U.S. Army Capt. Lisa Tonrey, a newly retired commissioned officer of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS), will be the guest speaker during the Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy’s fifth annual Sebok Pharmacy Lecture. Tonrey will deliver her lecture, “Pharmacists as Providers – Challenging the Status Quo,” in ONU’s Freed Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 1 p.m.
Tonrey has been with the USPHS for the past 22 years, and, during that time, she has held numerous positions as both a pharmacist and a health administrator. Her federal service includes time with USPHS Bureau of Medical Services, U.S. Army, Health Resources and Services Administration-Bureau of Primary Healthcare, and the Indian Health Service.
During her career, Tonrey has worked with a variety of pharmacy and health care programs across the United States, including the Indian Health System; community health centers; FQHCs; rural health clinics; health care for the homeless; migrant, school-based and public housing health care programs; state health departments; MCHB Title V; Ryan White Title III programs; and black lung and radiation exposure screening and education programs. She has worked with programs in 27 states and with more than 60 tribes. Most recently, Tonrey served as the area pharmacy consultant for the Phoenix Area Indian Health Service.
Tonrey holds a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Rutgers University and a Master of Health Administration from Chapman University. She is a fellow of the University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and a fellow of the American Pharmacists Association. Tonrey is a former president of the American Pharmacists Association, the first woman on active duty to hold this position. Her presidential initiative to allow pharmacists to immunize in all 50 states and U.S. territories is today a reality.
he Sebok Pharmacy Lecture was established by alumni and friends to honor Dr. Albert A. Sebok, a 1953 graduate of the Raabe College of Pharmacy and one of its most distinguished alumni. A Cleveland native, Sebok joined Standard Drug as a store manager after graduation. In 1961, Revco acquired Standard, and Sebok began his rise in store operations, culminating in his appointment in 1971 as senior vice president for store operations of Revco Drug Stores Inc.
Under his leadership, Revco became the largest discount drug chain in America, with more than 2,000 stores. He was an original member of ONU’s Pharmacy Advisory Board and the founder and instructor of the college’s contemporary pharmacy practice class. He received an honorary doctorate from Ohio Northern in 1988.
