Alumni Updates
From relocating or receiving a promotion or award to just writing to share your travels or passion projects, your classmates have a lot to share. Stay in touch with your fellow UW–Madison School of Pharmacy alumni across the state and the country by checking (and sharing) class notes in each DiscoveRx digital magazine issue.
Here’s what our alumni have been up to since the Summer 2018 DiscoveRx. For more updates, see our full Fall 2018 DiscoveRx.
Promotions & New Positions
Beth Martin (BS ’90, MS ’03, PhD ’06) was promoted to professor in the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy’s Pharmacy Practice Division.
Amanda Hafer (PharmD ’16) is relocating to New Port Rickey, Fla., for a new job as an emergency department clinical pharmacist at Morton Plant North Bay Hospital in the BayCare Health System: “I will be one of two emergency department clinical pharmacists, and we are the first at this facility so we will have the opportunity to develop the program here.”
Scott Pearson (PharmD ‘16) joined the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California San Diego as an assistant professor with the Department of Clinical Pharmacy.
Recognition & Awards
Steve Bartz (BS ’82) was elected President of the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians at the organization’s annual meeting in February. As president, he leads the Academy’s strategic plan and provides direction for its approximately 3,000 members. The WAFP is the largest physician specialty organization in the state. Dr. Bartz has most recently served as assistant professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Rocky La Dien (BS ’77), area health care supervisor for Walgreens in Wauwatosa, Wis., was named 2018 Alumnus of the Year by the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy’s Pharmacy Alumni Association.
Susan Kleppin (BS ’85), director of pharmacy at Chartwell Midwest Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., was honored with a 2018 Distinguished Service Award by the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.
Diane Erdman (PharmD ’97), manager of education and clinical pharmacy programs at Ascension in Milwaukee, Wis., was named 2018 Pharmacist of the Year by the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.
Julie Dagam (BS ’98, PharmD ’99), preceptor and director of the PGY1 pharmacy residency at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, Wis., was honored with the 2018 Excellence in Innovation Award from the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.
Melissa Forbes (PharmD ’10), clinical pharmacist with Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, Wis., was named 2018 Young Alumnus of the Year by the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy’s Pharmacy Alumni Association.
Barry McClain (MS ’11), manager of pharmacy information systems at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, Wis., was named 2018 Young Pharmacist of the Year by the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.
Paul Jest (PharmD ’11), pharmacist at SSM Health St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, Wis., was honored with the 2018 IPPE Clinical Instructor of the Year Award by the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy.
Personal Updates
James Hemmen (BS ’61) in Appleton, Wis.: “I was widowed in 1988, married Janet Johnson, a widow from Minnesota, in 1993. I sold my five pharmacies in 1992 and continued working until 1998. Janet and I toured the world, traveling to all seven continents. We went on three dozen Elderhostel’s along with other trips. Between us we have eight children, 18 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. We are not traveling much anymore but are still involved in some volunteer activities and thank the Lord for the good life we have had together these last 25 years.”
Thomas Blumenberg (BS ’74), now retired from the U.S. Public Health Service, was featured in an article in the Sawyer County Record for his involvement as an interviewer for the Veterans History Project, which is a part of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Do you have a personal or professional update you’d like to share, big or small? Submit your class note for the Winter 2018 DiscoveRx.
Email your news to DiscoveRx@pharmacy.wisc.edu.