ASHP Announces Thielke Winner Of Prestigious John W. Webb Award

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 28 May 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Thomas S. Thielke, M.S., FASHP, a leader in pharmacy organizations who has contributed to numerous technological and clinical advancements in the pharmacy profession, has been named the 2008 recipient of the John W. Webb Lecture Award.

Thielke is vice president of Professional and Support Services at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics (UWHC) in Madison and a clinical professor at the UW School of Pharmacy. For nearly 20 years, he served as director of pharmacy at UWHC.

He has been at the forefront of advancements that include the development of a decentralized pharmacist/centralized unit dose system, the implementation of automated dispensing systems and use of clinical support systems and point-of-care technology. Under his leadership, the UWHC pharmacy department built the internationally recognized Center for Drug Policy, which merges clinical drug evaluation with evidence-based, population-focused analysis.

"Tom Thielke is to be commended for his role in developing point-of-care technology and many other accomplishments that have led to improved patient care," said ASHP President Janet A. Silvester, M.B.A., FASHP. "We are pleased to honor his outstanding leadership and excellence with the Webb award."

An active member of pharmacy associations, Thielke is a past president of ASHP and a former chair of the ASHP House of Delegates. He served as president of the Wisconsin Society of Health-System Pharmacists and is founder and a former chairman of the Board of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin. Thielke also is a former president and vice president of the Hospital Pharmacists Section of the International Pharmaceutical Federation.

A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Thielke was honored with the Donald E. Francke Medal in 2006 and the Harvey A.K. Whitney Lecture Award in 2005. He also received the McKesson Medication Safety Leadership Award and the Winston J. Durant Lecture Award. The Webb award honors health-system pharmacy practitioners or educators who stand apart from others because of their extraordinary dedication to fostering excellence in pharmacy management and leadership.

The award, previously called the John W. Webb Visiting Professorship in Hospital Pharmacy, was established in 1985 by the Northeastern University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions in Boston. The now-named Northeastern University School of Pharmacy in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences transferred responsibility for administering the award to ASHP in 2006. ASHP's Section of Pharmacy Practice Managers carries out the award process with continuing involvement by Northeastern.

"As one of the most prominent and successful leaders in our profession, Mr. Thielke exemplifies the core characteristic upon which the John W. Webb Award is based: an unwavering commitment to excellence in health-system management," said John R. Reynolds, Pharm.D., dean of the Northeastern University School of Pharmacy. "Equally important is his work involving the education and mentoring of students and residents as future leaders, innovations in practice through automation and the overall advancement of the profession in the U.S. and abroad. He is most deserving of this award."

Thielke will present his award lecture at the ASHP Conference for Leaders in Health-System Pharmacy and as Visiting Professor in Hospital Pharmacy at Northeastern University.

About ASHP

For more than 60 years, ASHP has helped pharmacists who practice in hospitals and health systems improve medication use and enhance patient safety. The Society's 30,000 members include pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who practice in inpatient, outpatient, home-care, and long-term-care settings, as well as pharmacy students. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists help people make the best use of medicines, visit ASHP's Web site, http://www.ashp.org, or its consumer Web site, http://www.safemedication.com.

http://www.ashp.org

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