Stand up & cheer for worthy honorees

Put your hands together and give a round of applause for the people who make us great.

That’s part of the COP Homecoming tradition, and this year the custom continues. We’re proud to announce the following recipients of college-based awards who will be among those praised during college festivities Nov. 6.

Jack R. Cole Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2009
Edward Saba, BS Pharmacy 1957

Saba’s résumé is chock full of professional leadership and community service. A former director of pharmacy for Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Saba owned Arrow United Drug for 30 years and ran Arrowhead United Drug for more than 20 years until selling to Bashas’ United Drug in 1998. He managed 60 Bashas’ pharmacies as vice president of pharmacy operations and is now semi-retired as vice president of pharmacy recruitment.

And in his “spare time” over the years, Saba has been, among other titles, president of the Chandler Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Chandler Business Association and the Arizona Pharmacy Association, and a member of the dean’s advisory board here at COP. He received a Distinguished Citizen Award from the UA Alumni Association in 1980 and the Bowl of Hygeia Award for Arizona in 1978.

Findlay E. Russell Distinguished Citizen Award for 2009
Enid and Mel Zuckerman

Dedicated for more than 30 years to “empowering people to live longer, more joyful lives,” Enid and Mel Zuckerman opened Canyon Ranch health resort in Tucson in 1979 with just one paying guest. Now their mom-and-pop enterprise is the flagship property of an internationally recognized company that includes two famous destination resorts, day spas, and a hotel and healthy-living community in Miami Beach.

But in Tucson, the dynamic duo of Mel and Enid, who have been married for 56 years, are better known for their philanthropy. Their longtime support of health-related research and teaching at the University of Arizona is acknowledged right here in the Drachman building we use every day – yep, they’re the Zuckermans for whom our neighbor, the public health college, is named. The pair has also contributed several times to the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center here at the College of Pharmacy.

The couple’s honors include the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Family Business Council of Greater New York and induction into the Conde Nast Traveler Hall of Fame for “revolutionizing the American spa.”

Danny & Rae Jacob Award for Pharmacy Practice
Thomas Reed, BS Pharmacy 1969
Dana Reed-Kane, PharmD 1996

The partners in this father-daughter pharmacy duo each secretly nominated the other for this award for pharmacy practice—and the Jacob family judges found both members of the team worthy of recognition.

Both practice at Reed’s Compounding Pharmacy in Tucson, which Reed-Kane opened in 1998, and both alumni also serve as preceptors for the UA College of Pharmacy, hosting student pharmacists on rotations.

“Tom enjoys sharing his passion for the profession with students, patients and other healthcare providers,” the nominations attest, while [Dana] “has guided many students to learn about compounding pharmacy practices, community involvement, women’s and men’s health issues.”

Reed managed the Prescription Shop in Tucson in the 1970s and has owned Jones United Drug Company in Tucson since 1979. He is a past board member of the Arizona Pharmacy Association and United Drugs, a fellow of the American College of Apothecaries (ACA), and a member of Professional Compounding Centers of America and International Association of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP). Reed-Kane is a fellow of IACP and ACA and current IACP board member. She is the author of many book reviews and articles and presenter at state, national and international professional meetings.

Also to be recognized during Homecoming dinner is Joel Nielsen, member of the Class of 2012, who has been named this year’s recipient of the Danny & Rae Jacob Student Scholarship, which recognizes a second-year pharmacy student who excelled during the first-year courses taught in the pharmacy practice laboratory donated by the Jacob family. Nielsen, who will receive a scholarship of $1,000, was selected for his strong communications skills, counseling techniques and “great attitude.”

Posted Oct. 22, 2009