In 2007, Craig Williams from the OSU College of Pharmacy was asked to be the first pharmacist on the American Diabetes Association’s national guideline committee which is called the Professional Practice Committee.
“A lot of my expertise and background is on cardiovascular disease and its prevention and we did a lot in 2007 to rewrite the section of the guidelines on lipid management,” he says.
The revised guidelines including William’s analysis of many of the major outcomes trials was published in the 2008 guidelines and it has remained mostly unchanged, including in the most recent guideline which was released this month.
All members of the PPC serve for 2 years. Williams has served in 2008 and 2009 and continues to consult with ADA mostly on the sections related to cardiovascular disease prevention in patients with diabetes. Coming off of the PPC committee, he’s transitioned and is now on the planning committee for the ADA’s national meeting which happens every June.
“I will be on that committee for 2 years and we’re trying to get more pharmacists involved in the ADA and that national meeting.”
The ADA will be host a symposia at the June 2011 meeting (June 24-28) in San Diego on managing the difficulty, polypharmacy patient. Three of the four speakers will be pharmacists.