Distinguished Alumna Lori Dickerson ’93 to keynote White Coat

On August 12, the Class of 2025 will don their first white coats as the MUSC College of Pharmacy welcomes its newest members in the White Coat Ceremony, held at 3 p.m. in the Drug Discovery Building on the MUSC campus.

The white coat is an important symbol in the health professions. In pharmacy, the white coat represents:

• membership in the practice of pharmacy, one of the most trusted professions
• a pledge to maintain the highest academic and scientific standards
• an immense responsibility to maintain a high ethical standard as a servant leader who prioritizes the patient’s needs above the healthcare practitioner’s

The 2021 MUSC White Coat Ceremony includes introductions to the faculty in each department, signing of the Pharmacist’s Code of Ethics, the Pledge of Professionalism, and a keynote address by 2021 MUSC Distinguished Alumna Award winner Lori Dickerson ’93.

Dr. Lori Dickerson ’93

Lori Dickerson has become one of the industry’s most respected and influential voices in the last three decades.

A 1993 graduate of the MUSC College of Pharmacy, she completed her residency in family medicine at MUSC in 1994. She is currently editor of the Prescriber’s Letter and Pharmacist’s Letter and serves as a volunteer clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at MUSC.

Dickerson has been a role model and ambassador for not only the College of Pharmacy but for clinical pharmacists in health care. While rising to the rank of tenured professor, she served in several critical leadership roles not often held by a nonphysician, including associate director for the Trident/MUSC Family Medicine Residency Program and the associate chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Family Medicine at MUSC.

In recognition of her exceptional skills as a medical educator, Dickerson received numerous awards including multiple Golden Oyster Faculty Teaching Awards, Teacher of the Year, and multiple Faculty Excellence Awards from family medicine residents. She is also the recipient of the Excellence in Family Medicine Education Award from the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium.

Dickerson has served as a member and officer in numerous professional organizations. She served on several committees and panels for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), the ACCP Ambulatory Care Practice and Research Network, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Board of Pharmaceutical Specialists, and National Interdisciplinary Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network. She has also participated in committees and groups for the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, notably serving as chair of the pharmacotherapy group.

Dickerson’s community service demonstrates her passion for vulnerable and medically underserved populations. She was a steward of children sexual abuse prevention training for Darkness to Light, an organization that seeks to empower adults to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse through awareness, education and stigma reduction. She served as a clinical pharmacy consultant for Barrier Islands Free Medical Clinic, a clinic in Johns Island, South Carolina that provides free health care to uninsured adults who live or work across the barrier islands or serve downtown Charleston’s hospitality industry. Finally, she is a steward to the College of Pharmacy by keeping the college visible to other alumni, the community, and to academic medicine across the country.