Steve Dedrick began his career at Duke University Hospital after graduation from the UNC Eshleman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He returned to UNC-Chapel Hill and received his master of science in pharmacy while continuing his career at Duke in expanded roles and in 1998 became director of pharmacy. His responsibilities included leadership of a pharmacy department that comprises more than 275 staff, including 107 pharmacists, and an expense budget of $110,000,000. Dedrick retired from Duke in 2008.

Dedrick’s teaching experience includes adjunct professor of pharmacy practice at the Campbell University School of Pharmacy and instructor in the pharmacy technician training program at Durham Community College. He is a member of the Campbell University School of Pharmacy and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Boards of Visitors. Dedrick has served in a number of elected offices for the North Carolina Society of Health System Pharmacists, the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists, and the Durham-Orange Pharmaceutical Association. He is a recipient of the NCSHP Pharmacist of the Year award, and he was awarded a honorary doctor of science by Campbell University in May 2002. Dedrick was appointed to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business’s Advisory Board for Pharmacist Executive Education Programs in 2005. In May 2008, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

Dedrick joined the faculty at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in January 2009 as the director of continuing education where he is focused on postgraduate training for pharmacists to advance pharmacy practice and improve patient care. He also teaches in the master's program in hospital pharmacy at the School.