that
Wassilak didn’t even have on hand.
And even if he did, of course, the
medical team wasn’t about to make a
deal. Still, the desperation was difficult
to watch.
Though the storm had passed, the
trouble in Bay St. Louis and New
Orleans (where another team was
working) continued and while
Wassilak and the rest of his DMAT
team in residence did their best to
provide care, they also heard rumors
of a vigilante group that had its eye
on the caregivers stationed outside the
local hospital and planned to seize their
equipment. Federal officers kept their eye
on the health care crew and a fence was
erected to keep healthy locals out and keep
Wassilak and the rest of the crew safe.
Being part of a DMAT team means
that Wassilak, who spends his days
as the pharmacy director at St. Louis
Children’s Hospital, has to always be
ready—he never knows when a disaster
might strike leaving people in need
of care. And in those cases, Wassilak
and his DMAT team can only do their
best. “A lot of individuals don’t realize
that you have to function independently, even though you have optimal
resources around you,” he says. “At
some point in your life, you’re not going to have those [resources], whether
[they’re] other people or books or a
computer. You’ve got to work with
what you have.”
JUST ONE QUESTION:
What Do People In Your Profession Know That You Wish Everyone Knew?
Larry Martin ’69, is retired from
GlaxoSmithKline Oncology and is working
with his wife in their own business.
“How valuable a contribution that
professional pharmacy can make to
overall health care and what a fantastic
resource their pharmacist is to them.”
Bob Wood ’80, is a district
manager with Walgreens in St. Louis.
Rick King, is a graduate of Purdue University and
is a pharmacy supervisor with CVS in Indiana.
“That their neighbor or family member is
not necessarily the best source of health
information. I can go to a family gathering
and it’s amazing…my wife (a registered nurse)
and I will be sitting there, and people will ask
somebody who doesn’t have a clue about
what’s going on, ‘what do you think about
such and such?’ It always blows my mind
that they don’t access what’s around them.”
“Pharmacists value hard work and are
much more conservative than most
people. Pharmacists realize that hard
work is the only thing that’s going to
get you ahead.
Don Lafata
Kids today, (he
’82, is a pharmacy
Kristie Bruneman ’86, is a Shop ’n Save pharmacist
supervisor for
has one in grad
recruiter who lives in Chicago.
Schnucks in Missouri.
school and another
“How fun pharmacists can be because
“The best place
one in college),
to store medicine.
there’s this stereotype that we’re all
their answer to
Everybody
geeks. And pharmacists actually have
everything is
stores their
‘you look it up
a sense of humor. You’ve got to, that’s
medicine in the
on Wikipedia and
what keeps you going.”
bathroom, which
that’s Bible,’ and
is probably the
that’s how they
worst place to store medicine because of all the
think. Most kids get out of school and
humidity. They should avoid moisture and heat,
think that once they get their degree,
so anywhere else in the house is a better place
they should be sitting in a corner
than the bathroom to store medicine, even in the
office. They think it’s all smiley stickers
kitchen….it gives you another reason not to cook.”
and pats on the back. But pretty
much everybody who comes out of
pharmacy school knows that it’s nose
Chuck Berry ’75, is a district manager with Walgreens in
to the grindstone, and you have to
St. Louis.
work really hard to get ahead.”
“Pharmacists spend more time making decisions,
Chris Basler ’87, is a pharmacy district
manager with Shop ’n Save in St. Louis.
“That the older you get, the better your golf
game is. This is specific to pharmacists
—pharmacists’ golf games gets better
the older they get. So if you want to be a
good golfer, you should be in pharmacy
for a couple years then go pro.”
and I think they gather a lot more information
before they make a major decision. People in the
pharmacy profession, because of their training and
education, understand the value of getting all the
information they can before they make a decision.
In making any important decision throughout
their lives – it could be financial decisions, career
decisions, or health care decisions – pharmacists
are trained to gather a lot of data because a lot of
other things impact the decisions they make.”
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13
Alumni Profile
Del Fanning ’80, is a pharmacy supervisor for CVS in Indiana.
“Maybe if they understood that it’s a six-year
degree. I don’t think people do. I don’t think
they realize that it’s currently six years, and
I’ve heard rumors of looking at possibly
making pharmacy a seven-year program.
Eric Meyers ’97, is Midwest operations manager and
conducts patient consultations at Express Scripts.
What did you do this past summer?
