Donald Eugene Francke (1910–1978): “Reformer by Nature, Doer by Necessity”

Abstract

Francke was the director of pharmacy services at the UM Medical Center, where he replaced Whitney, from 1944 until 1963. He served as the secretary of the pharmacy and therapeutics committee during his entire tenure at the hospital and was also responsible for the hospital formulary. As important as his services were to the university, they were every bit as important to the broader hospital pharmacy community. From 1949 through 1955, while still working at UM, he served as the unpaid director of APhA’s Division of Hospital Pharmacy. During this period he headed a study project for the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) to develop a national audit of pharmacy services in hospitals. This survey elicited information from over 3,600 hospitals, and its results helped PHS examine what pharmacists were doing and how they were doing it. The collection of information on issues such as satisfaction with the current state of pharmacy and pharmacy services and types of services provided led to a series of recommendations that included training and education for hospital pharmacists and the need for pharmacy to fulfill its mission as a public health service. Published as the Mirror to Hospital Pharmacy in 1963, the survey results provided a basis for examining what the professional roles for the hospital pharmacist might be in the future.3 Donald Eugene Francke (1910-1978): “Reformer by Nature, Doer by Necessity”