Congratulations are in order for former APhA staffer Marcie Bough, PharmD, who recently received the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation Award for her work in helping the agency implement its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS).

FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, wrote: “In your position as Senior Director of Government at [APhA], you were a tremendous asset to FDA in developing and communicating APhA’s positions on regulations and other Agency activities that affect pharmacists. … To ensure that pharmacists were prepared to incorporate REMS into their daily practice, you developed continuing education programs and dedicated sessions at APhA Annual Meetings.”

Hamburg went on to extol Bough’s efforts with regard to patient medication information, medication guides, paperless labeling, patient safety initiatives, drug supply chain safety, medication disposal, pharmacogenomics, pharmacy compounding, and the Nonprescription Safe Use Regulatory Expansion Initiative.

At APhA headquarters, we all miss Marcie since she left last year for the big skies of Montana and became Executive Director of that state’s Board of Pharmacy. This award reminds us all of the many issues she championed and just how much she did for our profession during her high-octane time here.

Congratulations, Marcie!