ACCP members William Dager, Pharm.D.; Douglas Figg, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS; Howard McLeod, Pharm.D., FCCP; and Ralph Raasch, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS have been selected by the College’s Awards Committee to receive the association’s prestigious 2008 Clinical Practice, Russell R. Miller, Therapeutic Frontiers Lecturer, and Education Awards, respectively. The awards will be presented in Louisville on Sunday morning, October 19, during the Opening General Session of the College’s 2008 Annual Meeting.

The ACCP Clinical Practice Award is given to a College member who has made substantial and outstanding contributions to clinical pharmacy practice. The criteria considered in identifying potential candidates include exceptional leadership in the development of innovative clinical pharmacy services and sustained excellence in providing these services. Willam Dager is a pharmacist specialist at the University of California, Davis Medical Center (UCDMC). He also holds an appointment as Clinical Professor of Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Dager’s outstanding accomplishments include more than 20 years of practice leadership in clinical pharmacy, including work that has been instrumental in justifying and developing clinical pharmacist service roles in critical care, clinical pharmacology consult services, and inpatient anticoagulation management. In particular, his contributions in the areas of cardiology and anticoagulation have assisted many ACCP members in the clinical management of their patients. In recommending Dr. Dager, one of his nominators wrote about his frequent contributions to ACCP’s Adult Medicine and Cardiology Practice and Research Networks (PRNs). “He has provided the networks with insightful answers that reflect his research and clinical expertise. This has enabled me to educate our staff in a more efficient and timely fashion. He is quick to offer valuable perspective and guidance on the therapeutic dilemmas and challenges posted on the listserves.” Dr. Dager has received numerous awards, including the UCSF/UCDMC Outstanding Preceptor of the Year, Fellow of the California Society of Health System Pharmacists, the UCDMC Outstanding Achievement Award, and the UCSF Long Prise for Excellence in Teaching. His publication record includes numerous research articles, reviews, practice guidelines, and book chapters that focus on clinical pharmacy and pharmacotherapy.

The Russell R. Miller Award is presented in recognition of substantial contributions to the literature of clinical pharmacy, thereby advancing both clinical pharmacy practice and rational pharmacotherapy. Russell R. Miller was founding editor of the College’s journal, Pharmacotherapy. Dr. Douglas Figg is Senior Scientist and Head of the Molecular Pharmacology Section, Medical Oncology Branch, Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute in the National Institutes of Health at Bethesda, Maryland. He also serves as Head of the Clinical Pharmacology Program and Head of the Biological Fluid Research Core for multiple NIH units. A leading authority on the treatment of cancer, he has made sustained contributions to this area of therapeutics with particular emphasis on the importance of angiogenesis to prostrate cancer and improving treatment outcomes for hormonal-refractory prostate cancer. His body of work includes more than 350 peer-reviewed publications, including research papers, reviews, book chapters, and editorials. One of Dr. Figg’s nominators commented, “Dr. Figg’s research efforts have focused on the development of novel anticancer agents, with emphasis on the translational development of angiogenesis inhibitors. His efforts in moving new agents into the clinic have been instrumental for the NCI, and the oncology community in general. He has led the clinical evaluation of numerous agents, including thalidomide. In the case of thalidomide, Dr. Figg’s efforts are especially noteworthy, in that he has played a critical role in both the pre-clinical and clinical development of this agent.” He has trained in his laboratory more than 30 postdoctoral fellows, seven Ph.D. students, and more than 100 residents, students, laboratory assistants, and visiting professors/scientists. His scholarly efforts have resulted in numerous national and international awards, including the 2005 American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Leon I. Goldberg Young Investigator Award and the 2007 NIH Clinical Center Director’s Award. Dr. Figg currently serves on the editorial boards of more than ten scientific journals.

The ACCP Therapeutic Frontiers Lecture Award recognizes an individual, including ACCP member and non-member nominees, who has made outstanding contributions to pharmacotherapeutics in his or her field. Among the criteria for this award is the broad acknowledgment that the recipient is currently considered to be at the leading edge of research in the field. Howard McLeod is the Fred N. Eshelman Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy and Director of the Institute for Pharmacogenomic and Individualized Therapy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is internationally recognized for his many important contributions to the field of pharmacogenomics of cancer chemotherapy. Dr. McLeod is widely regarded as a leading clinical and translational investigator and has published extensively during his career. One of his nominating letters points to Dr. McLeod’s broad impact on pharmacogenomics and therapeutics. “Although Dr. McLeod has focused in the areas of cancer chemotherapy, it has been remarkable to see the contributions that he has also made more broadly to cardiovascular disease, anticoagulation and, indeed, how he has helped define general principles of therapeutics…. He is one of the few principal investigators in the country to receive NIH funding for a center for pharmacogenetics research… and who has been able to successfully bring together scientists from multiple fields—biostatistics, internal medicine, oncology, molecular biology, genomics—to facilitate interactions, collaborations, and make true progress in the field of pharmacogenomics.” Dr. McLeod’s lecture, titled “The Genome as a Tool for Clinical Pharmacy,” will be delivered at 10:30 a.m. during Sunday morning’s Opening General Session.

The Education Award recognizes an ACCP member who has made substantial and outstanding contributions to clinical pharmacy education at either the undergraduate or postgraduate level. Ralph Raasch is Associate Professor of Pharmacy in the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Having served as a faculty member for 30 years, Dr. Raasch has distinguished himself as an outstanding teacher/mentor and as an exceptional practitioner-educator role model. Letters written by colleagues in support of Dr. Raasch’s nomination speak to role as an exceptional educator and faculty member. One of his nominators wrote, “He has had major programmatic responsibility at the professional doctoral level since 1981 and served for many years as a member of the school of pharmacy’s Curriculum and Progressions Committee.” A colleague adds, “His lectures are interactive, case-based, and non-rehearsed exciting exchanges of information between he and his students…. He has been voted Teacher of the Year multiple times at the UNC School of Pharmacy and his unique style is legendary!” An accomplished and experienced infectious diseases clinician, Dr. Raasch is a fixture on the UNC infectious diseases consult service, where he precepts two students per month throughout the year. “Students really enjoy the ID consult service because Dr. Raasch has developed a role for both himself and the students. He is the co-leader of the consult service with an attending physician. The students learn clinical microbiology, virology, parasitology, and clinical immunology alongside medical students, residents and fellows.” Also devoted to scholarship, Dr. Raasch has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, more than 15 book chapters, and numerous pharmacotherapeutic reviews. He is a past ACCP Regent, a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist, and a Fellow of the College.