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ADA, Ohio — Steve Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, urged students to become pharmacy advocates to help advance the profession in an address at the Ohio Northern University Rudolph H. Raabe College of Pharmacy.
His address on Tuesday, the college’s Inaugural Sebok Pharmacy Lecture, honored industry icon Albert Sebok for his commitment to the pharmacy sector and profession.
"Effective consultations and wise operational decisions, stitched together over the course of decades, create an impressive career," Anderson stated in his remarks. “But Albert Sebok has accomplished even more than that. His commitment to pharmacy goes far beyond talk of a distinguished career. It also defines what it means to be part of, and to advance, one’s profession."
NACDS said Anderson’s message to the pharmacy students focused on taking time to go beyond the day-to-day activities of being a pharmacist, as well as on seeking ways to get involved in grassroots advocacy to take a stand for improved health care.
"Pharmacy will become whatever people like you envision, and its advancement will reflect the energy with which you engage," remarked Anderson. "That is really why we are here today.We are not here just to honor Albert Sebok by attaching his name to this lecture, and to repeat this tradition once a year. We also are here to connect his legacy with ours, and to advance all of pharmacy through our daily actions."
Anderson called on students to share the story of pharmacy with lawmakers and attend the second annual NACDS RxImpact Day on Capitol Hill on March 11.
He also discussed the importance of medication adherence through pharmacy services such as medication therapy management and its importance in improving patient outcomes and savings in overall health care costs.
"Let me say this clearly: Pharmacy needs to own the issue of medication adherence," Anderson noted.
The Sebok Pharmacy Lecture was established by alumni and friends to honor Dr. Albert A. Sebok, a 1953 graduate of the Raabe College of Pharmacy and one of its most distinguished alumni, according to NACDS.
A Cleveland native, Sebok joined Standard Drug as a store manager after graduation. In 1961, Revco acquired Standard, and Sebok began his rise in store operations, leading to his appointment in 1971 as senior vice president for store operations of Revco Drug Stores Inc. He was an original member of university’s Pharmacy Advisory Board and the founder and instructor of the college’s contemporary pharmacy practice class. He received an honorary doctorate degree from Ohio Northern in 1988.
