LTC Stacia Spridgen, MS, USA, is being honored as the 2010 recipient of the APhA Distinguished Federal Pharmacist Award during the 2010 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition. Presented during the Federal

Pharmacy Forum Opening General Session, the award recognizes a federal pharmacist who has made significant contributions to federal pharmacy practice that result in improvement in the health of the nation and the practice of pharmacy.

Spridgen has served as Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Pharmacoeconomics Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio since 2008. In this role, she leads a staff of 60 people dedicated to promoting high-quality, cost-effective drug therapy throughout the Military Health System. Spridgen also serves as a member of the DoD Pharmacy Board of Directors and the Federal Pharmacy Executive Steering Committee.

A native of Kansas City, Spridgen graduated from University of Missouri in 1989. After 6 years as an enlisted soldier in the Army Reserves, she was commissioned in October 1987. Her first assignment was in Germany as the Pharmacy Chief, 56th General Hospital. She also served with the 12th Evacuation Hospital in support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm.

In 1995, Spridgen completed a Nuclear Pharmacy Residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which prepared her as the Nuclear Pharmacy Chief, Madigan Army Medical Center. She taught the art and science of radiopharmacy operation and established a pharmacist-run Helicobacter pylori clinic to provide breath testing, medication therapy, and follow-up for patients.

Spridgen completed her PharmD at Campbell University in 2001 and was assigned as Pharmacy Chief at Fort Myer. In 2005, she was assigned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center as the Nuclear Pharmacy Program Residency Director, training pharmacists, nuclear medicine technologists, and physicians. One year later, she served as the Army’s Deputy Pharmacy Consultant, a position she held until 2008.

—Brian Lawson, Contributing writer

March Issue of Pharmacy Today, 2010. Copyright American Pharmacists Association (APhA).  Reprinted by permission of APhA.