Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy Honors Alumni

Press Release

Ohio Northern University’s (ONU) Raabe College of Pharmacy honored 3 alumni with Distinguished Alumni Awards on February 12, 2016.

This was the 9th year that Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented by the college.

Timothy Tracy, a 1983 graduate; Leonard L. “Bud” Lance, a 1970 graduate; and John A. Armitstead, a 1979 graduate, were recognized for their outstanding career accomplishments and their contributions to ONU.

“We are extremely honored to recognize these distinguished alumni for their significant contributions to the profession of pharmacy,” said Steven J. Martin, dean of the college of pharmacy. “These individuals have helped build the proud tradition and excellence of the Ohio Northern Raabe College of Pharmacy.”

Tracy is provost at the University of Kentucky. Prior to entering academia, he practiced in community and hospital settings throughout Ohio. Tracy launched his academic career at West Virginia University, where he won 6 college-wide teaching awards and 1 university-wide teaching award. Tracy then joined the University of Minnesota, where he served as head of the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, director of the Center for Forecasting Drug Response, and director of Clinical and Translational Research Services. In August 2010, he joined the University of Kentucky as dean of the college of pharmacy; from May 2012 until August 2013, he served as interim provost, until taking the position full-time in 2015.

Tracy’s research and teaching interests deal with pharmacogenetics and their effect on drug metabolism. Tracy has published more than 100 scientific manuscripts and more than 15 book chapters, edited 2 books, and served as a principal and co-investigator on numerous National Institutes of Health-funded grants.

He received his PhD in clinical pharmacy from Purdue University in 1988. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical pharmacology at Indiana University.

Lance was the founding pharmacist at Lexi-Comp and helped develop their first drug database in 1989. He retired from Lexi-Comp in 2011 after almost 23 years. He served as the pharmacy editor, technical adviser, and pharmacy information database coordinator for Lexi-Comp Inc. Along with authoring Lippincott Williams & Wilkins’ “Quick Look Drug Book,” he provided technical support to Lexi-Comp's reference publications. Lance also assisted more than 300 major hospitals in producing their own formulary pharmacy publications through Lexi-Comp’s custom publishing service. Lance also was manager of the Dosage Forms Database in Lexi-Comp’s Medical Sciences Division.

Lance is past president of the Summit Pharmaceutical Association. He is a member of the Ohio Pharmacists Association, the American Pharmaceutical Association, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).

After graduation and passing the pharmacy state board, he was an assistant manager of a Revco drug store in Cuyahoga Falls. Later in the year of 1970, the Vietnam War was a major conflict in America. Lance entered the military as Navy hospital corpsman and spent 4 years as a navy pharmacist in various military assignments and was instrumental in the development and operation of the first full hospital IV admixture program in the military at Portsmouth Naval Base in Virginia. His last 15 months of his naval career were spent on USS Independence CV-62 aircraft carrier. One of his assignments was to teach first aid to the entire personnel aboard that craft—almost 5000 men. During his Navy career, Lance received 2 letters of commendation, one for the IV admixture and the second for training servicemen to perform first aid.

After completing his military service, he re-entered the retail pharmacy field, first with Revco again, and then with Klein’s Pharmacy in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Klein’s pharmacy was one of the first retail pharmacies in the State of Ohio to computerize in 1976.

Armitstead is president of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), as well as system director of pharmacy services at Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, Florida, and Cape Coral, Florida.

He started his practice in pharmacy as a volunteer. Since that time, he has been a pharmacy technician, pharmacy intern, staff pharmacist, pharmacy resident, cardiology clinical specialist, critical care pharmacy supervisor, assistant director, associate director, director, associate professor, and assistant dean.

Armitstead has served on the ASHP Board of Directors and on several councils and committees. He is active in the Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists and is a founding member of the Florida Residency Conference. He is a past president of the Kentucky Society of Health-System Pharmacists and Ohio Society of Health-System Pharmacists and is a recipient of the Clifton J. Latiolais Award from the Ohio State University School of Pharmacy. Armitstead earned a Master of Science in hospital and clinical pharmacy from Ohio State University in 1982.