The Mecca is platform for Ian Douglas’ success
By Kelvin Childs
Even when he was a boy, the renown of Howard University reached Ian M. Douglas, P.D., (’76, B.S.) in his Guyana homeland. When it came time to go to college, Howard was his preferred choice.
“Howard was chosen because that school is recognized as the very best higher education institution in Guyana, where I was born,” Douglas said. “And that is above any of the other so-called Ivy league schools, such as Harvard, etc. A lot of people don’t know that, but Howard is highly recognized in in my country [where] I was born.”
Howard was the springboard to Douglas’ career, which took him from practice at the St. Thomas East End Medical Center in the U.S. Virgin Islands to chairman of the territory’s Board of Pharmacy. Along the way, Douglas became the first and only pharmacist in the territory certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine. He was a leader in relief efforts when the Category 5 Hurricane Maria came through the Caribbean in 2017. He developed relationships with pharmaceutical companies to provide free medicines for indigent immigrant patients from Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
His wife, Barbara Giles Douglas, M.D., is a physician and internist. They met while they lived in Washington, D.C., and were wed at the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel on Howard’s campus. Their son, Ian M. Douglas Jr., received his engineering degree from the University.
“My time at Howard played an invaluable role by providing a platform for my success,” Douglas said.
Over his career, Douglas has donated to the School of Pharmacy and established scholarships for individual students “all for the purpose of promoting our next generation of pharmacists to carry the torch. Present it to them so that they would learn from my example. This is the kind of example that must be demonstrated and not spoken,” he said.
He continued, “In addition, I have supported many students through employment opportunities that I created at one or both of my institutions that I owned at the time, in terms of pharmacies,” he said.
Now retired and no longer on the Board of Pharmacy, Douglas speaks emphatically about the responsibility of alumni to give.
“Why should alumni donate to the University? While it is clear that not everyone is able to give, of those that are in a position to give, there can be no greater cause than fortifying the foundation of those coming behind you. Helping those less fortunate is one of the reasons why I have given of both my time and money,” Douglas said.
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