U.S. Public Health Service Chief Pharmacist Officers Oral History Project
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These documents are the transcripts of a series of oral history interviews of the eight persons who served as Chief Pharmacist Officer (CPO) in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service between 1987 and 2022. The series was conceptualized and coordinated by RADM (Retired) Richard M. Church, RADM (Retired) Richard J. Bertin, and William A. Zellmer.
Rear Admiral (Retired) Richard J. Bertin RADM Bertin served as CPO between 1992 and 1996. The transcripts of two separate interviews conducted in 2020 and 2023 are consolidated into this document.
The need for a project of this nature had been discussed frequently by PHS pharmacy officers (current and retired) who felt regret that more historical information was not readily available on exceptional PHS pharmacist leaders of the past, such as George Archambault (1909-2001) and Allen Brands (1914-1994). Richard M. Church and Richard J. Bertin, two retired PHS Chief Pharmacist Officers (CPOs), resolved to find a way to create a complete record of the lives and professional careers of all living successors to Archambault and Brands. Chance brought Drs. Church and Bertin into contact with William A. Zellmer, a pharmacist experienced in conducting oral-history interviews. The three of them conceptualized and conducted, during calendar year 2023, a series of comprehensive oral-history interviews of retired CPOs.
As a group, the interviewees’ PHS careers spanned 1967 to 2022, and their service as CPOs covered the period from 1987 to 2022. The interviews offer an expansive narrative on the service of PHS pharmacists, through their day-to-day work in various federal agencies and when deployed by the U.S. government to help respond to national or global health emergencies. Among the wide-ranging themes in the interviews are (1) pharmacy education as preparation for leadership in public health, (2) federal health services as fertile ground for innovation in pharmacist roles, (3) CPOs’ outreach to the entire pharmacy profession, and (4) revitalization of the PHS Commissioned Corps under Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.
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The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy is documenting and preserving pharmacy stories and experiences during the COVID-19 global pandemic for the benefit of future historians and scholars. We seek to record the effects of this public health emergency on all types of pharmacy experiences. We invite you to share your pharmacy stories, photos, videos, artifacts, and other documentation of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.