Cardinal Health names independent pharmacist recipient of inaugural Ken Wurster community leadership award

WASHINGTON A pharmacist from Wedowee, Ala., is the winner of an award that recognizes independent pharmacists for their involvement in their communities.

Harold Harmon, owner of H&M Drug in Wedowee, was named the inaugural recipient of Cardinal Health’s Ken Wurster Community Leadership Award. In addition to giving the reward – named for an independent pharmacist in Tampa, Fla., who died last year – the company will donate $10,000 to Auburn University’s Harrison School of Pharmacy in Auburn, Ala.

“Ken Wurster was a shining example of everything that independent pharmacy means to our country,” Cardinal Health SVP retail sales and marketing Steve Lawrence street said in a statement. “He was committed to serving his customers and his community with an unfaltering sense of responsibility.”

The company said criteria for the award include community leadership and involvement, an ability to inspire others and a willingness to make communities better places to live. Harmon’s activities have included traveling on medical mission trips to poor countries and establishing an annual fund that awards scholarships to graduating seniors at high schools in his county.