ASHP honors First DataBank pharmacist with the title of Fellow for excellence in pharmacy practice

First DataBank, a leading provider of drug databases that help drive patient safety, today announced that the American Association of Health-System Pharmacists^® (ASHP) will honor First DataBank pharmacist Joan Kapusnik-Uner, Pharm.D, with the title of "Fellow" in recognition of the excellence she has achieved in pharmacy practice. The 2010 Fellows will be honored on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, during the ASHP Summer Meeting in Tampa, FL.

“To be recognized by my peers in this way is the highest honor.”

"I am pleased to receive this distinguished honor by the ASHP," said Dr. Kapusnik-Uner, Manager, Disease Decision Support, First DataBank and Associate Clinical Professor of Pharmacy, UCSF. "To be recognized by my peers in this way is the highest honor."

The ASHP Practitioner Recognition Program recognizes excellence in practice and promotes public awareness of outstanding pharmacists. Each applicant's credentials are assessed against rigorous criteria that include contributions to the scientific literature, research, education and active involvement and leadership in professional activities. Applicants also must have practiced in health-system pharmacy for at least 10 years. The program has recognized 652 Fellows since it began in 1988.

Dr. Kapusnik-Uner is manager of Disease Decision-Support at First DataBank and has been a leader in the company's drug vocabulary standards initiatives, including past participation in the HL7 sub-committees and the Vocabulary Technical Committee, whose projects evolved into RxNorm development at the National Library of Medicine. She is a member of the Health Literacy and Prescription Container Labeling Advisory Panel of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) and is an active member in HIMSS, ASHP and AMIA Pharmacy Informatics working groups.

Dr. Kapusnik-Uner received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of California at San Francisco School of Pharmacy and completed residency training programs in Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Illinois, in Infectious Diseases at the UCSF School of Pharmacy, and completed a Pharmacokinetics in Antimicrobials research fellowship for Merck, also at UCSF. In 1993, she received the distinguished honor of Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy at UCSF.