Gigi Davidson, the director of Clinical Pharmacy Services at NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has been awarded the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention’s most prestigious honor, the 2015 Beal Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service.
Davidson is the fifth person, the first female, and the first veterinary pharmacist to receive the Beal Award.
According to the USP website, USP was founded in 1820. The Beal Award is given to a person, or group of people, who has made significant contributions to public healthcare while also serving as a volunteer for USP.
“It is very humbling to have even been considered for something like this because it is such a prestigious award and in the past it has only been given to men,” Davidson said. “I also think what it does for me personally is validate all the volunteer time I’ve given to USP in the last 15 years. It makes me know that not only does USP appreciate it but all of their voting conventions and nomination committees for this award do too.”
Davidson believes that winning this award will benefit NC State.
“It puts veterinary pharmacy on the map,” Davidson said. “Now it is starting to be recognized more.”
Aside from the award itself, Davidson also received a sculpture representing USP’s volunteerism, a lifetime membership to the USP Convention and a $10,000 cash award, which Davidson has donated to NC State’s veterinary pharmacy program.
According to Davidson, USP selects volunteer experts through a competitive process every five years. These volunteers sit on expert committees and help develop the standards for the convention. One work cycle for USP is five years; Davidson served as chair of the Compounding Expert Committee in 2010.
Davidson said she thinks her her nomination is due to incredible hard work, determination and passion.
“The very tragic fungal meningitis episode with compounds happened in October 2012 under my watch of compounding standards,” Davidson said. “The compounding standards then became the focus because these companies that call for all these steps were not following USP compounding standards.”
However, through Davidson’s tenacious and steadfast hard work, now USP compounding standards are enforced by state and federal law.
Rick Schnatz, the Senior Scientific Liaison for Compounding at USP, went on to further explain the nomination process.
“Anybody can nominate someone for the Beal Award,” Schnatz said.
Schnatz said the nominator would write a letter of recommendation, which is placed in a pool with the names of the other nominees. Then, a committee gathers to review the candidates, read their letters of recommendation and their contributions to USP, and finally, pick someone to be the recipient of the award.
Kim Leadon, director of experiential education at UNC-Chapel Hill, knows Davidson through her work as a preceptor. Leadon explained that a preceptor takes a student into their practice site for a month-long rotation. Davidson offers an elective rotation in veterinary pharmacy.
“The fact that she is the first female pharmacist to receive the Beal Award is really remarkable,” Leadon said. “It’s not surprising because she’s a remarkable individual and is really top in her field of veterinary practice.”
Like Davidson, Leadon also believes that this award will benefit NC State.
“It will probably elevate the visibility of the vet program there and the fact that you can be a pharmacist and practice in a veterinary college,” Leadon said. “I am hoping it will elevate the profession as a whole.”
