Alumnus Lee Vermeulen, '90, honored with prestigious ASHP award

Established in 1971, the American Society for Health-Systems Pharmacists' (ASHP) Board of Directors’ Donald E. Francke Medal honors pharmacists who have made significant international contributions to advance pharmacy practice.

Vermeulen has served in several leadership roles within the Hospital Pharmacy Section of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and as a member of the FIP Board of Pharmaceutical Practice. He is actively involved in the FIP Pharmabridge program, which seeks to improve pharmacy services in low-income and emerging countries. He has also contributed to the work of several other international organizations, including the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR), the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners (ISOPP), and the European Association of Hospital Pharmacy (EAHP). 

In 2008, he led the planning and execution of the FIP Global Conference on the Future of Hospital Pharmacy held in Basel, Switzerland. This landmark conference included representatives from nearly 100 countries and produced consensus statements on the future of pharmacy practice worldwide, known as the “FIP Basel Statements.” Translated into 20 languages, these guidelines have influenced practice standards around the world. Vermeulen also contributed to a similar effort undertaken by EAHP to develop a set of European practice standards drawing on the Basel Statements. 

“Mr. Vermeulen’s work has been instrumental in helping to set the course for the future of pharmacy practice around the world,” said ASHP President Lisa M. Gersema, PharmD, MHA, BCPS, FASHP. “We are proud to present him with the 2016 Francke Medal in recognition of his important achievements.”

A widely published author, Vermeulen serves on the editorial advisory board of Pharmacotherapy. He is a recipient of the ASHP Foundation Award for Innovation in Pharmacy Practice and the Winston J. Durant Lecture Award, and he is a Fellow of FIP and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.

Vermeulen recently joined the University of Kentucky and UK Healthcare as director of its Office for Value and Innovation in Healthcare Delivery. He previously served as the founding director of the UW Health Center for Clinical Knowledge management as Clinical Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy.

Vermeulen's family has a proud SPPS history. His father, Lee Vermeulen, Sr., is a 1966 graduate of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and was employed as a pharmacist for 30 years at Inter-Community Memorial Hospital in Newfane, NY. His uncle, John Malke, was a 1965 graduate.