Brooklyn-based pharmacist named Compounding Pharmacist of the Year

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Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA) named Indian-American Gopesh Patel, of VLS Pharmacy in and New Drug Loft in New York City, as its “2020 M. George Webber, PhD, Compounding Pharmacist of the Year”.

More than 1,300 compounders from the U.S., Canada, Australia and beyond attended the company’s virtual International Seminar 2020 on November 6 where PCCA President Jim Smith announced Patel’s award.

Smith had presented the award to Patel on October 26, on a Zoom call where Patel’s family and pharmacy staff also joined him to celebrate the honor.

“Thank you for this honor. I’m truly humbled by it,” Patel I quoted saying in a press release. “I always want to serve – anyone who has a problem or a difficult time. I like to help them. That’s how my family grew up, that’s what I’m following, and I tell my daughters to do the same. I like teaching and sharing with others, so that we can save lives. My reward has always been helping people feel better,” he added.

The award is presented annually to an independent pharmacist who has demonstrated service excellence to patients, health care providers and pharmacy colleagues, according to the press release. The award is named after the late M. George Webber, PhD who was a longtime professor with the University of Houston College of Pharmacy and was instrumental in founing PCCA in 1981.

“What an honor it is to have someone of Gopesh’s caliber and character blessing the lives of patients in his community and blessing those in the PCCA community,” Smith is quoted saying in the release. “In 2020, his care and compassion especially stood out through his work with patients afflicted with COVID-19 and their physicians, and his commitment to protect the members of his community with hand sanitizer donations and much more. We’re all enriched because of our knowledge of him and our friendship with him.”

According to his bio on New Drug Loft’s website, Patel is a PCCA member since 2009, and is the compounding pharmacist-in-charge and owner at VLS Pharmacy and New Drug Loft. A 1979 graduate of MS University in Baroda, India, Patel has extensive clinical knowledge in hormone replacement therapy, dermatology, urology and IV therapy.

Patel is also a member of the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York, Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and American College for Advancement in Medicine.