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 24-May 22, 2017. Association members will have the opportunity to meet the candidates at the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Francisco, March 24-27, 2017.

The two candidates for President-elect for 2018-2019 are Brad Tice of Thompsons Station, TN and Rebecca W. Chater of Raleigh, NC. The two pairs nominated for election to serve 2018-2021 terms on the APhA Board of Trustees are: Gregory A. Fox of Carmel, IN, vs. Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner of Baltimore, MD; and Sean Jeffery of Branford, CT vs. Theresa Tolle of  Sebastian, FL. Stanley Shaw of Battleground, IN, is unopposed as the candidate for Honorary President.

Attendees of the 2017 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 24, in the Gateway Ballroom of the Moscone Convention Center. Attendees will be able to visit face-to-face with the candidates at the “Meet the Candidates” session to be held near the entrance to Exhibit Halls ABC of the Moscone Convention Center Saturday, March 25, from 11:00am to 11:45am.

Ballots for APhA's upcoming Board of Trustees elections will be e-mailed to members on the afternoon of Friday, March 24, 2017, 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

Brad Tice, PharmD, MBA, FAPhA, is the Director/Product Leader of Medication Therapy Management for Cardinal Health, Inc. Dr. Tice received his bachelor of science from the University of Kansas in 1994 and PharmD in 1996. He also received an MBA from Vanderbilt University Owen School of Management in 2012. His career has spanned pharmacy wholesaler, entrepreneurial start-up, independent and chain community pharmacy, academia, and managed care. He has focused his entire career on developing, implementing and advocating for pharmacists’ services to enhance the ability to improve patient care and for pharmacists to be recognized and compensated for the value they provide. He has served the profession in numerous capacities including the Pharmacy Quality Alliance, serving as initial consultant to help get quality measurement on pharmacy started and on technical expert panels on quality measure development (NCQA, CMS) and improving MTM within Medicare Part D (CMMI). He has also served the American Pharmacists Association as speaker of the APhA House of Delegates and currently serves on the board of trustees as member-at-large. He has served in numerous elected positions within the Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APPM) and was a national member-at-large as a student pharmacist. His professional recognitions include being named Top Product Lead in 2015 for Cardinal Health, Distinguished Achievement Award in Clinical/Pharmacotherapeutic Practice, 2010, American Pharmacists Association – Fellow, 2008, Albert B. Prescott /GlaxoSmithKline Leadership Award 2005, and Iowa Pharmacy Association, Young Pharmacist of the Year in 2002.

Rebecca W. Chater, RPh, MPH, FAPhA has been a career-long pioneer in innovative community-based clinical pharmacy practice. She earned both her B.S. in Pharmacy and Masters in Public Health from UNC-Chapel Hill. Chater is Executive Healthcare Strategist for Ateb, a healthcare technology company specializing in integration of community pharmacy into the broader healthcare system. Throughout her career, Chater has championed the pharmacist as a medication expert, integral to the healthcare team in solving systemic problems around medication use. Chater’s career in pharmacy spans community practice, medical practice, academia, long-term care, and specialty pharmacy. In the late ‘90s, she led regional Kerr Drug to national prominence by spearheading Kerr’s foray into community pharmacy-based clinical services utilizing an appointment-based model. Chater served as a two-term elected Member and Past President of the NC Board of Pharmacy, during which time, she authored draft Immunization Rule language that opened the door for North Carolina’s pharmacists to administer vaccinations. Chater is a past Trustee and Fellow of APhA and has received numerous state and national awards for professional leadership, mentorship, and innovation including the prestigious APhA Gloria Neimeyer Franke Leadership Mentor Award, the APhA Foundation Pinnacle Award, the APhA-APPM Administrative Practice Excellence Award, the North Carolina Pharmacist-Preceptor of the Year, the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists’ Innovative Practice Award, and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Distinguished Service Award. Chater has nearly 200 publications and invited presentations to her credit, including co-authoring the Institute of Medicine Quality Chasm series publication, Preventing Medication Errors.

