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PORTLAND, Maine

Former UConn School of Pharmacy dean chosen as next dean of UNE College of Pharmacy

Robert L. McCarthy, Ph.D.

Robert L. McCarthy, Ph.D., professor of pharmacy practice and dean emeritus in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Connecticut, has been chosen as the next dean of the University of New England College of Pharmacy. He will start on August 1, 2018.

McCarthy was appointed the seventh dean of the UConn School of Pharmacy effective October 1, 2003, after serving as interim dean since July 1, 2002; he was re-appointed to a second five-year term in 2008 and received the Outstanding Dean Award from the American Pharmacists Association–Academy of Student Pharmacists in 2010. He first joined UConn in August 2001 as head and professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice. He has also held faculty positions at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Northeastern University and Boston University.

“Dr. McCarthy’s vast experience and leadership will be incredibly valuable as we move the UNE College of Pharmacy into the future,” said UNE President James Herbert. “He helped to build one of the most impressive pharmacy programs in the nation, and there is no one better equipped to help UNE face the challenges and opportunities of this rapidly evolving industry.”

Under McCarthy’s leadership, the UConn School of Pharmacy made significant progress in becoming one of the nation’s premier colleges of pharmacy. US News & World Report ranked the school first in New England and 26th nationally. The first two endowed chairs and professorship in the school’s history were established, attracting elite researchers in the areas of pharmaceutics, toxicology and pharmacy practice. This included the Pfizer Distinguished Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Technology, the first endowed chair established by the largest pharmaceutical company in the world at an American school of pharmacy and only the third it has supported anywhere in the United States. Scholarships to pharmacy students nearly doubled, reaching more than $170,000 annually. The funding of these endowed faculty positions and scholarships was part of an exceptionally successful development program that yielded more than $13 million and included the construction of a state-of-the-art pharmacy/biology building.

“I am grateful for the confidence President Herbert and Provost Hamilton have shown in me by selecting me as the next dean of the UNE College of Pharmacy,” said McCarthy. “UNE's pharmacy program and its exceptional students, faculty, and staff have earned the admiration of the pharmacy academy in the region and nationally. I look forward to not only helping lead the pharmacy program into the next phase in its development but also to working with my health care colleagues across the university to build upon the wide acclaim the institution has gained in interprofessional education.”

McCarthy’s interests lie in the areas of health care policy, especially as it relates to pharmacy and pharmacy ethics. His scholarship has focused on the ethical issues facing pharmacy practitioners, including the right to medication and the impact of managed care as well as teaching and learning strategies in pharmacy ethics. He has taught courses in health care systems, health care policy, communication, biomedical ethics and leadership. His most recent publication focused on ethics and patient privacy. He is founding editor and currently co-editor of McCarthy’s Introduction to Health Care Delivery: A Primer for Pharmacists; the sixth edition was published in 2016.

McCarthy earned his B.S. in pharmacy, M.S. in hospital pharmacy, and Ph.D. in law, policy and society at Northeastern University in Boston. He also completed an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)-accredited residency in hospital pharmacy at the Massachusetts General Hospital. McCarthy was a 1999-2000 American Council on Education Fellow at Rivier College (now University) in Nashua, New Hampshire, a small, liberal arts institution  .

Read more in Mainebiz, Chronicle of Higher Education, Seacoastonline, The Forecaster and on WABI.

To learn more about the University of New England’s College of Pharmacy, visit www.une.edu/pharmacy

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.