Enhancing AJPE and Pharmacy Education – Thank you Dr. Jack Fincham

Dr. Jack Fincham recently completed his service as an American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE) associate editor after 12 years in the position. Dr. Fincham was the primary editor for manuscripts in the social and administrative sciences, health care policy, and public health. These areas of our discipline have been rapidly expanding in activity and interest in this era of health care reform. The entire pharmacy education academy owes Dr. Fincham a debt of gratitude for his contributions that helped enhance AJPE. He was there throughout its phenomenal growth and expansion, as it went online, and increased in frequency and international visibility. During his time with the journal, the number of manuscript submissions increased 400%.

Dr. Fincham has been a strong advocate for instruction in public health in our colleges and schools of pharmacy, perhaps reflecting his earliest professional roots in rural community pharmacy practice. His public health interests and opinions are far ranging, with published Viewpoints touching on health literacy, distribution of pharmaceuticals and counterfeit medications, poliomyelitis, health care reform and managed care, and alcohol and tobacco use and abuse. Through the years, these thoughtful articles have challenged our thinking and understanding of many key issues in pharmacy education, practice, and research.

Dr. Fincham has been a leading advocate for quality in the scholarly works published in AJPE. A series of his papers and Viewpoints directly addressed key quality issues for the journal such as survey standards and adequate sample size and response rates. As associate editor, Dr. Fincham co-edited papers that set standards for survey research,^1-3 which have been widely adopted and undoubtedly increased the quality of survey work related to pharmacy education and the work published in AJPE. Through his scholarly and thoughtful articles and editorial efforts, he helped countless authors improve the quality of their submissions to the journal and set a fine example for the other AJPE associate editors.

Dr. Fincham is also known for his dedication to enhancing pharmacy education in his positions as faculty member and administrator over many years. He received his BS in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska and PhD in social and administrative pharmacy from the Kellogg Pharmaceutical Clinical Scientist Program at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Fincham also received a postgraduate certificate degree in health economics from the University of Aberdeen. He has and continues to be a role model for professional and graduate students, junior faculty members, colleagues, and administrators at the institutions he has served, including the University of Georgia, University of Mississippi, Creighton University, Samford University, University of Kansas, University of Missouri at Kansas City, and in his new position as a professor of pharmaceutical and administrative sciences at Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy.

He is an accomplished editor, educator, and scholar whose influence continues to be felt in pharmacy education. The quality of AJPE improved as a result of his dedication, and in turn, the quality of pharmacy education has most certainly benefited and will continue to benefit. We wish Dr. Fincham all the best with his continuing and future pursuits.

• © 2014 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy