Gift contributes to For Iowa. Forever More: The Campaign for the University of Iowa
University of Iowa graduate James A. Otterbeck, of Chicago, Ill., and Naples, Fla., has made a gift of $1.5 million through his company, OnePoint Patient Care, to establish the James A. Otterbeck OnePoint Patient Care Professorship in Hospice and Palliative Care in the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy.
This gift will help the UI College of Pharmacy take the lead in preparing health-care professionals to provide holistic end-of-life care for patients and their families.
“The vision was to establish the nation’s first teaching position focused on hospice and palliative-care pharmacy at the University of Iowa,” says Otterbeck. “It is my hope that this position can foster integration among all the UI health sciences—helping to create a world-class UI specialty in hospice and palliative care.”
The field of hospice and palliative care is meeting a growing national need. According to the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, the number of older people in the United States will increase dramatically between 2010 and 2030. The older population in 2030 is projected to be twice what it was in 2000, growing from 35 million to 72 million and representing nearly 20 percent of the total U.S. population.
“Our college is extremely grateful to Mr. Otterbeck for his generosity and vision,” says Donald Letendre, dean of the UI College of Pharmacy. “Establishing a professorship in hospice and palliative care in the UI College of Pharmacy will help emphasize, throughout all of the university’s health-care disciplines, the importance of education, training and research for end-of-life care. Thanks to Jim’s loyalty and commitment, we look forward to becoming a national leader in serving patients and their families in this critical health-care specialty.”
Otterbeck received his B.B.A. degree in decision sciences from the University of Iowa in 1983 and his M.B.A. degree in economics and marketing from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1989. He is the chairman of OnePoint Patient Care, an independent hospice-pharmacy services provider. OnePoint is the only major provider offering clinical expertise, custom compounding and same-day delivery to hospice patients from all of its dispensing locations.
The University of Iowa College of Pharmacy is the fourth-oldest College of Pharmacy in a state-supported university, with a Doctor of Pharmacy program that is consistently ranked as one of the finest in the nation. The college’s mission is to enhance human health through excellence in pharmacy education, research, patient care and engaged service.
Additional information is available on the UI Foundation's website.