Bracken Center 2012 Remodel
The School of Pharmacy Bracken Pharmacy Learning Center was remodeled in summer of 2012 and opened during fall quarter of that same year.
The remodel provided several updates to the center’s integrated learning areas, which include a sterile products preparation room, an automated dispensing equipment area, patient education and patient-counseling areas, and a retail space.
The room also now features advanced QS1 software and pharmacy learning technology. In addition, it has new and updated decor to provide a better environment for students’ learning.
Over the long term, the School’s vision for the Bracken Center is to raise funds to include additional state-of-the-art learning technologies — such as interactive mannequins that simulate human response, next-generation dispensing and billing software, and IV therapy equipment.
This remodel was made possible by lead gifts from the Bracken Family, CVS Pharmacy, Kelley-Ross Pharmacy, McKesson Inc. and Walgreens.
See the photos of the remodel construction project and of the October ribbon-cutting ceremony on the School of Pharmacy Facebook page.
About the Brackens
The Bracken Endowment was established in 1998 by Mrs. Sharon Bracken in memory of her husband Jim, and her father-in-law L.D. Bracken, who were innovative and respected leaders in the pharmacy profession in the State of Washington. The endowment maintains the PCLC’s telecommunication, computing and patient care technologies at a state-of-the-art level, thus enhancing the learning capacities of pharmacy students and advancing the practice of pharmacy care in community pharmacies and other practice sites.
Louis D. (L.D.) Bracken attended the UW College of Pharmacy in 1912 and 1913. His son, Jim L. Bracken, graduated from the UW School of Pharmacy in 1945. L.D. founded L.D. Bracken Pharmacy in 1921 and maintained thriving professional pharmacies in downtown Seattle in the Cobb Building and on First Hill. Jim joined the family business when he graduated and became president when his father died in 1954.
Both L.D. and Jim were entrepreneurs (L.D. invented the original formula for Blistex lip ointment) and were beloved leaders in the profession, serving as presidents of the Washington State Pharmacists Association and as founding members of the American College of Apothecaries. Jim was also named Pharmacist of the Year for King County. He passed away in 1984.
Jim’s wife, Sharon M. Bracken, and their children, Laura Bracken Clough, Carol Bracken Clemency, and John L. Bracken, continue to value and honor the contributions that L.D. and Jim made to the profession of pharmacy.