NSU Horizons Spring 2010

he also made sure they were getting safe prescriptions and good directions, said A. Alvin Greber, D.O., HPD’s executive dean for professional affairs, who has known Lippman for decades. “He was the rst pharmacist in the region to keep detailed patient pro les, handwritten prior to the avail- ability of computers, to make sure that his patients received the right medications with the correct instruc- tions,” Greber said. Through his pharmacy establishments, Lippman met lifelong friends who would in uence his career for decades. As a local businessman, Lippman was asked to join the Chamber of Commerce, the Safe Street Committee, and the Better Business Bureau, among other organizations. “You get to participate, and you do because you want to be part of the community,” Lippman said. “You want to make a place your home. And then you want to make it better.” OFF TO TALLAHASSEE His penchant for community service eventually led him into public of ce. In 1978, Lippman was elected to serve as a state representative for Hollywood and parts of Hallandale Beach and Pembroke Pines. He would spend more than two decades in Tallahassee, where he developed a reputation for cham- pioning legislation to support Florida’s most vulnerable citizens. Lippman fought to protect children and senior citizens and to improve Florida’s health care systems. His major legislative accomplishments included helping pass one of the nation’s rst laws to mandate the use of child restraints and seat belts in vehicles, as well as establishing a trauma care system in Florida. “He was very receptive to hearing from people on the front lines of the issues,” said State Senator Nan Rich (D-Weston), who met Lippman when he was a state legislator. “It was a pleasure to work with a legislator who had such a genuine regard for the people he served.” For his efforts, Lippman received numerous acco- lades including the Youth Law Center Distinguished Achievement Award, the Public Service Award from the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Florida Pediatric Society’s Outstanding Legislator and Advocate for Children award, just to name a few. HEALTH PROFESSIONS Awards are nice, but they were always far from Lippman’s main focus. His real desire was to become an educator, which led to his acceptance of an academic post with the edgling Southeastern University of the Health Sciences in North Miami Beach in the mid- 1980s. He was the school’s vice president for external affairs and professor of community medicine, as well as the rst administrative of cer in the creation of the College of Pharmacy. In 1994, Lippman was asked by the late Morton Terry, D.O., who was then president of Southeastern, to join a team that negotiated the merger of Southeastern and Nova University, creating Nova Southeastern University (NSU). NSU Chancellor Ray Ferrero, Jr., who was a member of Nova’s Board of Trustees back then, worked with Lippman and Terry on the merger. “As a businessman, he [Lippman] gained managerial skills to get things done in the mar- ketplace,” Ferrero said. “As a politician, he had an ability to listen and analyze, build consensus, and take action.” A decade later, Ferrero, who was then presi- dent of NSU, approached Lippman. He asked his longtime colleague to take on the responsi- bility of becoming chancellor of the Health Professions Division following Terry’s death. As the founding HPD chancellor, Terry had mentored Lippman. “He [Terry] was and still is an inspiration for me,” said Lippman, who was HPD’s execu- tive vice chancellor and provost at the time of his promotion. The new HPD chancellor took Terry’s legacy of continuous improvement and worked collaboratively with the health professions deans to expand HPD’s programs, research, and reputation. He did all those things while earning an Ed.D. from NSU’s Fischler School of Education and Human Services. NEW PROGRAMS The Nursing Program was one of the rst that Lippman (along with Richard E. Davis, dean of the College of Allied Health and Nursing) helped create in 2003 and later expanded. What began with an inaugural class of 45 students completing their R.N. (Registered Nurse) to B.S.N. (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) degrees has mush- roomed into more than 700 students in a department 24 HORIZONS Fred Lippman; Governor Bob Graham; Ed Jaffry, attorney for the Florida Pharmacy Association; and Rep. Everett Kelly, during the mid-1980s