Gigi Davidson Receives U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention’s Highest Award

Gigi Davidson, Director of Clinical Pharmacy Services at North Carolina State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has been named the recipient of the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention’s 2015 Beal Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service—the organization’s highest award.

Since 1820, USP has relied on the contributions of volunteer experts to direct its work to improve the health of people around the world through public standards and related programs that help ensure the quality of medicines and foods. The Beal award honors a person (or persons) who have made outstanding contributions to the public health while serving as a USP volunteer.

The award is given once every five years and presented at the USP Convention Membership Meeting, which this year will take place April 22 – 25, 2015 in Washington, D.C.. Chosen for her contributions in developing standards for compounding for both human and veterinary patients during a critical period in public health, Davidson is the fifth person to receive the Beal Award and the first woman and the first veterinary pharmacist to be honored.

“Davidson is an exemplary leader,” said USP Chief Executive Officer Ronald T. Piervincenzi. “Although she has made significant contributions as a member of various Expert Committees since 2000; her strength as a leader really shone in the 2010 – 2015 cycle.”

Davidson was elected as chair of the Compounding Expert Committee and in that position played a major leadership role in USP’s response to several public health crises involving contaminated compounded preparations. During her tenure, Davidson was actively engaged in multiple expert committees, advisory panels and industry forums and oversaw the development of well in excess of 30 new compounded preparation monographs. She also spearheaded the development of the USP on Compounding: A Guide for the Compounding Practitioner which became the USP Compounding Compendium, USP’s newest publication – a collection of essential compounding standards for use or consideration by practitioners and regulatory authorities alike.

“We deeply appreciate not only Gigi’s unique expertise in compounding pharmacy, but her skill as an arbiter of challenging issues, her ability to balance the pragmatic needs of compounding practitioners while helping to ensure patient safety and her talent for working collaboratively across a wide variety of interest groups,” said Shawn Becker, Senior Director of Healthcare Quality Standards.

Under her leadership, the Compounding Expert Committee won the 2012-2013 USP Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Standard-Setting Process in recognition to its response to the compounding crises and its impact on improving public health.

At a special ceremony during the USP Convention Meeting, Davidson will receive a crystal sculpture representing USP’s spirit of voluntarism, an honorary lifetime membership to the USP Convention, and a $10,000 cash award which Davidson has directed be donated to the veterinary pharmacy residency program at NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“Among veterinary pharmacists, there is no equal,” said Mark Papich, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine. “Veterinary pharmacy is unique because of the variety of animals we treat and the need for specialized medications. There is no textbook or pharmacy curriculum course that teaches this material. So, Gigi Davidson invented it and in the process literally changed veterinary pharmacy from an obscure area of clinical pharmacy to its recognition as the highly specialized discipline it is today. She established one of the first veterinary residency training programs for veterinary pharmacists and this gift will help ensure that veterinary pharmacy will continue to develop as a specialized pharmacy practice.”

Recently, Davidson was appointed to represent USP on the FDA Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee.  In addition to her work at the national level, she is frequently called upon by state boards of pharmacies to assist in their understanding of complex compounding issues related to specific laws and legislation.

Davidson also sits on multiple boards including the American College of Veterinary Pharmacists, the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board Standards Committee and has served on FDA’s Task Force on Compounding in Veterinary Medicine as well as the FDA/AVMA Ad Hoc Committee on Veterinary Compounding.

This information is from a release announcement provided by the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP). The USP is a global health organization that improves lives through public standards and related programs that help ensure the quality, safety, and benefit of medicines and foods. USP’s standards are used worldwide. For more information about USP, visit http://www.usp.org or contact mediarelations@usp.org