The UI College of Pharmacy annually recognizes several alumni and friends during Homecoming week at the Osterhaus Lifetime Achievement Symposium and Alumni Awards Ceremony. Recipients are outstanding representatives who have excelled in their pharmacy practice, research, and community advancement, while simultaneously being steadfast ambassadors for the pharmacy profession and the college. 

The following 2025 honorees have been selected and will be celebrated during the Sept. 25 ceremony.

Osterhaus Medal for Lifetime Achievement Award

The Osterhaus Medal for Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to one or more individuals who have made extraordinary achievements in the pharmacy profession. This medal is a pinnacle award given by the UI College of Pharmacy to a recipient who has advanced the practice of pharmacy in profound ways or made significant strides in discovery. 

Gus Hartauer, ’84 BSPh, ’89 PhD

Kerry "Gus" Hartauer had a 26-year career at Eli Lilly (Lilly Research Laboratories), retiring as a research fellow. He led his formulation group in the development, scale‐up, and technology transfer of four unique, globally marketed drug products dosage forms used in treating infectious diseases, osteoporosis, depression, and more. Hartauer holds eight United States patents and multiple international patents. He has been widely published in scientific journals.

Hartauer’s technical management positions have included leading a pharmacokinetics department, and global divisions of formulation and analytical development. He’s authored hundreds of regulatory documents for Lilly development and marketed compounds.

After Lilly, Hartauer was an adjunct associate professor of medicine in the Indiana University College of Medicine Clinical Pharmacology Department. He also has provided technical consulting on formulation development, biopharmaceutics, and CM&C strategies for numerous companies. Hartauer is a past UI College of Pharmacy Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and an emeritus and inaugural member of the college’s Executive Leadership Board, contributing seven years.

Among Hartauer’s community involvement activities are serving on the board of The O’Connor House, volunteering at Merciful Help Center, and coaching high school basketball. He is married to Beth Hartauer, also a UI graduate, and they have four children: Nate, Josh, Cole, and Mattie, and one grandchild.
 

Distinguished Alumni Award

The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented annually to individuals who have made illustrious contributions to the theory and practice of pharmacy or demonstrated major accomplishments in a professional pharmacy practice or pharmaceutical research and development.

Bill Drilling, ’85 BSPh
Helen Eddy, ’82 BSPh, MBA
Larry Schaaf, ’76 BSPh, ’78 MS, PhD

Bill Drilling is a community pharmacist and owner of Drilling Morningside Pharmacy in Sioux City, Iowa. He joined the family business out of pharmacy school and purchased it with his brother the following year. Drilling’s daughter Sarah Sorensen is now on staff, continuing the legacy to a third generation.

Known for his commitment to innovation in pharmacy practice, Drilling has participated in Iowa Department of Public Health statewide initiatives. His pharmacy offers long-term care support, lipid panels, A1C, and more. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Drilling Pharmacy administered more than 20,000 vaccinations. A passionate mentor, Drilling has precepted pharmacy students since 1990 and earned the 2019 UI College of Pharmacy IPPE Preceptor Excellence Award. He currently serves as the Iowa Alumni Leadership Council pharmacy representative, is a past Iowa Pharmacists Association (IPA) trustee, and has served on multiple IPA committees. 

Among Drilling’s numerous accolades are the 2023 IPA Robert G. Gibbs Distinguished Pharmacist Award and the 2025 IPA Bowl of Hygeia Award for outstanding community service in pharmacy. 

Following pharmacy school, Helen Eddy earned an MBA from Drake University. Eddy started her career as a sales representative with Eli Lilly, before embarking on a 30-year stint with Hy-Vee, Inc. She began as a retail pharmacist, then transitioned to the chain’s corporate office where she implemented programs related to immunizations, asthma management, and diabetes care. Eddy also led the Hy-Vee Pharmacy Fulfillment Center, bringing efficiencies to the dispensing process and allowing pharmacists to focus on patient-care services. She later became vice president of Health & Wellness and built dietitian and pharmacist teams at Hy-Vee stores trained to collaborate and improve health outcomes. Hy-Vee was instrumental in founding the Healthiest State Initiative in 2011, with Eddy becoming the organization’s first executive director on behalf of Hy-Vee. 

Eddy accepted the Polk County Iowa health director position in 2018. During her tenure, she led the entity’s COVID-19 response and initiatives focused on reducing gun violence, improving immunization rates, and advancing health equity. 

