 Donald E. Letendre, Pharm.D.
Donald E. Letendre serves as Dean and Professor of the College of Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island and Executive Secretary of the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory Commission. In these capacities, Dr. Letendre has been privileged to oversee a College whose accomplishments in the past six years include: establishment of a robust research enterprise which has attained more than a ten-fold increase in external research funding and now ranks among the top twenty colleges of pharmacy nationally in federal funding; purchased more than $3.5M in new research equipment; obtained sufficient non-State funds through development and indirect resource distribution to remodel 75% of the laboratories, classrooms, and offices within the existing College facility, including the State Crime Laboratory; adopted and implemented avant-garde, high-tech teaching tools and now boasts one of the most technologically advanced classrooms in the New England region; established the nationally recognized Student Leadership Council; gained first-ever accreditation of the State Crime Laboratory through the International Division of Forensic Quality Services; and, in 2006 secured State approval of a $65M bond to construct a new pharmacy facility.
Before coming to URI in 2001, Dr. Letendre spent almost twenty years on the staff of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, serving for much of that time as Director of the Accreditation Services Division. At ASHP his responsibilities included all matters concerning national accreditation of residency and pharmacy technician training programs, including development of standards for such programs; the national pharmacy resident match program; the ASHP Practitioner Recognition Program which grants fellowship status to practitioners who have achieved sustained practice excellence; served as Secretary to the ASHP Commission on Credentialing; and, assisted in the establishment of a residency accreditation process in Canada and development of postgraduate residencies in several other countries.
Dr. Letendre received the Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences, the Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, and completed three years of postgraduate residency training at the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Medical Center, serving the last year as Chief Resident. Following his residency Dr. Letendre held a joint appointment as Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy and Assistant Director of Pharmacy Services at the KU Medical Center. Most notable among his achievements at KU was the establishment of one of the nation’s first pharmacy-based clinical investigational drug units.
A substantial portion of Dr. Letendre’s professional career has been devoted to the growth and development of postgraduate pharmacy residencies and in advising students and residents nationwide about postgraduate and career opportunities. Moreover, he has provided advice and counsel on the development and assessment of safe and effective patient care services to hundreds of hospitals, managed care systems, long-term care facilities, and community pharmacies.
Dr. Letendre has authored many publications and spoken extensively on the topics of residency training, accreditation, and career development. In 1989 he was designated an Honorary Resident at the New York’s Montefiore Medical Center and in 1993 he was granted the same recognition by the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. In 1998 Dr. Letendre was the recipient of the University of Kentucky’s prestigious Paul F. Parker Lecture Award and in 1999 he received the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy’s 1999 Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award.
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