James Ponto

I have a joint appointment between the UIHC (90%) and the College of Pharmacy (10%).  I have held this joint appointment for 28 years.

At UIHC, I am Chief Nuclear Pharmacist in the Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine.  In my UIHC capacity, I am responsible for radiopharmaceuticals and ancillary supplies used for Nuclear Medicine procedures, including their ordering, receiving, inventory control, storage, preparation, quality control testing, dispensing, disposal, etc. – essentially I function as my own little separate pharmacy department limited to radioactive drugs and devices.  In this interdisciplinary clinic, I work closely with physicians, nuclear medicine technologists, and other health care workers.   I am integrally involved in formal teaching activities, including nuclear medicine technology students and nuclear medicine physician residents, and in various clinical trials involving radiopharmaceuticals or nuclear medicine procedures.   I also serve on a variety of committees, including the University's Medical Radiation Protection Committee, Radioactive Drug Research Committee, and Hospital Radiation Safety Review Group.

At the College of Pharmacy, I am Professor (Clinical) in Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy.  Routinely, I teach an introductory lecture in Medical Imaging in the Pharmacotherapy series and elective clerkships in Clinical Nuclear Pharmacy.

Why did you come to the University of Iowa?

My wife and I are both Iowa natives and alumni of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy.  After completing a graduate program in Nuclear Pharmacy at the University of Southern California and a nuclear pharmacy residency at Duke University Medical Center, I was recruited to return to the University of Iowa.  For many reasons, including our fondness for University of Iowa and Iowa City, and to be close to our families in Iowa, my wife and I returned.

If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?

More flexibility to take time off – although the academic portion of my job has breaks, there is never a break in sick patients at UIHC who require care.

What’s the most unexpected thing that has happened to you at work?

In December 2002, unexpectedly receiving a phone call from John Gans (CEO at APhA) who told me that I had been selected to receive APhA’s Daniel B. Smith Practice Excellence Award.  I didn’t even know that I had been nominated for this prestigious award.

Now tell us more about your life outside of work. – What are your hobbies?

Spending time with family;  working on our house, yard, and garden;  historic preservation;   attending Hawkeye football and basketball games.

As a child what career did you dream of?

I think probably a scientist or teacher or science teacher.   My job now is just a variant of that.

What was your first job?

Farm work (baling hay, detasseling corn, etc), then construction during summers.

If you could have dinner with a famous person, who would it be?

Tom and Ray Maggliozzi, better known as “Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers” on NPR’s Car Talk.   Those guys have the greatest stories – I would probably be laughing so hard that I couldn’t eat dinner.  Plus, maybe they could figure out what is wrong with the brakes on my car.

Tell us about your favorite things: Food? Drink? Books? Music? Movie? Sports Team?

Food:  good old-fashioned pot roast, potatoes, carrots......cookies and ice cream for dessert
Books:  techno-thrillers;  currently, reading Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child books                 
Magazines:  National Geographic
Music:  classic rock, but have been learning/enjoying more classical music because of our daughter’s music focus (she received a BM in harp performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music last May, and she is currently a graduate student in harp performance at Northwestern University)
Sports Team:   Iowa Hawkeyes