Belmont University has named Dr. Philip E. Johnston the dean of the recently announced School of Pharmacy at Belmont. Johnston currently serves as the assistant director for education and research for the Department of Pharmaceutical Services at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Johnston will begin his tenure at Belmont on June 1, 2007.
In addition to his role at Vanderbilt, Johnston also serves as clinical associate professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, director of the Pharmacy Practice Residency Program at Vanderbilt and lecturer and course coordinator at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and the School of Physical Therapy at Belmont. Johnston has been a member of the VUMC Department of Pharmaceutical Services for the past 23 years. He has authored over 30 refereed articles in pharmacy and medical publications and two book chapters in the area of clinical pharmacy and pharmacy management.
“We are thrilled to welcome Phil Johnston to Belmont,” Belmont President Bob Fisher said. “We believe that his experience and skills make him just the right person to lead the development and operation of our new pharmacy school. The School of Pharmacy, with Phil as the inaugural Dean, will be a perfect complement to Belmont’s existing health sciences programs and we are excited to add the School of Pharmacy to our first-rate allied health offerings in the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing.”
Belmont University will open a School of Pharmacy and will begin enrolling students in the program for the 2008-09 academic year. The pharmacy program will join Belmont’s nursing, social work, physical therapy and occupational therapy programs available in the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing.
“It is my privilege to serve Belmont University, and the many students who will come here to earn their Doctor of Pharmacy degree,” Johnston said. “There is no better place than Nashville, an established world health care hub, to establish such a school. We are confident that students entering this program will acquire scientific knowledge, personal development, professional growth, management skills, and a passion for providing public needs. Many of the attributes already established at Belmont will be utilized to give our pharmacy students advantages in the health care arena, including other health care disciplines, the business program, connections with corporate health care and Belmont’s established mission.”
