Managed Care Pharmacy Leaders Are Honored at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy/AMCP Foundation Awards Dinner

Boston, April 26, 2018 — The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy and AMCP Foundation last night recognized a group of leaders who have contributed significantly to the profession of managed care pharmacy. Eight awards were presented at a gala Awards Dinner held April 25 as part of the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting in Boston, Mass.

“The individuals that we recognize each spring at our Awards Dinner exemplify the very best of our profession,” says AMCP CEO Susan A. Cantrell, RPh, CAE. “They are the thought leaders and innovators who work tirelessly to improve the delivery of patient care for millions of Americans. These individuals also have given countless hours of their time and talents to advance the mission of AMCP, and they serve as an inspiration for all of our members.”

Caldwell  

The profession's highest honor is embodied in the AMCP Foundation Steven G. Avey Award, which recognizes sustained, exemplary and distinguished service to the profession of managed care pharmacy. Receiving the award this year is Kim A Caldwell, RPh, Vice President of Pharmacy Professional Affairs at Humana Inc.

In addition to his many years at Humana, Caldwell is widely recognized for his work helping to lead the development and implementation of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. During 2004-2005, Kim served the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as Division Director - Clinical and Economic Performance in the Center for Beneficiary Choices (CBC). He was hired as one of two “outsiders” to lead two of the four divisions within the Medicare Drug Benefit Group including the selection and hiring of several of CMS’ pharmacists and other leaders on staff today. 

His other professional service includes more than 12 years on the Texas State Board of Pharmacy and two terms on the Texas Statewide Health Coordinating Council. Kim has served three years in the Office of the President for AMCP which included a year-long engagement on the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners, as well as numerous pharmacy and healthcare related committees and taskforces. Currently, he is active with the MIT NEWDIGS FoCUS Design Lab. 

Among his honors, Caldwell received the 2010 AMCP Distinguished Service Award and the 2011 Honorary President Award from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP). He has been an invited speaker for dozens of programs ranging from The National Health Policy Forum to commencement speaker for graduating classes to numerous conference platforms. Caldwell and his wife Cynthia live in McKinney, Texas. 

Other awards presented at the Annual Meeting are: 

Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy (JMCP) Award for Excellence: Article from the JMCP October 2017 issue is titled, Using Performance-Based Risk-Sharing Arrangements to Address Uncertainty in Indication-Based Pricing. J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2017; 23(1):1010-1015. Authors are: Kai Yeung, PharmD, PhD, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Seattle, and Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program, University of Washington, Seattle; Meng Li, ScM and Josh J. Carlson, PhD, MPH, Both of Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program, University of Washington School of Pharmacy, Seattle.  

Watkins 

Experiential Education Preceptor Award: To recognize an AMCP member making a significant contribution to managed care pharmacy by being a preceptor to student pharmacists for Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences and/or Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences focused in managed care pharmacy. 

John B. Watkins, PharmD, MPH, BCPS, has managed the formulary process at Premera Blue Cross since 2000. His responsibilities include health technology assessment, formulary process development, formulary reviews, clinical guidelines development and medical policy review. John also is a Clinical Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Washington, where he teaches medical literature evaluation methods. His areas of interest include health policy, health technology assessment and application of evidence-based medicine, personalized medicine, economics and bioethics to formulary and coverage decision making processes. After graduating from the University of Washington and working as a community pharmacist, John served as a hospital pharmacy director, medical supplies director and pharmacology instructor for seven years in Kathmandu, Nepal. He completed a combined MPH degree in Pharmacy and Health Services at the University of Washington (1993) with a residency at Group Health Cooperative, where he later worked as a clinical and drug information pharmacist. Before coming to Premera, he was an Associate Pharmacy Director at Regence BlueShield. 

Wickizer 

 Managed Care Pharmacy Residency Director/Preceptor Award: This new award recognizes an AMCP member making a significant contribution to managed care pharmacy by being managed care residency program director or preceptor.

