Group Finds Home in Saudi Arabia

They came to the College of Pharmacy at the University of Georgia in the mid-1970s from around the state of Georgia, some whose families had been here for generations, one by way of a childhood in Texas. They came from small towns and bigger cities, with experience working in community pharmacies as high school students or with no such experience. They bonded as classmates in the Class of 1977, worked through the curriculum, met faculty members who became mentors, graduated, and launched their careers.

And within a few years, they were all in Saudi Arabia, working as pharmacists in hospitals bearing the names of desert kings. The world which had been so big was about to get much smaller–and they would benefit for the rest of their lives.

“I was a kid from Monroe, Georgia, and I was living halfway around the world,” said Frank Shackleford, who spent three years in Saudi Arabia, still sounding amazed at that fact. “Being there opened my eyes a lot wider to the whole world. After my wife and I returned to the States, we still traveled a month or so every year because we learned to love it while we were over there.”

Shackleford and the other members of the Class of 1977 credit classmate John Langford as the pioneer of the Saudi Arabia experience and faculty member Flynn Warren as an inspiration. Langford grew up in Chatsworth, where he worked in a local pharmacy while in high school and “…really fell in love with the profession.” After graduating from UGA, he returned to Chatsworth and worked in a hospital, where he met his wife, Rebecca. 

“I really thought that was going to be my calling and what I would do for the rest of my career,” he recalled. “And then a friend of mine mentioned that Flynn Warren, one of our [UGA College of Pharmacy] faculty members, was working in Saudi Arabia. I was curious, so I typed a letter and mailed it to him, asking what he was doing over there.”

It took a few months for their postal communication to develop, but eventually he learned from Warren that a new hospital named for King Fahd was opening soon and needed pharmacists. Langford applied and was hired as Director of Pharmacy, tasked with hiring some 2,000 people to staff the hospital.

“We were young and adventurous,” Langford said. “I recruited a few other classmates to go over with us. It was great to have a support system of friends and other young couples.” 

Mike Bloomfield was one of the graduates recruited by Warren. He had worked in an independent pharmacy in Ashburn, near Tifton, during high school, observing and admiring the role that the small-town pharmacist played in the community. “A lot of people went to see Ralph (McCloud) before they went to the doctor,” he recalled with a laugh. “He would decide whether they needed to go to the doctor or if he could recommend an over-the-counter remedy.”

Bloomfield enrolled at UGA and was accepted into the College of Pharmacy. After he graduated, he worked as a pharmacist at Emory University Hospital and then at the VA in Columbia, SC. Two of his colleagues took the opportunity to go to work in Saudi Arabia, and Warren “…kept calling me and calling me. I said no for two or three years before we decided to go over. There was a sense of adventure and the idea of doing something crazy.”

He and his wife and their toddler son moved over in the summer of 1982 and welcomed a second son after they moved. 

“I worked at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. I filled prescriptions for two Saudi Arabian kings,” he said, the disbelief still audible in his voice. “Our obstetrician had delivered babies for princes and kings.”

Tom Hinely grew up in Savannah but, unlike some of his classmates, came to UGA without a pharmacy dream. “A lot of people in my class were second- or third-generation pharmacists, or had worked in their hometown pharmacy,” he said. “I had none of that; I didn’t really know any pharmacists.” But he had an aptitude for science and an eye on the economic conditions of the mid-1970s—pharmacy offered an academic path that was appealing and gave him confidence that he could get a job.

He was hired into a chain pharmacy back home in Savannah and thought that would be his career. Restless after a few years, he opened his mailbox one day and found a letter from Langford postmarked Saudi Arabia. “He said I could come over on a two-year contract. I thought I would give it a try and if I didn’t like it, I could come back to Savannah. I didn’t anticipate spending the most productive years of my life there.” He did, though, living in Saudi Arabia for 20 years; his two children were born there.

“I can’t imagine what my life would be like without this experience.” 

While Riyadh, where the hospitals that employed them, is 7,200 miles from Athens, the UGA folks found it easy to create a home community. Housing was within the hospital complex, an easy walk to work. Everything was brand new, they said, and they had everything they needed close at hand. The four young couples and others from the States bonded quickly and shared their lives in the desert. The UGA group and the new friends they made from around the world shared holiday and birthday parties, dinners, and other social events.

Hospital pharmacy was exciting, fulfilling, and challenging. The Saudis were committed to providing the very best in healthcare for their citizens and recognized the expertise of American-trained pharmacists as critical. Hospital staff came from some 70 countries, and the experience of working with people from so many different backgrounds and cultures was lauded by all of the PharmDawgs who spent time in Saudi Arabia.

The work culture was extraordinary. Their contracts included 75 days of paid leave per year, and with air fares quite low, they all took the opportunity to travel around the region and beyond.

What advice do they have for current students who have the opportunity to practice their profession internationally? “Go for it!” exclaimed Hinely. “If you have the chance to go abroad, you’ll come back understanding the world better,” added Shackleford. And Langford echoed those sentiments: “I would highly encourage them to go if they have the chance,” he said. “It will open their eyes to other people and cultures. I know my kids are much better citizens for having had that experience.”

Langford gives credit to his UGA roots. “The College of Pharmacy opened my life to so many wonderful possibilities, especially in Saudi Arabia. While I was there, I was asked by one of the princes, who had been educated in the United States, to help him start a pharmaceutical wholesale company. The critical thinking and decision-making skills I learned at the College of Pharmacy, in addition to the technical education, were what enabled me to do that, even though I told him, ‘Your majesty, I’ve never done anything like this before!’”