About the Award
The Honorary Alumni Award annually honors friends of the College for their personal contribution toward pharmacy achievement, leadership and service to the profession, or exhibits exceptional service to the College. These individuals inspire our students and serve as role models.
Nominees include individuals who have made contributions to the theory and practice of pharmacy, demonstrated major accomplishments in a professional pharmacy practice or in pharmaceutical research and development. Recipients also include those who have managed or directed an organization that has made noteworthy national or international contributions to the pharmacy profession, in addition to truly exceptional service to their community, the College, the profession, or the public.
2023 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
Gary Milavetz
Gary Milavetz, BS, PharmD, earned a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota. He is a professor in the Division of Applied Clinical Sciences, an area he previously headed, with the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at the UI College of Pharmacy. Milavetz also serves as executive associate dean of the College, where he’s worked for more than 35 years. Among his accomplishments is leading a team of faculty members who developed an innovative, progressive Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum that launched in 2015.
Milavetz’s research interests focus on applying principles and tools of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics to better understand the untoward effects of medications on people. He has authored numerous original research publications on the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and clinical efficacy of medications used to treat respiratory disease. Most recently, Milavetz has been working to understand how medications impair drivers, playing an integral role at the UI Driving Safety Research Institute.
Milavetz is a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the American Pharmacists Association. Additionally, he serves on the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine’s Scientific Program Committee.
Past Honorary Alumni Award Recipients*
2022 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Nancy Alvarez, PharmD
Vern Duba, BA, MA
2021 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Barbara Kelley, BBA, BA, MBA
Edward Yorty, MS Fin, FCAS, FSA MAAA
2019 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
Leslie Williams, BSN, MBA
2018 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Kate Gainer, PharmD
Lisa Ploehn, PharmD
2017 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Mundi McCarty, BS
CoraLynn Trewet, PharmD
2016 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
Bernard A. Sorofman, PhD, FAPhA
2015 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
George Hiller, ’80 BBA, ’82 MBA
2014 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Robert Greenwood, PharmD
James Otterbeck, BBA, MBA
*No ceremony was held in 2020.