Distinguished Alumni and Early Career Achievement Award Recipients
2010 Award Recipients:
Honorary Alumnus Award: R. Desmond Gibson, Ph.D.
Distinguished Alumnus Award: Sidney Stohs, B.S.P., 1962, M.S., 1964, Ph.D.
Early Career Achievement Award: Sara Burda Alvarez – Pharm.D., 2002
Biographies-
R. Desmond Gibson, Ph.D.
Dr. Gibson was the third dean of the University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy. He held this position from 1961 to 1972. As dean, Dr. Gibson developed the plan to move the pharmacy college from Lincoln to Omaha. He established the college as a national leader in curriculum development, becoming just the third college of pharmacy in the nation to issue the Pharm.D. to all of its graduates.
A Kansas native, Dr. Gibson received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Kansas and his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1954. Dr. Gibson worked at the Southwestern State College School of Pharmacy in Weatherford, Okla., prior to joining the faculty of the University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy in 1957.
He and his wife, Lois Marie, had three children.
Sidney Stohs, Ph.D.
Dr. Stohs received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree in 1962 and his Master’s of Science in Natural Products and Biochemistry in 1964 from the University of Nebraska. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1967.
Dr. Stohs had a very distinguished career as a professor, department chair and assistant dean at the UNMC College of Pharmacy from 1967 to 1989. From 1990 until 2003, he served as dean of the Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions. He is currently associated with Kitsto Consulting, Frisco, Texas, which specializes in nutrition and wellness, toxicology, research design, and organizational analysis.
A prodigious researcher, Dr. Stohs has published hundreds of peer-reviewed articles in scientific and professional journals. He has served on a wide range of boards and committees for the National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention.
Sara Burda Alvarez, Pharm.D
Dr. Burda Alvarez graduated from the UNMC College of Pharmacy in 2002 and completed a pharmacy practice residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Bethesda, Md., in 2003. She worked as a clinical pharmacist in the Weinberg Intensive Care Unit at Johns Hopkins until 2006.
In 2006, she accepted a position as assistant director of pharmacy services for Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, Wash., where she manages a team of 50 pharmacists and technicians. She also is a clinical instructor and clerkship director for the University of Washington Department of Pharmacy.
Dr. Burda Alvarez is a founding member of Phi Lambda Sigma, a pharmacy leadership society. She has received the Mortar and Pestle Professionalism Award from the American Pharmacists Association and the Barbara Manchester Osborne Outstanding Woman Leader Award.
Past Recipients
Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
2007 Scott A. Swigart, '82
2006 Janel T. Foote, '74
2005 Ronald J. Hospodka, '65, '71
2004 Sam Augustine, '73, '79
2003 Joe Smith, '65
2002 Donna Soflin, '75
2001 Jerome Schentag, '73
2000 Thomas Cady, '41
Leland (Lee) Lucke, '51
Witold Saski, '54
Donald L. Sorby, '55
1999 Theodore E. Hustead '29
Lewis E. Harris, '32
Melvin Gibson, '42
Tom S. Miya, '47
Varro S. Tyler, '49
Joseph D. Williams, '50
Early Career Achievement Award Recipients
2008 Daren L. Knoell, '89
2007 James J. Rybacki, '87
2006 Janellle M. Massey, '89
