Faculty Fanfare
Bernie Marx
High Honors at IPhA IPhA president Todd Evers (left) bestows the prestigious Pharmacist of the Year Award to Nick Popovich. Initially presented in 1950, this is considered the organization’s oldest continuing honor.
At the Illinois Pharmacists Association Annual Conference this year in Naperville, two College of Pharmacy faculty members were honored for their service to the profession. Professor and head of pharmacy administration Nicholas Popovich, bs ’68, ms ’71, phd ’73, was the recipient of this year’s IPhA Pharmacist of the Year Award. The honor recognizes an Illinois pharmacist who has made outstanding contributions to pharmacy practice, the profession, and IPhA. Popovich says he knew as a teenager the career path he wanted to follow after he and his parents attended an open house at a Chicago pharmacy. The field incorporated two of his passions—science and helping people. One of his mentors in the UIC College of Pharmacy, Daniel Nona, encouraged him to pursue an academic career. Even after almost 40 years, Popovich says he has not lost his passion for teaching pharmacy students. “Teachers touch eternity,” he says. “They never know where their inspiration ends. I revere my opportunity to be an educator and influence those who I instruct and guide.” Popovich spent nearly 28 years on the faculty of the Purdue University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences before returning to UIC in 2002. He has been recognized often for his service to the field. He served as president and chairman of the board of directors of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and received five Rufus A. Lyman Awards for 22 | UIC Pharmacist | Winter 2013 | pharmalumni.uic.edu
the outstanding annual research article published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. In 1997, he received the Distinguished Educator Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. At Purdue, Popovich received five undergraduate teaching awards within the college and the university-wide Amoco Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Award. He was inducted as a founding fellow in Purdue’s Teaching Academy in 1997. At UIC, Popovich received the UIC College of Pharmacy’s Urban Health Program Distinguished Faculty Award in 2005. Two years later, he was the recipient of the American Pharmacist Association Gloria Niemeyer Francke Leadership Mentor Award. Popovich says he is grateful for his latest honor while adding that he could not do it without the support of staff and colleagues. “I share this award with those pharmacists who dedicate themselves every day to patient care,” he says. “They are my true heroes and true pharmacists of the year.”