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Keith Olsen, Pharm.D. |
Dr. Olsen, a professor of pharmacy practice and 1980 College of Pharmacy alumnus, was named chairman on Monday following a year-long search.
Dr. Olsen — whose appointment must be approved by the Board of Regents — will replace Gary Yee, Pharm.D., who is stepping down as department chairman.
A faculty member since 1993, Dr. Olsen is well known to the students, faculty
and staff in the college, as well as in the UNMC community as a whole. He also is a recognizable figure among alumni and state pharmacy organizations.
“Dr. Olsen’s reputation as an outstanding teacher and researcher and his contacts nationally make him well-suited for the pharmacy practice chair position,” said Clarence Ueda, Pharm.D., Ph.D., dean of the College of Pharmacy. “His previous administrative experiences at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy will serve him and the department well as he assumes his new duties and responsibilities as chair.”
Dr. Olsen received the UNMC College of Pharmacy Distinguished Teaching Award in 1998 and 2005 and is the only faculty member to receive the award more than once since it was established in 1994.
Since joining the faculty, Dr. Olsen has annually been the top extramurally funded faculty member in the pharmacy practice department. His areas of expertise include infectious diseases and critical care.
Dr. Olsen is a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the American College of Critical Care Medicine and is active in the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Society of Critical Care Medicine and American Society of Microbiology.
He recently was named co-chairman of a task force to develop national surgical prophylaxis guidelines.
A native of Osmond, Neb., Dr. Olsen received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wayne State College. Before joining the UNMC College of Pharmacy, he served on the faculty at Southwestern Oklahoma State University College of Pharmacy in Weatherford, Okla., from 1981 to 1985, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy in Little Rock, Ark., from 1985 to 1993.