Contact: Jill Holder

“Ask the Pharmacist” has proven to be a popular community service program averaging nearly 400 callers annually. Questions have included requests for information on specific prescription drugs, tips on how to lower prescription drug costs, possible adverse reactions or counteractions to mixing prescription and over-the-counter medications, and other medication-related questions.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 23, 2004) -- Television viewers in Central and Eastern Kentucky are invited to phone in their questions about medications during the annual call-in show, “Ask the Pharmacist,” scheduled to air from 6 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, on WKYT -TV and WYMT-TV. The show, now in its 14th year, is a community service provided by the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.

Panelists will include UK College of Pharmacy faculty members Matt McMahan, Pharm.D., assistant professor; Kelly Smith, Pharm.D., associate professor and director UK Drug Information Center; college alumnus Joel Thornbury, R.Ph., president-elect of the Kentucky Pharmacists Association and an independent retail pharmacist from Pikeville; and Janet Mills, Pharm.D., a clinical pharmacist at University of Louisville Hospital.

“Ask the Pharmacist” has proven to be a popular community service program averaging nearly 400 callers annually. Questions have included requests for information on specific prescription drugs, tips on how to lower prescription drug costs, possible adverse reactions or counteractions to mixing prescription and over-the-counter medications, and other medication-related questions.

First-year students in the UK College of Pharmacy doctorate of pharmacy program will answer viewers’ calls and give them to a team of volunteer pharmacists who will select the best questions to be addressed on air. The show will be hosted by WKYT-TV Health and Fitness Anchor DeAnn Stephens.