Pharmacy School Announces Alumni of the Year

Three honored during annual alumni reunion

OXFORD, Miss. – This month, the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy will recognize three of its alumni for their career accomplishments during the annual Pharmacy Alumni Reunion.

This year’s honorees include 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award winners Meg Pearson and Debbie Minor and 2024 Early Career Alumni Award winner Alexandre Raymond.

“It is an honor to recognize these accomplished alumni,” said Donna Strum, dean of the School of Pharmacy. “It’s gratifying to see former students thriving in the world of pharmacy and serving as role models for current students. Each of this year’s honorees is so deserving.”

Pearson, a 1998 Doctor of Pharmacy graduate, is the director of pharmacy for the Mississippi State Department of Health. Since becoming director in 2010, she has expanded services supporting MSDH beyond core dispensing operations.

She serves in leadership and committee roles throughout MSDH, coordinates with other state agencies, non-governmental organizations, non-profits and other MSDH departments in implementing public health initiatives and manages an annual pharmacy budget that exceeds $4 million.

Minor is a 1997 Doctor of Pharmacy graduate. She is a professor in the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine. Across her more than 40-year career, she has worked in the areas of community, institutional, consultant, academic and clinical pharmacy.

She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Millsaps College before going on to earn a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Mississippi.

Raymond is a 2016 Doctor of Pharmacy graduate who has served as corporate compliance director for Ochsner Health’s Drug Diversion Prevention and Response network for five years. Prior to his current role, he served Ochsner Health as an operations supervisor at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, during which he also led the location’s Drug Diversion Response Team.

After earning his Doctor of Pharmacy from Ole Miss, he completed a health-system pharmacy administration and leadership residency at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He also earned a master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences focusing in health-system pharmacy administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Raymond is an active member of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators and the International Health Facility Diversion Association, where he serves on multiple committees.

“I am humbled to receive this award from an institution that has been so pivotal in my growth and success,” Raymond said. “The School of Pharmacy challenged me to think outside the box on what it means to be a pharmacist. I hope I can continue to inspire the next generation of pharmacists to step outside their comfort zones and blaze their own trail.”

All three alumni honorees will be recognized during the annual Pharmacy Alumni Reunion banquet on April 11.

By Natalie Ehrhardt