Alicia Forinash ’00, is an
assistant professor of Pharmacy Practice
at St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
“The importance of medication
compliance, taking medications
as prescribed, to know what
they’re for, and to know about
side effects. And not to be afraid
to ask a pharmacist for help
when they’re having problems
or have questions about their
medicines. To help patients, and
their physicians, know that we
are this vast knowledge base of
information. To prove this point
to our residents at my practice
“People don’t know how different a pharmacy
benefit manager (PBM) is than retail. We (PBMs)
have always gotten a negative rap in retail, that’s
just a given. I gave the negative rap when I worked
in retail, until I went to a PBM and saw how different
it is. One, you have more
professional support. I manage 22 Dennis Hunt ’75, is a district pharmacy supervisor for
Walgreens in St. Louis.
pharmacists that do nothing but
“What all goes into preparing a
consultations all day long. To have
prescription and dispensing it to
support when you have a question
that you need to bounce off
the patient. People think we just
somebody, that’s a big difference.
count the pills, put them in a bottle,
Second, you have a better
put a label on it, and we’re out of
opportunity to apply your clinical
there. It’s not like McDonald’s.”
skills than you tend to do in retail
because you’re not bothered
with outside influences, politics,
site, I do in-services every day,
and all of the patients. You still work with patients,
three out of four weeks during the
but it’s more on a professional counseling level.”
Myra Belgeri ’97, is an assistant professor of
Pharmacy Practice at St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
“That just because I’m pharmacist, it doesn’t mean
that I work in a [large retail chain] pharmacy. There
are so many different opportunities for someone with
a pharmacy degree to go into – community, hospital,
clinical, academia, research, consulting, just to name
a few. I graduated 10 years ago, and I haven’t dispensed
ONE pill.”
month. One of the in-services I do
is insulin or inhaler techniques,
and the residents sometimes have
a hard time even knowing where
to start. And I say, ‘Exactly, if you
don’t understand this and you’re
an educated health care provider,
you’re young, you can read the
stuff, and if you don’t understand
it, then your patient who’s 70 years
old doesn’t understand it either.”
NEXT QUESTION: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED THAT SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN PHARMACY SCHOOL?
Send your responses, with Just One Question in the subject line, to shaar@stlcop.edu.
14
FA L L 2 0 0 8
Student Profile
Julie McCabe, second-year
“Most of the summer, I just had fun with friends who I hadn’t seen in a
whole year. I tried to get a job in pharmacy, but it didn’t work out. I went to
a couple of concerts, had fun, and went to the beach. It was a good summer.”
George Gavrilos, fourth-year
“After I completed my three-week rotation, I went on a little vacation to
South Padre. It was scheduled for 10 days, but it ended up being a one-day
trip because Hurricane Dolly completely destroyed our hotel.”
Kellie White, third-year
“I took a road trip this summer from Virginia to St. Louis. On the way, I
drove through the mountains and saw a lot of deer. One actually stopped in
the middle of the road…I thought that was interesting. I got to see a lot of
sites on the way out here and spend a lot of time with friends before I came
back to a hectic schedule at pharmacy school.”
Ronak Shah, first-year
“Me and a few friends started a not for profit organization called “Go Green
Teen,” which supports global warming awareness for our community. We
organized clean-ups and different ways to help support the
environment. Also, I went to Europe this summer. I went to 10 different
countries, so that was fun.”
Mike Feller, first-year
“I went to Marco Island, Florida, and I was able to swim with five manatees,
which was pretty sweet. We got to go on the beach every day, and it was
pretty awesome.”
Nick Nowak, fourth-year
“I did a three-week rotation for an IPE, and I went to
Panama to visit my uncle…the country Panama, not
Panama City, Florida. Two days after that, I went to
Pennsylvania to work in a sport’s camp, and ran around
with kids all day.”
Videos of StLCoP
students talking
about their summers
are at www.stlcop.
edu/studentlife.
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15
Faculty Profile
Faculty Profile
My Other Life: Jack Burke
Professor of Pharmacy Practice
and Boy Scout Leader
FOR MANY, the Boy Scouts of America equates only to
outdoor activities such as hiking and camping. Jack Burke
isn’t one of the many. He considers the outdoor aspects of
scouting only a small part of what helps to turn boys into
men. In his family, scouting has become tradition – one
that has opened the door for this loving and caring father
to share his life experiences, personal beliefs, and
fundamental values with his sons and other Boy Scouts.
“The Boy Scouts’ organization teaches boys outdoor
skills, but also duty to God, duty to country, and duty
to others as well as one’s self,” says Jack, who is professor of Pharmacy Practice and interim division director
of Pharmacy Practice at St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
“Those are all values that I possess and find extremely
important. Through scouting, I’m able to transmit
those values to my kids.”
