ONU Pharmacy Dean Steve Martin retires June 30
What does the future hold for pharmacists? Steve Martin, Pharm.D., foresees transformative changes that more closely align the field of pharmacy with physicians and psychiatrists for enhanced health and wellbeing. His predictions are based on both a lifetime of observation and practice along with academic insight into the ever-evolving and expanding pharmaceutical field.
On the eve of Martin’s retirement, he said he is optimistic about the direction of pharmacy, in large part because of the caliber of ONU’s pharmacy students and alumni. He recently took time to consider his career trajectory and what it has meant to him to be a Polar Bear (video located at the end of this story).
From family to faculty
For Martin, who became Ohio Northern University’s Raabe College of Pharmacy dean and professor nine years ago, practicing pharmacy has been a family tradition. While growing up, he and his two brothers; along with his mother, a nurse who served as the neighborhood fixer upper when it came to physical mishaps; and a cousin; all worked at the family pharmacy where Martin’s dad was an owner and pharmacist, thereby ensuring the profession “was always part of the conversation” within their household and engrained in their service-focused philosophy. Inevitably, Martin followed in his father’s footsteps.
Transitioning his career into education also came naturally, he said.
“I think the number one thing that I enjoy about what I do, either in my role as a pharmacist taking care of patients or in my role as a faculty member working with students, is helping people,” Martin said.
