Research/Academic Showcase
National Organization Elects School of Pharmacy Professor as President
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy has chosen Cynthia L. Raehl, Pharm.D., to be its 2006-2007 president-elect. Raehl is professor and chair for clinical research and development in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy in Amarillo.
Her three-year term on the board of directors will include one year as
president-elect of the association beginning in July 2006, one year as president
beginning in July 2007 and one year as immediate past president beginning
in July 2008.
Raehl, who is a founding faculty member of the School of Pharmacy, received her bachelor of science in pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin in 1977 and her Pharm.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in 1980.
“As someone who has given my professional life to pharmaceutical education, the opportunity to lead the organization that represents all U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy is very special,” Raehl said.
With this election, Raehl is one of a select few who have been elected president of two national organizations. In 1994-1995 she served as president for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, representing 30,000 pharmacists practicing in integrated health systems with a budget of $28 million.
Raehl is also among the handful of pharmacists in the country to have served on an FDA advisory committee. She is presently a consultant to the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and served on the U.S. Pharmacopoeia Expert Committee on Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs from 2000 to 2005.
Raehl’s teaching and practice expertise lies in cardiovascular pharmacotherapy, health systems research and geriatric pharmacotherapy. She and professor C.A. Bond, Pharm.D., are well known for their 15-year study of more than 1,000 hospitals. The investigation demonstrated an association between clinical pharmacists and reductions in mortality rates, total costs of care, length of stay, drug costs and medication errors. In the last decade, these works have earned five different research awards from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Raehl’s geriatrics research is focused on improving the functional health literacy of senior citizens. Several of her geriatrics research projects are funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging.