The Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will award its highest honor, the Lawrence C. and Delores M. Weaver Medal of Honor to Drake pharmacy alum and retired otolaryngology head and neck surgery physician, Steven Herwig, PH’71, GR’99. Dr. Herwig will deliver the Weaver Medal Lecture on Thursday, October 7 at 2 p.m. in Sussman Theater. The lecture will also be livestreamed at drake.edu/cphs/weaver-lecture and recorded for later viewing. 

The Weaver Medal of Honor recognizes an individual’s dedication to making a substantial impact on the profession of pharmacy and the advancement of human health. It is presented annually to a recipient who has fulfilled one of the following criteria: the individual’s efforts have advanced the education, research, or outreach mission of the college for the benefit of human health; the individual has made a substantial impact on the profession of pharmacy; or the individual has provided to the college significant financial support that has funded strategic change and progress. The award is made possible by a generous gift from Lawrence Weaver, PH’49, and his wife, Delores. 

“Dr. Steve Herwig has had a significant impact on Drake, our college, and the central Iowa community,” said Renae Chesnut, dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. “He has served as a leader and role model, in addition to establishing funds that further the College’s mission. He embodies the college’s values of collaboration, innovation, and professionalism.” 

After graduating from Drake with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in 1971, Herwig pursued an osteopathic medicine degree from Des Moines University (DMU), graduating in 1976 and earning the Graduate with Distinction honor. He interned at the Metropolitan Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and then completed a residency in Otolaryngology-Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Cincinnati in 1981. Herwig became board certified that same year. From 1981-84, He was a United States Air Force (USAF) medical officer at Malcolm Grow USAF Medical Center in Washington, D.C. 

Herwig returned to Des Moines in 1984 to begin his otolaryngology practice and he became one of the original members of The Iowa Clinic at its inception in 1994. He was a clinical assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and an adjunct associate professor of otolaryngology at DMU. Herwig completed his MBA at Drake University in 1999 and became a certified physician executive in medical management by the American College of Physicians Executives in 2001.  

Herwig has a long-standing record of service to the medical profession and to the Des Moines community. He is the former President of the Iowa Academy of Otolaryngology and former Chairman of the Board of Directors at both the Iowa Clinic and the Lakeview Surgery Center. Herwig also served in volunteer leadership positions for the Walnut Creek YMCA, the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, Unity Point Health, and Unity Point Health-Des Moines. Currently, Herwig is a member of the Board of Managers for the Unity Point Health Accountable Care Organization, the West Des Moines Bicycle Advisory Commission, and serves as President of the Executive Council at Edgewater, a senior residential community. 

He has also given back to the CPHS, serving on the College’s Pharmacy National Advisory Council from 2002-2006 and the Health Sciences Advisory Board from 2015-2018. Herwig and his wife Karen have established the Steven R. and Karen L. Herwig Pharmacy Scholarship.  

He received an Alumni Achievement Award from the College in 2010 at the annual Health Professions Day, formerly the Pharmacy and Health Sciences Day. Herwig’s other awards include the Alter Peerless Outstanding Chief Resident Award from the University of Cincinnati in 1981 and the Raymond Blank Children’s Hospital Recognition Award in 1990.