The Kappa Epsilon Foundation was pleased to select Jean-Venable "Kelly" Robertson Goode, BSPharm, Pharm.D., as the recipient of the 2025 Kappa Epsilon (KE)/Merck Vanguard Leadership Award. Dr. Goode was honored during the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Annual Meeting this spring at a special gathering of APhA Women Past-Presidents. During the event, KE Professional Pharmacy Fraternity Grand President Nikkina Hankins, Pharm.D., presented Dr. Goode with a distinctive plaque to commemorate the occasion of her receiving the Vanguard Award.

The KE/Merck Vanguard Leadership Award was established in 1989 to recognize exemplary pharmacist leaders who are KE members. Merck & Co., Inc. supports the award. It is awarded annually to an alum member. The recipient of the award is an individual who has made sustained exemplary contributions to their area of practice, professional associations, regulatory bodies or pharmacy education.

Dr. Goode is a professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science at the VCU School of Pharmacy, which is also her alma mater. She was initiated into Tau Chapter of Kappa Epsilon at VCU and later in her career served as a sponsor and co-sponsor of the Tau Chapter for a decade. The person who nominated Dr. Goode for the award stated that she embodied "the ideals of Kappa Epsilon by lifting others up to achieve personal and professional goals, developing leaders and serving her community through professional and philanthropic services." Those who nominated or provided letters of support for Dr. Goode were all APhA past-presidents and described what she had done not only to advance the profession but them personally. One individual who provided a letter of support described Dr. Goode as "self-assured and fearless," "generous and inclusive" and "fiercely loyal and supportive."

Dr. Goode’s involvement with pharmacy organizations in Virginia is long-standing and significant. She has also had noteworthy involvement on a national level through her service to organizations such as APhA as a member of its Board of Trustees and as president. Because of Dr. Goode’s support of clinical pharmacy delivery in the community and patient care services provided via the Daily Planet Health Services, Inc. (a patient-centered medical home, which provides care to underserved individuals in Richmond), Dr. Goode and her team received an APhA Pinnacle Award. She has been a recipient of the APhA Community Pharmacy Residency Excellence in Precepting Award for the development of a community pharmacy residency program and her years of mentoring VCU pharmacy residents. In addition, Dr. Goode has served on accrediting teams for pharmacy residency programs and serves as the APhA representative on the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Accreditation Services Commission on Credentialing.]

Among other activities in the health care arena, Dr. Goode has been involved from the beginning with pharmacists developing programs to provide immunizations. Currently, she serves as APhA liaison on the Advisory Committee on Immunization. Dr. Goode was the recipient of the inaugural National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Community Pharmacy Faculty Award, the APhA-APPM Daniel B. Smith Practice Excellence Award and was recently recognized as one of the "Next 10 Women in Pharmacy" by the APhA Foundation (second group of women selected for their impact on pharmacy). These are just a few of Dr. Goode’s many achievements in areas of pharmacy practice, professional associations and pharmacy education.

A letter writer for Dr. Goode’s nomination stated that "everything Kelly does, she does with extreme commitment and dedication. She approaches her precepting, teaching, and educating with the same passion. Kelly has high expectations of students, residents and practitioners with whom she interacts" and she "lives by the principles she conveys" and is "full of energy and passion for all she does."

In closing, an individual stated that she was thinking of Zada Mary Cooper (the founder of KE) as she wrote her letter of support for Dr. Goode. She stated, "I wonder what the pioneering 'Grand and Glorious Lady of Pharmacy' would think today. I imagine that she would see Kelly Goode and think, 'I relate to her! She is who I dreamed would be a member of KE when I invited female students to form the organization over 100 years ago.'" And so, it gave the letter writer the "pleasure to imagine that this would be the sentiment as Kelly is reflective of Kappa Epsilon and deserving of recognition from her fraternal home." Thus, the Kappa Epsilon Foundation selected Jean-Venable "Kelly" Robertson Goode as its 2025 KE/Merck Vanguard Leadership Award recipient.