Following a national search, S. Suresh Madhavan will serve as dean of Temple University’s School of Pharmacy, Provost Gregory N. Mandel announced Monday. Subject to final approval by the Board of Trustees, Madhavan will begin in this role on Friday, March 1.
Madhavan recently served as dean of the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) System College of Pharmacy in Fort Worth, Texas, holding that position from June 2019 until September 2023. He currently serves as a professor of pharmacotherapy at UNTHSC.
“It is incredibly exciting to welcome an accomplished leader and researcher like Suresh to the key position of dean at the School of Pharmacy,” Mandel said. “Many of the areas of focus for Temple—student retention, strategic planning, research excellence, community engagement and faculty recruitment—are areas where Suresh has excelled during his career. We are eager to see the many ways in which he will make his mark at the School of Pharmacy.”
Prior to joining UNTHSC, Madhavan enjoyed a lengthy and successful tenure at West Virginia University (WVU), which he first joined in 1988 as an assistant professor at its School of Pharmacy. For more than 30 years, he held various teaching, research and leadership positions at the university, including as chairperson of the Department of Pharmaceutical Systems and Policy from 1994 up until his departure from WVU in 2019.
“I am thrilled and deeply honored to assume the role of dean at the Temple University School of Pharmacy. Collaborating with Provost Mandel and Temple University's esteemed leaders, I am enthusiastic about propelling the school further along in its mission. With a remarkable 122-year history, the School of Pharmacy boasts an exceptional faculty and staff who have achieved impressive education, pharmacy practice, and research milestones. The outstanding successes of the students, coupled with the school's unwavering commitment to community engagement and enhancing health outcomes, underscore its profound impact. I eagerly look forward to connecting with the school's alumni, friends and constituents to forge meaningful relationships and to seek their invaluable input and advice as we build upon our successes and uphold cherished traditions."
During his time at WVU, Madhavan focused much of the department’s teaching, research and service on outcomes and examined the issues of access, cost and quality related to healthcare and prescription drug use in West Virginia. Through this work, Madhavan and his colleagues secured millions of dollars in contracts, grants and development funds to better assess and address health disparities. In total, during his time at WVU, he helped secure grants and contracts that exceeded $35 million from federal and state agencies as well as private corporations.
Many of the initiatives developed during Madhavan’s tenure remain in place today, including the Rational Drug Therapy Program, which serves as a prior authorization call center serving the needs of the state Medicaid and state government health insurance pharmaceutical programs. It is the only prior authorization call center run by a college of pharmacy in the country, and it provides services to all primary care providers and about 750,000 West Virginia residents.
While at UNTHSC, he played a key role in the growth of the college that only launched in 2013. This is even more impressive given that Madhavan’s tenure coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Madhavan led a dedicated team of administrators, faculty and staff in accelerating the growth of the young college. Under his leadership, the college established three new online certificate programs and two new online MS degree programs and launched a new PharmD-MBA dual-degree program. The college also doubled its research funding from $2.9 million in 2019 to $5.8 million in 2022.
Research remains a key interest of Madhavan’s, and much like his work at WVU, his focus has been on reducing health disparities. He has published more than 110 peer-reviewed publications, and in 2018, he was awarded the 2018 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Paul R. Dawson Award for Excellence in Patient Care Research. In 2021, he received the Research Achievement Award from the American Pharmacists Association, and just this past November, Purdue University named him an “Old Master,” which is the greatest honor that the Purdue University student body can confer on an alum.
Madhavan earned his PhD in pharmacy administration from Purdue and also holds an MBA from the University of Poona, India. He earned his bachelor of pharmacy from the University of Bombay, India.