Yanchick honored with MCV Foundation’s Irby Award
Virginia Commonwealth University’s MCV Foundation has presented its 2014 Robert Irby Award for MCV Campus Faculty Volunteer to School of Pharmacy Dean Victor A. Yanchick.
The award was established in 2001 to honor the memory of Robert Irby, a rheumatologist who was as devoted to securing financial support for the MCV Campus as he was to his patients and colleagues. The award was presented May 12 at the MCV Foundation Board of Trustees’ annual dinner at the Country Club of Virginia.
Sheldon Retchin, senior vice president for health sciences and CEO of the VCU Health System, introduced Yanchick and made the award. During the dean’s 18-year tenure, Retchin noted, the VCU School of Pharmacy’s enrollment, research and community outreach all have expanded.
After successful academic careers at the University of Texas at Austin and University of Oklahoma, Yanchick arrived at VCU during a time of transition for pharmacy schools across the country. “Under his leadership and foresight,” Retchin said, “the school not only made the curricular transition but restructured, updated its facilities and technology and expanded its reach into both Charlottesville and Northern Virginia to allow for the growth of both faculty and the student body.”
Retchin also noted that the School of Pharmacy’s research funding had quadrupled during Yanchick’s tenure, despite the economic downturn a few years ago. “Coincident with this amazing growth and success of the School of Pharmacy under Vic’s leadership, the school is among the best 25 [pharmacy] schools in the country.
“Along the way, he has fundamentally advanced the study of pharmaceutical sciences and created an infrastructure and research platform upon which the school can continue to thrive far into the future. And now, sadly, he is retiring.”
Yanchick, who will complete his 18 years at the school on June 30, said, “I am honored to have been selected for the award.”
Also during the MCV Foundation Board of Trustees dinner, Barbara Dunn received the Michael B. Dowdy Philanthropy Award, and James Revere Jr. received the Eugene P. Trani Award for MCV Campus Leadership. Dunn is an alumna and former faculty member of the School of Nursing, and Revere is an alumnus and director of planned giving for the School of Dentistry.
Past Irby Award recipients
2013 Nancy F. Langston, Ph.D. 2006 Louis S. Harris, Ph.D.
2012 James P. Neifeld, M.D. 2005 Alpha A. Fowler III, M.D.
2011 Peter W. Brown, M.D. 2004 Richard P. Wenzel, M.D.
2010 Enrique Gerszten, M.D. 2003 Harold F. Young, M.D.
2009 Walter J. Lawrence, M.D. 2002 Gordon D. Ginder, M.D.
2008 Thomas J. Smith, M.D. 2001 George W. Vetrovec, M.D.
2007 Donald J. Abraham, Ph.D.
