2024 Appreciation
Gallery
2024 Appreciation
Gallery
Pharmacy Cares Every Day
Learn more about the countless ways that pharmacy cares through this collection of stories gathered from pharmacy professionals serving in hospitals and health systems. Each story provides a different perspective of the important role pharmacy plays in patient care every day.
2024 WINNERS | 2023 HONOREES
Olivia Berger, PharmD, BCPS
Pain and Palliative Care Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
Dr. Olivia Berger is a shining example of a pharmacist’s commitment to achieving optimal patient outcomes and improving the wellbeing of her community. Dr. Berger puts patient-centered care at the forefront by seeing patients with her interdisciplinary team to hear their stories, learn how to best care for them based on their goals, improve symptom management, and enhance their quality of life.
In 2023, Dr. Berger partnered with colleagues to develop a comprehensive residency wellness curriculum for pharmacists and residents. She completed the ASHP Wellbeing and Resilience Certificate Program and serves as an ASHP Wellbeing Ambassador, which empowers local action to reduce occupational burnout and create a culture of wellbeing.
Dr. Berger is also committed to improving outcomes in her community. She implemented a process to safely dispense methadone to patients with opioid use disorder to improve care transitions and actively participates in naloxone distribution events in the community to reduce opioid overdose deaths. She serves as a site resource and active participant in the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which encourages the removal of unused medications in homes to prevent medication misuse. Dr. Berger continues to advance the health and wellbeing of her community and profession through the dedication she has demonstrated through these valued activities.
2024 WINNER
Bryan Brubaker, PharmD
Pharmacy Clinical Specialist
Lee Health
Dr. Bryan Brubaker has built relationships across his health system and leverages each contact to provide better care for his patients. From using his collaborative practice agreement to make medication therapies more affordable and accessible to COPD patients and working with case management to get tents and bus passes to his unhoused patients, Bryan generally stops at nothing to get an answer for his patients.
Recently, Bryan has taken up a cause close to his heart called Barbershop Wellness. This interdisciplinary group has established community partnerships in one of the most underserved populations in our area of Southwest Florida. One Saturday each month, the Barbershop Wellness program offers themed presentations on the pillars of wellness at a barbershop in the Dunbar area of Fort Myers, FL. Bryan’s passion for this project has been contagious. Our community-based pharmacy residents and several outpatient, ambulatory, and inpatient pharmacists have all taken turns participating this past year.
Bryan’s involvement in the Barbershop Wellness program has cemented pharmacy as a key contributor to community outreach in the form of health screenings, vaccine clinics, wellness workshops, brownbag events, and catch-all disease state education and medication assistance. Through these events, Bryan has not only made connections that are valuable to his patients, but he’s also made connections that are good for the entire community. He’s connected with pharmacies and physicians outside his healthcare system to create relationships that provide an outsized impact on patient access and healthcare resources to those in the Dunbar community.
Bryan consistently demonstrates a commitment to the community. His passion for ensuring access to healthcare and pharmacy services shows in many facets of his job, but most certainly through his personal involvement in the program. He brought this to our leadership team when it was still in the planning phases two years ago, and he has remained steadfast in his contagious commitment to this underserved community.
2024 WINNER
Michael Kachmarsky, PharmD, BCACP, MBA
Ambulatory Care Pharmacist, Residency Program Director
Geisinger Clinics
Dr. Michael Kachmarskyis an ambulatory care clinical pharmacist who practices primary care within an underserved community. He provides his patients with access to resources that they may not be able to obtain otherwise.
One example is the in-depth care he provides to his diabetic patients. His care goes beyond medication adjustments and vital monitoring to ensure his patients meet all annual care measures. He provides immunizations and foot exams and even schedules retinopathy examinations.
His approach to patient care is all encompassing and covers a wide range of related diseases, such as dyslipidemia and hypertension. He helps patients and providers navigate insurance and cost issues and does whatever it takes to ensure patients get the medications that provide them with the greatest benefit. This includes spending hours filling out patient assistance forms, waiting on hold with insurance companies to get questions answered, and calling pharmacies to overcome access barriers. But his work with patients continues. He takes time out of his lunch to help elderly patients place continuous glucose monitors every two weeks. On several occasions, Michael has helped patients organize their pill boxes if they are struggling to manage their medications on their own. He takes great pride in the relationships he builds with his patients and wants to be sure they reach their full potential with all health outcomes.
Michael’s influence extends beyond his patients. He takes multiple pharmacy students throughout the year and serves as a PGY-1 residency program director. In his roles as preceptor and RPD, he works to ensure each student and resident is prepared for practice in an ambulatory care setting before leaving his clinic. Most importantly, he works to ensure their mental health stays strong throughout the process. His mentorship is instrumental in helping the next generation of care givers achieve success and make a positive impact in the healthcare field.
2024 WINNER
Outpatient Pharmacy Manager
Renown Health
Dr. Israa Mahmood, the Outpatient Pharmacy Manager at Renown Health, has significantly expanded the reach of our pharmacies. In her six years at Renown, she has transformed Renown Pharmacies from a single outpatient location serving a limited patient population to a network of three locations. These locations now offer a range of services, including retail, mail, and specialty pharmacy services, catering to the needs of all patients in the community.
Additionally, Dr. Mahmood provides clinical pharmacy services, including diabetes and weight loss counseling, to the Healthcare Center Clinic patients. She is board-certified as an Ambulatory Care Pharmacist and in Advanced Diabetes Management. Dr. Mahmood’s pharmacies provide services unique to other outpatient pharmacies, including the management and administration of long-acting injectable antipsychotics and testosterone injections.
