Happy Holidays! I hope you are all enjoying the Holiday season.

January is the time of year that we induct our new officers. This year we have several changes to the Board. Specifically, we have three new members that I would like you to get acquainted with, Brad Miller, secretary and Jodie Bakus and Vicki Sternhagen as Board members. We also welcome Jody Mehren back to the Board for a second term.

Brad Miller is Director of Inpatient Pharmacy Services at Pennock Health Services in Hastings. He received his Pharm.D. degree from Ferris State University. In 2003, he completed a pharmacy practice residency at Spectrum Health. Also, Brad is the designer and webmaster of the WMSHP website. He as done an outstanding job creating the website and maintaining it. Please check it out at www.wmshp.net.

Jodie Bakus is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Ferris State University. She received her Pharm.D. degree from Ferris State University. Following graduation, she completed a community pharmacy practice residency sponsored by Meijer Pharmacy, Ferris State University and Pfizer. She has practiced community pharmacy in the chain and the independent setting where she participated in patient care activities including: diabetes education, immunizations, hyperlipidemia screening, and a pharmacy-based anticoagulation clinic.

Vicki Sternhagen is originally from Atlantic Mine, Michigan; a small copper mining town in the Upper Peninsula. She received her Pharm.D. degree at Ferris State University. After graduation, she moved to Madison, Wisconsin to complete a pharmacy practice residency at Meriter Hospital. Vicki is currently an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Ferris State University. Her practice site is located at Borgess Medical Center with a focus on internal medicine. Her main interests are in cardiology and nutrition.

On behalf of the WMSHP board, I would like to thank Jaci DeYoung for her service as president, and Tracey Mersfelder as Board member. Especially, I would like to thank Lisa DeVries for her eight years of service as secretary to WMSHP. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication.

I hope to see you at the January meeting where we will be inducting the new members. Please feel free to contact myself or any of the board members with ideas you may have for meetings, topics you would like discussed in the newsletter or current issues to be posted on the website. Thanks for the opportunity to serve as WMSHP President.