Published on July 31, 2024 at 7:19 p.m. by Alison Ingle  
Dee Dugan

Dee Dugan, professor of pharmacy practice at Samford University's McWhorter School of Pharmacy, was accepted into the 21st cohort of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Academic Leadership Fellows Program for 2024-25. 

McWhorter has a longstanding relationship with AACP, and Dugan is the 13th faculty member to be accepted into this program. Other faculty members who completed the fellowship include Jennifer Beall, Kim Benner, Marshall Cates, Michael Crouch, Danielle Cruthirds, Renee DeHart, Howard Hendrickson, PJ Hughes, Jeff Kyle, Jonathan Thigpen, Michael Thomas and Bruce Waldrop. 

The AACP Academic Leadership Fellows Program supports and contributes to developing leaders in academic pharmacy and higher education. It allows fellows to expand relationships with peers and colleagues in other institutions and within their own college and university. 

Fellows will begin the year-long program in September. The interactive program consists of four sessions, including in-depth leadership development, team building and networking, exploration of issues critical to pharmacy and higher education and a team project. 

Dugan came to Samford University in 2008 to further her professional growth but has found she discovered so much more. “What I have found here is not only mentors to help foster the growth I was looking for, but also an intellectual community based upon faith, respect and family,” she said.  

Dugan has served multiple professional organizations including the American Pharmacists Association, American College of Clinical Pharmacy, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Alabama Pharmacy Association and Alabama Society of Health System Pharmacists, in various roles such as committee member, committee chair and delegate. Highlights of her service include serving as the community champion for the American Pharmacists Association's Project IMPACT: Diabetes. She has been a regional learning coach with the Health Resources and Safety Administration's Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative for several years. 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.