May 8: Ex-FDA administrator to speak at commencement
SPOKANE, Wash. – The former chief of staff for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will be the keynote speaker on Thursday at the commencement ceremony of the Washington State University College of Pharmacy.
Susan C. Winckler, president of the nonprofit Food and Drug Law Institute in Washington, D.C., will meet earlier that day with interested faculty on WSU’s health sciences campus in Spokane to talk about emerging trends in the way health care providers are paid. The trends are the result of the federal Affordable Care Act and are changing traditional payment systems such as fee-for-service.
Winckler is a pharmacist and lawyer. The institute she heads is a marketplace for discussing global food and drug law issues through conferences, publications and member interaction.
Her selection as the commencement speaker for pharmacy is in keeping with the college’s practice of bringing thought leaders to campus. Last year’s speaker, Rear Admiral Scott Giberson, was a deputy surgeon general and pharmacist.
Winckler will be available for interviews with interested news media on Thursday morning on the Spokane campus.
Her career highlights include executive positions at the American Pharmacists Association in Washington, D.C., including legal counsel, media spokesperson, senior lobbyist and vice president of policy and communications.
She was a law partner with Michael O. Leavitt, a former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, and she remains affiliated with Leavitt Partners as a senior adviser.
Winckler schedule in Spokane on Thursday, May 8
9-10 a.m.: WSU Spokane campus. Meet with Riverpoint Interprofessional Education and Research faculty. All faculty invited. Discussion topic: emerging trends in paying health care providers for their time.
10:30-11 a.m.: WSU Spokane campus. Available for interviews by news media.
2 p.m.: Commencement speech at Fox Theater
Contact:
Lorraine Nelson, WSU communications, lanelson@wsu.edu, 509-368-6671
