The award, named for the noted pharmacy leader and former APhA staff member Gloria Niemeyer Francke, was established in 1993 to recognize an individual who has promoted and encouraged pharmacists to attain leadership positions through example, acting as a role model and mentor.
“I am humbled to be recognized in this way by my peers,” Wells said. “Each of us in pharmacy has a responsibility to help those who follow us into the profession, as no one can realize their full potential without some guidance and mentoring. It was my honor to know Gloria Francke, and I was inspired by her leadership and commitment to her profession and to the success of her colleagues.”
Wells was recognized for her years of service contributions as a faculty member, preceptor and administrator. She also has served as president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, and held other leadership offices within those organizations.
In a nomination letter, a colleague said Wells’ academic career called upon her abilities as both a leader and mentor of early-, mid- and late-career faculty. She added, “It is fair to say she has influenced the lives of hundreds of faculty and thousands of students. As a role model, she has no doubt touched even more individuals as she demonstrated her ability to balance a stellar career with the demands of family and other priorities.”
As president of AACP in 2002, she focused her agenda on developing a new generation of leaders within pharmacy education. Subsequently, AACP created the Center for Academic Leadership and Management and established several leadership development programs. More than 150 new leaders have been cultivated out of the center’s hallmark program, the Academic Leadership Fellows Program.
Wells has been named a fellow in the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. She has received numerous honors, awards and recognitions, including the APhA Clinical Pharmacotherapeutic Practice Award and the Robert K. Chalmers Distinguished Pharmacy Educator Award from AACP. Besides training dozens of residents and fellows, she has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, books and book chapters and received several million dollars in construction and research grants.
For more information on the School of Pharmacy, go to http://www.pharmacy.olemiss.