Board Member's Profile

A native of New York, Herbert Langsam graduated from The University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy with a B.S. degree in 1952. He purchased his first retail pharmacy in 1959 and began nursing home consulting in 1961. Herb was quick to recognize the value of computers and, in 1964, developed the first pharmacy computer system in the United States. He was Founder, President, and CEO of Langsam Health Services, a conglomerate of health care companies that serviced 17,000 long term care residents with consulting services, medicare Part B, IV and hyperalimentation, medical laboratory services, mobile X-ray, nutritional assessments, and respiratory therapy. Herb remained as Vice-President for Government Affairs after his company was acquired by Omnicare, Inc. in 1991. In 1999, Herb started another company, Medicare Recoveries, Inc., and currently serves as its President.

As an early pioneer in pharmacy consulting, Herb was one of the original founders of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) in 1970. He has served that organization in several capacities, including Vice-President, President, and Chairman of the Board. He also served two years on the Board of Directors, four years, including two as Chairman, on the Organizational Affairs Council, five years as Treasurer of the Political Action Committee, and he continues to serve on the ASCP Council of Presidents. Herb has further been a member of the Government Affairs Committee, of the adhoc committee of the Medicare Part B Task Force, and of the SCRIPP Committee of the ASCP. In 1999, he was elected ASCP Treasurer.

Herb has been very involved in other activities as well, serving as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Geriatric Research Drug Therapy Institute and Chairman of the Institute's Development Committee. He has also served as a member of the Oklahoma Pharmacists Association Insurance and Third Party Reimbursement Committee, The University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy National Advisory Board, and Advisory Boards for Miles, Sandoz, and Glaxo, among many others.

Herb has received many honors, including the Richard S. Berman Service Award of the ASCP, the Merck Sharpe and Dohme Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Profession of Pharmacy, the Ralph D. Bienfang Outstanding Practitioner Award from The University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy Alumni Association, and recognition by the Oklahoma Health Care Association. Herb was elected to the Oklahoma Pharmacy Hall of Fame in 1997.

Herb and his wife Dorothy have very generously established The Herbert and Dorothy Langsam Centennial Chair in Geriatric Pharmacy in the OU College of Pharmacy to provide leadership in education, research, and service in geriatric pharmacy.