School of Pharmacy

Melvin F. Baron, PharmD

Research Interest

Community and ambulatory pharmacy practice and homecare; implementation of clinical pharmacy services in commmunity clinics; development of health education tools for low-literacy, low-income populations.

Biography

Melvin F. Baron, PharmD., MPA, is Assistant Dean for Programmatic Advancement and Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy. He received his Pharm.D. in 1957 and his MPA in 1973, both from USC. Dr. Baron was in private practice from 1957 to 1987 and developed a unique home health care center providing infusion therapy, ostomy care, durable medical equipment, and respiratory and incontinence care. He joined the USC School of Pharmacy faculty on a part-time basis in 1981 and became a full-time faculty member in 1990.

As a member of the clinical faculty, Dr. Baron serves as the Director for the first level externship program, which he helped create. In addition, he is the co-director of the PharmD/MBA Program and is responsible for teaching clerkships in Pharmacy Administration.

Dr. Baron serves as a consulting pharmacist for several community clinics that serve indigent patients in Los Angeles County. He is a member of the California Safety Net Alliance Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee. He is a Fellow of the California Pharmacists Association and the American College of Apothecaries. Dr. Baron is the President of PharmaCom, a pharmceutical comunications company.

Dr. Baron's professional affiliations include the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists, American Pharmaceutical Association, California Pharmaceutical Association, Fellow - American College of Apothecaries, and American Public Administration Association. He is also a member of Rho Chi Society, Faculty Advisor to Phi Lambda Sigma, and has been honored as the Preceptor of the Year and the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year.

In 2008, Dr. Baron was named "Pharmacist of the Year" by the California Pharmacists Association. He and other faculty colleagues received the 2009 Transformative Community Service Award of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Click here for:

Research Contracts & Grants

Selected Projects/Publications

Fotonovela: Diabetes prevention and education for a low-literacy, low-income Latino population. Project Director [2004] USC Neighborhood Outreach Grant, $32,000.

Szeinbach SL, Baron M, guschke T, Torkilson EA. Survery of state requirements for unit-of-use packaging. Am J Health-Sys Pharm [2003] 60:1863-1866.

Implementation and Expansion of Pharmacist Clinical Services to Improve Health Outcomes for Medically Underserved Patients. Co-investigator with Kathleen A. Johnson, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Jeff Goad, Pharm.D., BCPS, and Steve Chen, Pharm.D., BCPS. UniHealth Foundation, May 2003, $405,150 funded, three years.

Baron MF. The Pharmacist as a Healer. Am J Health-Sys Pharm [1999] 56:576.