John S. Oftebro Receives
J. Leon Lascoff Memorial Award

The American College of Apothecaries presented the 2010 J. Leon Lascoff Memorial Award to John S. Oftebro of Seattle, Washington, during the College’s Annual Conference conducted April 11 ­– 16, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The presentation was made during the Presidents Banquet on Saturday evening.  This award is named in honor of J. Leon Lascoff and is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to professional pharmacy.  It is the highest award presented by the College for service to the profession and has been presented to some of the most outstanding pharmacy educators, practitioners, other health professionals and individuals serving in leading legislative positions.

John received his Bachelor of Pharmacy from Washington State University in 1965.  He began his practice in Seattle mixing his experience with chain, clinic and hospital positions before purchasing his first pharmacy in 1970.  After acquiring Kelley-Ross Pharmacy in 1973, he initiated an innovative practice setting embracing numerous pharmacy adventures including:  hospice, home health care, unit-dose nursing home care, IV Services, compounding, bingo card/mediset services and individualized AIDS/HIV care. 

In 1988 he began expansion to include six apothecary locations, building patient counseling rooms and continued with innovative developments by offering pharmaceutical care such as patient screening for blood hypertension, diabetes, lipids and bone-density.  John installed one of the first community pharmacy robots in Washington State.  All the while he has mentored over 100 pharmacy students from the University of Washington and Washington State University as an Affiliate Faculty Preceptor.

He entered pharmacy politics early, forming a local pharmacy association in Seattle in 1965, and was president of the Washington State Pharmacy Association in 1978 when it focused on revising the Pharmacy Practice Act, which allowed for immunizations and collaborative practice settings.  Joining the ACA in 1985, John was elected to the Board and served as President in 2003.   He has been the president of the Washington State Pharmacy Foundation for the past 22 years.  He currently is also a WSU Foundation Trustee and serves on the College of Pharmacy Dean’s Advisory Committee.  John also lectures annually to the entrepreneurial pharmacy class at WSU.

His honors include the Wyeth Bowl of Hygeia, the WSU College of Pharmacy Outstanding Alumni Award, the WSU Award for Volunteer Service, and the Don B. Katterman WSPA Service Award.

John is married to Deborah and has two children, 2 granddaughters and one grandson will be arriving soon.

The American College of Apothecaries is an international professional association of pharmacists and pharmacy students whose primary mission is to establish and provide programs which assure the delivery of pharmacy and related health care services of the highest quality and to promote private pharmacy practice.