UM Pharmacy Administrator Named APhA Fellow

Award honors service to the pharmacy profession

Leigh Ann Ross

OXFORD, Miss. – Leigh Ann Ross, associate dean for clinical affairs at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, is being named a 2017 fellow by the American Pharmacists Association this weekend.

The designation honors those with a history of exemplary service and achievement in the pharmacy profession for at least 10 years. Ross will receive the award Saturday (March 25) at the APhA annual meeting in San Francisco.

Ross is also a professor of pharmacy practice and research professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the pharmacy school. She earned both her bachelor’s degree and Pharm.D. from Ole Miss and completed a primary care pharmacy residency at the UM Medical Center in Jackson.

“The School of Pharmacy is very proud to call Dr. Ross one of its leaders,” said David D. Allen, UM pharmacy dean. “She has served the profession and the school extremely well for many years, and I applaud her on this honor.”

Ross previously served as the director of the university’s Pharmaceutical Care Services from 2000 to 2008, during which time the pharmaceutical care clinics won a Best Practice Award from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. She went on to be the chair of the school’s Department of Pharmacy Practice from 2008 to 2016.

Besides her service to the school, Ross is director of the Community-Based Research Program which implements direct patient care services in community pharmacies and clinics in the Mississippi Delta. She served as a policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran on health care, labor, housing and economic development after completing a two-year congressional fellowship.

She also has held leadership positions in many state and national pharmacy organizations.

“It is truly an honor to be recognized by APhA as a fellow,” Ross said. “I’m most appreciative of the mentorship that has been provided and the friendships that have been developed through my involvement in APhA. I look forward to many more years of service in APhA and pharmacy.”