Scholarship Fund Established in Honor of DKICP Founding Dean

Longtime supporters of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, Dr. Hany Guirguis and Adele Etinas, recently established the John M. & Mimi F. Pezzuto Excellence Scholarship Fund for student pharmacists in recognition of the Pezzuto’s significant contribution to the successful grown of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo.

John Pezzuto is the founding Dean of the DKICP. His wife, Mimi, a licensed pharmacist in Illinois and Hawai’i, has also been an instructor at DKICP since 2006 when she moved with the couple’s three children.

Dr. Hany Guirguis and Adele Etinas. University of Hawai’i at Hilo photo.

Former co-owners of Mina Pharmacy, Dr. Guirguis and Etinas owned the pharmacy made up of 11 locations throughout the state before being purchased by CVS Pharmacy. The pair have since set up a new corporation, Mina Compounding Pharmacy. The new corporation specializes in preparing a pharmaceutical product to fit the need of a particular patient.

“There is a couple behind the creation of this College and we need to recognize them forever,” said Dr. Guirguis, whose company has donated $80,000 to DKICP over the last four years and supplemented it with an additional $20,000 this year.

Dr. Hany Guirguis and his wife Madeleine Guirguis have attended a graduation luncheon to present a ceremonial check every spring since the first class of PharmDs graduated in 2011. University of Hawai’i at Hilo photo.

DKICP Interim Dean Dr. Carolyn Ma says that alumni are familiar with the face and heart that was Mina Pharmacy, noting that many students may be most familiar with experiential trainings or from graduation luncheons that Dr. Guirguis and his wife, Madeleine, Guirguis would attend yearly.

“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,” Dr. Ma said.

Upon arrival in Hawai’i, Dean Pezzuto assembled a staff who helped build the school to its current contender for one of the top 25 ranked colleges in the United States. Dean Pezzuto began with no offices, no students, no staff, and the lack of assured future.

In addition to founding the school, Dean Pezzuto is known for his research in identifying the cancer-preventive component of grapes and grape products, resveratrol. His research report was published in Science Magazine in 1997.

Mimi Pezzuto is a specialist in pharmaceutical history, managed care, and the art of compounding. She is the curator of the college’s historical collection and has compiled decades of Hawaiian health information.