Larry Schaaf boasts more than 30 years of translational and clinical oncology drug-development experience, with a focus on clinical pharmacology oncology trials in both academic and industry settings. 

Schaaf earned his PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Arizona and taught in pharmacy programs at the University of Oklahoma and University of Nebraska. He began industry work at The Upjohn Company and later Pharmacia (now Pfizer), where he served as a research scientist and director of oncology in clinical pharmacology. His teams helped develop and approve several anticancer drugs, including irinotecan, exemestane, epirubicin, and sunitinib.

Schaaf became founding director of the Clinical Treatment Unit and Clinical Trials Processing Laboratory at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) in 2014. He used his industry experience to bring together basic researchers, clinical investigators, and clinical/research support staff to move novel compounds from the laboratory through early clinical trials. In 2014, Schaaf was named director of Clinical Pharmacology and Strategic Alliances at the Drug Development Institute, a biotech-like initiative within OSUCCC–James focused on translating innovative research into cancer therapies. He retired in 2018. 
 

Honorary Alumni Award

The Honorary Alumni Award annually recognizes friends of the college for their personal contribution toward pharmacy achievement, leadership, and service to the profession, or for exhibiting exceptional service to the college. These individuals inspire our students and serve as role models. 

Sharon Bighley, BS
 

Sharon Bighley is a dedicated philanthropist whose lifelong passion for helping others began in her hometown of Osage, Iowa. From a young age, she knew she wanted to become a nurse, earning her degree from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was there she met Lyle Bighley who was in the state training in pharmacy. The two married and moved to Iowa City where Sharon worked at University Hospitals while Lyle pursued his MS and PhD at the UI College of Pharmacy, eventually joining the faculty.

The Bighleys made their long-term home in the Kansas City area and have been steadfast supporters of the College of Pharmacy, funding the Lyle and Sharon Bighley Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences – currently held by Professor Aliasger Salem. Guided by a deep commitment to learning, and both being the first in their families to receive a college degree, Sharon and Lyle realized education was what brought them a good life. Their goal for charitable giving is to subsidize research that will help make people’s’ lives better.  
 

Genesis Alumni Award

The College of Pharmacy honors graduates of the past 20 years who have achieved early distinction in their field. Nominees include those who have made considerable contributions to the theory and practice of pharmacy or have demonstrated major accomplishments in a professional pharmacy practice or pharmaceutical research and development. Recipients also have contributed exceptional service to their community, the college, the profession, or the public.

Elizabeth “Liz” Harthan, '08 PharmD
Brandon Patterson, PharmD, '13 PhD
 

Liz Harthan is the anticoagulation pharmacotherapist coordinator for OSF HealthCare, a 17-hospital integrated health system located in Illinois and Michigan. She is recognized as the subject matter expert for reviewing anticoagulation policies, procedures, and order sets to ensure safe and effective patient care. Harthan has overseen numerous anticoagulation safety metrics, including reducing the critical international normalized ratio rate to less than 2.5%, increasing inpatient anticoagulation education to more than 80%, and achieving 95% appropriate utilization of 4-Factor Prothrombin Complex Concentrate. She also led developing the OSF HealthCare Advance Program, which supports continuing professional development for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to promote increased employee engagement and recognition.  

After earning her Doctor of Pharmacy, Harthan completed a PGY1 residency at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is president of the West Central Society of Health-System Pharmacists and a residency preceptor. Harthan received the 2023 Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists’ Amy Lodolce Mentorship Award. 
 

Brandon Patterson received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Texas in 2008 followed by a doctorate from the UI College of Pharmacy’s former Pharmaceutical Socioeconomics program. His young career has spanned practice, academia, and the pharmaceutical industry. 

Patterson started as a relief pharmacist with Iowa Health Care and NuCara pharmacy while in graduate school. After earning his PhD, he was an assistant professor of Pharmacy Administration at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy before transitioning to a health outcomes role at GSK. There he led engagements with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to assess the cost-effectiveness of Shingrix and generated United States payor and population-based decision-making value evidence to support launching Shingrix's two indications. 

When COVID struck, Patterson became a global market access leader at Janssen, supporting its infectious disease and vaccines group, including JCOVDEN. He is currently director of Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Moderna, working with prophylactic vaccine products in development. Patterson has published more than 40 vaccine-related, peer-reviewed publications and 70 abstracts presented at conferences.