Professor Kevin Garey of the UH College of Pharmacy was awarded an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists fellowship this summer during the ASHP Summer Meeting and exhibition June 12.
ASHP fellows are recognized as those who have made significant contributions to scientific literature, research and education.
“It just shows that you’ve done a lot of important work for this large organization, for ASHP,” Garey said.
“It’s a nice thing for me personally and then a great thing for the University of Houston and then Houston in general.”
ASHP is a professional organization that represents pharmacists who work in hospitals and health systems. With 40,000 members, ASHP is the largest pharmacy organization in the United States.
Mustafa Lokhandwala, executive vice dean for research in the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, states that such an honor would really boost the standards of UH.
“We are now a Tier One university and striving to maintain and achieve even higher standards,” Lokhandwala said.
“Being recognized as a fellow of a society of professional organizations is really important because it adds to the stature of not only the College of Pharmacy but also that of the University of Houston.”
For about a decade, Garey has been responsible for coordinating many of the talks and presentations given at the mid-year and summer meetings of the ASHP. Additionally, Garey was awarded the Literature Award in Drug Therapy by ASHP in 2007 and was instrumental in developing a new pharmacy practice initiative that was awarded the Best Practices Award by the ASHP in 2004.
“Those two things together were sort of what helped me to get this fellowship status,” Garey said.
“So it’s kind of like, ‘Thank you very much for all the work you’ve done,’ and then there’s a little reception later on that night where all of the incoming fellows rub elbows with the president and other big shots.”
Garey’s research is focused mainly in the field of antibiotic use over long periods of time. Aside from conducting his own research, Garey also works as department chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences and Administration and is responsible for overseeing faculty members in his department in regards to their academic assignments, teaching, research, service activities and patient care.
“As a coworker, he is a team player. He takes care of everybody in the team and makes sure that everybody is moving forward,” said Vincent Tam, associate professor for the Department of Clinical Sciences & Administration.
“As a chair I think he is setting career goals for the department, and he has a plan for the department to move forward with very clear goals.”
Because the ASHP is a national and globally-renowned organization, this fellowship will generate exposure for both Garey and the UH College of Pharmacy.
“I think this is an honor for him for sure. This is an honor also for the college, that we have somebody of his caliber on our faculty,” Tam said.
“This is external validation of how influential our faculty (members) are. It is external validation that we are on the right track and we are doing things that are competitive.”
Congratulations professor.