Garis led drug price research

A memorial service will begin at 5 p.m. today for Dr. Robert I. Garis, a Creighton University associate professor of pharmacy sciences.

He died Friday at Lakeside Hospital, said his family. Garis was 59 and had cancer.

The professor spent much of the last decade exposing costly and often questionable practices among pharmacy benefit management companies, which are third party administrators of prescription drug programs.

Garis joined CU’s School of Pharmacy and Health Professions faculty in 1999.

He and colleagues were the first to question and research drug-pricing policies, excessive mark-ups, inefficiencies and questionable practices within the pharmacy benefit management industry. Those companies are intermediaries between many employer-sponsored prescription drug benefit programs, drug manufacturers and retail pharmacies.

Garis’ work helped rein in the pharmacy benefit management industry and educate employer groups and government agencies about the industry’s pitfalls and how to negotiate better contracts.

In 2005, the CU school awarded Garis its Distinguished Service Award.

“Bob was a tireless and diligent researcher who was beloved as a teacher by our Creighton pharmacy students. Simply put, he was a kind, considerate, generous and honest man who worked hard to promote social justice and fiscal integrity in the PBM industry,” said Dr. Bartholomew Clark, an associate professor of pharmacy sciences who frequently collaborated with Garis.

Survivors include wife Betty, of Omaha; son Clayton Wayman of Benton, Kan.; daughters Lexie Huckaby of Charlotte, N.C., and Beky Mooneyham of Owasso, Okla.; and nine grandchildren.

Today’s memorial service for Garis will be at the John A. Gentleman Mortuaries 72nd Street Chapel, 1010 N. 72nd St.

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