Pamela Schweitzer
OXFORD, Miss. – Retired Rear Adm. Pamela Schweitzer, former assistant surgeon general and chief pharmacy officer of the U.S. Public Health Service, will deliver the annual Charles W. Hartman Memorial Lecture on Friday (Feb. 28) at the University of Mississippi.
The School of Pharmacy is hosting this free event at noon in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for Performing Arts. Schweitzer, who had a 29-year career in federal service, will give a presentation titled “It is Time: Transforming the Pharmacy Profession.”
As the first female chief pharmacy officer, Schweitzer led and coordinated more than 1,300 USPHS pharmacy officers in 13 agencies with the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services.
“We are thrilled to have Pamela Schweitzer deliver this year’s Hartman Lecture,” said David D. Allen, dean of the School of Pharmacy. “Her career in federal service will provide a unique perspective on the pharmacy profession and its changing landscape.”
Schweitzer served in the Indian Health Service, the Veterans Health Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She led the Indian Health Service’s national transition from paper to electronic medical records, along with several other transformational projects.
While working with Medicare and Medicaid, she helped states modernize their Medicaid eligibility and enrollment systems, drug pricing and public health.
Schweitzer received her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from California State University at Fullerton and her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of California at San Francisco School of Pharmacy, before completing an ambulatory care/administrative residency at University of California at Irvine Medical Center.
The Hartman Lecture was established at Ole Miss in 1973 to honor the late Charles W. Hartman, who was dean of the pharmacy school from 1961 until his death in 1970. Former lecturers include American Board of Medical Specialties president and CEO Lois Margaret Nora, former Mississippi Gov. William F. Winter and two former U.S. senators, Thad Cochran and Trent Lott.