APhA Announces Candidates for President-Elect, Trustees and Honorary President

WASHINGTON, DC — The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) today announced the slate of candidates for its Board of Trustees, President-elect and Honorary President. The elections for these positions will be held March 27-May 25, 2015. Association members will have the opportunity to meet the candidates at the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, March 27-30, 2015.

The two candidates for President-elect for 2016-2017 are Nancy A. Alvarez of Lake Forest, CA, and Michael Pavlovich of Long Beach, CA. The two pairs nominated for election to serve 2016-2019 terms on the APhA Board of Trustees are: Alex C. Varkey of Sugar Land, TX, vs. Daniel Zlott of Lovettsville, VA; and Daniel E. Buffington of Tampa, FL, vs. John D. Grabenstein of West Point, PA. Jean Paul Gagnon of Pittstown, NJ, is unopposed as the candidate for Honorary President.

Attendees of the 2015 APhA Annual Meeting will have an opportunity to hear from the candidates for President-elect and Trustee at the First Session of the APhA House of Delegates on Friday, March 27, in Room 6A/B of the San Diego Convention Center. Attendees will be able to visit face-to-face with the candidates at two “Meet the Candidates” sessions to be held in Room 6A Foyer Area on Friday, March 27, from 2:15 pm to 3:15 pm, and Monday, March 30, from 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm.

Ballots for APhA's upcoming Board of Trustees elections will be emailed to members on the afternoon of Friday, March 27, 2015, along with ballots for candidates for the executive committees and sections of the APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APhA-APPM) and the APhA Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science (APhA-APRS). Further election and candidate information will be available online in mid-February.

Candidates for President-elect

Nancy A. Alvarez, PharmD, BCPS, FAPhA, is Assistant Dean, Experiential Education and Continuing Professional Development and Assistant Professor at Chapman University School of Pharmacy. She previously served as Senior Director, Medical Information at Endo Health Solutions and has held positions in hospice/palliative care and community practice. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy (UA COP). Alvarez is currently serving her second term on the APhA Board of Trustees and sits on the Board of the Pharmacy Leadership and Education Institute (PLEI). She has held numerous elected and appointed positions, including APhA-ASP National Member-at-Large, Phi Lambda Sigma National President, Member of the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board Certification Council and Phi Delta Chi Grand Vice President for Collegiate Affairs. Alvarez is a member of the California Pharmacists Association and participates in leader development as a facilitator, content developer and program director. She also established an APhA Foundation Student Pharmacist Scholarship, first awarded in 2013. She has been recognized by the Arizona Pharmacy Association as the Distinguished Young Pharmacist of the Year and the Employee Pharmacist of the Year and has received the PLEI Prescott Leadership Award, the APhA Good Government Pharmacist-of-the-Year, and the APhA-APPM Distinguished Achievement Award in Administrative Practice. Alvarez has been recognized as an APhA Fellow, and she received the UA COP Jack R. Cole Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Michael Pavlovich, PharmD, FAPhA, is co-owner of Westcliff Compounding Pharmacy in Newport Beach, CA. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Group for Chapman University School of Pharmacy, an Associate Clinical Professor for Western University of Health Sciences, and an adjunct faculty member for several universities. Pavlovich has practice experience in long term care, hospice, mail-service, and community pharmacy, and he served as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Team Pharmacist for the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing. A cum laudegraduate of the University of the Pacific School of Pharmacy, he has advised clients from the major U.S. sports leagues, Europe, the Middle East and the NCAA for over 14 years. Pavlovich completed two terms on the APhA Board of Trustees, represented APhA on a joint task force with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), was a contributing author for the NATA Position Statement on Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids, and served on a working group charged with reforming California’s prescription drug monitoring system. Pavlovich is Past President of the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA), has chaired the APhA House of Delegates Policy and Nominating Committees, and has served numerous committees of APhA and CPhA. He has been recognized by CPhA as Student of the Year and Distinguished Young Pharmacist, and he received the APhA-APPM Distinguished Achievement Award in Specialized Pharmacy Practice. Pavlovich has been recognized as an APhA Fellow.

Candidates for Trustee (Pair One)

Alex C. Varkey, PharmD, MS, is Pharmacy Operations Manager and Director of the PGY1/PGY2 Health-System Pharmacy Administration Residency at Houston Methodist Hospital. A graduate of the University of Houston College of Pharmacy, he completed a two-year pharmacy administration residency at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and received a Master of Science degree in Health-System Pharmacy Administration from The Ohio State University. Varkey has prioritized involvement in APhA throughout his career, having served in various offices, including APhA-ASP National President, APhA Trustee, and various elected positions in both APhA-APPM and APhA-APRS. He has served as a Delegate for ten years, with experience representing the Board of Trustees, the Texas delegation, and all three academies. He was also appointed as Chair of both the APhA House of Delegates Committee of Canvassers and Committee on Nominations. Varkey is an accomplished writer and public speaker, having authored or co-authored several articles in national publications and served as a keynote speaker at numerous local and national meetings. He is a member of APhA’s Media Advisory Group and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Leadership Speakers Bureau. Varkey places high priority in mentoring student pharmacists and pharmacy residents and is passionate about his role in developing future pharmacy leaders.

