He joined the pharmacy faculty to teach clinical pharmacy because of his unique qualifications in nursing care, medication administration, and laboratory-based research. He completed his graduate work while an instructor and remained a member of the faculty thereafter. He developed pharmacy care services for and designed the pharmacy facility for the UNC Student Health Service, which opened in 1980. Early in his career, he specialized in cardiovascular pharmacotherapy and focused more specifically in hypertension as he progressed. His research focus became the pharmacotherapy of hypertension, and with that clinical trial experience, he codeveloped the UNC Clinical Drug Fellowship in partnership with colleagues within the pharmaceutical industry.