RADM Pamela M. Schweitzer Honored with Zellmer Lecture Award

PRESS RELEASE

9/12/2016

Rear Admiral (RADM) Pamela M. Schweitzer, Pharm.D., BCACP, Chief Professional Officer (CPO), Pharmacy and Assistant Surgeon General, United States Public Health Service (USPHS), will present the seventh annual William A. Zellmer Lecture on September 20, 2016, as part of ASHP’s Policy Week activities. ASHP, which represents pharmacists who serve as patient care providers in acute and ambulatory settings, holds this event each year as part of its policy development and advocacy activities.

RADM Schweitzer is the USPHS’s first female Pharmacy CPO. In this role, she is responsible for providing leadership and coordination of USPHS pharmacy programs and professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Throughout her pharmacy career, RADM Schweitzer has developed lasting partnerships that ultimately improved the ability of federal pharmacists to serve the missions of their respective organizations. She began her career in the Commissioned Corps with the Indian Health Service (IHS) at Pine Ridge Indian Hospital in South Dakota and served at VA Medical Center Hot Springs in South Dakota. Her current duty station is at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Baltimore.

RADM Schweitzer is a longtime member of ASHP and in 2016 served on the Commission on Goals.

RADM Schweitzer earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from California State University Fullerton and a doctor of pharmacy from the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy. She completed an Ambulatory Care/Administrative Residency at University of California Irvine Medical Center and is a Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist. She is currently enrolled in the Executive Master of Health Administration Program at the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy.

RADM Schweitzer has received several awards, including the University of California San Francisco Alumnus of the Year (2015), the University of California San Francisco Excellence Award (2015), the Howard University College of Pharmacy Distinguished Pharmacy Leaders Award (2014), the American Pharmacists Association Distinguished Federal Pharmacist Award (2014), the IHS Senior Pharmacist of the Year Award (2013), and the USPHS Mary Louise Anderson Leadership Award (2012).

ASHP established the

William A. Zellmer Lecture

in 2010 in collaboration with the ASHP Research and Education Foundation. The award honors Zellmer’s contributions to policy development, advocacy, planning, and communications during his career with ASHP. The lecture is given annually during ASHP Policy Week by a distinguished individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in advancing healthcare-related public policy that has improved the safety and effectiveness of medication use through the engagement of pharmacists.