Placating Pain Through Pharmacy Leaders

Patients in pain present complex problems for pharmacists. Nevertheless, pharmacists can play pivotal roles in pain management, such as counseling patients on properly selecting and using analgesics. In the August issue of Pharmacy Times, we provide pharmacists with a wealth of information to improve pain awareness, and we celebrate pharmacy leaders and innovators who are committed to producing better patient outcomes.

Our 2015 Next-Generation Pharmacist^® Michael Evans, RPh, BS, is one such pharmacy superstar improving pain management for patients. His nominator noted that the pain therapy program he developed as the director of ambulatory clinical pharmacy programs at Geisinger Health System has given patients better pain control and led to excellent outcomes.

All 11 Next-Generation Pharmacist^® category winners— including our cover star Evans, who is also the winner of the brand new Health-System Pharmacist category—are making a difference through their leadership, putting patients first at all times while working to elevate the pharmacy profession. We could not be more proud to showcase the incredible accomplishments of these pharmacists, pharmacy students, and technicians, and we share their stories with you in this issue. We are pleased to formally recognize all category finalists in this unique awards program, which we have held in partnership with Parata Systems since 2010. These individuals define the present and future of all pharmacy settings around the country, and we were honored to profile each of them in the July issue of Pharmacy Times.

The stories of the category winners continue in the issue you hold in your hands, which will be unveiled at the Innovation and Inspiration gala in conjunction with the 1st Annual Convenient Healthcare and Pharmacy Collaborative co-hosted by Pharmacy Times and the Convenient Care Association. This first-ever continuing education conference for pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants emphasizes collaboration among these interdisciplinary providers in retail care clinics to address gaps in care and ultimately improve the health care landscape. To learn more about this conference, please visit www.pharmacytimes.com/chpc15.

Our conference speakers and Next-Generation Pharmacist^® category winners go beyond their usual pharmacy duties to redefine their profession and put their smarts to work in their communities. Please join me in congratulating those honored here in this issue and in person on August 6 in Orlando. For more information on this unique awards program, please visit www.nextgenerationpharmacist.com.

Thank you for reading!

Mike Hennessy

Chairman and CEO