Sharon Youmans, PharmD ’85, MPH, executive vice dean and professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, has been named to the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) Hall of Fame, while alum and volunteer faculty member Maria Lopez, PharmD ’01, has been selected as CPhA’s 2026 Pharmacist of the Year.

The statewide honors celebrate pharmacists whose leadership, innovation, and service are shaping the future of the profession in California. For UCSF, the dual recognition reflects the School of Pharmacy’s significant impact on pharmacy education, research, and patient care, from academic leadership and workforce development to community-based care models that expand access. The awards will be presented at the CPhA / APhA Annual Meeting on March 28.

Youmans: Building pathways, elevating others

Induction into the CPhA Hall of Fame recognizes Youmans’ decades-long commitment to pharmacy education, public health, and equity-centered leadership. Youmans has spent much of her career ensuring that the next generation of pharmacists resonates with and meets the needs of the communities they serve.

After graduating from UCSF, Youmans worked in San Francisco hospitals and completed a residency before joining the UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty in 2001. Teaching was not initially her career goal, but her ability to mentor and inspire students quickly became a hallmark of her work, helping to guide the school’s academic, strategic, and student-centered initiatives.

Central to Youmans’ legacy is her role in creating and sustaining pathways into the profession. She directs the Pharm Tech to PharmD Pathway Program and mentors students in the Interprofessional Health Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program, efforts that lower barriers to entry and support learners from backgrounds historically underrepresented in pharmacy and the health sciences.

“People were generous enough to open doors for me,” Youmans said. “I was smart enough to walk through them.”

Youmans’ commitment extends beyond UCSF and the Bay Area. Through long-standing involvement with the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance, she has supported HIV/AIDS initiatives in Malawi, witnessing firsthand how access to medications, testing, and community partnerships can transform public health outcomes. Her work bridges local education and global impact, reinforcing pharmacy’s role as a driver of social good.

Previously recognized with UCSF’s Founders’ Champion Award and named the UCSF Pharmacy Alumni Association Alum of the Year in 2025, Youmans’ Hall of Fame induction adds statewide recognition to a career defined by service and advocacy.

Lopez: Reimagining community pharmacy

Lopez has spent more than two decades demonstrating how community pharmacy can be a powerful engine for access, innovation, and public health impact.

A first-generation college graduate who grew up in a rural farmworker town in California, Lopez earned her PharmD from UCSF in 2001. In 2005, she purchased and rebranded a long-standing pharmacy in San Francisco’s Mission District, transforming it into Mission Wellness Pharmacy, a specialty care model focused on complex conditions such as HIV, hepatitis C, and diabetes, with an explicit commitment to serving Latino/a/x and African American communities.

Under Lopez’s leadership, Mission Wellness became the first standalone community pharmacy in California to implement hepatitis C point-of-care testing and One-Stop PrEP for HIV prevention. The pharmacy has repeatedly led the way in integrating testing, prescribing, dispensing, and clinical follow-up into a single community-based setting, often in neighborhoods described as “pharmacy deserts.”

“Clinical pharmacy is really the backbone of the care we provide in the community,” Lopez said. “The pandemic highlighted what community pharmacists can do in terms of providing testing, vaccines, and therapeutics, but the industry is now at an inflection point.”

Lopez’s influence extends beyond patient care into policy and advocacy. She has testified before the California state legislature in support of bills expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice, including landmark legislation paving the way for reimbursement of pharmacist-provided services. Her pharmacy also played a central role in a high-profile legal case challenging pharmacy benefit manager practices, a decision with broad implications for independent pharmacies and patient access statewide.

A volunteer faculty member at UCSF and advisor to the Pharmacy Alumni Association board, Lopez was also honored with the 2025 UCSF Alumni Humanitarian Service Award. The CPhA Pharmacist of the Year designation recognizes not only her entrepreneurial success, but her sustained commitment to vulnerable communities and to pharmacy as a patient-centered profession.