There’s a lot of history behind two recent gifts to the UW School of Pharmacy. One gift honors the late L.D. Bracken, who studied pharmacy at the UW in 1912-13, and his son, the late Jim L. Bracken, who received his UW pharmacy degree in 1945. Both men were entrepreneurs (L.D. invented Blistex), leaders in their profession, and successful businessmen who, for decades, ran a thriving family pharmacy in Seattle.
An endowment gift from Jim’s wife, Sharon Bracken, and their children, Laura, Carol and John, will help train future generations of pharmacy professionals. In recognition of the gift, and the Bracken family’s contributions to the practice of pharmacy, the University has named its state-of-the-art teaching facility for the Doctor of Pharmacy program the L.D. Bracken and Jim L. Bracken Pharmaceutical Care Learning Center.
Another gift honoring longtime ties to the School of Pharmacy is Professor Joy B. Plein’s contribution of $500,000 for the Elmer M. and Joy B. Plein Endowment for Excellence in Pharmacy Education. The fund, named for the donor and her late husband, will help prepare students for careers as pharmacy faculty. The state of Washington is adding $100,000 through a program that matches gifts for graduate fellowships.
Elmer Plein joined the UW faculty in 1938 and was active in pharmacy research and education until his death in 1994. He initiated a number of major programs, including clinical pharmacy education, that led to establishing pharmacists as integral members of the health care team. Joy Plein received her master’s (1951) and Ph.D. (1956) degrees from the UW, and joined the faculty in 1966. Working with her husband, she focused on clinical pharmacy and the needs of geriatric patients, especially those in long-term care.