Robert E. Smith, Pharm.D. (Director)

Robert E. Smith is a professor emeritus at the Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. He received his B.A. degree from Arizona State University and his Pharm.D. degree from the University of Southern California. On graduation, Smith spent 2 years in the U.S. Public Health Service, Indian Health Service at Crow Agency, Montana.

In 1971, Smith joined the faculty at Wayne State University College of Pharmacy in Detroit, Michigan. After 7 years at Wayne State University, he served as a faculty member, department chair, and assistant dean at Creighton University School of Pharmacy. In 1989, he was appointed as the vice president for academic affairs and dean at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, where he served until 1995. After a 1-year sabbatical at AACP, Smith accepted his last academic position at Auburn University, from which he retired in 2012.

Dr. Smith was elected as president-elect (1998–1999) and president (1999–2000) of AACP. He continues to be involved in academic pharmacy as an invited speaker and consultant on personal, professional and academic leadership, strategic planning, and pedagogical and curricular change.

Debbie C. Byrd, Pharm.D.

Debbie C. Byrd, PharmD, MBA has served as Dean and Professor of East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy since 2016, and currently also serves as Interim Dean of East Tennessee State University College of Nursing, both in Johnson City, Tennessee. As Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, formal leadership roles over the previous two decades at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy and Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy included Associate Dean of Professional Affairs, Campus Assistant Dean responsible for Academic and Student Affairs, and Director of Experiential Learning. In addition, Dr. Byrd established and directed two PGY-2 Residency Programs in Primary Care and Rural Primary Care. Dr. Byrd has served the ACCP Leadership and Management Academy as faculty since 2014. She has been a Dean Mentor for the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Academic Leadership Fellows Program since 2016, served as Dean Facilitator for Cohort 16, and was elected Chair of the AACP Pharmacy Practice Section in 2014.

Dr. Byrd’s practice focused on both inpatient and outpatient care as Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine and Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. Her research focused on pharmacist-physician collaboration and expanding pharmacist services and funding models. With more than $5 million in funding during her career, Dr. Byrd’s current research led to a new Center for Pharmacy Education, Advocacy and Outreach at East Tennessee State University, and her advocacy efforts resulted in a recurring annual appropriation of over $2.5 million to support pharmacy education in rural and underserved areas of the Appalachian Highlands.

She has received the AACP Lawrence C. Weaver Transformative Community Service Award and AACP Pharmacy Practice Section Anne Marie Liles Distinguished Service Award, as well as the NACDS Diversity Scholarship Award, U.S. Public Health Service/Interprofessional Education Collaborative Public Health Excellence in Interprofessional Education Collaboration Award.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, Dr. Byrd completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis followed by a Primary Care Specialty Residency at the National Institutes of Health. She holds a BS in Chemistry from Middle Tennessee State University and an MBA from Tennessee Tech University, and she is a graduate of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education Management Development Program and the AACP Academic Leadership Fellows Program.

Dr. Byrd is proudest of her marriage of over three decades and her two adult children.

Peter D. Hurd, Ph.D.

Dr. Peter D. Hurd is Professor Emeritus in Pharmacy Administration and retired Department Chair of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences at St. Louis College of Pharmacy in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his Ph.D. in Social and Administrative Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota, a M.S. in Social Psychology from Duke University, and an A.B. in Psychology from Dartmouth College. He is currently one of the regular presenters at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Leadership Academy. At the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Dr. Hurd was also chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human subjects research, faculty athletic representative for the College’s intercollegiate sports program, and one of the faculty advisors for the annual Student Research Symposium.

Dr. Hurd’s research interests include public health, leadership/management, program assessment in education, health literacy, and psychosocial aspects of medication use. His most recent teaching included courses in public health, health systems management, and research methods. He is one of three editors of a book linking public health and pharmacy, “Introduction to Public Health in Pharmacy” with Ardis Hanson and Bruce L Levin, which is now in its second edition. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He has presented a number of programs that have used leadership principles to find the strengths of others, maximize performance, improve outcomes through effective planning, and manage change through vision and leadership.

Leigh Ann Ross, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS

Dr. Leigh Ann Ross is Dean and Professor at Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy (AUHCOP). Prior to joining Auburn University, she served as the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy UMSOP, Director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, and Research Professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She previously served as the Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at UMSOP. Dr. Ross also worked with the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center as a Professor in the Department of Population Health Science.

Dr. Ross received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a Doctor of Pharmacy from Ole Miss. She completed a Primary Care Pharmacy Residency at UMMC. She joined the UMSOP faculty in 1999, where she led practice initiatives to implement medication management services at the Medical Center and in communities through UM’s Community-Based Research Program. In addition to her work in pharmacy, Dr. Ross completed a 2-year Congressional Fellowship in the Office of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran where she served as policy advisor on health care, labor, housing, and economic development. Dr. Ross has been actively involved in professional organizations at a state and national level, serving as President of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), Member of the ACCP Board of Regents, Chair of the ACCP Political Action Committee Governing Council, and Chair of Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc. Board of Directors, which provides oversight for the journals Pharmacotherapy and JACCP. She also served as Chair of the American Association College of Pharmacy (ACCP) Pharmacy Practice Section. Dr. Ross is Past President of the Mississippi Pharmacists Association and the Mississippi Biotechnology Association. She is a Fellow of ACCP, ASHP, APhA, and the National Academies of Practice.