Marnie K. Wickizer, PharmD, is the Residency Program Director at Navitus Health Solutions. In 2013, she developed Wisconsin’s first managed care residency program. Since then, she has seen nine residents complete the program, and currently is preparing to welcome three new residents in July 2018. She also partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s pharmacy students in 2015 to launch its AMCP Chapter, which she continues to facilitate today as Chapter Advisor. At Navitus, Marnie manages the Clinical Programs department, where she designs and implements evidence-based clinical programs and measures and reports on their outcomes. As residency director and preceptor, clinical instructor, faculty advisor, student advocate, mentor and volunteer, Marnie exhibits a distinct commitment to managed care pharmacy education and advancement. Her students and residents describe her as kind, calm and witty, and a pleasure to learn from and work with. In her free time, Marnie enjoys camping, dancing, and most importantly, spending time with her husband and three daughters.  

 Knight 

New Practitioner Award: To recognize an AMCP member making a significant contribution to managed care pharmacy within five years of graduation from first professional degree in pharmacy, medicine or nursing. 

Jasmine Knight, PharmD, MS, is an Assistant Director within the Global Health Economics and Outcomes Research team at Xcenda. Her role stretches across multiple HEOR engagements including product value development, outcomes analyzers, dossier development, physician and payer market research, and managed markets and outcomes research strategy across a range of therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Xcenda as a manager, Jasmine was a Health Outcomes and Managed Markets Fellow with Xcenda. She also completed an internship with Veterans Affairs and brings experience ranging from formulary decision making to clinical research design. Jasmine is an active member of AMCP and has participated on various national committees. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Science in Regulatory Science degrees from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Science in Applied Pharmacoeconomics from the University of Florida. 

Surratt 

Grassroots Advocacy Award: To recognize an individual or group who has made significant progress around a grassroots cause.

Penny Surratt, RN, MBA, is Senior Director of Trade Relations at ReCept Healthcare Services. She has 34 years of health care experience in many diverse roles, including as a Heart/Lung Transplant Coordinator and Cardiovascular Staff researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. In addition, she has worked for Hoffmann LaRoche as a National Accounts Manager, and for Bristol Myers Squibb as a Hospital Account Manager for a combined total of 18 years. In 2010, Penny joined the PBM team at Humana Inc. to help build a new business line of specialty pharmacy. For the past two-and-a-half years she has led ReCept Healthcare Services’ Trade Relations for specialty pharmacies. Penny joined AMCP in 1999 as a Corporate Pharmaceutical Member. At AMCP she has served as an officer for the Southwest Affiliate Chapter, a Special Projects Committee Member, a LRAC Committee Member, a State Advocate Coordinator, on the Biosimilars Task Force, the Healthcare Practitioner Task Force, a Student Pharmacist P&T Competition judge, a Lobby Days Participant, a Conference Volunteer and Moderator.  

Khachatourian  

Katherine (Kat) Wolf Khachatourian, PharmD, MBA, is Vice President of Pharmacy Services, Strategy, and Delegation Oversight for Qualchoice Health Plan Services, Inc., overseeing multiple regional Medicare contracts and their delegated entities. In her current role, Kat is tasked with clinical management decision making, quality program development, strategy deployment, contracting decisions, and delegated function compliance for all Medicare Advantage contracts within her organization. After receiving her Doctorate of Pharmacy from Mercer University, she completed her Managed Care Pharmacy Practice residency with Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. She also completed her Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the University of Washington in June 2017. Kat serves as a mentor for the University of Washington AMCP studen chapter. Her other AMCP activities include serving as a committee member, a Washington State Advocacy Coordinator, and participant in the Pharmaceutical Information (PIE) Act development and Congressional briefings. In 2017, Kat received a four-year appointment to the Washington (WA) State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission. She was the 2017 recipient of the AMCP Individual Contribution Award. 

Wesolowicz  

Individual Contribution Award: To recognize an AMCP member for making a significant contribution to the Academy by any means other than service as an AMCP Committee Member. 

Laurie Wesolowicz, PharmD, FAMCP, is Vice President of Clinical Programs and Services with Archimedes, where she works with clients to optimize cost-effectiveness of drug therapy through analytics and clinical management programs. Previously, she served for more than nine years as Director of Pharmacy Services Clinical at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Her clinical expertise includes specialty pharmacy initiatives, formulary management, physician and pharmacist pay-for-performance incentives, medication safety and clinical utilization management operations, including pharmacy-related fraud and abuse. Laurie has been an adjunct clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan since 1995. She also served on the Michigan Governor’s Task Force on Prescription and Opioid Drug Abuse and has been appointed to the Michigan Governor’s Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Commission for 2016-2018. She has previously served as Chair of the AMCP Professional Practice Committee. Laurie received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Michigan and completed her residency at Hamot Medical Center.  

