US Pharmacopeia's Former CEO to Speak at Western University's 19th Annual Commencement
Jerome A. Halperin, who in April retired as executive vice president and
chief executive officer of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), an
organization that establishes state-of-the-art standards to ensure the
quality of medicines for human and veterinary use nationwide, is the
keynote speaker for Western University of Health Sciences’ 19th annual
commencement ceremony.
Halperin will help launch the University’s graduating students – including
63 members of the College of Pharmacy’s first-ever graduating class – at
ceremonies beginning at 1 p.m. on Friday, June 2, at the Anaheim
Convention Center.
Three hundred and ninety-five candidates for graduation from six Western
University programs will hear Halperin speak on “”Four Rules.”” His
presentation will focus on the values he believes health professionals
should hold as they progress through their careers.
“”I’m pleased and honored to be Western University’s 19th commencement
speaker and the first commencement speaker for its College of Pharmacy,””
Halperin said.
“”Western University is a post-graduate university that integrates the
curricula of its programs in a manner that assures that each health
professional understands and appreciates the role of the other members of
the health care team. This integration breeds interdependency and raises
the skills of each health professional, thus creating the maximum
opportunity to achieve the desired health outcome to the patient. Western
University has established an educational model that works in a patient’s
best interest.””
Western University President Philip Pumerantz, PhD, said Halperin was
chosen to give the commencement address because “”he embodies Western
University’s vision and values: leadership, innovation and
interdisciplinarity. As a pharmacist, no one is better suited to provide a
commencement address to our students, especially the charter class of
graduates from our College of Pharmacy.””
Halperin graduated with a bachelor of science degree from Rutgers, the
State University of New Jersey, and earned a master of public health
degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, as well
as a master of science in management from MIT, where he was a Sloan Fellow.
He served for 25 years as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health
Service, as a pharmacist and a radiological health specialist. He joined
the FDA Bureau of Drugs in 1974 and became deputy director in 1977. From
1982-83 he served as director of drugs of the (then) National Center for
Drugs and Biologics. He retired from Federal service as a rear admiral and
became vice president, technology, for CIBA Consumer Pharmaceuticals.
Halperin joined the USP in 1989 and became its CEO in March 1990.
He is a Fellow of the American Pharmaceutical Association, the American
Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, and the American Public Health Association. He
served for 10 years as a member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO)
Expert Advisory Panel on the International Pharmacopoeia and
Pharmaceutical Preparations and he is an Expert Member of the Board of
Pharmaceutical Sciences of the International Federation of Pharmacy (FIP).
He has served on the boards of directors of the American Foundation for
Pharmaceutical Education and the Food and Drug Law Institute, as well as
the board of the National Council for Patient Information and Education,
the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education, the advisory board
of several colleges of pharmacy, and numerous other professional
associations in pharmacy and science.
