Charles D Hepler,

Charles D. Hepler (Doug) is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. He received the B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut in 1960, the M.S. (with residency in hospital pharmacy) in 1965, and the Ph.D. in 1973 from the University of Iowa. He has served on the faculties of the University of Iowa, Medical College of Virginia, and The University of Florida, and was a Visiting Professor at The University of Manchester (England) in 2000. During his 44 year career, Doug consulted on pharmaceutical care projects in Denmark, Spain, British Columbia and the UK. He lead a team at UF that developed and demonstrated a practical system for pharmaceutical care in community pharmacy. With his graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, he developed novel quality indicators for medications use and demonstrated their practical application in the US and the UK.

He has published more than 80 articles, 14 book chapters, and three books. His most recent book, Preventing Medication Errors and Improving Drug Therapy Outcomes (co-authored with Richard Segal) is a comprehensive exploration of medication use systems on four levels. It offers theoretical and practical solutions to problems of medications misuse.

Doug has spoken at professional meetings in 15 nations, including strategic planning exercises for the Department of Health in the UK and the Council of Europe. He chaired educational programs on pharmaceutical care in community practice from 1993-6 under the auspices of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in Tokyo, Lisbon, Stockholm and Jerusalem, and edited the published proceedings.

Doug received the André Bédat Award from the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in October, 2012. He has received the Harvey AK Whitney Award from the American Society of Healthsystem Pharmacists (ASHP) in 2010; the Remington Medal from the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) in 1997 (with Linda Strand); the Rho Chi Lecture Award in 2005; the FIP Pharmaceutical Practitioner of the Year and the ASHP Award for Sustained Contributions to the Literature of Pharmacy Practice in Health Systems in 1997; the Research Achievement Award in Economic, Marketing and Management Sciences from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists in 1992; the APhA Research Awards in Social, Economic and Administrative Sciences in 1991 and 1998; the ASHP Research Award in 1989; and the ASHP Award for Achievement in the Professional Practice of Hospital Pharmacy in 1986. He has been designated as a Distinguished Alumnus by the University of Connecticut College of Pharmacy (1998) and the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy (1999).

Until recently, he was a custom furniture maker and a volunteer teacher of English as a Second Language in St. Augustine, Florida.