Idaho State University President Robert Wagner sits down with Dr. Rex Force, Vice President for Health Sciences and Senior Vice Provost, for a wide‑ranging conversation about how ISU is stepping up for Idaho’s health care needs. They talk about the boom in health programs across Pocatello, Meridian and beyond, new degrees like nurse anesthesia and accelerated nursing, and ISU’s growing role in training doctors, dentists, and other providers through residencies and the partnership with the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine. You’ll also hear how a major college reorganization and expanding teaching clinics—including a busy new community psychiatric center—are designed to better support students, bring care closer to rural communities, and create sustainable clinical revenue that helps ISU keep serving the state.
Guest Bio: Rex W. Force, BSPharm, Pharm.D., FCCP is Vice President for Health Science and Senior Vice Provost at ISU. Previously he served as Associate Dean for Clinical Research in the Division of Health Sciences at ISU and holds a tenured professorship in the Department of Family Medicine and directed clinical research programs in that department. He also holds an appointment as Professor of Pharmacy Practice.
Dr. Force earned his B.S. in Pharmacy from Oregon State University and his Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree from the University of Texas and the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, after which he completed a two-year clinical research fellowship at Ohio State University. He is a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, and has an additional certification in healthcare quality improvement.
Dr. Force was instrumental in developing the Bengal Pharmacy telepharmacy program at ISU which provides much-needed access to medications to rural Idahoans in Adams, Butte, and Custer Counties.
Dr. Force also established the pharmacotherapy and community pharmacy residency programs at Idaho State, providing innovative post-graduate opportunities to pharmacists. He was also part of the team that led the expansion of the ISU College of Pharmacy program to Anchorage, Alaska.
Heavily involved in clinical research, he served as a Board Trustee of the Research Institute of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and a member of the Steering Committee of the WWAMI-region Practice and Research Network. In addition, he served as the ISU liaison to the Mountain West Clinical Translational Research Infrastructure Network, a multi-state, multi-institution consortium designed to improve health research in the western US. This program has provided many grants to ISU researchers over the past decade.
Dr. Force has authored over 50 professional and research publications, presented over 100 research papers or abstracts, and speaks regularly at professional meetings.
With a focus on primary care pharmacotherapy, evidence-based medicine, medication safety, and rural health service delivery, Dr. Force and his collaborators have received grants and contracts in excess of $5.5 million while at ISU. The clinical trials in which he has served as an investigator have defined the current management of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia.
Dr. Force has been on the faculty at Idaho State University since 1993 and has received honors and awards for his research, teaching and professional service.
