Steve Caiola, M.S., professor emeritus in and former chair of the School’s Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education, received the Fred M. Eckel Pharmacy Leadership Award for 2017.
The award in honor of Fred M. Eckel, M.S., is jointly given by the School and UNC Hospitals. Eckel created the UNC Hospital Pharmacy Residency Program in 1967 and the award is meant to honor someone associated with UNC Hospitals and Clinics post-graduate pharmacy training programs who has remained dedicated to pharmacy practice throughout his or her career.
“I am not sure that you could name a single legacy for Steve Caiola,” said Eckel, who worked with Caiola for many years at the School. “He was just an all around player who did what was needed and did it well.”
Caiola received his M.S. in hospital pharmacy from the Ohio State University in 1969, the same year he began working at the School. He retired in June 2013, 44 years later. During his tenure, he worked in a variety of positions educating pharmacy students and was the recipient of many honors, including the Don Blanton Award and being named the 2007 Acute Care Practice Forum Pharmacist of the Year, both from the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists. He also won the 2013 Ned Brooks Award for Public Service from the Carolina Center for Public Service.
After establishing the clinical pharmacy program at UNC Hospitals, Caiola worked with Orange Chatham Comprehensive Health Service serving as pharmacy director and moving UNC into the community to improve the health-care needs of the underserved. During that time, he also involved pharmacy students as charter members of the Student Health Action Coalition, the oldest health affairs student-run clinic in the country. Caiola also served as the head of the North Carolina Area Health Education Center system.