The Departure of a Pharmacy Innovator, Dr. Jere E. Goyan
From: PeterTigr@..., Ts
Nguyễn Đức Thái
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 5:57 AM
Subject: The Departure of a Pharmacy Innovator, Dr. Jere E. Goyan http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/feature/200701193.html
Dear Colleagues and Friends:
Doctor Jere E. Goyan, a former Dean of the Pharmacy School of UCSF, has
just passed away (see attached news). Dr. Jere Goyan means to us, as a
pharmacist community, more than just a dean of a pharmacy school; he is
known as the pioneer in the initiation and development of the field of
clinical pharmacy, which is now an essential program of many pharmacy
schools across the world.
The needs for pharmacists to give services to patients were perhaps as
long as the pharmacy profession since it was created. However, the services
of pharmacists have been mostly limited to handing out drug packages to
customers in pharmacy stores; at hospitals, pharmacist's work places are
usual in the basements making unit doses and cough syrups. This is clearly
not what is worth for the challenging years of training for many pharmacy
programs worldwide. Practically, many talents and investments in pharmacy
education had been a big waste.
All pharmacy deans and educators realized this, but no one could offer
a solution and took a bold course of action to change the fate of pharmacy
practice as Dr. Jere Goyan did in the late 1970s at UCSF. Dr. Jere Goyan
re-designed pharmacy curriculums to include clinical training programs
aiming to bring pharmacists into hospital wards together with doctors,
nurses in caring for patients. As a newly enrolled student in the pharmaceutical
program at UCSF at the time of this change, we recalled the many excitements
at UCSF about the new roles of pharmacy instructors as well as students.
In the patient wards of Moffit Hospital, the clinical pharmacists apparently
looked like medical doctors in their white coats, but there were differences
that you can tell about them: no stethoscope hanging on their necks, their
pockets were loaded with pharmacology notebooks and even medical dictionaries.
They mostly lined up behinds the doctors and nurses by patient bedsides;
some of them even looked intimidated alongside their medical counterparts.
But things quickly changed when news came out from their works. Doctors
and nurses became cooperative with them; they paid attentions to the discussions
on drug mechanisms by pharmacists; they listened to their recommendations
for the right doses, combinations and modes of administrations of drugs
for patients . There were then cases when corrections of errors in doctor's
prescriptions by clinical pharmacists avoided drug side effects that could
potentially lead to lethal complications. Then came the Clinical Pharmacy
textbook authored by Dr. Mary Anne Koda-Kimble and other instructors,
many of them were under the mentorship of Dr. Jere Goyan, at the UCSF
Pharmacy school. The principles, theories and research reports of the
book have made it the Bible of clinical pharmacy internationally.
Building from these milestones of Dr. Jere Goyan's programs at UCSF, clinical
pharmacy has developed into nationwide, and later, international trends
for many pharmacy schools at universities. Clinical pharmacy became the
pride and the science of pharmacy profession. From these successes, Dr.
Jere Goyan was promoted with highest prestigious positions such as Head
of FDA, president of AACP (American association of College of Pharmacy).
Highest awards in pharmacy and medical associations were bestowed to him
including Remington Medal, membership of Institute of Medicine, USA. Most
important of all, the beneficiaries are clearly for the patients, who
are now receiving more effective and safer medications, for whatever their
illness are via the expertise of clinical pharmacists. This is perhaps
the reward that satisfies Dr. Jere Goyan the most, based on knowledge
of many who experienced the humanity side of the Dean, which was shown
in many aspects of his life during his tenure at UCSF.
As for Vietnamese pharmacy profession associated with UCSF, we observed
a flush of Vietnamese students in the pharmacy school during his time.
Dr. Jere Goyan had a fair policy, and perhaps it is more appropriate to
say a generous policy, for ethnic applicants; he gave an open door to
qualified and talented Vietnamese students to his school. We were both
proud and amazed to see sometimes the head count of Vietnamese students
was one third of the total students in some class of the school. UCSF
Pharmacy school has been ranked the top of the nation since Dr. Jere Goyan's
deanship.
Today we all share an irreplaceable loss by the departure of this most
innovative and respectable educator of pharmacy profession.
from Thai D. Nguyen
Tokyo 01-31- 2007
