Drake pharmacy faculty members achieve board certification
Three assistant professors of pharmacy practice in Drake’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences recently became certified with the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties.
Darla Eastman and Sally Haack are now board-certified in Pharmacotherapy; and Lori Schirmer is certified in Nutrition Support Pharmacy.
“Of approximately 230,000 licensed pharmacists in the United States, only about 7,000 of them have achieved board certification,” said David Zgarrick, the John R. Ellis Distinguished chair of pharmacy practice.
To become certified, these faculty members passed a nationally-validated examination and continued their education to achieve an advanced level of knowledge and practice above what pharmacists are required to do to become licensed.
“Board certification is just one of the ways that we demonstrate our commitment to excellence,” said Michelle Bottenberg, assistant professor of pharmacy practice, “not only to the patients that we serve, but also to our students as we prepare them for professional practice.”
Other faculty members certified in Pharmacotherapy in the college’s Department of Pharmacy Practice are:
- Ed Bell, professor of pharmacy practice
- Michelle Bottenberg, assistant professor of pharmacy practice
- Sarah Grady, associate professor of pharmacy practice
- Erik Maki, assistant professor of pharmacy practice
- Dean Raylene Rospond
- John Rovers, professor of pharmacy and health sciences
- Geoffrey Wall, associate professor of pharmacy practice
In addition, two faculty members hold dual certifications. Grady holds a certification in Psychiatric Pharmacy and Schirmer holds a certification in Nutrition Support Pharmacy. As of late 2007, only 145 individuals hold certification in more than one specialty.
Wall and Kristin Meyer, assistant professor of pharmacy practice, are Certified Geriatric Pharmacists by the Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy, and Meyer is a Certified Anticoagulation Care Provider administered by the National Certification Board for Anticoagulation Providers.
BPS administers board certification in five specialty practice areas: Nuclear Pharmacy, Nutrition Support Pharmacy, Pharmacotherapy, Psychiatric Pharmacy and Oncology Pharmacy. The certification is a voluntary process by which a pharmacist’s education, experience, knowledge and skills in a particular practice area are confirmed as well beyond what is required for licensure.