UH Hilo’s Mobley Smith receives national leadership award in pharmacy

Miriam Mobley Smith, interim dean of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, was recently honored by the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists (ASHP) with its Distinguished Leadership Award. Presented at the organization’s Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition December 4-7, 2022 in Las Vegas, NV, the award recognizes contributions to excellence in pharmacy practice leadership in acute and ambulatory care settings.

“Mobley Smith has a long career as an educator whose commitment to preparing the pharmacy workforce has elevated the role of pharmacy professionals, enhanced patient safety and advanced the pharmacy profession,” said Paul Walker, president of the ASHP board of directors, in presenting the award. “Over the years she has shared her expertise across a wide range of settings, and her passion has always been about making a difference at the local level. Her guiding belief is that good medicine can help communities.”

Prior to her current work at UH Hilo, Mobley Smith served as interim dean and visiting professor at the Northeastern University Bourvé College of Health Sciences and is past dean and tenured professor at the Chicago State University College of Pharmacy (CSUCP). Her academic service includes clinical and teaching appointments at CSUCP, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and South Suburban College in South Holland, IL.

Through her service as chair of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Advisory Panel on Outreach and Education and as a member of committees for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Mobley Smith has helped promote pharmacy as an essential component of interprofessional patient care teams. She has served on advisory and governing boards for many local, state and national organizations and held leadership positions at ASHP, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and the American Pharmacists Association.

Mobley Smith received her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Michigan and her PharmD from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed a clinical residency in hospital pharmacy at the Sinai Hospital of Detroit, MI., and a primary healthcare policy fellowship with the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC.