2020 APA Award Winners

Pharmacist of the Year

Brittany Sanders, Pharm.D.

Distinguished Young Pharmacist

Victoria Hennessey, Pharm.D.

Brittany Sanders, Pharm.D. was awarded the 2020 Pharmacist of the Year Award. This award was established in 1959 to honor an APA member who possesses professional standards beyond reproach, has a record of outstanding civic service in the community, and has contributed his or her efforts toward the progress of the profession through the state association.

Dr. Sanders has been incredibly active in the past few years in her roles as pharmacist and advocate. A native of Hot Springs, she worked in retail pharmacy for 12 years and is now the co-owner of the Pharmacy at Wellington in west Little Rock. She chose pharmacy because she wanted to be involved in patient care and it is that dedication to her patients that drove her to appear before the Arkansas legislature in 2019 to testify in support of bills that would help Arkansas patients and pharmacists. For her continued dedication to her patients and her active role in advancing the profession of pharmacy, Dr. Sanders is recognized as the 2020 APA Pharmacist of the Year.

She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas Fayetteville and the UAMS College of Pharmacy. She and her husband Chad have two children and one foster son.

Victoria Hennessey, Pharm.D. was awarded the 2020 Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award. The APA Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award is given annually to an outstanding young pharmacist who has been out of pharmacy school less than ten years and who has demonstrated leadership among his or her peers.

With less than a decade under her belt since graduating from pharmacy school, Victoria Hennessey has packed a lot of experience into such a short time. In the last few years, she split her time between filling prescriptions at a Springdale independent community pharmacy and serving in an ambulatory setting, working side by side with physicians in team-based care for low income patients in an underserved area. In July, her work in leadership positions in the pharmacy world pushed her to purchase the same store where she previously filled prescriptions.

Victoria is a graduate of UCA and UAMS College of Pharmacy. She and her husband have two kids and own Community of Pharmacy of Springdale.

Bowl of Hygeia Award

Mike Smets, P.D.

Mike Smets, P.D. was awarded the 2020 Bowl of Hygeia Award. The Bowl of Hygeia Award is sponsored by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation and National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, with premier support from Boehringer-Ingelheim. This award was established to honor pharmacists who have compiled an outstanding record of community service.

Dr. Smets grew up in the Fort Smith area spending a lot of time in community pharmacies as his father and grandfather were both pharmacists and independent pharmacy owners in Van Buren and were a great influence on him becoming a pharmacist. Community service is close to his heart as he serves on the boards of the Fort Smith Parks Commission, the Sebastian County Red Cross, the Artists, Audiences, and Community organization, and he now serves as President of Park Partners of Fort Smith.

He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas Fayetteville and the UAMS College of Pharmacy and is the pharmacist in charge at Coleman Pharmacy in Fort Smith. He and his wife Bonnie have one daughter and two grandchildren.

NASPA Excellence in Innovation Award

Anne Pace, Pharm.D.

Anne Pace, Pharm.D. was awarded the 2020 Excellence in Innovation Award. This award was established in 1993 by the APA in cooperation with the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations to annually recognize a pharmacist who has demonstrated a prominent spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the practice of pharmacy.

Dr. Pace is a pharmacist who strives to be on the cutting edge. In her previous role as a UAMS College of Pharmacy Associate Professor, she was able to share with future pharmacists her love of being an expert in an area of healthcare and still being able to interact with patients on a daily basis. After buying a community pharmacy with her husband in 2013, she innovated their store by building a robust immunization and compliance packaging practice and most recently by becoming one of the first pharmacies in the country to offer rapid COVID antigen tests onsite.

Anne is a graduate of Drake University College of Pharmacy in Des Moines, Iowa. She and her husband Scott have two kids and own Kavanaugh Pharmacy in Little Rock. She is a member of APA and NCPA and is a preceptor for the UAMS College of Pharmacy.

Friend of Pharmacy Award

Joe Baker

Joe Baker was awarded the 2020 Friend of Pharmacy Award. This new award, created in 2019, symbolizes the leadership, dedication, passion, and contribution to the pharmacy profession from an individual who isn’t in a traditional pharmacy role.

Joe is a native of Emerson, Arkansas and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from SAU and a Master’s of Business Administration from UCA. He’s a familiar face to many Arkansas pharmacists after working for Pharmacists Mutual and teaching personal finance courses at UAMS and Harding Colleges of Pharmacy. Since retiring, he’s authored a book on personal finance entitled Baker’s Dirty Dozen Principles for Financial Independence, available later this year.

Joe was the Arkansas representative for Pharmacists Mutual Company for 28 years providing insurance and financial services for Arkansas pharmacists. He and his wife Brenda live in Little Rock and have two daughters.

Guy Newcomb Award

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge was awarded the 2020 Guy Newcomb Award. The APA Board of Directors created this award to recognize individuals who, by their legislative influence and leadership, have distinguished themselves as political friends of Arkansas pharmacy.

Attorney General Rutledge has been a fierce advocate for pharmacists in Arkansas through her leadership in the Act 900 court cases of the past few years. In 2014 she became the first woman and the first Republican in the state’s history to be elected Arkansas Attorney General. She has led her team as they’ve defended Act 900 in lawsuits appearing before the US District Court and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and this fall, she’ll continue that trajectory at the U.S. Supreme Court.

She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas Fayetteville and the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. She and her husband Boyce have one daughter.