
College of Pharmacy: Ray Symposium
About the Ray Symposium
The Ray Symposium, an annual speaker series, honors Max D. Ray, MS, PharmD, Dean Emeritus of the 国产黑料U College of Pharmacy. As Professor and Dean from 1996-2006, he created a stimulating educational environment that fostered excellence and professionalism.
His professional career was divided almost equally into pharmacy practice, association management, and education. A major focus of his work throughout his career was seeking ways in which to improve the value of pharmacy to society.
Today, the Ray Symposium celebrates the multifaceted role that pharmacists play in improving the lives of patients and the health of their communities.

2025 Ray Symposium Women In White Coats
Olivia Campbell is the New York Times bestselling author of Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine and Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History. She is also an editor at Dotdash Meredith and Everyday Health, a thesis advisor for Johns Hopkins University’s science writing program, and a regular contributor to National Geographic. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, History.com, The Guardian, Scientific American, Aeon, STAT News, Undark, and New York Magazine, among others.
鈥淲omen in White Coats鈥 tells the remarkable story of three Victorian women who broke down barriers in the medical field to become the first women doctors, changing how women received health care. In the early 1800s, women were dying in large numbers from treatable diseases because they avoided receiving medical care. Examinations performed by male doctors were often demeaning and even painful. In addition, women faced stigma from illness. With gripping storytelling based on extensive research and access to archival documents, Women in White Coats tells the courageous history these three women made by becoming doctors, detailing the boundaries they broke of gender and science to reshape how we receive medical care today.
Rear Admiral (retired) Scott Giberson
CEO of AMI Expeditionary Healthcare (USA)
鈥淏e Infectious. Navigating through an Era of Plagues, Politics, and Public Health鈥
April 25, 2024聽 聽
April 28, 2022聽 聽Daniel Kraft, MD
Physician-Scientist and Innovator
鈥淐atalyzing the Future of Health and Medicine: What鈥檚 Next?鈥
April 27, 2023
Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH
Executive Director of Ariadne Labs
鈥淗ealth Systems Improvement – Scaling for the Globe鈥
April 28, 2022聽 聽
Aaron Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH
Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
鈥淒rug Regulations in the 21st Century- The FDA,聽 Policy, and Politics?鈥
April 22, 2021聽 聽
Katherine Eban
Investigative Journalist
鈥淭he Hidden World Behind America’s Low-Cost Drugs鈥
April 30, 2020聽 聽
Cato T. Laurencin, MD, PhD
University Professor, The University of Connecticut
鈥淎ddressing the Future of Health in America: Diversity, Racism and Health Disparities鈥
April 18, 2019
Alan I. Leshner, PhD
CEO-Emeritus, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Former Executive Publisher, Science
鈥淐ommunicating Science Effectively鈥
April 19, 2018听听
Dana Goldman, PhD
Professor,聽Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair and Director for the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics
鈥淩e-Thinking Value in an Era of Health Reform鈥
April 20, 2017聽 聽
Michael W. Kalichman, PhD
Professor, Director of the UCSD Research Ethics Program
鈥淪cience, Truth and the Public Trust鈥
April 21, 2016聽 聽2016 Ray Symposium Presentation
Ellen Peters, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Director of the Behavioral Decision Making Initiative, The Ohio State University
鈥淣umeracy and Health: A Tyranny of Numbers鈥
April 30, 2015聽 聽2015 Ray Symposium Presentation
Eileen Crimmins, PhD
AARP Chair in Gerontology, USC Davis School of Gerontology
鈥淪horter Lives, Poorer Health鈥
April 17, 2014
Patricia B. Crawford, Dr. PH, RD
Director, Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health Cooperative Extension Nutrition Specialist
鈥淎ccelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention鈥
April 18, 2013
Joshua S. Benner, PharmD, ScD
President and CEO, RxAnte, Inc. and Visiting Scholar, The Brookings Institution
鈥淩eforming Health Care: Policy, Politics, and Patient Care鈥
April 12, 2012
William E. Evans, PharmD
Director and CEO, St. Jude Children鈥檚 Research Hospital
鈥淭he Promise of Genomics 鈥 What Lies Ahead?鈥
April 21, 2011
Michael Cohen, RPh, MS, ScD
President of The Institute for Safe Medication Practices
鈥淪afe Medication Practices 鈥 Preventing Errors鈥
April 15, 2010
David B. Reuben, MD
Director, Multicampus Program in Geriatrics Medicine and Gerontology (MPGMG) and Chief, Division of Geriatrics at UCLA Center for Health Sciences鈥淩etooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce鈥
April 9, 2009
Brian Smedley, PhD
Research Director and Co-founder of the Opportunity Agenda
鈥淓liminating Disparities鈥
April 17, 2008
Lyle Bootman
Co-editor, 2006 National Institutes of Medicine Report
鈥淧reventing Medication Errors鈥
April 19, 2007
Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support.
Individual Sponsors:
Dr. Max R. Johnson
Dr. Jonathan Chan
Rebecca Cupp, RPh
Dr. Lilia Xu