Daniel Zlott, PharmD, BCOP, is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist working with the National Cancer Institute’s Surgery, Endocrine Oncology, and Thoracic/GI Malignancy Branches at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is also the Director of the NIH PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency Program and a clinical investigator on 35 NCI-sponsored clinical trials, examining new and innovative ways to treat cancer. He is a graduate of the University of California San Francisco and completed his PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Residency there before moving to the NIH, where he completed his PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency. Zlott has been highly active within APhA since he was a student, having served in a number of positions within APhA-ASP, including National President. He has previous experience on the APhA Board of Trustees, the Strategic Directions Committee, the House Rules Review Committee, and as Chair of the Policy Review Committee. Zlott currently serves as a Member-at-large for the APhA-APPM Executive Committee. In addition to his work with APhA, he has also held several committee positions with the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association. Zlott is passionate about educating student pharmacists and residents, and his major goals are to increase awareness of oncology across the pharmacy profession and to contribute, in some small way, to the incredible work that continues to advance the profession of pharmacy.

Candidates for Trustee (Pair Two)

Daniel E. Buffington, PharmD, MBA, FAPhA, is President and Founder of Clinical Pharmacology Services, an ambulatory care practice. He is on faculty with the University of South Florida Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy and serves as a Fellow with the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), focusing on initiatives related to Medication Safety and Medication Therapy Management. He currently serves on the APhA Board of Trustees and the Florida Pharmacy Foundation’s Board, and he previous served as President of both the Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists (FSHP) and the American Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He represents APhA on the Pharmacy HIT Collaborative Advisory Work Group and serves on the American Medical Association Current Procedural Terminology Panel, the national medical billing coding panel. Buffington has practice experience in ambulatory care, drug information, hospital, managed care, clinical research, health information technology and forensic pharmacology and toxicology. He received his PharmD and MBA degrees from Mercer University and completed a residency and clinical pharmacology fellowship at Emory University. Buffington has been recognized as an APhA Fellow and has received the APhA Foundation Pinnacle Award, the APhA Daniel B. Smith Practice Excellence Award, the ASHP Award of Excellence and the FSHP Pharmacist of the Year Award.

John D. Grabenstein, BSPharm, PhD, FAPhA, FASHP, is Executive Director for Global Health and Medical Affairs for Merck Vaccines. He received his BSPharm from Duquesne University and his PhD in pharmacoepidemiology from the University of North Carolina. During his 27-year career in the U.S. Army, he led multiple outpatient pharmacies, inpatient pharmacies and research programs and achieved the rank of Colonel. Grabenstein previously directed the Military Vaccine Agency, where he trained clinicians and oversaw the immunization programs for 9 million individuals. He also developed the Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery curriculum currently coordinated by APhA. Grabenstein has been elected or appointed to a number of scientific committees, editorial boards, and leadership positions within various organizations, including the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Council of Experts, the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council, and the National Biodefense Science Board. He previously served as Phi Delta Chi Grand President and is the current Director of the Pharmacy Leadership and Education Institute. Grabenstein was recognized as the inaugural APhA Pinnacle Award recipient and has received the APhA Gloria Niemeyer Francke Leadership Mentor Award, the ASHP Foundation Award for Sustained Contributions to the Literature, the Association of Surgeons of the United States Andrew Craigie Award and the Phi Lambda Sigma National Leadership Award. He has been recognized as a Fellow of both APhA and ASHP.

Candidate for Honorary President

Jean Paul Gagnon, PhD, retired as Senior Director of U.S. Policy and Strategic Advocacy for Sanofi US, after 22 years of service. He previously served as Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and Professor/Division Head of Pharmacy Administration at the University of North Carolina School of Pharmacy. Gagnon was also a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and Committee Staffer for Representative Edward Madigan, the Minority Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health. He received his BSPharm and MS from the University of Connecticut and his PhD in Pharmacy Administration from The Ohio State University. Gagnon served in a number of elected positions including Board Member and President of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy; Treasurer of APhA; Treasurer and Board of Trust Member for USP; and Founder, Board Member, President and Treasurer of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. He received the APhA-APRS Research Achievement Award in Economic, Social and Administrative Sciences, the APhA Hugo H. Schaefer Award, and the Sanofi-Aventis Pinnacle Award.

The following individuals served on the 2015 APhA Committee on Nominations and slated the President-elect and Trustee candidates: Jenelle Sobotka (Chair), Brenna Neumann, Valerie Prince, Dennis Swanson and Michelle Thomas.

About the American Pharmacists Association

The American Pharmacists Association, founded in 1852 as the American Pharmaceutical Association, is a 501 (c)(6) organization, representing more than 62,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and others interested in advancing the profession. APhA, dedicated to helping all pharmacists improve medication use and advance patient care, is the first-established and largest association of pharmacists in the United States. www.pharmacist.com