AMCP and AMCP Foundation Honors Distinguished Colleagues at Annual Awards Dinner

San Francisco, Calif., April 20, 2016 — Managed care pharmacy will recognize its most distinguished leaders this evening at the Annual Awards Dinner of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) and AMCP Foundation. The gala event takes place during the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting, which opened today in San Francisco.

“The Annual Awards Dinner is the one evening a year when managed care pharmacy honors its finest: those individuals who through their vision, leadership and energy have advanced our profession and the Academy,” said Susan A. Cantrell, RPh, CAE, AMCP's CEO and Chairman of the AMCP Foundation. “We tip our hats in celebration and in gratitude for their significant contributions.”

Receiving the profession’s highest award is Anthony P. Morreale, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, FASHP. The 2016 AMCP Foundation Steven G. Avey Award recognizes sustained, exemplary and distinguished service to the profession of managed care pharmacy. 

Dr. Morreale is the Assistant Chief Consultant for Clinical Pharmacy Services and Healthcare Services Research for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Pharmacy Benefits Management. His accomplishments at the VA include establishing the first pharmacoeconomics and pharmacogenomics pharmacist positions and first accredited oncology, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacogenomics, nephrology and clinical informatics residency programs, and the national PBM Clinical Pharmacy Practice Office. A Fellow of the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists and the California Society of Health Systems Pharmacists, he has authored or co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed articles.

The Distinguished Service Award is presented to Jim Carlson, PharmD, Vice President of Professional Pharmacy Services at OmedaRx, for his exceptional and sustained contributions over at least a five-year period. He has served as chair of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Commission on Credentialing and currently serves as the AMCP liaison to the Commission. He is widely recognized for his expertise in clinical practice, formulary management, drug policy development and training programs for students and residents.

The Fellow Designee Award recognizes sustained excellence in the pharmacy profession, including exceptional contributions, long-term commitment and active participation in the Academy. This year’s designees are:

• Douglas Burgoyne, PharmD, president and CEO of Veridicus Health, for his leadership positions at national PBMs and a regional integrated health plan, as well as at the Academy. He is a member of Graduate Research in Progress and Utah AWARE, and serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy. In addition, he serves as a preceptor for multiple schools of pharmacy. Dr. Burgoyne is a past president of AMCP (2012–13).
• Patrick Gleason, PharmD, FCCP, BCPS, Director of Health Outcomes at Prime Therapeutics, for his contributions to manage care pharmacy practice and his scholarly work. He has held faculty practice and research positions at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, where he currently is an adjunct professor, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles, including in Health Affairs, JMCP, Archives of Internal Medicine and JAMA. Dr. Gleason is past Chair of the JMCP Editorial Advisory Board, Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
• Laurie Wesolowicz, PharmD, Director II of Pharmacy Services Clinical at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM), for her leadership in formulary development, specialty pharmacy, and pay-for performance incentives. An adjunct clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan (UM), she is director of the BCBSM-UM Postgraduate Year One Managed Care Pharmacy Residency program. Dr. Wesolowicz served as Chair of the AMCP Professional Practice Committee and is on the Michigan Governor’s Task Force on Prescription and Opioid Drug Abuse.

Receiving the Grassroots Advocacy Award for significant contributions to a grassroots cause is Kenneth J. Bykowski, BSPharm, MSHA, president of KJB Health Care. He has served as AMCP State Advocacy Coordinator for Arizona for five years and on the AMCP Public Policy Committee. Under his leadership, Arizona has had one of the highest participation rates in District Days. 

The Spirit of Volunteerism Award is presented to Sherry Andes, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP, BCACP, CGP, PAHM, for her exemplary and outstanding service over the past year chair of the AMCP Education Affairs Committee (2014–15) and diplomat to colleges of pharmacy. Dr. Andes is Senior Medical Science Liaison for the Managed Markets West region for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. 

The Individual Contribution Award is awarded to Elizabeth Brusig, PharmD, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at Optima Health Plan, for her service representing the Academy on the Pharmacy HIT Collaborative’s Professional Service Documentation and Coding work group. She has served as Chair (2013-14) and 2015 Vice Chair (2015). She will again serve as Chair later this year. 

AMCP is presenting two new awards: the New Practitioner Award and the Preceptor Award. Receiving the former is Abigail Stoddard, PharmD, MBA, with Prime Therapeutics for making a contribution to managed care pharmacy within five years of graduation. Dr. Stoddard is the principle lobbyist for managed care pharmacy policy in Prime’s 13 owner states and member of Minnesota’s Drug Utilization Review Board. 

The Preceptor Award recognizes contributions to managed care pharmacy as a residency program preceptor. The award’s first recipient is Katie Neff-Golub, PharmD, CGP, CPh, Director of Medication Therapy Management at WellCare Health Plans, Inc. She serves as preceptor for both ACPE student rotations and a PGY-1 Managed Care Residency.

The JMCP Award for Excellence recognizes the best scholarly work published in JMCP in 2015. Receiving the award is William J. Canestaro, MSc, PhD Candidate, Louis P. Garrison, PhD, David L. Veenstra, PharmD, PhD, Daryl E. Pritchard, PhD, and Robert Dubois, MD, PhD, for “Improving the Efficiency and Quality of the Value Assessment Process for Companion Diagnostic Tests: The Companion Test Assessment Tool (CAT)” (August 2015). 

Honorable Mention for this award are Sean D. Sullivan, PhD, Kai Yeung, PharmD, MS, Wylie Burke, MD, PhD, David L. Veenstra, PharmD, PhD, Louis P. Garrison, PhD, Edward Wong, PharmD, Chad O. Murphy, PharmD, Dan Danielson, MS, Carol Vogeler, MS, John B. Watkins, PharmD, MPH, BCPS, and Scott D. Ramsey, MD, PhD. Their article “Design, Implementation, and First-Year Outcomes of a Value-Based Drug Formulary” appeared in the April 2015 issue.

About AMCP 
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) is a national professional association of pharmacists and other health care practitioners who serve society by the application of sound medication management principles and strategies to improve health care for all. The Academy's 8,000 members develop and provide a diversified range of clinical, educational and business management services and strategies on behalf of the more than 200 million Americans covered by a managed care pharmacy benefit. www.amcp.org. 

About the AMCP Foundation 
The AMCP Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, is a research, education and philanthropic organization supporting the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP).Established in 1990 as the Foundation for Managed Care Pharmacy, the AMCP Foundation was created to support the research and education agenda of AMCP. The Foundation exists to advance collective knowledge and insights on major issues associated with the practice of pharmacy in managed health care settings.