Marilyn K. Speedie Receives Remington Honor Medal, Highest Honor in Pharmacy

PRESS RELEASE

December 16, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC — Marilyn K. Speedie, BSPharm, PhD, of Minneapolis, MN, is the recipient of the 2014 Remington Honor Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). Speedie was selected in recognition of the professional achievements, innovations and advancements she has contributed to the pharmacy profession.

A few of Speedie’s accomplishments include: facilitating NIH’s recognition of PharmDs as principal investigators; helping Minnesota create practice environments where pharmacists are using their clinical knowledge to provide compensated medication therapy management to patients; leading the way for passage of legislation in Minnesota that allows pharmacists to administer immunizations and recognizes pharmacists as health care providers; facilitating the implementation of the University of Minnesota’s entry-level PharmD program and initiating a non-traditional, web-based PharmD program.

The Remington Honor Medal, named for eminent community pharmacist, manufacturer and educator Joseph P. Remington, was established in 1918 to recognize distinguished service on behalf of American pharmacy during the preceding years, culminating in the past year or during a long period of outstanding activity or fruitful achievement. Speedie will be officially recognized during the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, March 28-31, 2014. The APhA awards and honors program is the most comprehensive recognition program in the profession of pharmacy.

“Marilyn’s influence is derived from her total understanding of the needs for and of pharmacists,” stated a colleague’s nomination letter. “During her leadership as President of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), a single, powerful sentence was added to the association’s mission statement that has affected the way in which faculties in all the AACP colleges of pharmacy view their relationships with the profession: ‘AACP shares responsibility with the profession for advancing the practice of pharmacy.’”

Speedie has been Dean of the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy since 1996. Her leadership interests include developing the college’s education, research and clinical practice missions, including drug discovery and development and advancing pharmacy practice to improve care for patients. During her tenure as dean she expanded the pharmacy program to the campus of the University of Minnesota, Duluth, resulting in an increased admission of 60 students per year, established the Center for Leading Healthcare Change, which she also co-directs, and built a national presence for the College of Pharmacy through service in AACP, USP and other organizations.

Another nominator commented, “Marilyn is one of the most committed and effective pharmacist/educators in the United States. The fusion term pharmacist/educator perfectly characterizes what I have known Marilyn to be: a dedicated person whose decisions and deeds simultaneously reflect the influences of her professional and academic backgrounds and synergistically benefit both practice and education.”

Speedie received a BSPharm in pharmacy and a PhD in medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy from Purdue University. Before coming to the University of Minnesota, she spent 21 years on the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

As one of her nominators described her influence, “Many have served as deans of pharmacy schools, but Marilyn Speedie is among the very few who have leveraged that position to have a profound and broad influence on the direction and advancement of pharmacy as a profession that benefits society. Dean Speedie has shaped, directed and transformed the pharmacy program into one where Minnesota’s pharmacist graduates are well-prepared, not only for practice, but also for shaping and leading change in the practice of pharmacy in the future.”

Speedie served a three-year presidential term for the AACP from 2005-08. She currently is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education (NIPTE) and of the Board of Trustees for the United States Pharmacopeia. Speedie was named the 1993 Distinguished Alumna of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences at Purdue University. She was awarded the 1994 Paul Dawson Award by AACP for her research and teaching in the area of biotechnology. She is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.