HAWAIʻI ISLAND - Dr. Hany Guirguis and Adele Etinas (pictured above), longtime supporters of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy (DKICP) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, have established the John M. & Mimi F. Pezzuto Excellence Scholarship Fund for student pharmacists in recognition of the Pezzuto’s significant contributions to the successful growth of the College.
“There is a couple behind the creation of this College and we need to recognize them forever,” said Guirguis, whose company has donated $80,000 to DKICP over the last four years and supplemented it with an additional $20,000 this year.
Guirguis and Etinas were co-owners of Mina Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy that included 11 locations throughout Hawaiʻi before being purchased by CVS Pharmacy. Since the sale of Mina Pharmacy, the pair set up a new corporation, Mina Compounding Pharmacy, which specializes in preparing a pharmaceutical product to fit the need of a particular patient.
“Most of our alumni know the face if not the heart of what was Mina Pharmacy, either through their experiential training or from the graduation luncheons Dr. and Mrs. Guirguis have attended every year,” said Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy Interim Dean Dr. Carolyn Ma. She continued, “We are very grateful to Hany Guirguis and Adel Etinas for demonstrating an essential part of our students’ education, which is not only how to lead while in professional school but how to remain leaders in the community all their lives.”
John Pezzuto is the founding Dean for the College of Pharmacy, and his wife, Mimi, who is a licensed pharmacist in Illinois and Hawaiʻi, has been an instructor at DKICP since moving to Hilo with their three children in 2006.
When Dean Pezzuto arrived in Hawaiʻi, the College of Pharmacy had no offices, no staff, no students, and no assurance of a future. He methodically assembled a staff of world-renowned faculty who would build the school into what is now a contender for one of the top-25 ranked colleges in the U.S.
Dean Pezzuto is well-known for his research that identified the cancer-preventive component of grapes and grape products known as resveratrol. After the research report was published in Science Magazine in 1997, many more stories in scientific journals as well as mainstream media focused on the discovery that gave real promise to the fight against cancer.
Mimi Pezzuto specializes in pharmaceutical history, managed care and the art of compounding. The curator of the College’s historical collection, she has amassed decades of Hawaiian health information that will serve as data for many future student pharmacists.
Her background includes Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association as a Senior Consultant and Manager of Pharmacy Programs for HCSC Corporation (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and Texas), where she was part of a team that managed drug benefits for 2.3 million members and interfaced with all divisions of HCSC.
If you would like to learn how you can support UH students and programs like this, please contact us at 808 376-7800 or send us a message.
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The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawaiʻi System. The mission of the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation is to unite donors' passions with the University of Hawaiʻi’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawaiʻi and our future generations www.uhfoundation.org.
