A new endowed professorship for a diabetes educator in the College of Pharmacy at Washington State University will be held first by the professor for whom it is named.
Professor R. Keith Campbell has been appointed to the newly created “R. Keith Campbell Endowed Professorship in Diabetes Care,” effective Feb. 1, 2008.
The College raised from donors far more than the minimum required to establish an endowed professorship and wanted to put the money to work now, while continuing toward a $1 million goal, said College Dean James P. Kehrer.
“This endowment has the continuing goal of becoming the College’s first endowed chair, but has been designated a distinguished professorship now so that we can honor Keith and begin to make use of the donated funds for their intended purpose,” he said.
The endowment will provide Campbell with additional money to support his nationally recognized and award-winning work in diabetes education.
Campbell had been “The J. Roberts and Marcia Fosberg Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy” since July 2004, and with the establishment of the new diabetes professorship, the Fosberg appointment will shift from Campbell to Margaret E. Black, associate professor of pharmacy, on Feb. 1.
“Margaret has shown outstanding leadership in research and as head of the pharmacology and toxicology graduate program,” Kehrer said.
Black is a pharmaceutical scientist and molecular biologist who is currently studying a class of enzymes and prodrugs (precursors of active drugs) and their use in treating cancer. One enzyme optimized (modified) by her group is currently in phase III clinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer. Her work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and she collaborates with scientists at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the University of Washington and the University of California, Los Angeles. She has been at WSU for nine years.
Campbell has been at the College for almost 40 years and has dedicated his professional life to diabetes education. He has lived with type 1 diabetes for more than 58 years.
In 1989, he was named the Outstanding Diabetes Educator in the U.S. by the American Diabetes Association and the following year, he received a “Distinguished Service” award from the American Association of Diabetes Educators. That same year he was named by the National Association of Retail Druggists as the “Outstanding Pharmacy Administration Professor.” Since that time, the American Diabetes Association and others have continued to recognize him for his contributions and ask him to author articles and books and present trainings and serve on boards.
The Fosberg endowed professorship was established by 1959 pharmacy graduate J. Roberts Fosberg and his wife, Marcia. Fosberg was co-founder and CEO of Flex-Foot Inc., a manufacturer of high-tech artificial limbs and related devices.