UHCOP Alumna, DAC Member Joyce Tipton Elected Vice President of Texas State Board of Pharmacy 

UH College of Pharmacy alumna Joyce Tipton, R.Ph., MBA, FASHP, director of Pharmacy and Respiratory Care at Memorial Hermann Memorial City, has been elected vice president of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy.

A UHCOP adjunct faculty member and a member of the UHCOP Dean's Advisory Council, Tipton has served on the TSBP since her appointment by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry in January 2010. Tipton also serves as residency director for Memorial Hermann's PGY1-PGY2 Health-system Pharmacy Administration program, which is part of the Pharmacy Leadership & Administration program she helped establish between UHCOP and seven Texas Medical Center health systems. 

"Serving as a board member on the Texas State Board of Pharmacy is an honor and an opportunity that I take very seriously," Tipton said. "It is humbling to be a part of this small group of dedicated individuals tasked with protecting the safety of the citizens of Texas in regard to all things pharmacy related. As I complete my first term and continue to serve while awaiting word of my hopeful reappointment from the governor’s office, it was an honor to be recognized by my colleagues on the board with my election as vice president.

"The opportunities in pharmacy that started as a student at the UHCOP have been great for me and I’m thrilled to be able to make a difference whenever I can. I have a passion for improving medication safety and my tenure on the Board of Pharmacy has presented me with a whole new view of where some of these opportunities exist and how we continue to improve."

In addition to receiving her B.S. in Pharmacy from UHCOP, Tipton earned a Masters of Business Administration from the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University. Tipton's prior experience includes serving as the Chief Pharmacy Officer and Interim Director of Quality and Patient Safety at Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, the Administrative Director of Pharmacy at then-St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, and leadership positions at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC) in Winston-Salem, N.C., and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She also has experience in home infusion, school-based clinic, and community pharmacy. Tipton implemented one of the country's earliest Emergency Department pharmacy services in 1995 at WFUBMC and developed the St. Luke's Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Epidemiology and expanded the pharmacy residency program at St. Luke's.

Tipton is a Fellow in the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and a member of the American Pharmacist Association, Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Texas Pharmacy Association, American College of Clinical Pharmacists, and American College of Healthcare Executives.

Tipton has a special interest in pharmacy practice outcomes and systematic quality improvement application in the medication use process.