STORY BY BRYAN DANIELS
16
FA L L 2 0 0 8
Burke has been involved with scouting for nearly 10
years. He became active mostly because of his sons:
James Burke, now an 18-year-old freshman at Springhill
College in Mobile, Ala.; Matthew Burke, 16, a junior at
Saint Louis University High School; and Ryan Burke,
14, a freshman at Saint Louis University High.
Each of the boys joined Cub Scouts around the time
they were in first or second grade. They all eventually
moved to the next level, Boy Scouts. At first, Jack hoped
the scouting experience, combined with church activities,
would help James, Matthew and Ryan mature into
respectable young men. He soon realized that scouting
embodied all of his own personal beliefs and reinforced
the values that he aimed to instill in his boys.
“I’ve always hoped that my boys would grow up to be
leaders, in the church, in the community, and in their
professions,” Jack says. “Those are values we promote
at home, and scouting helped to develop those.”
Though James, Matthew, and Ryan will all admit that
their dad pushed them a little along the way, being a Boy
Scout has definitely moved them in the direction they
wanted to go. And they’ve made their father proud.
Two of them, James and Matthew, have attained scouting’s
highest rank of Eagle Scout. In addition to earning the
required 21 merit badges, they’ve demonstrated a high level
of leadership and dedicated countless hours toward community service. Ryan is trying to catch up with his brothers; he
is currently a Life Scout. He, too, is giving back to the community and has already earned 19 merit badges – two shy of
the Eagle Scout honors, which he will earn by next summer.
Only about five percent of all scouts have earned that rank.
“I was very proud when James and Matthew achieved
Eagle Scout,” Jack says. “A lot of work goes into it. A lot of
scouts make it to the Life rank, but to make it to that next
step up to Eagle, which involves more merit badges and
a large service project, is just incredible. I think all of my
boys have really developed through scouting. After getting
involved with scouting, I saw the kind of boys and young
men that scouting created. And I wanted that for my kids.”
James’ and Matthew’s achievements have already
helped to shape the youngest Burke son. “It has
turned my brothers into good people, and they’ve
become role models for me,” Ryan says.
From the beginning, no one (including Matthew,
who volunteered at his first Cub Scout meeting to be
a quartermaster for the pack without knowing what
that meant) in the Burke family thought that scouting
would affect their lives the way that it has. It’s become
an activity for the entire family, including mom Susan
Burke, who occasionally helps with the troop.
“Other than church, it has been the one organization that has allowed my boys to develop real-life skills
and values that will serve them throughout their entire
lives,” Jack explains. “It has been important in helping
them understand the value of becoming leaders.”
Over the years, Jack’s scouting involvement has
swelled. Today, he serves as an assistant scout master for
Troop 751 at St. Joseph Church in Manchester, Mo.
In addition to teaching classes at the College and practicing
at the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, John
Cochran division, he finds time to attend scout meetings
every Tuesday night. Along with other adult leaders, he
works with Ryan and about 50 other boys in helping them
earn merit badges and ultimately learn life lessons.
Although it’s not one of his favorite activities, he does
also hike and camp. Each year, the outdoor side of scouting
has grown on him, little by little. Among the outings
that will continue to be talked about at Burke family
gatherings for years: a two-day hike that takes place each
February in Shiloh, Tenn., and an annual week-long
summer camp in Farmington, Mo. Jack admits that
sometimes the 20-mile hikes are still not much fun.
“Each year, the hikes got longer and tougher,” James
admits. “Not only did my dad have to deal with the long
hikes, but he also had to keep me going and stop me from
complaining.”
Jack much prefers to stay off the trail, coordinating
religious award programs for the troop. He oversees Ad
Altare Dei, which in Latin means to the Altar of God.
The award focuses on the seven sacraments of the Catholic
Church (baptism, Eucharist, reconciliation, confirmation,
marriage, holy orders, and anointing of the sick) and
the role they play in the lives of young men. Jack’s role is
to facilitate a discussion for seventh-, eighth-, and ninthgraders and share his faith with them. For high school
troop members, he organizes the annual Pope Pius VII
award, which spawns dialogue and ideas on how to
build faith and make it an active part of their lives.
Like the young people he mentors in the award
programs, Jack too has grown and developed an entirely
new understanding of what it means to be a scout.
“I’ve always been active in church, so duty to God has
always been foremost,” he notes. “I always think about
duty to country, and I’m a proud American citizen.
Through the religious award programs, I’ve come to
better understand what scouting is all about.”
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17
Alumni News
Letter from the Alumni Association President
In late August, I had the privilege of
representing College alumni at the annual
White Coat Ceremony for StLCoP
students who are entering their third year
of study. It was an honor to participate,
and I enjoyed greeting students and looking into their eyes
as they waited to be welcomed into their professional studies.
