AIHP Board Member Melissa Murer Corrigan has recently established a new podcast series titled MelisRx Scripts, which “provides a series of lively conversations with friends, colleagues, and various leaders in healthcare, pharmacy, and beyond.” Corrigan explains in the first episode that her podcast has historical roots, because pioneering pharmacy educator Zada Mary Cooper “was the inspiration” for the project. An 1897 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, Cooper subsequently became one of the earliest known female professors of pharmacy in the country while teaching at her alma mater. Corrigan relates that “when I first learned about Zada’s trailblazing accomplishments, leadership, and innovation, I was truly inspired.”
Corrigan has served in leadership positions in several organizations, and, like Cooper, she has often “experienced being the only woman in the room.” Fittingly, the first four episodes of the MelisRx podcast feature interviews with women leaders in healthcare and related fields, who discuss and document their careers and experiences. In addition to preserving a record of the accomplishments of contemporary women leaders, most of the interviews also include reflections on the legacy and achievements of historical women leaders like Zada Cooper and Gloria Francke.
The first four episodes of the MelisRx podcast are:
- Lucinda Maine, CEO of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy;
- Sarah Gardial, Dean of the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business;
- Susan C. Winckler, Chair of the Board of Directors for the United States Pharmacopeia;
- Kelli Jo Welter, President of the APhA-Academy of Students of Pharmacy President.
AIHP President Clarke W. Ridgway praised Corrigan for her ‘”innovative approach to building a record of our time,” and declared, “oral histories such as these should become valuable resources for future historians.”
From 1994 to 2011, Corrigan served as the founding Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board, where she was responsible for designing, building and launching the first (and now largest) pharmacy technician credentialing program. In that role, she was known for her skill in building alliances with an array of stakeholder groups across the pharmacy profession.From 2012 to 2018, Corrigan was a Vice President at ACT, Inc., a nonprofit organization providing college and career testing and assessment programs (including the ACT college admissions test).
