The award is the highest recognition provided by the national pharmacy leadership society for pharmacists and places recipients among the top leaders of the profession.
The award was presented during the Phi Lambda Sigma (PLS) Awards Luncheon on April 4, during the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla. Also known as the National Pharmacy Leadership Society, PLS promotes the development of leadership qualities, especially among pharmacy students. By peer recognition, the society encourages participation in all pharmacy activities. UK students who are members of the College of Pharmacy's chapter of PLS nominated Fink for the leadership award.
The award is sponsored by Procter and Gamble is given annually to an individual who has exemplified leadership qualities in support of the pharmacy profession. The individual chosen must have a proven track record of servant leadership in any one or more of the following areas: education, association work, community service, professional practice or mentoring.
"Fink's tireless efforts on behalf of pharmacy became apparent as the committee reviewed the package submitted by your supporters," said Mary L. Euler, Pharm.D., Executive Director of PLS. "He has impacted so many lives and for that we want to say thank you on behalf of the profession."
At the UK College of Pharmacy, Fink focuses on pharmaceutical public policy and pharmacy law. He also is professor of Public Health in the UK College of Public Health and professor in the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, a unit he served as acting director during 1998. He also has served as acting director of the UK Appalachian Center since 2004.
He has been vice president for research and economic development, vice president for corporate relations and economic outreach as well as special assistant to the president for academic affairs at UK. He was associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at UK from 1988 to 1996. He was assistant dean of the UK College of Pharmacy from 1981 to 1988
The Kentucky Pharmacists Association recognized him as "Pharmacist-of-the-Year" for 1988 and in 2002 conferred on him the Distinguished Service Award for significant contributions to the profession over an extended period of time.
He has twice received the "Great Teacher Award" from the UK National Alumni Association. He has also twice been recognized nationally for his leadership and scholarly contributions to his specialty area of the law and in 2004 the American Society for Pharmacy Law established the Joseph L. Fink III Founders Leadership Award in his honor. In 2003, he received the Annual Alumni Achievement Award from his Philadelphia alma mater.
His scholarly works include more than 260 publications in the fields of law pertaining to pharmacy, pharmacists and pharmaceuticals, food and drug law, and health care law. For more than 20 years he has been an editor of Pharmacy Law Digest, the most widely used pharmacy law text and reference in the United States.