Dr. Mahmood also oversees the Medications to Go Program at Renown. This program provides prescriptions to patients who are discharging from Renown hospitals before they leave the building. The program has been incredibly successful, with over 70% of eligible patients participating at Renown Regional Medical Center in the last month.
Survey results consistently demonstrate Israa’s impact on employee engagement and patient and provider satisfaction. The Renown Specialty Pharmacy has a Net Promoter Score of 87.5, the highest provider survey participation rate measured nationally, and her staff have an overall employee engagement score of 99%.
While driving such incredible pharmacy outcomes, Dr. Mahmood also trains the next generation of pharmacists and technicians. She is a preceptor for the Idaho State University College of Pharmacy and Renown Regional’s Pharmacy Residency program and trains pharmacy technician students from Northern Nevada Job Corp.
Dr. Mahmood’s ability to balance the demands of Renown Pharmacies with raising a family of four children is truly impressive. She serves as a role model for other female professionals at Renown and in our community. Her mentorship extends beyond formal roles, as she guides students, residents, and staff in their professional growth. Whether it’s developing the clinical skills of a seasoned pharmacist or encouraging her technicians to advance in their careers, Dr. Mahmood’s commitment to staff development is evident.
Under Dr. Mahmood’s leadership, Renown pharmacies provide compounded and infrequently used prescription medications for pediatric patients that are not available in any other local pharmacy. Many medications are not commercially available in concentrations or suspensions which are required to treat our most vulnerable patients in the outpatient setting. Dr. Mahmood’s close collaboration with our Pediatric Oncologist team has provided oral chemotherapy to our pediatric patients in the community. Her responsiveness and willingness to provide rare medications to our pediatric population have significantly improved patient care, reducing the need for inpatient treatment.
2024 WINNER
Certified Pharmacy Technician
Kootenai Health Specialty Pharmacy
Mandy’s dedication to her patients and her team members continues to amaze all who have the privilege to work with her. She truly exemplifies what it means to deliver top-notch customer service and frequently raises the bar that defines “the extra mile” to help as many people as she can, no matter how hard it can be. Her accuracy in her technician work and her ability to communicate empathetically and effectively with patients is nothing short of inspiring.
In addition to all her specialty pharmacy technician duties, Mandy has also taken on a multitude of ancillary tasks that were mostly self-appointed and that make all the difference. Mandy is our team’s MyHealth Wellness Champion, supplies specialist, meeting minutes taker, helpdesk ticket point person, schedule maker, payer audit expert, environment of care liaison, technician team representative, and baked goods supplier. From big things like coming in to work at 4am to secure grants to help patients afford their spendy specialty medications, to small things like cleaning out our breakroom fridge, Mandy is always there. Patients turn to Mandy when they have questions or concerns, and she is the one team members go to when they need someone who listens.
The Kootenai Health team has successfully achieved dual accreditation, conquered countless payer audits, and prevailed in the face of significant challenges and changes, and we couldn’t have done it without Mandy.
2024 WINNER
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Ambulatory Oncology Infusion Clinic
Moffitt Cancer Center
Shefali Patel has several roles at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Moffitt Cancer Center. Shefali has been instrumental in enhancing patient care and operational efficiency. She is a quick learner and a great addition to any team she joins. During her career, she worked as a clinical pharmacist in the Inpatient and Outpatient Oncology Pharmacy Department, a Point of Care Pharmacist for the Acute Care Inpatient Hematologic Malignancies Team and Ambulatory Oncology Infusion Center and Clinics, a Pharmacist in Charge for the Patient Assistance Program, and a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist for Ambulatory Head and Neck, Sarcoma and Gastrointestinal Malignancies.
In addition to her countless job responsibilities, she has taken on several leadership roles and has been actively involved in numerous direct and indirect patient care activities. A few examples to mention are developing a Pharmacists & Residents Training Manual, serving as an Onboarding Coordinator, and creating a Standard Operating Procedures for the Ambulatory Oncology Infusion Center, Skip Viragh Clinic and Green Spring Infusion Clinic. She also has served in a multitude of leadership capacities including being a Pharmacy Representative at the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program Committee Weinberg PACU, a Team Leader at the Maryland Pharmacy Legislative Day, a Co-chair of the Maryland Pharmacy Coalition, and even engaging as a student in many initiatives and leadership positions to advocate for her patients and profession.
One incident resonates with me and epitomizes why Shefali is an extraordinary pharmacist and human being is when she received a call from one of her patients during her day off. Shefali spent almost two hours communicating with the patient’s insurance company to secure oral chemotherapy for the patient, ensuring that his treatment was not interrupted. She then contacted the Patient Assistance Program to coordinate securing free medication supply for the patient who has been paying out of pocket for several months.
Shefali’s passion for teaching and preparing the next generation of pharmacists and technicians is unmatched. She has delivered multiple CE presentations to technicians and pharmacists, in-services to physicians, medical residents, and nurses, precepted students and pharmacy residents, and mentored several learners.
In conclusion, Shefali possesses a rare combination of dedication, expertise, and leadership. She has made a profound difference in the lives of her patients and colleagues, and I have no doubt that she will continue to excel and inspire in any endeavor she pursues. I give her my highest recommendation without reservation.
2024 WINNER
