ATLANTA — Mercer University awarded the honorary Doctor of Science degree to Peter H. Vlasses, executive director of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences commencement on May 2. Mercer University President William D. Underwood made the presentation after Vlasses delivered the commencement address.
Vlasses oversees the operations of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, which is the national agency for the accreditation of professional degree programs in pharmacy and organizations that provide continuing pharmacy education.
Vlassses has served as a clinical faculty member at Ohio State University College of Pharmacy and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. He has practiced community pharmacy and served as a practitioner-educator in the critical care, nursing home and ambulatory care environments. He has served as research associate professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia and director of clinical research and investigator services for the University HealthSystem Consortium in Oak Brook, Ill.
Vlasses received his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia) and served a residency in hospital pharmacy at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
About the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Mercer University:
Founded in 1903, the independent pharmacy school merged with Mercer University in 1959. In a bold leadership move, it became the first school in the Southeast to offer the doctor of pharmacy degree as its sole professional degree in 1981. In addition to the doctor of pharmacy degree, the college has one of the largest concentrations of Ph.D. students in pharmaceutics among colleges of pharmacy in the United States. In 2008, the college introduced a Physician Assistant program.
About Mercer University:
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University has approximately 7,600 students; 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies; major campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah; three regional academic centers across the state; a university press; two teaching hospitals — Memorial University Medical Center and the Medical Center of Central Georgia; educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; an engineering research center in Warner Robins; a performing arts center in Macon; and a NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.
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