Jakopec Named 2025 Weaver Medal of Honor Recipient and Lecturer
Friday, April 4th, 2025
The Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will award its highest honor, the Lawrence C. and Delores M. Weaver Medal of Honor to Drake pharmacy alumnus, Carl Jakopec, PH’69. Jakopec will deliver the Weaver Medal Lecture during the 2025 Drake Relays week on Thursday, April 24, as a part of the inaugural CPHS Awards Ceremony, which will take place at 9:00 a.m. in Sheslow Auditorium. The lecture will also be livestreamed and recorded for later viewing. A reception will immediately follow the ceremony in Levitt Hall.
The Weaver Medal of Honor recognizes an individual’s dedication to making a substantial impact on the profession of pharmacy and the advancement of human health. It is presented annually to a recipient who has fulfilled one of the following criteria: the individual’s efforts have advanced the education, research, or outreach mission of the college for the benefit of human health; the individual has made a substantial impact on the profession of pharmacy; or the individual has provided to the college significant financial support that has funded strategic change and progress. The award is made possible by a generous gift from Lawrence Weaver, PH’49, and his wife, Delores.
Carl Jakopec, an Illinois native who grew up in the south suburban Chicago community of Brookfield, earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree from Drake in 1969. He had developed an interest in pharmacy at the young age of sixteen, when he was working his first high-school job at a local pharmacy. During his time at Drake, Jakopec was active in the Kappa Psi pharmaceutical fraternity and served as Regent during his senior year.
Upon receiving his degree, Jakopec stayed put in Des Moines for the next eight years as a Pharmacy Manager for Walgreens before moving to Colorado, where he owned two pharmacies and consulted for the largest nursing home in the state.
It was not until early 1981 when Jakopec entered the pharmaceutical industry, where he would spend the better half of his lucrative career. He became a Specialty Sales Representative at Marion Laboratories, calling on office-based cardiologists and gastroenterologists. This was the first of many positions he held leading to Director of Government Sales.
After a short stint with a startup wound care company in Topeka, Kansas, Jakopec joined Forest Laboratories, Inc., as the Director of Government Affairs and Sales in 1996. During his time at Forest, he developed and oversaw the company’s entrance into sales, working with federal entities responsible for a large portion of federal health care, including the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the United States Public Health Service, Indian Health Service, and Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Jakopec continued to be involved with governmental affairs through the end of his career. He was active with the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States and their Sustaining Members, which were health care companies who did business with the federal government. While a member, he mentored new representatives from other companies and helped them understand federal purchasing. He even served a term as the President of the Sustaining Members.
Having moved to Las Vegas in 1999, Jakopec was active in motorsports and enjoyed watching his grandson play hockey. He currently spends most of his time on the golf course. He spends four days a week playing golf at TPC Summerlin as a member and also plays at other friends’ courses.
Jakopec remains a valued member of the Drake community as a CPHS National Advisory Council Emeritus.
“During my time at Marion Laboratories, I was asked by former Dean Ron Kluza to be on the First National Commission on the Future of Drake University,” Jakopec said. “Dean Kluza then asked me to be on the first National Advisory Council of the College of Pharmacy.”
The College is honored to bestow its most prestigious award to Carl Jakopec. Jakopec’s successful career reflects the impact that a pharmacist can make on matters such as federal healthcare, as well as the devotion of a Drake alumnus.
