2015 Distinguished Service to Pharmacy Award Winner
As a child, Ray thought the life of a musician or writer would suit his fancy. Inspired by his math, chemistry, and physics high school teachers, he discovered his aptitude for science, and the seed for a pharmacy career was planted.
After completing his B.S. degree in pharmacy at the University of South Carolina, Ray received one of the best pieces of advice from his first boss, Tom Collier, at Greenville Memorial Hospital.
“When I asked my boss what I needed to do to become a good hospital pharmacist, he told me to go to Memphis and look up Grover Bowles,” Ray recalls.
“Professor Bowles made things come alive for me. He helped me chart the course that I have taken,” says Ray, who received his Pharm.D. and M.S. Hospital Pharmacy degrees from UT, followed by a two-year residency at the Memphis Methodist Hospital.
After holding the post as chair of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, Ray took a 16-year detour from pharmacy practice and education in 1975, when he joined the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists (now the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists). Ray also stood at the national forefront of establishing the Pharm.D. degree as the entry-level pharmacy degree.
He laid the foundation for specialty residencies within pharmacy during his tenure as Director of Accreditation Services of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists. Also, Ray was involved with planning and conducting the 1985 ASHP Hilton Head Conference, which resulted in consensus within the profession that pharmacy is inherently a clinical profession. The conference established that “clinical pharmacy” is a mainstream role of all pharmacy practitioners, not a specialty.
In 1985, Ray became the first full-time CEO of the California Society of Hospital Pharmacists. After six years, he returned to practice at the University of California–San Diego Medical Center.
In 1996, he joined the faculty of the College of Pharmacy at Western University of Health Sciences, and in 1999 he was appointed dean of the college. He also served part-time as a professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the UT College of Pharmacy from 2007 until 2012 (following his retirement from Western University and his return to Memphis).
Ray is currently Dean Emeritus of the College of Pharmacy at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., and although he is enjoying semi-retirement, he is still active in professional associations and continues to speak and write. He’s presented at more than 400 national and international conferences and has published 90 professional and scientific papers. Ray also serves as a consultant to the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). In this capacity, he participates in onsite reviews of schools and college of pharmacy for accreditation or continued accreditation.
His career has encompassed pharmacy practice, education, and positions in the pharmacy associations, but all roads seem to lead to one place—Memphis.
“Although it certainly wasn’t planned this way, it seems that I keep coming back to Memphis,” Ray says.
“I have lived in Memphis at four different periods in my life. On three of those occasions, it was the UT College of Pharmacy that drew me there. Then, after retiring, I decided to make Memphis my retirement home, at least for a while.”
Even though he has received several awards and honors, he says, “I am most proud of the professional success of so many of the students and residents I have had the opportunity to work with over the past 50 years.”
View Past Pharmacy Award Winners