American Institute of the History of Pharmacy

First Issue of History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Now Available Online!

AIHP is pleased to announce that the first issue of History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals. vol. 63, no. 1 (2021), the Institute's renamed academic journal is now available online at JSTOR. AIHP members can use their JSTOR login credentials and password to access this issue. (AIHP members having difficult accessing the issue on JSTOR should contact AIHP at aihp@aihp.org). This journal issue is the first published under AIHP’s new publication partnership with the University of Wisconsin Press. Be sure to check your mailboxes, because the print version of the journal will be mailed to all members and subscribers within the next two weeks.

A subscription to History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals is one of the benefits of AIHP membership, and a portion of member dues members covers subscriptions costs.

History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals continues Pharmacy in History, the academic journal AIHP has published since 1959, but the design and layout of the journal has undergone a comprehensive “top-to-bottom” review under the direction of Editor-in-Chief Lucas Richert, PhD, and Managing Editor Gregory Bond, PhD. “The journal will have a fresh new look,” Dr. Bond stated, “but the same high-quality scholarship for which Pharmacy in History was known.”

Please click on the Read More button below to learn about the articles and other content in the inaugural issue of History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals. 

Grabenstein Installed as AIHP President

"We pursue history to inform progress."

John D. Grabenstein, RPh, PhD, was installed as AIHP’s President at the Institute’s Annual Business Meeting on November 18. He succeeded W. Clarke Ridgway, who retired from the Board of Directors after serving two-years as President and nine years as Treasurer.

Dr. Grabenstein is a globally recognized vaccinologist, pharmacist, and epidemiologist. He currently is president of Vaccine Dynamics, a consultancy providing services related to human vaccines, antibody products, and other immunologic drugs. He also serves as the Managing Editor of IZ Express, the newsletter of Immunize.org. He previously served as Global Director of Medical Affairs for Merck Vaccines and Director of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Military Vaccine Agency.

Dr. Grabenstein observed that the catchphrase “history to inform progress” captures the essence of the Institute’s mission. The work of AIHP, he stated, “helps us understand the world we live in” and promotes “practical applications of historical knowledge.” He remarked: “We know that historical work improves our future. AIHP matters!” He later stated: “What does AIHP do? We pursue history to inform progress.”

New Appointments to AIHP's Board of Directors

AIHP’s Board of Directors took action in December to fill several Board vacancies.

A current director, Cynthia J. Boyle, PharmD, was elected to the position of Vice President. John Grabenstein left that position in November when he was installed as AIHP’s President. 

The Board elected longtime AIHP member Sandra M. Fábregas Troche, PhD, RPh, to fill the director position vacated by Dr. Boyle. Dr. Fábregas served on the faculty of the University of Puerto Rico School of Pharmacy for many years and is currently the Executive Director of Centro Latino de Bioética y Humanidades (Latino Center for Bioethics and the Humanities), based in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Also elected to a three-year term was Nancy Alvarez, PharmD, BCPC, FAPhA, CPCC, who is filling the appointed director position previously held by Melissa Murer Corrigan, whose term expired. Dr Alvarez is the Associate Dean for Academic and Professional Affairs at the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy at The University of Arizona, where she oversees all aspects of the Phoenix branch location. She is also an Associate Professor of Practice for the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, and Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Arizona in 1992.

AIHP Director Receives ASHP Distinguished Leadership Award

John E. Clark, PharmD, MS, FASHP, who joined AIHP’s Board of Directors in November, was awarded the ASHP Distinguished Leadership Award at the organization’s Midyear Clinical Meeting in December. The award is given annually to recognize contributions to excellence in pharmacy practice leadership in acute and ambulatory care settings.

Dr. Clark is an Assistant Professor in the department of pharmacotherapeutics and clinical research at the University of South Florida (USF) Health Taneja College of Pharmacy in Tampa. He is also a clinical pharmacist and faculty preceptor in ambulatory care at the USF Morsani Health Center Building Relationships and Initiatives Dedicated to Gaining Equality (BRIDGE) Healthcare Clinic. The BRIDGE Healthcare Clinic is a student-run, multidisciplinary, nonprofit clinic that services uninsured and underinsured patients in the Tampa area.

AIHP Establishes Strategic Priorities

AIHP’s Board of Directors has established four strategic priorities that will guide the Institute’s work over the next three years and has adopted a comprehensive action plan for implementing the selected priorities.

Undertaking an organizational review process to identify and select a set of strategic goals for the Institute has been one of the top priorities of AIHP President W. Clarke Ridgway, who explained: “the establishment of strategic priorities is critical if AIHP is to maximize resource utilization while providing consistently high-quality publications, programming and service."

The newly adopted AIHP strategic priorities call on the Institute to:

• Increase the accessibility of AIHP’s historical collections;
• Increase AIHP’s operating revenues by at least $50,000 annually;
• Increase partnerships and collaborations with pharmacy, pharmaceutical, and historical organizations;
• Integrate and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of AIHP’s programs and operations.

HoPP Interview—Mat Savelli, “Crafting the Modern Via Psychoactivity Advertisements”

This post is from Points, the joint blog of AIHP and the Alcohol and Drugs History Society. Points publishes original reflections about the history of drugs, medicines, alcohol, pharmacy, and their allied fields.

This is the first installment of the Points series of interviews with authors from the inaugural issue of AIHP’s journal History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals (HoPP) (vol. 63, no. 1). Today we feature Mat Savelli. Read his article here (open access until February 2022!).

Article Abstract for “Crafting the Modern Via Psychoactivity Advertisements”

In this article, we examine advertisements for psychoactive products sold in five different geo-political jurisdictions: Canada, Colombia, Yugoslavia, India, and Senegal. We compare products and marketing campaigns aimed at selling psychoactive substances to consumers in these places over the twentieth century.

Please tell readers a little bit about yourself:

I trained as a historian of psychiatry at the University Oxford before returning to my undergraduate alma mater (McMaster University) to take up a joint position in two interdisciplinary departments (Health, Aging, and Society / Arts & Science). Although I still focus on history, being in these environments really convinced me that my skills as a historian (limited though they may be!) could be applied to some non-historical contexts as well.