Rita Alloway, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS, has been chosen by the Parker Medal Selection Committee as the 2025 recipient of the College’s Paul F. Parker Medal for Distinguished Service to the Profession of Pharmacy. Alloway is a research professor emeritus in the Section of Transplantation at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine. She also serves as director of both the UC College of Medicine Transplant Clinical Research Committee and the Transplant Pharmacy Specialty Residency and Fellowship program.

Paul Parker was one of clinical pharmacy’s most influential proponents. Before his death in 1998, Parker spent 24 years as director of pharmacy at the Chandler Medical Center/University of Kentucky in Lexington. His innovations included developing decentralized pharmacy services, placing pharmacists in the hospital’s clinical areas, and developing the nation’s first pharmacist-staffed drug information center. 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 included many of today’s leaders in clinical pharmacy who continue to pass along his wisdom and vision to their trainees and colleagues. 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 patient populations, further the professional role of pharmacists, or expand the recognition of pharmacists as health professionals.

The Parker Medal Selection Committee chose Alloway as the 2025 medalist on the basis of her longstanding commitment to the pharmacy profession, specifically within the transplant pharmacy specialty. Through her exceptional scholarship, mentorship, and advocacy, Alloway has advanced patient care, professional practice, and health policy.

With over 250 peer-reviewed publications and a remarkable h-index of 40, Alloway’s research has had a direct impact on clinical and regulatory practices. Most notably, her work at the FDA supporting the introduction of generic immunosuppressive therapies has led to substantial improvements in both patient outcomes and health care costs. In his letter of support, Dr Prabir Roy-Chahury, current president of the American Society of Nephrology and professor of nephrology and co-director of the University of North Carolina Kidney Center, shared:

The greatest direct impact of Dr Alloway’s research on patient care has been in the area of generic tacrolimus development, where it has been the cornerstone for major regulatory, reimbursement, and policy changes that have had a positive impact on every single transplant patient in this country.

Beyond her scholarly contributions, Alloway is revered as a mentor—known affectionately as “Mama Rita” according to Dr Erik Henricksen, ACCP Transplant PRN member, having trained and influenced most of the practicing transplant pharmacists today. She has also shaped national and international policy through her roles in professional organizations, including as the first pharmacist to serve on the American Society of Transplantation (AST) Board of Directors.

Alloway’s visionary leadership helped define and advance the subspecialty of transplant pharmacy, while her sustained advocacy has significantly broadened the pharmacist’s role within multidisciplinary care teams, education, and leadership. Her authorship of transplant pharmacy standards was instrumental in securing recognition by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, leading to the formal integration of transplant pharmacists as required members of the interprofessional transplant care team. In his letter of support, Roy-Chahury added:

It is very rare for non-physicians to be considered by regulatory authorities as necessary team members, but this is in fact a reality in transplantation in this country, as a result of the pioneering work done by Rita Alloway. Indeed, as transplant physicians, we now not only expect a clinical pharmacist to be a part of our transplant team but also to take on a variety of other roles that Dr Alloway has brought into their domain.

Alloway is a member of AST, the Ohio College of Clinical Pharmacy, and ACCP. Within ACCP, she is actively involved with the Transplant PRN. She also provides manuscript reviews for the American Journal of Transplantation, Transplantation, and Pharmacotherapy. Alloway has been honored with numerous awards throughout her career, including the Transplant Pharmacist Profile award, the Leading Women of Cincinnati-Research and Technology Award, and the ACCP Russell R. Miller Award. She was awarded fellowship in ACCP in 2007. She will be recognized as this year’s Parker Medalist during the opening session of the 2025 ACCP Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday morning, October 18.

The Parker Medal Selection Committee is composed of leaders from member organizations of the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners, together with past presidents of ACCP. Members of the 2025 selection committee were Curtis Haas (chair), Nancy Alvarez, Lawrence Cohen, Jimmi Hatton Kolpek, Jill Kolesar, Sandra Leal, Suzanne Nesbit, Janet Silvester, Jenelle Sobotka, and Linda Tyler.