Graff  

Spirit of Volunteerism Award: To recognize a current AMCP Committee Member for exemplary and outstanding service to AMCP over the past year.

Jennifer S. Graff, PharmD, is the National Pharmaceutical Council’s (NPC) vice president of comparative effectiveness research. In this role, she leads research and policy initiatives to advance the use of evidence to inform health care decision-making. Her areas of focus include research and education to support increased access to and use of high-quality data, development and adoption of good research methods, and policies to enable the exchange of truthful and non-misleading information to support stakeholder decision-making. Prior to joining NPC in 2009, Jennifer led strategic health economic and outcomes research activities at MedImmune and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. She has authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles and presents frequently on policy issues affecting the biopharmaceutical industry. She currently serves as an associate editor of the AcademyHealth journal eGEMS and as a member of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Format Executive Committee. Dr. Graff holds a Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and completed a Health Outcomes and Pharmacoeconomics fellowship at the University of Michigan. 

McCormick  

Distinguished Service Award: To recognize an AMCP member who has made exceptional and sustained contributions to AMCP over at least a five year period. 

 Dana McCormick, RPh, is a proud graduate of The University of Texas College of Pharmacy. She has worked in many areas of pharmacy practice including PBMs, health plans, and health plan associations. Dana currently is with Sanofi where she serves in medical affairs roles and account management. A member of AMCP since 1996, Dana has served on the Legislative Regulatory Action Committee, the Grassroots Advocacy Committee, as President of the Board of Director, and most recently as Chair of the Past Presidents and Founders Committee. She is most proud of her work co-leading a task force that led to the creation of Affiliate Chapters, and she has been very active in her Affiliate Chapter serving as President for several years.

Fellows of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy: To recognize an individual for sustained excellence and contribution in the pharmacy profession, and for long-term commitment and active participation in the Academy. 

Andes  

Sherry L. Andes, PharmD, RPh, PAHM, BCPS, BCPP, BCAP, BCGP, is a Senior Managed Markets and Health Outcomes Liaison for the East region at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. She earned both her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Cincinnati’s James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy. Sherri has more than 20 years of pharmacy practice experience encompassing community pharmacy, managed care and the pharmaceutical industry. She has 17 years of experience in managed care, including in health plan administration, pharmacy benefits management, retail, mail service and specialty pharmacy distribution. Sherry has been an AMCP member for 21 years and has held various roles including as a committee member and chair/vice chair of multiple AMCP committees and task forces, serving as a diplomat to colleges of pharmacy, and helping to launch and support the Ohio-Kentucky AMCP regional affiliate. She was the recipient of the 2016 AMCP Spirit of Volunteerism Award. 

Nishida  

Lynn M. Nishida, RPh, has more than 30 years of experience across the health care industry. She has worked as a practicing pharmacist, as well as served in executive leadership positions for regional Blues Plans and national PBM companies, where she was responsible for the oversight and performance of pharmacy operations and programs supporting Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial/Employer Group lines of business. She has served on the AMCP Board of Directors and the Value-Based Cancer Care journal, and has provided thought leadership at the national level for such organizations as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on Comparative Effectiveness Research, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. She is a nationally recognized speaker on a number of health care industry topics. Lynn graduated from Oregon State University with a BS degree in Pharmacy and completed a Clinical Pharmacy Residency at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.

Tam  

Iris M. Tam, PharmD, is Director and Head of Outcomes Research & Quality of Care at Achaogen, Inc., where she is responsible for leading clinical and economic strategies and tactics that demonstrate the value of Achaogens portfolio and support patient access. Previously, she was Vice President of Patient Access & Quality at Otonomy and Director of Managed Care Medical Communications at Genentech. Iris’ managed care pharmacy experience began in 1998 at PacifiCare of California (now United HealthCare) and started her career as Assistant Director/Clinical Coordinator at Seton Medical Center. In 2008, Iris volunteered to work on updating the Format for Formulary Submissions to Version 3.0, and in 2010 she was formally invited to serve on the AMCP Format Executive Committee (FEC). She has become an industry leader in best practices for developing and managing product dossiers in the AMCP Format and was recently appointed to become the new Chair for the FEC, effective April 2018. Iris is the AMCP co-Diplomat for the Student Chapter at the UCSF School of Pharmacy.