Honors and awards

November 1, 2011

Washington State Pharmacy Association honors student, faculty and alumni for their contributions

The Washington State Pharmacy Association (WSPA) recently announced its 2011 award winners. UW pharmacy student Karen Craddick and School of Pharmacy faculty members Michaelene “Micki” Kedzierski and Nanci Murphy won awards for their widespread contributions to the pharmacy profession, pharmacy education and public health.

Fourth-year pharmacy student Karen Craddick was named Pharmacy Student of the Year for her consistent, sustained and outstanding contributions toward the growth and development of pharmacy student participation locally and statewide.

Craddick has served on the boards of the WSPA and the Unified Professional Pharmacy Organizations of Washington, among others. She also has served as a regional delegate of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists, president of the UW chapter of Phi Lambda Sigma (a pharmacy leadership society), and senator in the UW Graduate and Professional Student Senate.

Last year, she led the planning committee for the UW’s involvement in Washington State Pharmacy Legislative Day — an annual event that brings UW and Washington State University student pharmacists to Olympia to advocate on behalf of patients and the pharmacy profession with state legislators and government officials.

Craddick’s community outreach and leadership activities are extensive. She is a student leader of the Public Health King County Tobacco Free Pharmacies Coalition and a pharmacy intern at Harborview Medical Center. In 2010, she was named a Paul Ambrose Scholar, an award that enabled her to participate in a national symposium and complete a public health project on health literacy in an underserved population. She is also a recipient of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists student leadership award.

Micki Kedzierski received the Cardinal Health Foundation Generation RX Champion Award 2011. This award, which was given for the first time in Washington state, is presented to a pharmacist who has demonstrated excellence in community-based prescription drug abuse prevention. Kedzierski is a clinical professor of pharmacy and the associate director of counseling services in the Office of Academic and Student Programs at the UW School of Pharmacy.

Much of her career has been devoted to helping prevent substance abuse and improving the public’s understanding of the needs of people with addiction issues. She works as a consultant pharmacist at Evergreen Treatment Services, a non-profit outpatient opioid addiction treatment program that serves patients in methadone clinics in King and Pierce Counties. She previously has worked in community clinics and served as a substance abuse consultant to the Washington State Board of Pharmacy.

In the UW School of Pharmacy, she manages the chemical dependency curriculum in the Pharm.D. program. She has given presentations on psychopharmacology, substance abuse and community resources for recovery to Washington state superior court judges, crisis clinic staff, seniors, caregivers and student and parent groups.

Kedzierski led the effort to establish the Washington Recovery Assistance Program for Pharmacy (WRAPP). In 2005 she received a certificate of appreciation for her 22 years of volunteer service. She continues to serve on WRAPP’s advisory board.

Nanci Murphy, ’97, received the Bill Mueller Outstanding Mentor Award, which goes to a pharmacist who has been an outstanding mentor in the field of pharmacy. Murphy is associate dean and executive head of the Office of Academic and Student Programs at the UW School of Pharmacy.

Over the years, Murphy has served as faculty mentor and adviser to countless student pharmacists. Her mentorship has helped lead to an impressive number of award-winning patient care and community outreach projects for the School of Pharmacy and its students — including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Student Community Engaged Service Award, the AACP Transformative Community Service award, Project CHANCE (recognizing outstanding service in medically underserved communities), the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists AAA Chapter Achievement Award, and the Community Pharmacy Foundations Use Medicines Safely Campaign Award. Under her guidance, many UW pharmacy students have received regional, statewide and national honors.

She helped found the UW School of Pharmacy Center for Pharmacy Leadership and Professional Excellence as well as the Bridges to Health Patient Advocacy Center, both of which foster student leadership and advocacy in the community.

In 2008, she was named the American Pharmacists Associations Outstanding Chapter Adviser. She also received the UW School of Pharmacys Gibaldi Excellence in Teaching Award in 2009 and 2010.

Several UW School of Pharmacy alumni also received WSPA awards. Dan Connolly, ’67, won the Distinguished Leadership Service Award. Bill Fassett, ’69, received the Rod Shafer Award for pioneering and sustaining contributions to the profession. Dawn Ipsen, ’01, was named the Pharmacist Mutual Distinguished Young Pharmacist of the Year. Robert Slagle, ’82, received the Bowl of Hygeia Award for outstanding community service. Angela Stewart, ’90, was given the David Almquist Award for outstanding work in the WSPA endeavors. Roger Woolf, ’85, was named Pfizer Health System Pharmacist of the Year.

The honorees were recognized at an awards dinner at the October WSPA Annual Meeting in Tacoma. The WSPA supports and advances the practice of pharmacy and has almost 2,000 members throughout the state.