While I sensed some anxiety, I know that in a few short years
their feelings will be replaced by the excitement of graduation.
I am thrilled to be writing you as the president of your
Alumni Association. I am honored to represent you to the
College and the College to you. Although I have been a
member of the board of trustees of the College for more than
three years, and have been on the Alumni Association board
of directors for a few years, the titles I wear most proudly are
pharmacist and StLCoP alumnus.
Our goal as an Alumni Association is very simple: it is to
keep us connected to each other and to support the current
students of the College. As health care professionals and
medication safety experts, we are part of a proud profession. The
more we can stay connected to and rooted in our alma mater,
the more we can find support from our mutual interest.
I know that our days are filled with many activities and
interests, but I encourage you to stay connected with your
fellow StLCoP alumni. Come join us as we gather for the
various events scheduled throughout the year. We try to
make sure that students are able to see “some light at the end
of the tunnel.” With a six-year program, the trek to graduation
can seem overwhelming. Through the few events we have for
current students, we are able to show them that, as alumni,
we are a great group of friends.
I hope to represent you well over the next year. If I can
assist you in any way, I’d be happy to correspond with you.
You can reach me directly at tmeyer123@gmail.com. I know
the Advancement Department also is available to speak with
you, and you can reach Necole Powell at 314.446.8398 or
npowell@stlcop.edu.
I look forward to seeing you soon.
Four Join Board of Directors
25 years. St. Louis Magazine
named Railey as one of the
area’s best doctors in 2002,
2003, and 2004.
Casey Dugan,
Pharm.D. ’01/’02
Casey Dugan and his wife
Cori (Wilborn) ’03 have recently relocated to Paducah,
Ky. Dugan accepted a position as pharmacy manager
of Hardin County Discount
Pharmacy in Rosiclare, Ill.,
after spending several years in
clinical pharmacy roles at the
University of Colorado
Hospital. At StLCoP, Dugan
was actively involved with
student council and played
on the Eutectic basketball
team. While establishing
himself in the clinical
pharmacy field, Dugan stayed
The Alumni Association
has elected the following
St. Louis College of Pharmacy
graduates to serve on the
association’s board of directors.
Kenneth
Schafermeyer, Ph.D. ’76
Ken Schafermeyer is
professor of pharmacy
administration and director
of liberal arts and administrative sciences at StLCoP. He
also is the faculty advisor for
StLCoP’s Lambda Chi Alpha
fraternity and the student
chapter of the American
Pharmacists Association.
Before coming to the College,
Schafermeyer worked for
nine years as a state pharmacy association executive
18
FA L L 2 0 0 8
and lobbyist and served
as a consultant for several
managed care and Medicaid
agencies.
Michael Railey, M.D. ’72
Michael Railey has many
years of experience in the
medical field as a student,
instructor, advisor, physician,
volunteer, and guest speaker.
He is currently the director of
research and medical services
with the St. Louis County
Department of Health. Railey
has been recognized several
times for his educational
contributions to the St. Louis
medical community and as
a physician at Forest Park
Hospital in St. Louis, where
he worked for more than
Tom Meyer ’71
President
connected with the College
as an adjunct faculty member
through June 2003.
Joel Hennenfent,
Pharm.D. ’96/’97
Since graduation, Joel
Hennenfent has kept busy
overseeing pharmacy operations throughout St. Louis. He
is currently the director of
pharmacy services for Ascension
Health Account. Since 1998,
he has been an adjunct faculty
member for StLCoP, Creighton
University, Butler University,
and Drake University. In addition, he has served as president
of the St. Louis Society of
Health-System Pharmacists,
Missouri Society of HealthSystem Pharmacists, and the
Beta Delta chapter of Phi Delta
Chi Alumni Association.
Reunion‘08
WEEKEND
OCTOBER 3-4, 2008
S T. LO UIS CO L L EG E O F P H A R MACY
Ronald Hall II ’99/’00
Young Alumni Award
Ronald Hall II credits his St. Louis College of
Pharmacy education for preparing him for
the abundance of opportunities he has seized
and excelled in. For the past six years, Hall has
been an assistant professor at Texas Tech University School of
Pharmacy where his primary responsibility is to conduct clinical
research that impacts patient care. He is currently focusing on
dose optimization for obese patients. Hall also mentors residents
and students in clinical research, leads the campus’ Advanced
Infectious Diseases course, and is a lecturer for the core curriculum
series for the infectious diseases fellows at the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical School. At his practice site, the Dallas VA
Medical Center, Hall focuses on infectious diseases.
Hall’s future plans include submitting a R01 grant next
June to the National Institutes of Health. “This proposal
will focus on the effects of body mass index on the pharmacokinetics of rifampin, isoniazid, and pyrazinamide in
patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis,” he says.
