BoucherBradley A. Boucher, Pharm.D., MCCM, FCCP, FNAP, has been chosen by the Parker Medal Selection Committee as the 2023 recipient of the College’s Paul F. Parker Medal for Distinguished Service to the Profession of Pharmacy. At the time of his nomination, Boucher was serving as interim dean at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) College of Pharmacy. Immediately before holding the position of interim dean, he served as associate dean for Institutional Initiatives and Operations at UTHSC College of Pharmacy.
Paul Parker was one of clinical pharmacy’s most influential proponents. Before his death in 1998, Parker spent 24 years as director of pharmacy at the Chandler Medical Center/University of Kentucky in Lexington. His innovations included developing decentralized pharmacy services, placing pharmacists in the hospital’s clinical areas, and developing the nation’s first pharmacist-staffed drug information center. Parker’s vision for pharmacy practice was passed along to the more than 150 residents and fellows who trained in the Kentucky program during his tenure. These disciples included many of today’s leaders in clinical pharmacy who continue to pass along his wisdom and vision to their trainees and colleagues. The Paul F. Parker Medal recognizes an individual who has made outstanding and sustained contributions to the profession that improve patient or service outcomes, create innovative practices, affect patient populations, further the professional role of pharmacists, or expand the recognition of pharmacists as health professionals.
The Parker Medal Selection Committee chose Boucher as the 2023 medalist on the basis of his longstanding commitment to the pharmacy profession as an educator, clinician, and scholar.
Dr. Michael Kraft, a clinical professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy, wrote in his letter supporting Boucher’s nomination: “Considering his contributions to direct patient care, scientific literature, and the profession through professional organizations like ACCP, and the number of students and trainees he has mentored, his impact on the profession and patient care is arguably immeasurable,” adding: “He embodied the clinician dedicated to patient care who set high expectations for students and trainees.”
In his letter of support, Dr. Joseph Swanson, professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science and assistant director of Experiential Learning and International Programs at UTHSC College of Pharmacy, wrote:
Dr. Boucher’s significant contributions to the medical literature are enviable. He has published over 120 manuscripts and 36 book chapters and has edited 13 books. The significance of his publications has resulted in improvements to the care of critically injured trauma patients and his manuscripts have been cited by clinical practice guidelines. The scope of his expertise is as impressive as the depth. He has published in areas including, but not limited to, hemostasis, traumatic brain injury, infectious complications in critically ill patients, and pharmacokinetic changes in the critically ill.
Dr. Boucher’s sustained contributions to pharmacy organizations have helped to shape our profession. He led the Rho Chi Society as national President. His noteworthy contributions to the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) are too numerous to list but include serving as Treasurer and President. More important than the titles he held is the leadership he provided. He has been elected as a Fellow in both ACCP and the American College of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Boucher is one of only nine pharmacists in the world to have been honored with the status of Master of Critical Care Medicine, an honor that requires international recognition of one’s clinical, scholarly, and service contributions.
In his supporting letter, Dr. Curtis Haas, chief pharmacy officer at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, wrote:
As a career-long academic pharmacist, Dr. Boucher has made sustained and significant contributions to pharmacy education and training, especially in the area of critical care pharmacy. He has maintained a clinical pharmacy practice site in neurotrauma intensive care for nearly forty years, and over that span of time has precepted hundreds of pharmacy students, medical students and other trainees. He has trained 9 critical care fellows, the majority of whom have gone on to have distinguished careers in clinical practice, research, academia, or industry. He co-founded a critical care specialty residency (PGY-2), and as a faculty member in that program has contributed to the training of more than 78 residents to date. This represents the largest number of critical care pharmacy trainees from a single residency program in the country. Many of the graduates of the program are widely recognized as leaders of critical care pharmacy practice, research, and education in the US.
His many invited lectures and scientific presentations reflect the evolution of critical care pharmacy practice over several decades with nearly every area of therapeutic controversy over the years represented. He has been sought out for many years to speak on these topics because of his recognized expertise in critical care therapeutics and bedside practice. His receipt of fellowship recognition in clinical pharmacy and critical care were based upon his excellence in clinical practice. He received the ACCP Clinical Practice Award in 2011 and the ACCP Critical Care PRN Achievement Award in 2017. The National Academies of Practice in Pharmacy recognized Brad as a Distinguished Practitioner and Fellow in 2004 and he was recently honored with the Robert G. Leonard Memorial Lecture Award in 2022.
During its deliberations, committee members noted that Boucher has made outstanding, significant, and sustained contributions to improving or expanding the profession of pharmacy. These contributions – not limited to scientific research – have helped advance the pharmacy profession and improve patient outcomes. Furthermore, his work reflects a lifetime record of contributions. He will be recognized at the Awards and Recognition Ceremony during the 2023 ACCP Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. The ceremony will be held Sunday morning, November 12.
The Parker Medal Selection Committee is composed of leaders from member organizations of the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners, together with past presidents of ACCP. Members of the 2023 selection committee were Terry Seaton (chair), Nancy Alvarez, John Armitstead, Jean-Venable “Kelly” Goode, Thomas Hardin, Judith Jacobi, Jill Kolesar, J. Robert Powell, Steven Scott, and Janet Silvester.