Gary Clark, P.D., Boosts Family Scholarship In UAMS College of Pharmacy with $140,000 Gift
| LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received a gift of $140,000 from Gary Clark, P.D., to increase the endowment of his family scholarship for the UAMS College of Pharmacy to a university scholarship.
Scholarships at UAMS that reach an endowment of $100,000 or more are elevated to the level of distinguished scholarships. Recently, UAMS created the university-level designation for scholarships that reach endowments of $250,000 or more. Clark’s gift enables his scholarship to reach that level of distinction.
“UAMS is so appreciative of Gary Clark and his very generous gift to increase their family scholarship to the university level,” said UAMS Chancellor C. Lowry Barnes, M.D. “He has truly paid it forward with this generous gift. We are always touched when someone remembers and publicly signifies what UAMS meant to them. The UAMS College of Pharmacy is one of the best in the country, and this scholarship just makes us better.”
The Gary Clark Family University Scholarship is the college’s first scholarship established at the $250,000 university level. When Clark created the scholarship more than a decade ago, he wanted to encourage pharmacy students to follow a variety of paths in the field, not just retail pharmacy. Now the scholarship can be awarded to multiple students each year, instead of just one.
“I really wanted to increase the scholarship enough that it could help several deserving students each year, rather than just one like before,” Clark said. “Dean Stowe tells me that will now be possible, and our family is very pleased.”
“Gary’s extraordinary generosity reflects both a deep commitment to the UAMS College of Pharmacy and a clear belief in the transformative power of education,” said Dean Cindy Stowe, Pharm.D. “This gift not only elevates his family’s scholarship to the university level but also expands support annually for multiple student pharmacists who are pursuing a variety of impactful career paths. We are profoundly grateful for the Clark family’s enduring legacy and investment in the future of pharmacist-provided health care.”
For the Clark family, pharmacy is a family affair. Gary Clark, P.D., a 1963 alumnus, was the first member of his family to become a pharmacist. His brother, Robert “Bob” Clark, P.D., a 1969 alumnus, soon followed him, as did Bob’s wife June Clark, P.D., in 1974, and their daughter Julienne Clark Stephan, Pharm.D., in 2006.
Each family member has followed a different path in the field, from pharmaceutical sales and marketing management, pharmacy systems management, hospital pharmacy and retail pharmacy. That combination of family ties, varied experiences, and wanting to give back fueled the creation of the scholarship, Gary Clark said.
“The career paths that each of us followed were, I thought, very important to young people, who were making decisions about where to go to school and what degree they wanted to achieve,” Clark said. “Most people, when they think of pharmacy degrees, they think of retail pharmacy. Our family, the four of us, showed just how varied one can seek a career with a pharmacy degree.”
Clark, now retired, previously served on a College of Pharmacy advisory council for then-Dean Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., now the UAMS provost and chief strategy officer. It was toward the end of his tenure with the council in 2010 that Clark decided to fund a scholarship to benefit the college.
“My goal was to help attract the brightest and the best in pharmacy, in any way that I can help so that finances don’t impede those seeking a pharmacy degree,” Clark said.
“Gary has been tremendously supportive of the College of Pharmacy and a leader in giving for decades,” said John Erck, vice chancellor for the UAMS Division of Institutional Advancement. “I hope this generous gift will inspire others to support the college and the future of pharmacy in Arkansas.”
Clark’s family has also benefited from medical care at UAMS over the years. Medically and academically, the Clark family has maintained a deep connection with the institution — one that they plan to continue going forward, he said.
“I have an allegiance to UAMS,” Clark said. “I appreciate them, and I want to do more and more there. It’s been a labor of love. It really has. UAMS pervades my family.”
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,553 students and 1,015 medical residents and fellows. It is the state’s largest public employer with about 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###