KGI Announces White Coat Ceremony Speaker: Steven W. Gray

The Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is proud to announce that Steven Gray, PharmD, JD will be the guest speaker at the annual White Coat Ceremony, which will be held Aug. 22, 2015.

Symbolizing dedication to clinical service and patient care, the White Coat Ceremony is held every year when new students first enter into KGI’s PharmD program. In the ceremony, each student is given a white coat by colleagues already in the profession which signifies the beginning of their career.

Ceremony speaker Dr. Steven Gray has more than 40 years of experience in military, hospital, community, wholesaling and managed care and it is this accumulation of experience and success that KGI strives to instill in each student.

Dr. Gray received a doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Southern California and a J.D degree from Northrop University School of Law. Currently he teaches pharmacy law and ethics and is the president-elect of the American Society for Pharmacy Law. Gray is also currently a Past President and Chair of the Board for the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists, is currently the National Pharmacy Professional Affairs Leader for Kaiser Permanente with responsibility for coordinating pharmacy legislative and regulatory nationwide for Kaiser Permanente. Adding to his accolades, Dr. Gray was recently chosen as the 2015 pharmacist of the year by the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Explaining why he chose to speak at KGI’s White Coat ceremony Gray said, “I believe in the integrity and promise of KGI’s PharmD program as a vehicle for bringing the best and most adaptable people into the ever changing healthcare industry.”

He is a member of several professional associations including AMCP, APhA, ASHP, CPhA, CSHP, the CA State Bar, on the board of directors for the Institute for Community Pharmacy and honorary member of the Phi Lambda Sigma pharmacy leadership society.  He is a graduate of the Advanced Leadership Program at the University of North Carolina and the Executive Management Institute in Health Care of the University of Southern California.

On speaking about advice he can offer to incoming students and new professionals he stated, “This is the most exciting time to be entering the pharmacy profession. New opportunities abound! All student-pharmacists must be bold in their preparation for implementing these new opportunities for the greatest benefit to their patients, their communities and themselves.”

In 2004, Dr. Gray served as president of the California Pharmacists Association. In 2006 he served as President of the national association for managed care pharmacists, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, and served on the Joint Council of Pharmacy Practitioners with the Presidents of APhA, ASHP, NCPA and other national pharmacy leaders.