Cover illustration and design copyright © 2018 by Obi-Tabot Tabe, PharmD. The image is taken from an 18′×24′ oil painting by Obi-Tabot Tabe, PharmD, a painter, graphic designer, scientific illustrator, and pharmacist. The painting is housed at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy.
Dr. Tabe, originally from Cameroon, is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. The pharmacist scope of practice is expanding, and pharmacists are taking on a greater patient care role in collaborative drug therapy with physicians and other healthcare professionals. The painting depicts the collaborative relationship between the disciplines of pharmacy and medicine in the art of pharmacotherapy. Basic dispensing functions, drug information services, solutions to patient- and medication-related problems, and decisions regarding drug prescribing, monitoring, and drug regimen adjustments are all collaborative efforts in pharmacotherapy. The intersecting circles represent collaboration between pharmacists, physicians, and other healthcare professionals in the art of pharmacotherapy. The subtle greens and blues in the painting, including carbon rings and molecular structures, represent natural and synthetic medicines. The pills (tablets and capsules) in one of the circles represent the knowledge and expertise of the pharmacist in drug information services and drug therapy; the stethoscope represents the clinical environment; and the pharmacokinetic curves represent the vitality to drug monitoring and adjustments.