It is such an honor for me to say this tribute to our beloved Dr. David Adler on behalf of my colleagues, some of whom are present today, in person or virtually. Dr. Adler was a benefactor for all of the Vietnamese pharmacists coming in this country in 1975 and after.
In 1984, we learned of the greatest news for pharmacist graduates from the Saigon School of Pharmacy: The County of San Diego had approved a program for Vietnamese Refugees to get retrained to take the Pharmacy Equivalency Exam for Foreign graduates. To get approval for the program was very arduous, for which we owed much to the incredible work of Dr. Adler, Dr. Robert Day, and many professors. Thereafter, faculty from UCSF School of Pharmacy flew down to UC San Diego campus here, in Garret auditorium every weekend for 8 months to teach clinical pharmacy, therapeutics, compounding and all pertaining subjects for the exam. I was one of the 107 fortunate students in that first review class. Most of us passed the exam, and went on to take the California Board of Pharmacy, allowing us to practice pharmacy in California. The day I got the results, I wrote a letter to Dr. Adler, who asked me to address to Dr. Kenyon, dean at UCSF at the time. Successive review classes were conducted at UC Irvine, and other classes were held by correspondence all across the U.S.
Besides contributing to the education of pharmacists, Dr. Adler provided mentorship and support to many pharmacists. Through his incessant help, many got internship hours at UC San Diego Medical Center and the Navy Hospital, where My Van Nguyen was a diligent intern who brought many improvements to the medication processes at the Navy. Many years later, Dr. Adler's advice was still requested regarding an undergraduate granddaughter on the way to spend a one-year Fulbright scholarship in Uganda. I just spoke with Dr. Vivian Vu Ho, who is in her last year of residency in Mental Health at Stanford.
Dr. Adler was passionate about preventive and public health activities for pharmacists. He visited our first community clinic—Asian Pacific Health Center—on University Avenue in East San Diego in 2002, introduced us to Dr. Ellen Beck, and regularly participated at health fairs and community events involving Skaggs School of Pharmacy students.
APHCenter has evolved into the Asian Pacific Health Foundation with the name changed to American Pacific Health Foundation, providing education and health screening services for hepatitis B and C, diabetes, cholesterol and lipid disorders, metabolic diseases and osteoporosis.
With Dean Palmer Taylor, Dr. Adler and the school established the Dr. Dong To Scholarship Fund in 2006. You have seen a picture of Dr. Adler with Dean Best and Mrs. Dong To.
To support his candidature as pharmacist from UCSF alumni in 2016, Dr. Bob Day had the genial idea to collect the names and signatures of 67 classmates of the first review class at UC San Diego. It was a beautiful and touching ceremony.
Soon after getting the license to practice, I joined the California Pharmacists Association, on the recommendation of Dr. Adler. To this date, the VPhA-USA has enrolled 67 members each year for the past 2 years: We attended Western Pharmacy Exchange every year, and witnessed Dr. Adler as he was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2023.
In conclusion: The legacy of Dr. David Adler will stay with VPhA-USA pharmacists for a long time, as through his intervention, the world of pharmacy is opened again to us, and to children of the second and third generations.
We are deeply grateful for his 40 years of guidance and support of the Vietnamese pharmacist community in this country.