The School of Pharmacy is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Gregory Peterson to the inaugural Chair in Pharmacy at the University of Tasmania.
Greg currently holds a personal chair at the School and will take up his new appointment as Chair and Head of School from the beginning of 2009.
This appointment completes a full circle for Greg’s association with the School and the University of Tasmania. He was a member of the first intake of undergraduate students when the School became part of the University in 1978. He was also the first Honours graduate and in 1985 became the School’s first PhD graduate.
After spending several years as a senior hospital pharmacist in Melbourne, he joined the University as a member of academic staff and was awarded a personal chair in the School in 2000. He established and leads the innovative UMORE (Unit for Medication Outcomes and Education) research group within the School and has attracted external funding of more than $10M over the past seven years for a variety of projects directed at improving the use of medications and patient outcomes in both community and hospital settings.
Greg is an alternate Director of the National Prescribing Service and a member of two of their standing advisory groups. He is still a practicing pharmacist and owner of a rural community pharmacy. His enormous contributions to the profession over an extended period were recently recognised when Greg was awarded the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s highest honour and was named Australian Pharmacist of the year for 2007.
In 2005 - 2006, the School approached its alumni to raise funds (via the University of Tasmania Foundation) so that an establishment grant for the new Chair would be available, ensuring that the position would be attractive to high-calibre prospective applicants. Thanks to the great generosity of School alumni, this appeal raised funds in the order of $125,000 and the University has agreed to match these on a dollar for dollar basis. These funds will be used by Greg to establish a senior research fellowship to help continue the research drive within UMORE and the School.