Meet the New Chief Professional Officer for the Pharmacist Category

RADM Robert E. Pittman was selected as the Chief Professional Officer for the Pharmacist category effective 6 February 2006. As Chief Pharmacist Officer, he is responsible for providing leadership and coordination of Public Health Service (PHS) pharmacist professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General.

RADM Pittman received a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Arizona in 1984 and a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management from Johns Hopkins University in 1999. In 2003, he completed the GlaxoSmithKline Executive Management Program for Pharmacy Leaders from the Wharton School and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics of the University of Pennsylvania.

Commissioned in 1984 and assigned to the Indian Health Service (IHS) in Whiteriver, AZ, he served as a staff pharmacist responsible for inpatient, outpatient, and nursing home pharmacy services. In 1987, he transferred to the Sells Indian Hospital in Sells, AZ, as Deputy Chief of Pharmacy Services where he was responsible for pharmacy accreditation, quality assurance, and student programs.

In 1991, RADM Pittman transferred to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in Rockville, MD, as a Health Care Personnel Recruitment Specialist in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) recruiting pharmacists, engineers, and environmental health officers for PHS agencies. In 1994, he became a Senior Health Care Personnel Recruitment Specialist in the NHSC Recruitment Branch managing retention activities and a $5.5 million dollar marketing contract. He transferred to the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) in HRSA in 1997 serving as the Deputy Branch Chief of the Peer Review Branch coordinating the review of over $8 million in grants applications annually.

In November 2000, RADM Pittman was appointed as the Principal Pharmacy Consultant for the IHS in Rockville, MD. In his present duties, he is responsible for providing performance improvement, risk management, cost containment, and professional pharmacy coordination, analysis, consultation, and collaboration with and for IHS, Tribal and Urban components nationwide. He provides leadership for over 600 IHS, Tribal and Urban Program pharmacists at 237 practice sites.

RADM Pittman served on numerous national recruitment, promotion, and readiness work groups and has shown notable leadership in PHS Commissioned Corps activities. He served as chair and vice chair of the PHS Pharmacist Professional Advisory Committee, Chair of the Minority Officers Liaison Council, Chair of the American Indian and Alaska Native Commissioned Officers Advisory Committee, and as the Commissioned Corps Liaison for BHPr in HRSA.

He is a member of several professional organizations including the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, American Public Health Association, Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and the Reserve Officers Association of the United States. He served on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Society of Health-System Pharmacists and as a delegate for both the APhA and ASHP House of Delegates.

RADM Pittman received numerous honors and awards including the Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Medal, two Commendation Medals, two PHS Achievement Medals, two PHS Citations, two PHS Outstanding Unit Citations, eleven PHS Unit Commendations, and the PHS Crisis Response Service Award. In 1995, RADM Pittman was the recipient of the U.S. Public Health Service George F. Archambault Award for Career Achievement in Pharmacy, the highest honor bestowed upon a PHS pharmacist officer by the PHS Pharmacy Professional Advisory Committee.

 

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