Alum Elliott Sogol’s four decades of leadership, connection, and research have helped shape the profession and define its future
By Katie Ginder-Vogel
Elliott Sogol has never stayed in one place for long. He hasn’t chosen a lane for his pharmacy career. Instead, he keeps a careful eye on how the profession is evolving, seizing opportunities to evolve alongside it.
Over four decades, Sogol (BS ’78, MS ’81, PhD ’84) has moved between pharmacy practice, academia, industry, consulting, and national leadership — experiences that ultimately led him to explore a central question: What makes a good pharmacist?
His journey toward answering that question, culminating in two books, started at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy, where he studied not only pharmacy but also continuing education. That foundation set the stage for a career that has touched almost every corner of the profession, including two terms on the board of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), where he currently serves as the elected chair.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to impact pharmacist professional development, rewriting guidelines and criteria with commission,” Sogol says. “My pharmacy degree opened doors that I wasn’t even thinking of when I started it. It broadened my learning and passion for the profession.”
A career in motion
In pharmacy school, Sogol’s interests built momentum. While earning his pharmacy degree, he noticed that half of the fun of learning was the learning itself, so he also pursued two advanced degrees in continuing pharmacy education.
PhD in hand, Sogol joined the University of Illinois School of Pharmacy faculty for three years and served as a consultant for pharmaceutical companies, which led to a role as director of strategic operations for Glaxo Smith Kline. There, he spearheaded a career planning program for pharmacy, medicine, and nursing professionals.
“My role at Glaxo was fairly academic, with full funding, so we had the ability to do national surveys and move research forward on careers in pharmacy, medicine, and nursing,” Sogol says.
That career program was eventually divided among professional organizations, with the pharmacy program moving to the American Pharmacists’ Association (APhA).
“When APhA took over the career planning program for pharmacy, I stayed with the program as a consultant,” he says. “Today, most of my consulting work is still with APhA. It’s been 40 years, and I just helped launch APhA’s new, redesigned career program.”
Sogol also continued teaching as an adjunct professor at Campbell University in North Carolina, eventually working to launch a new master’s degree program that offered evening courses for students who worked in healthcare and wanted to move up professionally.
With that program well established, Sogol again got the itch to change course. Learning about a new Target store seeking a managing pharmacist, Sogol jumped at the opportunity to return to pharmacy practice — but it didn’t last long. Soon, Sogol found himself orchestrating educational resources for Target’s pharmacists as group manager for professional services. For five years, he commuted from his home in North Carolina to Target headquarters in Minneapolis.
“My pharmacy degree opened doors that I wasn’t even thinking of when I started it. It broadened my learning and passion for the profession.”
—Elliott Sogol
“We designed continuing education programs for our pharmacists that would help them better serve patients, and I really enjoyed it,” Sogol says.
Sogol also served on the board of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA), a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. that aims to improve medication safety, adherence, and appropriate use. In 2013, the group spun off a for-profit group to generate funds for PQA, called Pharmacy Quality Solutions. They pulled in Sogol to help get it off the ground.
“I thought it would be fun to start something from scratch,” Sogol recalls. “We had the opportunity to work with pharmacists across the U.S. and Canada, looking at quality metrics and patient care to what they’re doing and provide data on how it’s working.”
Defining the ‘good pharmacist’
While much of Sogol’s work has focused on building programs to enhance practice, he has also spent years defining what excellence in practice looks like.
“My mentor Don Rucker, from the University of Illinois, was a prolific writer and amazing person, and he encouraged me to write and introduced me to a William Kelly, who became my co-author,” Sogol says. “I’m a qualitative researcher — I like to see what people write in survey responses and get trends from that — so we did a qualitative research study, and our first book detailed the results.”
The study spanned five years and collected responses from pharmacists, physicians, nurses, and patients about which three adjectives they would use to describe a good pharmacist — characteristics like caring, compassionate, and knowledgeable topped the list. The study’s findings are discussed early in the 2011 book, The Good Pharmacist: Characteristics, Virtues and Habits, which then also explores modern challenges in the profession as well as how to make progress toward the “good pharmacist” ideals.
In a follow up book, The Good Pharmacist, Book II: Enhancing Pharmacy as a True, Fully Clinical and Paid Profession, Sogol and Kelly expound upon the evolution of pharmacy into a clinical, patient-centered profession, including how to be reimbursed for clinical services.
“The second book is about moving people into the true clinical profession of pharmacy, via networking and introductions,” says Sogol. “This book is really motivating and actionable for pharmacists in any practice setting.”
Connection as a catalyst
Across Sogol’s many roles, one thread holds strong: connection.
“I’ve also been fortunate to have worked with some incredible people, focused on profession, more broadly on healthcare.”
Connection is what draws him to opportunities like serving as APhA’s science officer for seven years, between 2003 and 2010.
“That was a fun opportunity to work with different people and other leaders in the association,” he says. “The fun part is networking with people and thinking outside the box.”
The experience even led to more career opportunities for Sogol. As science officer, he presented a student leadership award at an annual meeting and stayed in touch with the recipient, Kem Krueger. That student went on to become the dean of the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy, who later hired Sogol to direct postgraduate education and oversee the group that provides accredited pharmacy and nursing continuing education.
“I’ve always felt that being collaborative and working with others is a key component of my leadership roles. The core of pharmacy is connection.”
—Elliott Sogol
Sogol’s drive to connect even spans countries. Last year, he worked with the Center for International Education and Leadership to create a course on conflict resolution and its impact on healthcare. Participants completed a four-week online course with readings and background material, and then met for an immersive weeklong session in Belfast, Ireland, that took them around the city to meet with community leaders, politicians, religious groups, and healthcare leaders.
“It was phenomenal,” Sogol says. “The students got really into it, and the people we met with were very open about success and challenges. We’re hoping to do another one in 2027.”
Reflecting on what has made his success possible, Sogol points not only to any single title or achievement, but to the relationships built along the way.
“I’ve always felt that being collaborative and working with others is a key component of my leadership roles,” he says. “The core of pharmacy is connection.”