Marlin Weekley ’75
Outstanding Achievement Award
Marlin Weekley’s love of pharmacy led him to
build his own practice, which currently includes
four pharmacies in Illinois. As president
of Dot Drugs Inc., the company overseeing
the four pharmacies, Weekley develops process innovation
and implementation, manages the daily business operations,
and delivers patient care services and products at the Dot Drug
locations. He also practices at the Metamora, Ill., location.
Weekley has extended his knowledge of pharmacy to state and
national organizations as well. He was named the 1993 Illinois
Pharmacist of the Year by the Illinois Pharmacists Association.
He also served as president and chairman of the IPhA board
during 2005-06 and 2006-07. During that time, he worked
on revising the IPhA’s mission and goals to help the
association focus on patients. In the future, Weekley says
he wants to ensure the IPhA board furthers pharmacistdelivered patient care and creates funding for the process.
Alumni News
Chuck Berry ’75
Outstanding Achievement Award
Chuck Berry has been a district manager for
Walgreens for the past five years. When he is not
overseeing pharmacy and store operations in his
district, or spending time with his family, Berry
donates his time to the St. Louis metropolitan chapter of the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation, of which he is a past president.
In the future, Berry hopes to participate in the “evolution of
community-based pharmacists as they separate themselves from
the distributive process and become engrossed in the patient
care, communication, and outcomes management model.”
Berry says he is thankful for being a member of a profession that
offers opportunity, service, and satisfaction, and one that he says
he will continue to share with those who are willing.
Michael Railey M.D. ’72
Distinguished Alumni Award
As chief medical officer at the St. Louis
County Department of Health, Michael Railey
oversees medical services at three health
centers and a correctional facility. He also is the
treasurer for the Mound City Medical Forum, a diplomat on the
American Board of Family Medicine, and a board member for the
Maternal, Child and Family Health Coalition. Yet Railey says one
of his biggest professional accomplishments is teaching students and
doctors and the relationships he has developed with patients while
promoting healthy lifestyle changes.
Railey credits his experiences, both academic and social, with
giving him the confidence to succeed in past and future endeavors.
“To receive an award from an institution you hold great respect
for is a wonderful feeling,” Railey says of the honor.
Jeffrey Phillips ’82
Service to the Profession Award
Jeffrey Phillips’ dedication to pharmacy
practice and his patients have paid off in big
ways. In January 2001, Phillips licensed the first
immediate release and only liquid PPI Zegerid to
Santarus Inc. Zegerid prevents the production of excess stomach
acid. Since then, Zegerid has been approved by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration for suspension, capsule, and chewable
tablet formulations and was introduced to consumers in 2003.
Phillips came up with the idea of Zegerid while working
as the director of research in the surgery department at the
University of Missouri School of Medicine. As director, he
develops new pharmaceutical entities and research protocols,
attracts funding for research related to new pharmaceutical
entities, and performs research on hospital-acquired
pneumonia and on new drugs he has developed.
SCRIPT MAGAZINE
19
12th Annual Golf Classic
Alumni News
Alumni News
Sunday, June 8
StLCoP alumni, students, and friends
gathered in Forest Park for an 18-hole
scramble. After the game, golfers relaxed
over dinner as Will Call, Chris LaFleur,
Chris White were announced the winning
team. More than $24,000 was raised to
support student scholarships.
Photographs by Colleen Krutewicz
Welcome Back BBQ
Thursday, August 28
More than 1,100 students gathered
on the quad for good food, great
music provided by Movin’ 101 FM,
and information on student organizations and College resources.
Photographs by Colleen Krutewicz
Cards vs. Cubs in the Windy City
Saturday, August 9
The heat was on as the Cards battled the Cubs in the Windy
City. Nearly 60 alumni cheered from the official rooftop of
the Chicago Cubs, “Beyond the Ivy,” for a day of good fun.
Photographs by Brett T. Schott and D-Lori Newsome-Pitts
20
FA L L 2 0 0 8
White Coat Ceremony
Thursday, August 28
192 third-year students celebrated
a rite of passage at the White
Coat Ceremony. In honor of their
two years of hard work, students
were presented their white coats
as a symbol of professionalism,
representing a new beginning
in their lives. Each coat was
sponsored by generous alumni
who congratulated students on
their achievements.
Photographs by Mark Gilliland
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21
Class Notes
60s James A.
Snyder ’63 retired after 45
years and sold his business,
Snyder’s Pharmacy, to Rite
Aid where he continues to
work two days a week. He
and his wife live in Niles, Mich.
