A true pharmacy icon, Dr. Joseph A. Oddis, left the Earth this week. He began his life of service to pharmacy and its patients as a young man, going on to become the CEO of ASHP for 37 years and the recipient of the profession’s most distinguished accolades, including the Remington Medal and Hugo Schaefer Award. Over the course of his long career, Dr. Oddis touched every crevice and contour of pharmacy practice as we know it, and in doing so made an untold impact on the lives of millions of patients under pharmacists’ care.

It was the summer of 2020, and COVID-19 had pulled back the curtain on historic inadequacies in the American health care system—too little personal protective equipment, an unreliable drug supply chain, rampant health inequities, and a lack of coordination between the government, public health officials, and health care providers and facilities.