OU College of Pharmacy Dean Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award

JoLaine R. Draugalis, Ph.D., dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy, has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

The award recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and to pharmacy education over a minimum of 25 years. Draugalis has been active in the education and research missions of the OU Health Sciences Center, in addition to statewide and national service and outreach. She has been named a David Ross Boyd Professor and holds the Phil C. and Fern Ashby Endowed Dean’s Chair at the OU College of Pharmacy.

“I have participated in every AACP annual meeting since 1985, after completing two years of graduate school. I love the organization,” Draugalis said. “This award represents many years of interactions and collaborations with pharmacy students, graduate students and faculty colleagues.”

Draugalis began her tenure as the dean of the OU College of Pharmacy in 2007 and has guided it in many areas of growth and achievement, including its 125th anniversary celebration in 2018. She oversees a college with more than 300 students and trainees and about 200 employees.

Draugalis has been active as a researcher, conducting studies in pharmacy education program design, administration and evaluation; educational applications in pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research; and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She has been the author of 125 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and monographs. From 2004-2005, she served as president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

In the 12 years she has led the OU College of Pharmacy, faculty members have substantially increased their research publications, state and federal grant funding, and national and international presentations. U.S. News & World Report has ranked the OU College of Pharmacy among the top 25 programs in the country. In 2014, the college received the AACP Lawrence C. Weaver Transformative Community Service Award for its commitment to addressing unmet community needs.

In 2010, the college embarked on an annual campus flu clinic campaign, administering 2,309 vaccinations that year. The program has grown to more than 5,780 vaccinations given in 2018.

The OU College of Pharmacy also operates the Oklahoma Center for Poison and Drug Information, which is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to provide information to Oklahoma residents and healthcare professionals concerning the prevention and management of potential toxic exposures.