80s Starlin HaydonGreatting ’81 was awarded
the 2008 IPhA Pharmacist
of the Year award at the
association’s annual meeting
on Sept. 27. She and her
husband, Mark ’81, live in
Springfield, Ill.
Chip Bruce ’85 received a
Master of Divinity degree
from Midwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in
Kansas City, Mo., in May.
He is actively involved
with youth and college-age
ministries at Pleasant Valley
Baptist Church in Liberty,
Mo. Bruce is the manager
Class Notes
Peace Pilgrimage
Chris (Garges) Pitser
’03 “hung up her mortar
and pestle” for six weeks
to trek 500 miles along the
famed Camino de Santiago
walking trail in Spain. She
and her 69-year-old aunt
started their pilgrimage in
May, hiking 13 to 16 miles
a day, not knowing where
they would lay their heads
most nights. Fortunately,
they never had to think about
it for long. They accepted
many offers of kindness from
locals and fellow pilgrims
(peregrinos), spending a
night in a monastery, a
night on a dairy farm, and
taking part in an impromptu
Galatain fire ritual.
“It was the most incredible experience in the
simplest ways, including
fresh air, walking, animals,
adventure, education, and
peace of mind,” Pitser
says. “We also felt we were
doing our part
for world peace
simply by having
dinner every night
with people from
all over the world
(Australia, Brazil,
Canada, Europe,
and South Africa).”
Just as the pilgrimage to Santiago
de Compostela
began as an act of faith for
Europeans who crossed
Spain to visit the sacred
tomb of Saint James, the
pull of the Camino was
strong for Pitser. She set
out to take a break from
her job as a pharmacist at
Walgreens in Naples, Fla.,
to enjoy the beauty of the
green rolling hills and the
cathedrals, history, and culture of northwestern Spain’s
Galicia. She says she came
away with so much more.
“We found that despite
in Kansas City.
90s James “Jay”
Susan Pfoertner ’86
pharmacist position at Costco
received a Doctor of Pharmacy
Pharmacy in Naples, Fla.
degree from the University
He lives there with his wife,
of Colorado School of
Bridgett, and two children,
Pharmacy in May. She also
Emily, 7, and Bradley, 4.
politics, the world likes
Americans a lot. And
when was the last time
you woke up and didn’t
know where you were going to sleep that night?”
Believe it or not, Pitser
says she also thought about
StLCoP while she was in
Spain, seeing young people
make the pilgrimage before
heading off into real life. “I
wondered if I would be able
to take a group of StLCoP
students on the Camino.
I think the experience
would be life-changing.”
measured 21 inches. The
joined Eli Lilly in Indianapolis
Sydnee Clare on Oct. 11,
formance in achievement of
as a clinical research physician
2007. The family lives in
drug information outcomes
in cancer research and clinical
Springfield, Mo.
from the university.
investigation.
22
FA L L 2 0 0 8
daughter Finley Audrith on
es and measured 19 inches.
March 28. She weighed 6
Sue is an associate professor
pounds, 7 ounces, and mea-
of Pharmacy Practice at
sured 20 ¼ inches. Marcus
St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
is a supervising pharmacist
They live in Shiloh, Ill.
3 years old. Liz works for
pounds, 10 ounces and
award for outstanding per-
Broadlane.
big brother, Gabe, who is
2007. He weighed 7
welcomed her daughter
weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounc-
Joseph, on July 3. He joins
Samuel David, on July 29,
Richard Walgren ’94
wife, Ashley, welcomed their
their second son, Matthew
welcomed their first child,
Practice Clinical Achievement
pharmacy services for
husband, Bill, welcomed
’96/’97 and his wife Kristin
Dawn Durbin ’94
earned the Drug Information
Katherine on June 21. She
Gozdziak ’97/’98 and her
Dr. Joel A. Hennenfent
Collins ’91 accepted a
Marcus Baker ’99 and his
Elizabeth (Bielecki)
of outpatient pharmacies at
Children’s Mercy Hospital
where Joel is director of
family lives in Kansas City, Mo.,
Osco Drug as a staff pharmacist and clinical coordinator for the company’s
diabetes care program. The
family lives in Downers
Grove, Ill.
Wiggins
Named in
Who’s Who
Barbara (Pigg) Wiggins ’92
has been recognized in
Cambridge Who’s Who for
her dedication, leadership,
and excellence in pharmacy.
Wiggins is a clinical assistant
professor in internal
medicine in the Division of
Cardiology at the University
of Virginia School of Medicine.
