Retired Professor, School of Pharmacy

Honorary University Marshal

After 4½ decades of students singing his praises, retired School of Pharmacy professor David Roffman now can fully focus on a different kind of music.

“The greatest gift of my retirement is the ability to visit with my children and three grandchildren in Boston and Dallas and spend more time with my wife,” says Roffman, a five-time Teacher of the Year at the School of Pharmacy. “I am also now able to spend more time with my music library at home, frequent the Baltimore Symphony more often, and take greater advantage of study at my synagogue and at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies.

“Finally, after many years of playing folk guitar, mostly by ear, with friends and colleagues, I look forward to taking formal lessons to master the instrument.”

If Roffman’s past success is any indication, the musical world is in for a treat.

Roffman received his BS and PharmD from the School of Pharmacy in 1970 and 1973, respectively. He joined the school’s faculty in 1973, where he instituted the first cardiovascular pharmacotherapy specialty practice in Maryland. Aside from the numerous teaching laurels at the School of Pharmacy, including UMB’s 2010 Teacher of the Year Award, Roffman also worked in the Division of Cardiology at the School of Medicine, served as a therapeutic consultant in the Cardiac Care Unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center for more than 35 years, and maintained practice sites in a number of ambulatory care clinics at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Still, he says he was stunned to be chosen as an honorary marshal for UMB’s commencement. “Aware of the numerous academic achievements, national and international reputations of my UMB colleagues,” Roffman says, “I am honored and deeply moved to be recognized in this manner.”

Pharmacy colleagues who raved about Roffman when he retired in December 2015 see the honor as fitting.

“I am one of the luckiest people to ever walk through the doors of Pharmacy Hall,” said associate professor Kristin Watson, PharmD, BCPS-AQ Cardiology, “because not only was I able to learn about the pharmacy profession and develop the skills to become a pharmacy educator from Dr. Roffman, but I was also able to become his friend.”

“His passion for teaching serves as an inspiration to our faculty,” said Jill Morgan, PharmD, BCPS, chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science. “His innovative lectures and pedagogy impacted nearly 2,000 students in the School’s previous Bachelor of Science in pharmacy program; more than 2,300 students in the School’s current PharmD program; and more than 200 non-traditional students. His work has helped to transform the way that our graduates care for their patients.”

A past recipient of the Maryland Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ W. Arthur Purdum Award, which recognizes sustained and significant contributions to the pharmacy profession, Roffman says he is still keeping a hand in the profession. “I am currently revising a cardiovascular module for a nursing publishing and continuing education company, and continue to occasionally give medical grand rounds on cardiology topics at regional medical centers around the country,” he says.

He also stops by the School of Pharmacy on occasion. He is helping the school with its 175-year publication — “it seems like I have been there for most of those 175 years” — and attended its first Applied Therapeutics, Research, Instruction at the University of Maryland (ATRIUM) Cardiology Collaborative conference.

Though he looks forward to “fishing in the Chesapeake” this summer, Roffman admits there is a part of him that misses being in a classroom, where he was considered a demanding yet superior instructor.

“Few things gave me more satisfaction than watching the faces of my students and residents at the moment that they ‘got’ a complicated cardiology concept after they had struggled with it for weeks or months,” Roffman says.

And he says he owes a debt of gratitude to his colleagues as well.

“I am grateful to have been the beneficiary of the accumulated wisdom of my colleagues in pharmacy and cardiology over the past 45 years,” he said at his retirement reception. “There was not a day that passed during which I did not learn something new from a peer, student, or patient, and I will carry that knowledge with me as I begin the next chapter of my life. I thank you all for your unwavering support.”

Chris Zang