If you are a frequent RxTrace reader, you might have notice that I haven’t
been writing for a while. No, I haven’t been sick with Covid-19 (not yet
anyway) or sick with anything else. No, I didn’t run for elective office in
the recent general election. Any other theories? In reality, I intended to
take the month of March off as a well-deserved vacation, and I did that.
Then, when Covid-19 hit, there wasn’t much to write about, mainly because of the uncertainty. After that, I got busy with house remodeling projects and consulting. And now I am announcing my retirement from most (maybe not all) consulting, and from RxTrace.
Despite my retirement, RxTrace has a new lease on life, so the future of
RxTrace has arrived. I have transferred ownership of RxTrace and all its
assets to TrackTraceRx., a company in the pharmaceutical industry. I am excited about their plans for RxTrace because they include a planned technology update-something that is years overdue-and the writing will continue in the same direction and focus as I maintained over the years. I’m impressed with their desire to continue the blog’s independent voice. I have encouraged them to make it their own and not worry about what I might have done. They should not feel encumbered by my history with the site. It is theirs now.
I started working in 1971. In that year I made $521 in taxable income,
according to my Social Security annual report. Before that, I had newspaper routes, mowed lawns and shoveled snow, so I’ve been working for more than 50 years. My professional career started in 1982. Over that career I have worked for six companies (in order): General Electric, Repete, PCC, Cardinal Health (twice), SupplyScape and Systech International. In my career I have had the pleasure of working with many incredibly bright people-too numerous to mention their names, including co-workers, customers and industry colleagues. I owe you all so much. We’ve done some pretty great things together.
I started RxTrace on July 4, 2009 for several reasons. The primary reason was to create an outlet for my own ideas related to “…topics like GS1 Standards, pedigree, track and trace, and issues surrounding those things, using publicly available information” (see “Welcome to rxTrace
<https://www.rxtrace.com/2009/07/welcome-to-rxtrace.html/> )”. A few weeks later I started calling it “a comprehensive exploration of the intersection between healthcare supply chains, track and trace technology, standards and global regulatory compliance”.
There are several people I would like to thank for providing one impetuous or another that led to its creation. First was my youngest daughter, Jane. In the middle 2000’s she spent a year in Japan helping to teach English to middle-school kids. While she was there, she wrote a blog on Blogspot.com <http://janerodgers.blogspot.com/> about her day-to-day observations and experiences. (Yes, it’s still out there: Here is one of her essays from April 2007 about our visit <http://janerodgers.blogspot.com/2007/04/parents-visit.html> .) I had heard of the new concept of a “blog” before, but hers was the first one I had ever really looked at. She was our daughter, so of course we were interested in reading it, but her public writing seemed to be so much more compelling than just because we were closely related. She did a great job of making her articles fun and interesting to read. That was when I first thought about writing a blog myself (here is my guest essay
<http://janerodgers.blogspot.com/2007/04/dads-entry.html> on her blog).
Around that time I stumbled across Adam Fein’s industry blog,
DrugChannels.net <http://www.drugchannels.net/> . Adam had done some very interesting essays about the Florida ePedigree law and what it meant. I was responsible for understanding the implications of the new ePedigree laws in my job at Cardinal Health at the time and so I devoured those essays, and they left me wanting more. I eventually met Adam when he spoke at a company meeting when I worked for SupplyScape. We started corresponding about the ePedigree topic, with me encouraging Adam to write more about it. But his focus was not really on the ePedigree stuff so he very rarely wrote about them.
I eventually left SupplyScape and returned to Cardinal Health with even more responsibility for helping them adjust their IT systems to meet the new drug ePedigree and traceability regulations. Right about when I started, Tim Marsh, then with Pfizer, began his own blog highlighting his thinking on his work in the industry (it doesn’t exist anymore). That was enough. I bought the RxTrace.com domain, signed up with Blogspot and posted my first essay.
Adam Fein provided encouragement and solid advice. I’m happy to say that we became friends (here is a recent guest post of mine on DrugChannels.net: “Will President Trump Eliminate The DSCSA?
<https://www.drugchannels.net/2016/11/will-president-trump-eliminate-dscsa.h
tml> “) and I owe him for his excellent advice. More than any other
influencer, Adam is responsible for my success with RxTrace.
RxTrace has been the highlight of my long career, and I have many people to thank for that.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Jane Rodgers, Tim Marsh, Adam Fein, and Kathy Rodgers, who gave me the time and space to make it work. And I would like to thank those with TrackTraceRx for recognizing the value of RxTrace and being interested in carrying it forward when I was done. I wish them all the success I have had, and I have offered them any help I can give toward that success.
Finally, I would like to thank you readers of RxTrace over the years.
Without you, RxTrace wouldn’t have lasted very long. Thank you to everyone who offered ideas and comments over the years. If you would like to reach me, you can reconstruct my personal address: Dirk dot Rodgers at gmail dot com. Don’t forget the “d” in Rodgers.
Farewell everyone!
Dirk.
Dirk, I hope you enjoy your retirement. It has been a pleasure to be educated by you through the past few years. Best Personal Regards, Geoff
Congratulations on your retirement! And thank you for your insight over the years!
Dirk, you have been a trusted resource to many, including to me and my colleagues at Pew when the DSCSA was being developed. Best wishes for your retirement!
Dirk, I’ve only been following you for a couple of years, but I have found that your information is concise and put together very well. Thanks for taking the time to help reduce the cloudy nature of all of it.
Your posts are invaluable. Best wishes for your future activities
Thank you for the kind words, Dirk.
It’s been a pleasure to work with you. Wishing you great happiness in your well-deserved retirement!
Congratulations on your retirement Dirk! Working in the DSCSA environment, we appreciate all the time and energy you have spent teaching others about the details of the law. You book “The Drug Supply Chain Security Act Explained” has been very helpful in understanding the details of DSCSA.
Thanks Dirk for bringing independent and insightful perspective to the discussions and showing courage in pointing out areas that needed addressed. Your DSCSA book is still a go to in navigating the complexities! Enjoy retirement!
Congratulations Dirk on retirement! I echo the same comments as others that your contributions to the industry are invaluable with your knowledge and perspective that you freely shared with others. I have always enjoyed our conversations and really appreciate the guidance to me as I was entering this space. Best of luck in your next adventures!
Thanks for your outstanding work all of these years. I have enjoyed your expertise.
Congratulations on your retirement! And thank you for your insight over the years!
ALL THE BEST!
Your book and this website has been a treasure find. Thank you for all your help. Enjoy your retirement! Good on TrackTraceRx for carrying the torch.