She also is a clinical instructor for the University of
Virginia School of Nursing
and a pharmacy clinical
specialist in cardiology at
the University of Virginia
Health System Heart Center
in Charlottesville, Va. As a
clinical pharmacist in cardiology, Wiggins is responsible for monitoring patients’
drug doses based on laboratory data and related disease
states, and makes drug
therapy recommendations
for cardiologists. Wiggins
joined the university faculty
in 2002.
Wiggins received her
for BJC Behavioral Health.
Ashley is an attorney for
Bryan Cave, LLP. The family
resides in the Dogtown area
Doctor of Pharmacy from
Virginia Commonwealth
University, where she also
completed her fellowship in
cardiology and emergency
medicine. She is currently
a fellow of the American
Heart Association Council
on Clinical Cardiology and
serves as secretary of the
Accreditation Council for
Clinical Lipidology. She
also is a board member of
the Cardiovascular Expert
Committee for the United
States Pharmacopeia. She
has received numerous
awards and accreditations,
including board certification as a pharmacotherapy
specialist, a Merck Award
for Clinical Research, and
the St. Louis College of
Pharmacy Young Alumni
Award (1997).
of St. Louis.
00s Jennifer (Griffith)
Jason Barton ’99/’00 and
Giles ’01 and her husband,
Erin (Gardner) Barton
Scott, welcomed Abigail
’99/’00 welcomed their
Reagan on April 18. Giles
son, Benjamin George, on
March 3. He joins big sister,
Mallory, who is 3 years old.
Jason is manager for Meijer
Pharmacy in Aurora, Ill.,
and Erin is a consultant
pharmacist for Enloe Drugs
in Des Plaines, Ill. The family
lives in Geneva, Ill.
Drs. Jim and Sue (Gielow)
Bollmeier ’99/’00 welcomed their daughter Grace
Enjoy reading about your
classmates in Class Notes?
Share some news about
work projects, new jobs or
promotions, marriages or
children, awards, vacations,
or hobbies. Simply return
the form on the inside
back cover of Script. You
also may send an e-mail to
alumni@stlcop.edu, or
submit news online at
www.stlcop.edu/classnotes.
SCRIPT MAGAZINE
23
Class Notes
is pharmacy manager at
and is a pharmacist with
Adam Riney ’06 and
Shop ’n Save. They reside in
Walgreens in Raleigh, N.C.
Jennifer Williams ’08
Dardenne Prairie, Mo.
The couple resides in Cary.
were married on April 26 at
In Memoriam
Samuel Poger ’39 died on
Feb. 22 in San Francisco, Calif.
St. Francis Xavier College
Jacob Mathews ’02/’03
Heather (Meislahn)
Church in St. Louis. Adam
married Erika Woessner in
Goeckner ’06 and her
is a staff pharmacist for
North Carolina on June 7.
husband Nathan welcomed
Dierberg’s Family Pharmacy
He is pharmacy manager
their son Wyatt William
in Arnold, Mo. Jennifer
at Walgreens in Cary, N.C.
on April 22. He weighed
is pursuing a pharmacy
Erika graduated from
6 pounds, 9 ounces and
practice residency at Barnes-
Campbell University with a
measured 20 inches.
Jewish Hospital. The couple
Doctor of Pharmacy degree
24
FA L L 2 0 0 8
James Y. Vandivort ’44 died
on May 19 in Sun City, Ariz.
Candice N. Bell ’07 welcomed her daughter Rhyan
Nichole Rogers on June 5.
riding for 45 years, started
taking longer motorcycle
excursions after having
triple bypass surgery last
year. This past June, he left
his home in Denver, Colo.,
to head for St. Louis with
a stopover in Effingham,
Ill., to visit his brother.
From there he veered north,
hugging the Missouri River
along the Lewis and Clark
trail through little towns
in Iowa and Nebraska. He
made his way up to Sturgis,
S.D., and rode home by
way of Wyoming. As with
his past bike adventures,
Clower spent every night
of this year’s route in a
tent or under the stars. For
Clower, it’s all about the
experience, which may be
why he tends to ride solo.
“Nobody wants to sleep
on the ground,” he quips.
Never one to let the
road dust settle, Clower
plans to lure his son Daniel
into joining him next
summer on a 9,000-mile
ride through Canada.
Clower and his wife,
Janet have two other
children, fraternal twins
Justin and Kendra. Clower
is a pharmacy manager
at Kmart, where he has
spent his entire career.
She weighed 8 pounds,
12 ounces. They live in
John R. Saunders ’51 died on
July 13, 2007 in Quincy, Ill.
Doris V. Staats ’58 died on
Dec. 21, 2007, in Cuba, Mo.
Charles H. Perkes ’49 died
on July 1 in McAllen, Texas.
John A. Schmiemeier, Jr. ’51
died on June 24 in Fenton,
Mo.
