Board Hires Director of Professional Affairs
The Alabama State Board of Pharmacy would like to welcome the newest addition to its staff, Dr Susan Alverson. Susan
has taken the position of director of professional affairs, and
her job will be to work with the developers of the Board’s new
database and to oversee the conversion from the current system.
She will also be responsible for working with sterile compounding pharmacies in Alabama to ensure compliance with United
States Pharmacopeia Chapter <797>.
Susan earned both her master of science and doctorate degrees in public administration from the University of Southern
California; her master of science in hospital pharmacy from
Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia; and her bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the
University of Wisconsin.
Prior to joining the staff of the Board, Susan was the associate dean for student/alumni affairs and director of continuing
education (CE) at Samford University, McWhorter School of
Pharmacy in Birmingham, AL, from January 2, 1993 to July
31, 2012.
Database Conversion
In May of this year, the Board ended its contract with the
company that had been providing the data support system for all
office functions, its e-mail, and its Web support for the past three
years. The Board also began a new contract with GL Solutions,
which is a company that works solely with government offices.
The Board researched this decision and found strong support
from other boards of pharmacy as well as non-pharmacy groups
that served as licensing and inspection offices. The changeover
was, of course, a challenging task for everyone involved. It
meant new screens, different methods of organizing data, and
the inevitable “new way of doing things.” Overall, the process
was successful. As you can imagine, there are items that did
not convert well, and the Board has spent the last six weeks
tweaking and revamping. Fortunately, all data converted is
intact, though it may have a new look for the Board.
One issue with this changeover is that the new data management company does not manage e-mail or Web sites. Consequently, the Board also changed to a new support system for
both of these services and has had to engage in developing interfaces with the two new partners providing the data management
and e-mail/Web support services. For that reason, you may have
found the Board’s Web site down for a few days in May, and one
or two functions on the Web site are still in development. The
license verification function is now working, as is the change of
status function. One of the Board’s next steps will be to change
the appearance of the Web site. Everyone with whom the Board
has spoken has commented that the Board should eliminate the
rolling news screen. That will be the first change you will see;
hopefully, you will be able to read an article without having to
wait for it to roll around again to finish the story.
quoted from Alabama Board of Pharmacy August 2013 Newsletter
The Alabama State Board of Pharmacy would like to welcome the newest addition to its staff, Dr Susan Alverson. Susan
has taken the position of director of professional affairs, and
her job will be to work with the developers of the Board’s new
database and to oversee the conversion from the current system.
She will also be responsible for working with sterile compounding pharmacies in Alabama to ensure compliance with United
States Pharmacopeia Chapter <797>.
Susan earned both her master of science and doctorate degrees in public administration from the University of Southern
California; her master of science in hospital pharmacy from
Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia; and her bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the
University of Wisconsin.
Prior to joining the staff of the Board, Susan was the associate dean for student/alumni affairs and director of continuing
education (CE) at Samford University, McWhorter School of
Pharmacy in Birmingham, AL, from January 2, 1993 to July
31, 2012.
Database Conversion
In May of this year, the Board ended its contract with the
company that had been providing the data support system for all
office functions, its e-mail, and its Web support for the past three
years. The Board also began a new contract with GL Solutions,
which is a company that works solely with government offices.
The Board researched this decision and found strong support
from other boards of pharmacy as well as non-pharmacy groups
that served as licensing and inspection offices. The changeover
was, of course, a challenging task for everyone involved. It
meant new screens, different methods of organizing data, and
the inevitable “new way of doing things.” Overall, the process
was successful. As you can imagine, there are items that did
not convert well, and the Board has spent the last six weeks
tweaking and revamping. Fortunately, all data converted is
intact, though it may have a new look for the Board.
One issue with this changeover is that the new data management company does not manage e-mail or Web sites. Consequently, the Board also changed to a new support system for
both of these services and has had to engage in developing interfaces with the two new partners providing the data management
and e-mail/Web support services. For that reason, you may have
found the Board’s Web site down for a few days in May, and one
or two functions on the Web site are still in development. The
license verification function is now working, as is the change of
status function. One of the Board’s next steps will be to change
the appearance of the Web site. Everyone with whom the Board
has spoken has commented that the Board should eliminate the
rolling news screen. That will be the first change you will see;
hopefully, you will be able to read an article without having to
wait for it to roll around again to finish the story.
quoted from Alabama Board of Pharmacy August 2013 Newsletter
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