bio - Dr. Joseph Dean

Bio
JOSEPH O. DEAN, JR.

Dr. Joseph O. Dean, Jr., Emeritus Dean and Professor of the McWhorter School of Pharmacy at Samford University, a Birmingham native, graduated from Samford's Pharmacy School in 1962. Dean holds a master's degree from the University of Montevallo (1980) and a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama (1985). He practiced in both independent and chain community pharmacies for 14 years, including nearly six years as a community pharmacy owner, prior to joining the pharmacy school faculty at Samford in 1975.

After nine years as a pharmacy educator and administrator, he was named vice president for university relations at Samford. He later served as vice president for development at Charleston Southern University in Charleston, SC.

Dr. Dean returned to Birmingham in late 1989 to help establish the Samford University Foundation, a corporation connecting Samford faculty members with research and service opportunities in the corporate and academic communities. He served as the Foundation's chief executive officer from its founding until late 1993. He was named Dean of the School of Pharmacy in 1991. Dean retired from Samford University in 2006.

His civic contributions include service on boards of The Crisis Center, Family Promise Birmingham, Samaritan Counseling Center and Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame. He was named to the Samford University Board of Overseers 2007-2016. Dean is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham (1996). He is former member and (chairman) of the Shelby County Board of Education (1973-1976) and member and (president) of the Hoover City Board of Education (2001-2006).

Active in local, state, national, and international pharmacy organizations, Dean was the 1972 recipient of the Bowl of Hygeia for outstanding community service by a pharmacist in Alabama. He was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Alabama Pharmacy Hall of Fame in 2017. He is listed in Who’s Who in the World 2012.

The American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists recognized him as the inaugural recipient of the Outstanding Dean Award in 2005. The American College of Apothecaries awarded Dean its 2001 Deans Recognition Medal. In September 2005, Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan awarded Dean an honorary doctorate for his contributions to the development of pharmacy education in Japan. He was named the 2006 Health Care Hero – Educator by the Birmingham Business Journal. In 2011, Dean was awarded a Pellegrino Medal by the Healthcare Ethics and Law Institute of Samford University.

Dr. Dean is a past-chair of the Council of Deans and served three years on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Dean served on the Alabama Commission on Pharmacy and as a 20 year trustee of the Alabama Pharmacy Association. He served on national Deans Advisory Councils for Medco Health Solutions, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association and Rite Aid Corporation. Dr. Dean has traveled extensively in Europe and Asia speaking to health professionals on developing models of clinical practice and technological innovations in the health professions.

During 2003-2016, Dean established and was president/principal of a consulting practice through which he assisted education, pharmacy and healthcare clients in solving problems and developing programs.

Lifelong Alabamians, he and his wife, Dr. Carol Dean, have three adult children and five grandchildren. The Dean's have lived in the Pinewood Section of Hoover since 1990 and are active members of Baptist Church of the Covenant.