Alumni Updates

From growing families to earning recognition from your peers, our alumni have a lot of news to share! Stay in touch with your fellow UW–Madison School of Pharmacy alumni across the state and the country by checking (and sharing) class notes in each DiscoveRx digital magazine issue. 

Here’s what our alumni have been up to since the Winter 2018 Class Notes. For more updates, see our full Spring 2019 DiscoveRx.

Promotions & New Positions

Kathleen Bosse (PharmD ’09) has been promoted to curation and implementation lead for the Clinical Development team at OneOme. OneOme is a Pharmacogenomics company whose vision is “to create the highest quality pharmacogenomic testing and tools and make them accessible to everyone across the globe.”

Monica Robbins (BS ’77) has been promoted to manager of dosing clinical content at First Databank, Inc., in Indianapolis.

Recognition & Awards

Jeanine Abrons (MS ’08) is being inducted as a fellow of the American Pharmacists Association’s Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management.

William Doucette (BS ’83, MS ’88, PhD ’93) is receiving the Clinical Research Paper Award from the American Pharmacists Association’s Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science in recognition of his paper, published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, “Pharmacy Performance While Providing Continuous Medication Monitoring.”

Jon Schommer (BS ’85, MS ’89, PhD ‘92), associate department head and professor of Pharmaceutical Care and Health Systems at the University of Minnesota, received the Research Achievement Award in the Pharmaceutical Sciences from the American Pharmacists Association, for moving pharmacy forward through teaching and research in medication optimization.

Jeff Fish (BS ’91) earned a 2019 Gold Medal Award from the Society of Critical Care Medicine for his project, “Five-Year Outcomes After Implementing a Pain, Agitation, and Delirium Guideline in a Mixed ICU.”

Dave Zgarrick (BS ’88) has been elected to serve as treasurer of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Bruce Scott (BS ’79) is being honored by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists with the 2019 Harvey A.K. Whitney Lecture Award, which is highly regarded as the profession’s highest honor.

Philip Schneider (BS ’70) is being honored by Ohio State University (OSU) with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Schneider was a faculty member at OSU until 2008, when he left to help develop a branch campus for the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy at the Phoenix Biomedical Campus. Since retiring in 2017, he has been involved in consulting and has reactivated his faculty appointment at OSU.

Otto Puls (BS ’55) was honored by the Wisconsin Men’s Basketball team for serving as the team’s official scorer for 55 seasons and more than 1,100 games and was featured in On Wisconsin magazine.

Personal Updates

Tyler Liebenstein (PharmD ’11) and his wife, Nicole, welcomed their first child to the family in February 2019: William ‘Will” Tyler Liebenstein.

Elliott Sogol (BS ’79, MS ’83, PhD ’86) and co-author William Kelly have published their second book, The Good Pharmacist: Enhancing Pharmacy as a True, Clinical and Paid Profession, aimed at telling pharmacists and student pharmacists what’s possible with a career in pharmacy.

In Memoriam

Richard Statz (BS ’82) passed away in January 2019. After years of practicing pharmacy in Milwaukee and Madison, Statz became a financial planner. He loved Badger basketball, beaches and travel.

Roger Doran (BS ’58) passed away in March 2019. After graduating from the School, he practiced pharmacy in Madison, Stoughton, and Green Bay and worked for the pharmaceutical company Parke-Davis, before returning to his hometown of Antigo, where he purchased Olk Drug. Later, he opened The General Clinic pharmacy, where he worked until his retirement.

Jack Owen Young (BS ’58) passed away in January 2019. He was a devoted pharmacist and former president of the Racine County Pharmacist Association, who was known for his willingness to help his patients understand their medications and come in after hours to fill prescriptions. He was co-owner of Lange’s Pharmacy in Racine for many years.

Ronald Staben (BS ’57) passed away in February 2019. Staben, longtime Badger fan and outdoor sports enthusiast, opened Staben Pharmacy after graduating from the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy. He sold his pharmacy in 1995 but his commitment to the profession led him to continue to work in community pharmacies until 2010.

Richard Frick (BS ’54) passed away in January 2019. He operated his own pharmacy, Huntley Pharmacy, in Huntley, Ill., for many years, after also serving as director of pharmacy at Delnor Hospital.

Do you have a personal or professional update you’d like to share, big or small? Submit your class note for the Summer 2019 DiscoveRx.