Charles D. Faulkner ’68 died
on July 4 in Urbana, Ill.
John (Jack) W. Murphy ’50
died on June 16 in St. Louis.
Arturo T. Chavez ’52 died on
Dec. 18, 2007, in St. Louis.
Remembering Charles Perkes
resides in University City, Mo.
Miles to Go
When Jerry Clower ’76
was a student, the StLCoP
campus looked very different. The old dormitory
squatted in the middle of
the quad, a parking lot
blanketed the area where
the eight stories of Residence
Hall now stand, and
Parkview Place was a
“through street.” Thirty-two
years later, Clower decided
to check out the makeover
for himself, making a wide
detour to the StLCoP campus
on a 4,000-mile road trip
— on his 2008 HarleyDavidson Softail Custom.
“I came to campus
because I hadn’t been
here since 1976, and I
wanted to see how much
the College had changed
in 30 years,” he says. “It
has changed from looking
like a few college buildings to feeling more like
a real university. It looks
very sophisticated now.”
Clower, who has been
Nobuo Renge ’44 died on
Nov. 11, 2004, in Fresno, Calif.
William Morian ’47 died on
Aug. 2 in Quincy, Ill.
Charles H. Perkes Jr. ’49
was born an only child in
Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1925.
He grew up in San Francisco and later moved to St.
Louis to attend St. Louis
College of Pharmacy, where
he met his wife of 58 years,
Patricia. The family was
transferred by the Walgreen
Company three times to
Dallas, Lincoln, Neb., and
Chicago, and then decided
to make the Rio Grande
Valley and McAllen, Texas,
their home in 1963.
Perkes worked for nearly
15 years with Walgreens,
but moved to McAllen to
become general manager
for Klink’s Drug. He later
owned Weslaco Walgreen
Agency Drug Co. After a
short “retirement,” he returned
to work as a pharmacist
at McAllen Methodist
Hospital and as a
pharmacist and store
manager at Revco.
Perkes gave his heart
and soul to his profession,
community, and family. He
received a long list of awards
during his career, including
the Bowl of Hygeia award
from the Texas Pharmacists
Association, the Texas
Pharmacy Foundation
Award for Excellence, and
the St. Louis College of
Susan L. Roberts ’78 died on
Aug. 19 in Canton, Ill.
Pharmacy Service to the
Profession Award (1996).
He also was a member of
numerous community and
civic organizations, including the Lions Club, the
Migrant and Seasonal Farm
Workers Health Services,
Hidalgo County Health
Corporation, and the
Weslaco Chamber of
Commerce.
Perkes passed away on
July 1 at the age of 83. He
was preceded in death by his
wife and a son. He is survived by a daughter, a son,
and five grandchildren.
St. Louis.
Bradley McNew ’07 and
sixth-year StLCoP student,
Brittany Martin, welcomed
their daughter Aviana on
Sept. 29, 2007. The family
lives in O’Fallon, Mo.
Tom E. Mengwasser ’07
and his wife, Alecia, are
expecting their second child
in February 2009. The
family lives in Jefferson
City, Mo.
What’s new with you?
Let us know what you’ve been up
name
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to! Do you have a new job, a new
home, a new baby? Have you been
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I also would like to join or renew my membership with the Alumni Association.
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classnotes.
(Please make check payable to StLCoP Alumni Association)
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Please return this form to:
Alumni Office, St. Louis College of Pharmacy; 4588 Parkview Place; St. Louis, Mo. 63110
Fax: 314.446.8390 E-mail: alumni@stlcop.edu
SCRIPTFALL08
Explore the world
with StLCoP alumni, family, and friends.
Open to all donors, alumni, and friends of StLCoP.
Cruise the Rhine River
August 22 - 29, 2009
An amazing opportunity awaits you aboard the MV
Heidelberg as it winds its way along the Rhine River.
The seven-night cruise will include stops in Mainz,
Cochem, Bernkastel, Cologne and Amsterdam. In
addition, 16 hours of continuing education seminars
will be offered during the trip. Sponsored by StLCoP,
UMKC School of Pharmacy, and McQueary Bros.
www.stlcop.edu/alumni/cruise.asp
Exclusively for members of the Alumni Association.
A Taste of Wine Country
June 9 - 14, 2009
What could be more tempting than a week in
California’s wine country in the spring? Join Alumni
Association members as we travel through the
beautiful countryside of the Napa and Sonoma
valleys. This trip will offer great wine, superb
regional cuisine, tours of large and small wineries,
continuing education hours, and more!
www.stlcop.edu/alumni/napavalley.asp
For more information and additional alumni events visit: www.stlcop.edu/alumni/events.asp
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