The College of Pharmacy held its annual Feurt Symposium Oct. 16 titled “The Opioid Crisis: In the Pharmacy Trenches.”
Joseph F. Griffith, JD, who led a session titled “Overview of the Opioid Crisis in the U.S.”, prosecutes on opioid cases for both the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney’s Office in Memphis. His efforts involve not only working with law enforcement to arrest and prosecute criminals, but also working with the community, the Shelby County Health Department, elected officials, health care providers, and faith-based initiatives to comprehensively combat the opioid crisis through better policing, prosecutions, prevention, and treatment.
Griffith’s lecture was followed by a panel discussion on “The Opioid Crisis: In the Pharmacy Trenches.” The panel included Griffith; Dr. Reggie Dilliard, executive Director of the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy; Dr. Justin Griner, an Emergency Department pharmacist at Regional One Health in Memphis; and Dr. Leslie Shepard, pharmacist and owner of Community Pharmacy Care, Inc., in Dickson, Tennessee.
The annual program is sponsored by the Seldon D. Feurt Endowment, which was established in honor of a previous dean, Dr. Seldon Feurt.
