2014 Rising Star of the Year

Rising Star of the Year

In just 3½ years of practice, Samuel Stolpe, PharmD, has created innovations that are poised to change the way the pharmacy profession approaches quality.

“Sam’s work is truly redefining the role of pharmacy in health care,” his nominator wrote. “I’ve watched Sam evolve from a promising student to a pharmacy leader, continually impressed by the depth of his understanding of the health care landscape, his drive to learn and contribute, to teach and inspire, to comprehend, and to innovate.”

As the associate director for quality initiatives with the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA), Dr. Stolpe believes that quality failures cannot be attributed to a single person’s mistake, and that quality improvements should be focused on the system. Following this mind-set, he has worked to implement initiatives to improve pharmacy operations, including the PQA Medication Synchronization Initiative to drive the adoption of the appointment-based model of medication synchronization. The initiative has since engaged 9 chains, totaling more than 1000 stores, to implement programs using the model.

Dr. Stolpe also works to share his insights and improvements with other pharmacists, professionals, and students through workshops and training on the appointment-based model for corporate pharmacies and health plans.

“Sam has made an impressive effort to share this vision [with] the rising generation of pharmacy practitioners through a number of mechanisms, including the PQA Academic Affairs Committee, creation of the PQA Fellowship and APPE program, and the implementation of his Health Policy elective at Howard University,” his nominator wrote.

As an adjunct professor at Howard University, Dr. Stolpe leads his students through hands-on experiences, including on Capitol Hill, at the DC Board of Pharmacy, and through local pharmacy associations. Dr. Stolpe also practices as a community pharmacist at Safeway Pharmacy.