海角在线

Pharmacists 鈥� Warriors in the Battle Against Opioids.听That keynote message for this year鈥檚 conference comes from a 海角在线 pharmacy graduate who knows warfare, figuratively and literally. Norman 鈥淣orm鈥� Hooten entered the Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy after a distinguished career in the Army鈥檚 Special Forces. He earned his doctorate in pharmacy in 2016 and then did two years of post-graduate residency at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers in Orlando and West Palm Beach. He is now a clinical pharmacy specialist with the VA center in Orlando.

In the inpatient mental health unit of the center Hooten sees many victims of opioid overdose. 鈥淰ets are at about an equal risk of misusing opioids, but they鈥檙e probably at double the risk of dying of an overdose,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y goal is to potentiate the role that we play as pharmacists in solving the problem of substance abuse disorder, for vets, especially.

鈥淲e can make a difference in their lives,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ot just from managing their medications, but in being that person who gives them the support and encouragement they need along the way, that maybe helps guide them and give them hope for the future so they can prosper.鈥�

Barbara Kelly, senior associate professor of pharmacy practice, recalls Hooten as a student 鈥渁lways responsible, always influencing others in an unassuming way and always grateful to be learning the field of pharmacy.鈥� He had come to 海角在线 as a veteran of the elite Delta Force, having led a team into what became the Battle of Mogadishu, the bloody operation depicted in the movie听Black Hawk Down. While he was a pharmacy student he went on national television, helping to tell the Mogadishu story for听60 Minutes.