Milap Nahata, Pharm.D., M.S., has been chosen by the Parker Medal Selection Committee as the 2009 recipient of the College’s Paul F. Parker Medal for Distinguished Service to the Profession of Pharmacy. Dr. Nahata is Professor of Pharmacy and Division Chairman, College of Pharmacy, and Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, College of Medicine, at The Ohio State University (OSU). He also serves as the Associate Director of the Department of Pharmacy at the OSU Medical Center and is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Pharmacotherapy.
Paul Parker was one of clinical pharmacy’s most influential proponents. Before his death in 1998, Mr. Parker spent 24 years as Director of Pharmacy at the Chandler Medical Center/University of Kentucky in Lexington. His innovations include the development of decentralized pharmacy services, which placed pharmacists in the hospital’s clinical areas, as well as the development of the nation’s first pharmacist-staffed drug information center. Mr. Parker’s vision for pharmacy practice was passed along to the more than 150 residents and fellows who trained in the Kentucky program during his tenure. These disciples include many of today’s leaders in clinical pharmacy who continue to pass on his wisdom and vision to their trainees. The Paul F. Parker Medal recognizes an individual who has made outstanding and sustained contributions to the profession that improve patient or service outcomes, create innovative practices, affect populations of patients, further the professional role of pharmacists, or expand the recognition of pharmacists as health professionals.
In making its selection, the Parker Medal Committee commented on Dr. Nahata’s many contributions to clinical pharmacy, noting that he has written or cowritten more than 500 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters or monographs and three books about medication use in and drug formulations for pediatric patients. One of these books, Pediatric Drug Formulations (now in its fifth edition), is the most widely used source in the field. He has received the ACCP Education Award for sustained contributions to clinical pharmacy education and the ACCP Russell Miller Award for significant contributions to the literature of clinical pharmacy. The College has also recognized him for his Model Practice in Clinical Pharmacy Education. The committee noted further that Dr. Nahata has served as President, Regent, and Research Institute Chair of ACCP; as Chair of the Pharmacy Practice Academic Section of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP); as a member of AACP’s Commission to Implement Change in Pharmaceutical Education; and as a member of the Institute of Medicine. The committee emphasized that Dr. Nahata is clearly one of clinical pharmacy’s most accomplished and dedicated leaders.
Dr. Nahata is a pioneer in clinical pharmacy, having contributed to the profession’s advancement throughout a career spanning more than 30 years. In addition to his prolific scholarship, he has served as an exemplary leader, teacher, mentor, and practitioner. His nominators, Daren Knoell and Marialice Bennett, wrote in their letter of nomination,
Dr. Nahata has assembled a lifetime record of sustained contributions to the profession of pharmacy that furthers the role of pharmacists through his practice, research, teaching, and leadership.... He is well respected and admired for his gentle manner. He leads with integrity and humbleness.... He is well respected and loved by students, residents, and fellows. He has trained many who in turn have become great teachers and educators.... His outstanding research and teaching evolved from his practice. Many continue to seek the opportunity to train under his tutelage. As a division chair he has supported the growth of ambulatory and community care practices and assisted faculty to develop cutting edge practices in numerous innovative settings.
Dr. Barry Carter, Professor of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and a past ACCP President, wrote in his letter of support, Dr. Nahata’s peers view him as a visible and visionary leader. One of Dr. Nahata’s most impressive achievements is his recent election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies for “major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health, and commitment to service.” This is an outstanding recognition of his visionary leadership, not just within the discipline of clinical pharmacy, but also within medicine and public health.
In addition to the career highlights noted above, Dr. Nahata has presented almost 300 invited lectures in the United States and around the world. His vast list of awards and honors includes six Miriam Balshone awards for Distinguished Teaching/Outstanding Teacher of the Year awards at the OSU College of Pharmacy; the University Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching at OSU; the Distinguished Pharmacy Educator Award for teaching, research, and service contributions from AACP; the Research Achievement Award in Clinical Sciences from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists; the Research Achievement Award in the Pharmaceutical Sciences from the American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA); the Award for Achievement for Sustained Contributions to the Literature of Health-System Pharmacy from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP); the ASHP Best Practices Award (as a corecipient) from ASHP; the Rho Chi Lecture Award for distinguished scholarship from the national Rho Chi Society; the Robert Leonard Award for contributions to clinical pharmacy from the University of Texas at Austin and Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Dr. Nahata is an elected Distinguished Practitioner/Scholar in the National Academy of Practice and an elected Fellow of ACCP, APhA, ASHP, the American Academy of Microbiology, the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has provided research training to 34 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and more than 100 pharmacy students.
Committed to professional service throughout his career, Dr. Nahata has served as a chair or member of various national committees of AACP, ACCP, ACPE (the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education), AFPE (the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education), APhA, ASHP, the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, and the National Academy of Practice. He also serves on the editorial boards of four peer-reviewed journals.
Nevertheless, Barbara Wells, Pharm.D., Dean and Professor at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy and an ACCP past president, noted in her letter to the Parker Medal Committee,
I would hate to think that the truly extraordinary things about Dr. Nahata might be lost in his remarkable list of achievements, awards, and honors. I have never known anyone remotely like him.... His leadership is powerful because it is by example, and everyone knows that he would never ask anyone to do anything that he would not do himself. He is exquisitely aware of what the human spirit is capable of and he provides direction and encouragement to students and colleagues to help them realize their potential.
The 2009 Paul F. Parker Medal will be presented during the Opening General Session at the 2009 Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, on Sunday morning, October 18. Dr. Nahata will attend to accept the medal and deliver a brief acceptance address. The Parker Medal Selection Committee is composed of representatives from member organizations of the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners, together with past presidents of ACCP. Members of the 2009 committee are Robert Talbert (chair), Diane Beck, Jill Boone, Bruce Canaday, Joseph DiPiro, Steven Gray, Kathleen Lake, Jean Nappi, John Pieper, and Mark Woods.