Dr. Lisa Murphey Lundquist, associate dean for administration in the Mercer University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, has been named interim dean of the new College of Health Professions, effective May 1. Her appointment was announced by Dr. Hewitt “Ted” Matthews, the University's senior vice president for health sciences who leads the new Mercer Health Sciences Center. Dr. Matthews is also dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
The new College of Health Professions becomes operational July 1 and will include already existing programs in Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies, and Public Health. The new College will be the 12th academic unit at Mercer and the fourth health sciences unit under the Mercer Health Sciences Center, which was launched by the University on July 1, 2012. The Center is designed to integrate the education of the University's health sciences students and helps coordinate the research efforts of its health sciences faculty. The other units under the Center include the School of Medicine, the College of Pharmacy, and the College of Nursing.
“Dr. Lundquist is a proven leader, manager and scholar who brings exceptional credentials to her new post,” Dr. Matthews said. “As both assistant and associate dean, she has demonstrated outstanding leadership and organizational skills that will serve her well as interim dean. I am confident that she will provide the leadership needed for the new College to achieve excellence in reaching all of its goals.”
Dr. Lundquist joined the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2006 as clinical assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice. In 2009, she was promoted to assistant dean for administration and clinical associate professor. As assistant dean, her responsibilities ranged from leading the accreditation self-study process of the College of Pharmacy to organizing interprofessional education activities for health sciences to strategic planning. In 2011, Dr. Lundquist was named interim chair and program director of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, a position she held for a year in addition to her responsibilities as assistant dean. In July 2012, she was promoted to associate dean for administration, a position that expanded her responsibilities to include chairing the Mercer Health Sciences Center's Ad-hoc Interprofessional Education Committee.
Dr. Lundquist has received several awards including the “Professor of the Year” honor in 2011 from the Rho Chi chapter in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and the “Distinguished Educator Award” in 2008 from the College. She has authored or co-authored more than 80 scholarly articles and abstracts, and has made numerous presentations at academic conferences. She also completed an Academic Leadership Fellows Program with the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
Dr. Lundquist earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy in Birmingham, Ala. She completed a post-graduate residency in primary care and is a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist. Prior to joining the faculty at Mercer, she was on faculty at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.
