Prof John Murphy will be stepping down from his role as coordinator of PHCY523 (Applied Clinical Pharmacy II) – one of the core papers in the Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy. John continues to hold an honorary professorial position with the School.
John has been with the School for a long time now. I recall that he taught pharmacokinetics into the postgraduate professional programmes as early as the early 1990s (indeed I was one of his students on one of the early Master's papers). Since then John has been a William Evans Visiting Fellow (in 2003) at the University of Otago and took on an honorary position with the School in the same year. In 2004 John took on coordination of PHCY523 (Applied Clinical Pharmacy II) and continued in this role until December 2015. This has been an extremely important period for the School and John's expertise in clinical pharmacy has been invaluable in the growth of the School's capabilities in this area.
John Murphy has made many contributions to clinical pharmacy both here and in the USA. His awards and achievements are many and varied. He has published a number of books including Clinical Pharmacokinetics (now in its 5th edition), Basic and Applied Pharmacokinetics and Self-Assessment and Clinical Pharmacokinetics Pocket Reference (now on its 3rd edition). These books are considered by most to be the primary reference source in PK for practitioners.
John is an active member of many organisations including the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the Georgia Society of Hospital Pharmacists. He has also been the President of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. John was awarded the Robert K. Chalmers Distinguished Pharmacy Educator Award (in July of this year) by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy for his outstanding leadership in pharmacy education. I also note that in 2014 John received the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacy's highest honour, the Whitney Award, for his pioneering work in clinical pharmacokinetics and education. Quite simply there isn't enough space in this email to do justice to all of John's achievements. John's research accolades are no less impressive with more than 200 papers published in addition to his many conference abstracts.With all of these achievements it's important not to forget the individual. John is known for his excellence in teaching, his ability to mentor both academics and students, his extremely good nature, and his persistence and patience in striving for excellence. All of those who have had the pleasure of working with John know him as incredibly supportive, understanding, patient and caring. No doubt his unwavering patience relates to his love of fly fishing.
The School wishes John all the best and will be continuing to actively engage with John over the coming years in his honorary Professorial role!
Written by School Dean, Steve Duffull