Alumnus Pharmacist of Year, Meritorious Achivement Awards

College Honors Pharmacy Leader Diane Ginsburg, 'Golden' Educator-Researcher Louis Williams

Oct. 8 — The University of Houston College of Pharmacy bestowed the Alumnus Pharmacist of the Year Award to Diane B. Ginsburg, Ph.D., M.S. ('90), R.Ph., FASHP, and the Meritorious Achievement Award to Louis Williams, Ph.D., at the 2024 Mading Society Induction & Dinner Oct. 4 at Houston's Belltower on 34th Street.

Alumnus Pharmacist of Year

Ginsburg serves as associate dean for healthcare partnerships, clinical professor in the division of pharmacy practice, and G.D. Searle Endowed Fellow in Pharmacy at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) College of Pharmacy. Ginsburg is internationally known for her work on ethics and the legal and regulatory aspects of pharmacy and health care.

Earlier this year, she earned the highest honor of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) as the 2024 Harvey A.K. Whitney Lecture Award recipient.

Ginsburg completed her B.S. in Pharmacy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and M.S. at UHCOP. She was the first resident to complete a two-year ASHP-accredited residency in hospital pharmacy administration at The Methodist Hospital (now Houston Methodist Hospital) in the Texas Medical Center. She received her Ph.D. degree in higher education administration and leadership in the College of Education at UT.

Ginsburg has been active with the ASHP, including serving as on the national board of directors and as national president, and as chair of the board of directors for the ASHP Research and Education Foundation. Inducted as a fellow of ASHP in 1998, she is co-editor of Infectious Disease Pharmacotherapy Self-Assessment and co-author/co-editor of ASHP’s Preceptor’s Handbook for Pharmacists. Ginsburg also is a past president of the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists (TSHP) and TSHP Research & Education Foundation.

She has been recognized by several organizations, including The Houston Program in Health-System Pharmacy Administration and Leadership's 2022 Roger W. Anderson Leadership Award, the 2005 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, and a 2016 honoree of the Texas Ex Students Association Texas Ten Award recognizing the 10 most talented and inspiring professors at UT.

Ginsburg and her husband, Dr. Jeffrey Josephs, are members of the Mading Society who established the Diane B. Ginsburg and Jeffrey Josephs Scholarship Endowment for second-year residents/students in The Houston Program.

Meritorious Achievement

An associate professor of medicinal chemistry at UHCOP, Williams was recognized for his countless contributions to excellence in education, research and service over 50 years at the college.

Williams has served a teacher and mentor to thousands of professional and graduate students over his five-decade career at the college. He also has served as a faculty adviser to four student organizations, including his longest tenures over the UHCOP Chapter of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association and the Delta Delta Chapter of the Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity (KY). Both organizations routinely return from national and regional conferences loaded down with awards, scholarships and leadership positions. In fact, he is believed to have the distinction as the longest-serving advisor nationally in KY.

He also has served on the organizing committee of the MALTO Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy Meeting-in-Minature since its formation in the early 1970s, mentoring and often driving students to meetings across the region.

A past-president of the UH Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi International Honor Society, Williams' past honors include two-time recipient of the Houston Alumni Organization Outstanding Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence, over 10-time recipient of the Rho Chi Society UHCOP Beta Omicron Chapter Teaching Excellence Award, recipient of the Phi Lambda Sigma UHCOP Upsilon Chapter Faculty of the Year, and multiple Grand Council Deputy honors from the Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity.

Williams also co-founded the college's annual scholarship golf tournament in 1979 with UHCOP alumnus and former faculty member Larry McClaugherty ('72). Still running more than 45 years later, the event has raised several hundred thousand dollars in student scholarships and travel awards and established what has grown into one of the college's largest scholarship endowments.

During the Oct. 4 event, Williams and his wife, Sandra, were inducted as members of the Mading Society for their support of the college, including through the Louis Williams Scholarship Endowment.