But his fellow alumni believe that more than luck led to his remarkable contributions – and they recently made that clear by naming Young the 2013 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year.

I’m most proud of being a UCSF graduate.

LLOYD YOUNG, PHARMD ’69

It all began when he fortuitously chose pharmacy for an occupation and UCSF for his education. Close to graduating with a degree in public health from UC Berkeley, Young was simply seeking a way to support himself. “I knew that meant health care,” he recalls. Of all the highlights from his career, Young says, “I’m most proud of being a UCSF graduate” – an honorable but humble remark considering all Young has accomplished.

His class was among the first to receive training in clinical pharmacy, in which pharmacists team up with nurses and physicians at the patient bedside to administer drugs and make treatment decisions. Captivated by this fresh approach to patient care, Young worked with the pioneers of the UCSF Medical Center Ninth Floor Project – a 24/7 satellite pharmaceutical service situated on the ninth floor of Moffitt Hospital, the first in the United States to bring the clinical pharmacy concept to life.

Young’s early commitment to clinical pharmacy extended beyond patient care: along with his Medical Center colleague Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD ’69, now dean emerita of the UCSF School of Pharmacy, he worked to further train pharmacy students in the field. The two also combined their expertise in a seminal textbook – Koda-Kimble and Young’s Applied Therapeutics – that helped transform clinical pharmacy education nationally and internationally.

Lloyd’s career reflects his personality. He’s understated, but highly influential; his impact on the practice and education of pharmacists has been huge

Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD ’69, Dean Emerita

His reputation caught the attention of Washington State University’s College of Pharmacy, which wooed the rising young faculty member to develop experiential training opportunities into a clinical pharmacy program. The next stop in Young’s trailblazing path was the University of Texas, El Paso, where he founded a cooperative pharmacy program with the University of Texas, Austin, to draw more underrepresented students to the profession.

In 2000, Young seized an opportunity to chair the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at his alma mater. “He did some very hard things that were not particularly popular but paid off,” reflects Koda-Kimble. “He began to focus the faculty on the importance of research, because he knew funding was down and they would need to generate their own salaries through research grants,” she explains. “Today, that department brings in as many research dollars as the basic science departments.”

Young retired in 2006, feeling that he had reached the pinnacle of his career in clinical pharmacy. But he was lured back into service as dean of the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Detroit’s Wayne State University, where he currently oversees 12 health care programs ranging from pharmacy to physical therapy to mortuary science.

“Lloyd’s career reflects his personality,” says Koda-Kimble. “He’s understated, but highly influential; his impact on the practice and education of pharmacists has been huge.”

Befitting his unpretentious nature, Young concludes, “I keep using the word lucky to describe my career. I read recently the definition of luck is the intersection of opportunity and preparedness. I’m not sure I was prepared, but there were opportunities, and I took them. 

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