The University of Florida College of Pharmacy established the Alumni & Friends Awards to recognize individuals who have significantly impacted the college and the pharmacy profession. Anita Thompson, ’54, and the late Robert Crisafi, ’56, are the 2025 recipients of the College of Pharmacy Impact Award, while Calvin Knowlton receives the Distinguished Service to Pharmacy Profession Award. The honorees will be recognized at the college’s Evening of Excellence celebration on Oct. 3.
College of Pharmacy Impact Award (Robert Crisafi)
In honoring Robert Crisafi, Ph.D., ’56, the UF College of Pharmacy celebrates an alumnus whose lifelong contributions reflect the true spirit of UF. He and his new bride, Barbara, arrived in Gainesville with modest means in the early 1950s, but a scholarship awarded on his first day of pharmacy school opened doors that would shape his future.
Dr. Bob, as he was affectionately known, and Barbara eventually settled in Massachusetts. His work transformed patient safety in hospitals — from introducing a new dosage form for liquid pharmaceuticals to pioneering prepackaging services and developing barcoding for unit-dose medications. Over his career, he founded a dozen pharmaceutical companies to advance these medical breakthroughs.
Dr. Bob and Barbara never forgot the scholarship that gave him his start, and together they devoted their lives to giving back to the UF College of Pharmacy. Their generosity began with a first gift in the 1960s and grew steadily over the decades, culminating in the Crisafi Challenge. Launched in 2015 with a $10,000 matching gift, the Crisafi Challenge inspires alumni and friends to join the couple’s mission, ultimately raising over $1 million and providing scholarships for nearly 140 students over the past decade. In recognition of his extraordinary career and service, Dr. Bob was honored with the UF Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2017 and the college’s Outstanding Pharmacy Alumnus Award in 2011.
On April 8, 2025, Dr. Bob passed away at the age of 93. His death follows Barbara’s passing in September 2024. The College of Pharmacy Impact Award will be presented posthumously to the Crisafi family in his honor.
College of Pharmacy Impact Award (Anita Thompson)
As one of the first women to enroll in the UF College of Pharmacy, Anita Thompson helped pave the way for future generations of female pharmacists. She was one of only three women in her class and represented a new wave of opportunity for women just beginning to access higher education at UF. Inspired by her interest in chemistry and the encouragement of her father, she pursued pharmacy as both a career and a calling, eventually graduating with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy in 1954.
Thompson’s pharmacy career spanned nearly five decades in Jacksonville. Her early days were spent working as a hospital pharmacist at Duval Medical Center and Baptist Memorial Hospital. Alongside her husband, pharmacist Harry Thompson, she also helped operate three community pharmacies, where she managed everything from filling prescriptions to bookkeeping. As the mother of three boys, she balanced parenting with supporting the retail pharmacies. However, her heart remained in hospital pharmacy, and in 1976, she returned to that setting, serving patients at Orange Park Hospital and St. Vincent’s Hospital until her retirement in 2002.
Throughout her career and beyond, Thompson remained a proud Gator pharmacist. She served as president of the Duval County Pharmacy Association, held leadership positions in the Florida Pharmacy Association and gave generously to support the UF College of Pharmacy. Her service to the college included leading the Rx Alumni Association and contributing to both the National Advisory Board and Dean’s Leadership Council. In 2003, she delivered remarks at the opening ceremony of the Health Professions, Nursing and Pharmacy Building in Gainesville. In 2023, during the college’s centennial year, Thompson was honored as one of UF’s earliest female pioneers at the Women’s History Month Celebration.
Distinguished Service to Pharmacy Profession Award (Calvin Knowlton)
Calvin Knowlton’s visionary leadership and entrepreneurial spirit have left an indelible mark on the pharmacy profession. From founding ten companies, including Hospice Pharmacia/excelleRx and Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc., to transforming patient care through innovative medication management systems, his work has consistently advanced the field of pharmacy. He currently serves as founder and CEO of GalenusCare Precision Pharmacy, which focuses on identifying and reducing the risk of adverse drug events in elderly populations by leveraging advanced pharmacy science technology and precision clinical pharmacists.
Knowlton’s professional journey was largely rooted in Philadelphia. After completing his undergraduate and pharmacy studies at Temple University, he earned a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. He went on to receive a Ph.D. in pharmacoeconomics from the University of Maryland and was later awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from the same institution. He began his career in academia, serving as a professor and department chair at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Entrepreneurship and pharmacy leadership were driving forces in Knowlton’s career. In 1995, he founded Hospice Pharmacia/excelleRx, a provider of medication management systems and the first national pharmacy company devoted to hospice care. The business grew to serve more than 800 hospice programs before its acquisition by a Fortune 500 company. With the founding of Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc. in 2009, Knowlton introduced the nation’s first company fully focused on medication risk mitigation. Across all his ventures, he remained dedicated to lowering risks and enabling providers to offer safe, effective patient care.
Knowlton’s achievements have been widely recognized over the years. Twice, he has received the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Greater Philadelphia Region, and he was named Philadelphia CEO of the Year in 2016. In 2015, he was awarded the Remington Honor Medal, the highest distinction in the U.S. pharmacy profession, presented annually by the American Pharmacists Association.