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By Dr. Ira C. Robinson, Ph.D., R.Ph.
Former Dean and Professor of Pharmacy, Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy and Howard University College of Pharmacy
The art of healing through the use of medicines dates back to prehistoric times and stretches through Western civilization. Around 1500 when lists of drug formulas, called pharmacopeias, first appeared, so began the uphill evolution of the pharmaceutical profession. While it was common for physicians to diagnose illnesses, as well as compound and administer simple medicines, the emergence of apothecaries, the wholesale trade and pharmacies in city hospitals provided a necessary means for the separation of direct medical care from drug preparation and dispensing.
Traditionally, pharmacy has been defined as the art and science of preparing, preserving, compounding and dispensing of drugs. From its early beginnings in America, pharmacy evolved from self-treatment with herbal concoctions, poultices and pills to the development of multidisciplinary clinical medicine dispensers. Today's practice is expanded beyond the boundaries of that outdated definition. In addition to preparing and dispensing drugs, pharmacists counsel patients and other health care professionals, design increasingly complex dosage forms, as well as evaluate and monitor patients' multidrug regimens for safety and efficacy.
Historically, African American pharmacists have been involved in all practice settings, including management and staff roles. More African Americans continue to choose the profession, as evidenced by the rapid growth of the number of African American pharmacists from the 1970s to today. Then, there were less than 2,800 African American pharmacists in the United States. Today, African American pharmacists comprise nearly 9 percent -- or almost 19,000 -- of an estimated 208,000 pharmacists in the country.
Higher Education
The early training of pharmacists in America was delivered in "schools" operated by local associations and was composed primarily of an apprenticeship. To meet the challenges of providing quality pharmaceutical care services in collaboration with physicians and other practitioners, pharmacists today complete a six-year curriculum to earn a doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Some 89 U.S. colleges now offer such programs.
Although Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, is renowned for its training of our earliest African American pharmacists, other historically black colleges of pharmacy have emerged over the past three decades to enroll and graduate the majority of African American pharmacists in the United States. These include Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida; Howard University, Washington, D.C.; Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas; Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana; and Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia.
African American pharmacy students graduate with an abundance of career opportunities in community pharmacies, hospitals, home health care, consulting and managed care. There also are specialty areas such as geriatrics, nuclear pharmacy, oncology, pediatrics and pharmacotherapeutics. Combining the Pharm.D. with advanced degrees greatly expands one's career options even in contemporary practice, as well as in clinical and scientific research, teaching, entrepreneurship, public service, and the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.
Professional Organizations
Recognizing the need to form their own alliances to address common challenges, African Americans established a number of pharmaceutical associations. In 1947, Chauncey Cooper of Howard University founded the National Pharmaceutical Association for African American pharmacists, which was preceded by the National Negro Medical Association of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists of 1895.
The National Pharmaceutical Foundation founded in 1972 at Florida A&M University (FAMU) brought together African American pharmacists from all groups and practice settings, as well as faculty, alumni and students from the historically black pharmacy colleges. That same year, the establishment of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association at FAMU provided students with mentoring and enrichment opportunities outside the classroom. In 1978, the African American members of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists* formed their own group, the Association of Black Hospital Pharmacists.
African Americans also emerged in leadership roles of national pharmacy associations, including Wendell T. Hill, Jr., Pharm.D., who served as president of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists in 1972; Mary Munson Runge, R.Ph., who served as chairperson and president of the American Pharmaceutical Association** in 1979; Robert D. Gibson, Pharm.D., who served as president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) in the 1990s; and Henry Cade, M.B.A., who served as the president of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy in 1987. The first African American AACP official was initially elected secretary-treasurer of its Council of Deans
in 1973.
African American pharmacists will continue to have an enormous impact on health care in America because of their high sensitivity to patient needs, quality education, proven competence, leadership qualities and dedication to improving access to quality patient care.
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