College of Pharmacy Hires New Chief Practice Officer
In keeping with the college’s commitment to community pharmacists, the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy recently announced the hiring of Brooke Hudspeth, PharmD, as new Chief Practice Officer (CPO). Hudspeth, the acting secretary for the Kentucky Pharmacist Association (KphA), will oversee all community pharmacy efforts for the college while working to elevate the care available to those in the Commonwealth.
The CPO position was designed to help the college better develop and implement novel and innovative practice models in non-inpatient settings that improve patient outcomes. Hudspeth will help maintain strategic pharmacy practice partnerships, provide leadership to the College’s clinical faculty, and lead the college’s pharmacy residency initiatives.
“Kentucky pharmacists are essential to the well-being of the Commonwealth,” said Kip Guy, dean of the UK College of Pharmacy. “We see pharmacists as care providers, and I want to make sure that we continue to enable pharmacists to do what they do best: care for patients. I think collaborating with key stakeholders on any meaningful legislation around patient care means the people of Kentucky will have more accessible care while pharmacists are compensated more fairly.”
Hudspeth is an alumnus of the college’s PharmD and Community Residency programs and serves as a preceptor for pharmacy students and residents. In addition, she is known for her collaboration with the American Pharmacists Association Foundation, The Kroger Co., and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for her work on the National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). Hudspeth helped secure a $7.5M grant from the CDC to expand the National DPP to five states, using the model she developed for Kentucky.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to take the College to the next level,” said Hudspeth. “We are producing highly qualified clinical pharmacists, and this position will allow us really reach the communities that need pharmacists the most.”
Hudspeth’s position will become effective April 13, 2020, and report directly to the dean of the college.
We wish to remember and honor those who inhabited this Commonwealth before the arrival of the Europeans. Briefly occupying these lands were the Osage, Wyndott tribe, and Miami peoples. The Adena and Hopewell peoples, who are recognized by the naming of the time period in which they resided here, were here more permanently. Some of their mounds remain in the Lexington area, including at UK’s Adena Park.
In more recent years, the Cherokee occupied southeast Kentucky, the Yuchi southwest Kentucky, the Chickasaw extreme western Kentucky and the Shawnee central Kentucky including what is now the city of Lexington. The Shawnee left when colonization pushed through the Appalachian Mountains. Lower Shawnee Town ceremonial grounds are still visible in Greenup County.
We honor the first inhabitants who were here, respect their culture, and acknowledge the presence of their descendants who are here today in all walks of life including fellow pharmacists and healthcare professionals.