Midwestern University Inducts New Littlejohn Society Members

Midwestern University President and Chief Executive Officer Kathleen H. Goeppinger, PhD, honored three new recipients of the Littlejohn Award at the University’s annual recognition dinner held in September at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa in Glendale, Arizona.

This year’s honorees are alumnus Arthur Travis Shelton, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCOP, Cancer Center pharmacy supervisor and residency program director, Mayo Clinic Hospital; faculty member Kaila M. Osmotherly, OD, FAAO, Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs, Arizona College of Optometry; and staff member Allen L. Gilley, maintenance technician.

Dr. Shelton is a 2009 graduate from the College of Pharmacy-Glendale. He currently works at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix as the Cancer Center pharmacy supervisor and residency program director. He holds dual board certifications in pharmacotherapy and oncology pharmacy. Dr. Shelton is a member of the Arizona Pharmacists Association and serves as the College of Pharmacy-Glendale Alumni Council President. He completed pre-pharmacy studies at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 2006.

Dr. Osmotherly is the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the Arizona College of Optometry. She has worked at Midwestern University since 2011. She was named to the Phoenix Business Journal’s 2018 “Forty-Under-40” list of up-and-coming Arizona business and community leaders. Dr. Osmotherly earned her bachelor of science degrees in human biology and molecular biology from Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska. She earned her doctor of optometry degree in 2010 from Pacific University College of Optometry in Forest Grove, Oregon, and completed her residency in family practice and ocular disease at the Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. 

Mr. Gilley came to Midwestern University in 2007, originally working in general maintenance before being named a maintenance technician in 2012. He works in all facets of facility and campus support and is consistently recognized as a friendly and helpful presence by the entire university community. Mr. Gilley graduated from Maryvale High School.

The Littlejohn Awards take their name from the Littlejohn brothers, physicians who in 1900 founded the American College of Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery, the precursor to the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, the founding college of Midwestern University. The awards, which have been presented annually since 2000 by Dr. Goeppinger, are Midwestern University’s highest honor. Littlejohn Award winners are selected from Midwestern faculty, staff and alumni for their outstanding service to the community, healthcare professions and the university.

Midwestern University extends the warmest congratulations to these outstanding representatives of the university and the health care community.