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Mickey Smith proves there’s life after retirement

Mickey C. Smith

Mickey C. Smith, F.A.P. Barnard Distinguished Professor Ermeritus of Pharmacy Administration

M

ickey C. Smith, the University of Mississippi’s F.A.P. Barnard Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Pharmacy Administration, is one of the world’s most read and respected pharmaceutical marketing experts. He has published some 450 research and professional papers, written or edited 22 books and helped found the Journal of Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management.

Since retiring in 2003, Smith has published four more books. His latest is Hello. I’m Charlie Hartman, which is available at Square Books in Oxford for $10 a copy.

The book is about the late Charles W. Hartman, dean of the UM School of Pharmacy from 1961 until his death in a tragic automobile accident in 1970.

“It is generally agreed that in (Hartman’s) brief time as dean, he took the school from being understaffed and underfunded to a position of national prominence,” Smith said. “He secured funding for Faser Hall, pharmacy’s first home. He also established the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences.”

Those who knew Dean Hartman and remember him fondly as “Charlie,” and even those who don’t, will get a kick out of learning how he established a science library in Faser Hall and held a groundbreaking ceremony for the building after campus administrators told him couldn’t.

“‘Visionary’ is the term often used to describe Hartman,” Smith said. “However, he was more than just a man with good ideas. He was a doer. He wanted to see things through to their conclusion, even if it meant ‘bending’ a few rules. He had a kind of charisma that made people get on board with him.”

The book contains remembrances from the late John Leslie, Hartman’s personal friend and Oxford’s longtime mayor, as well as contributions from Hartman’s daughter, Jan, and former Mississippi Gov. William Winter.

Smith first became acquainted with Hartman while working on his Ph.D. in pharmacy administration at Ole Miss in the early ’60s. He grew to know him well after returning to campus in 1966 to begin his 37-year teaching, research and publishing career, which helped put the School of Pharmacy’s pharmaceutical marketing and management program on the map.

Smith’s first book to find its way into print was Principles of Pharmaceutical Marketing in 1966. He wrote the book at age 30 because there was no textbook available for the marketing course he taught.

A companion text of readings followed the next year. The first of five editions of Smith’s most widely used textbook, Pharmacy, Drugs and Medical Care, debuted in 1972. Smith’s other books include several editions of the Handbook of Institutional Pharmacy Practice (co-edited with UM pharmacy colleague Thomas R. Brown); Pharmacy Practice, Social and Behavioral Aspects; Casebook in Social and Behavioral Pharmacy; and Small Comfort, A History of the Minor Tranquilizers.

A little more than a year after Smith became its founding editor in 1986, the Journal of Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management was adopted by the Economic, Social and Administrative Sciences Section of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and was distributed worldwide for 21 years.

“As a graduate student and later as a young faculty member, Mickey’s publications were a great inspiration for me personally and for everyone involved with the department,” said Benjamin F. Banahan III, director of the school’s Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management. “When I first started in pharmaceutical marketing, everyone I met knew of Mickey Smith. His reputation was a great asset in building the research program, even when we were developing training programs for Japanese pharmaceutical executives. Everybody knew about Mickey.”

By 1988, Smith’s papers and books had brought much positive attention to the pharmacy school. So, too, did many of his research projects. Throughout his career, Smith was involved in the groundwork of some major pharmaceutical decisions. He conducted studies with pharmacists on such issues as generic substitution before it was even considered an issue. He was also involved in research to discover pharmacists’ response to switching several drugs from prescription to over-the-counter status, including ibuprofen, hydrocortisone cream, Benadryl and Actifed.

Mickey C. Smith and his wife, Mary

Since retiring, Mickey C. Smith and his wife, Mary, have visited every continent and all 50 states.

The first study he conducted, in 1966, involved the economics of adverse drug reactions. In ensuing years, he studied such topics as drug use among AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) families, the consequences of a Medicaid formulary and determinants of medication use among the elderly.

Just six years after receiving his doctorate, Smith was promoted to full professor and chair of his department, which he molded into one of the nation’s best. He led the department until 1985, when he stepped down to concentrate on research, writing and teaching, at which he excelled.

“Dr. Smith is a legacy,” said Donna West-Strum, the department’s current chair. “We owe him much for establishing this department as one of the best pharmacy administration departments in the country. Everywhere you go, people in pharmacy either know him or have read something he wrote. He is a prolific writer and has contributed greatly to the pharmaceutical marketing literature.”

Four years after stepping down as chair, the university rewarded Smith’s research, writing and teaching excellence by naming him one of its eight inaugural Barnard Distinguished Professors.

“These university-wide professorships honored only internationally renowned faculty members,” said Alice M. Clark, vice chancellor for research and sponsored programs. “The year Dr. Smith received his Barnard professorship, he was in excellent company.”

Even after retiring from Ole Miss, Smith has been unable to resist the impulse to publish, especially when it comes to the history of pharmacy. In 2005, he published The Rexall Story: A History of Genius and Neglect, and in 2006, his Pharmacy Education at the University of Mississippi: Sketches, Highlights, and Memories made it into print.

His published his favorite book, How Fibber McGee and Molly Won World War II, in 2011.

To find out how the couple did it, read the book, or call Smith at 662-234-5335. He’d love to hear from his former colleagues and students. To reach him, though, you might have to call between trips. Since retiring, he and his wife, Mary, have visited all continents and all 50 states.

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