Candidates for Trustee (Pair One)

Gregory A. Fox, RPh, is a current APhA Trustee and Pharmacy Merchandiser for The Kroger Co.’s Central Marketing Area, encompassing Indiana, Illinois, and parts of Missouri, Michigan, and Ohio. Fox’s experience includes community, managed care, long term care, and consultant pharmacy. He served on numerous health insurance plan boards as a board member or P&T committee member. He received his pharmacy degree from the University of Cincinnati and is a graduate of the University of Mississippi APhA Community Pharmacy Business Management Program. A very active APhA member, Fox is a Trustee and a contributing member of the Finance Committee, Government Affairs Committee, Political Action Committee, and the Strategic Directions Committee. He is a member of the APhA APPM section and is a House Delegate and a contributing author. Included on his resume is the President of the Ohio Pharmacists Association when legislation passed allowing pharmacists to immunize and provide collaborative services. He initiated and testified for similar laws in Indiana. Fox serves on the Indiana BOP Technology Committee, IPA, OPA, Indiana and Illinois Retail Committees, and the Medication Safety Partnership of Indiana. Fox is responsible for the development of the Kroger/Purdue Community Pharmacy Residency. He is an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy Practice for several Colleges of Pharmacy and sits on three Pharmacy Dean’s Councils. Fox was awarded the BCPA Pharmacist of the Year, Ohio’s Young Pharmacist of the Year and Kroger Chairman’s Award. Purdue recognized Fox with the 2010 “Friend of Pharmacy Award” for dedication to the profession and the College.

Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner, PharmD, BCPS, CDE, FAPhA, is a Professor and Associate Dean for Clinical Services and Practice Transformation and Executive Director of the Center for Innovative Pharmacy Solutions at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Currently, she is a Fellow in Population Health at the University of Maryland Health System. Her role as a pharmacy faculty has led to the development of many nationally recognized innovative programs, including the Giant Diabetes Education Program and the Maryland P3 Program- a pharmacist-directed MTM and chronic disease management program site of Ten City Challenge- in partnership with the Maryland Pharmacists Association, government and business organizations. Past director of the Community Pharmacy Residency Program and current preceptor. She regularly speaks at national and international forums on development and implementation of pharmacist-directed services. Her work includes collaborations with the CDC and other government agencies. She is past President of the Maryland Pharmacists Association and APhA Foundation Board. She is APhA Fellow and served on many APhA committees and taskforces. She is the recipient of the 2015 APhA Foundation Pinnacle Award for Individual Career Achievement, 2014 Maryland Innovator of the Year, 2013 University of Maryland Entrepreneur of the Year, the 2013 American Pharmacists Association Daniel B. Smith award, the 2010 Group Pinnacle Award; 2007 APhA Community Pharmacy Residency Excellence in Precepting Award; Distinguished Achievement in Pharmacotherapeutic Practice Award in 2006; Bowl of Hygeia 2005 and 1999 Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award by MPhA. She has dedicated her career to advance pharmacy practice and the development of innovative and sustainable patient care programs.

Candidates for Trustee (Pair Two)

Sean Jeffery, Pharm.D., CGP, FASCP, FNAP, AGSF, is Director of Clinical Pharmacy Services at Integrated Care Partners, an accountable care organization responsible for Hartford Healthcare Group’s value-based practice transformation. His career has focused on implementing innovative patient care services for seniors that promote the value of pharmacists in care coordination. Currently, he is responsible for pharmacy network development and strategy, population health management, and support of an integrated care-management team. He is also a Clinical Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy. He was previously a consultant pharmacist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System where he served as a PGY2 Geriatrics Residency Program Director. Jeffery current serves on the 2016-17 APhA Policy Committee and chairs the Polypharmacy Special Interest Group for the American Geriatrics Society. He also served as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists from 2012 - 2014 and Chair of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Geriatrics SIG in 2007 - 2008. He cofounded the Coalition for Senior Medication Safety in New Haven, CT to raise awareness among seniors about medication safety. He was recognized as a Fellow of the American Geriatrics Society (2016), an Ohio State University Distinguished Alumni (2013) and received the Elan Biopharmaceuticals Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award (2006). He earned his bachelor of science from the University of Connecticut and PharmD from the Ohio State University.

Theresa Tolle, BPharm, FAPhA, is owner of Bay Street Pharmacy in Sebastian, Florida for the past 17 years. Prior to owning an independent pharmacy, she had practice experience in chain, long term care (consultant) pharmacy and hospital. Her pharmacy focuses on patient services such as counseling, MTM, compounding, immunizations and pharmacogenomics testing. Her professional activities have spanned local, state and national pharmacy associations including serving as President of Florida Pharmacy Association in 2003, Treasurer of the Florida Pharmacy Political Committee since 2009, APhA-APPM Community & Ambulatory Chair 1995-96, PAC Region 2 Board of Governors 2009-12 and Speaker- Elect/Speaker of the House 2014-17. As Speaker, she currently serves as a Trustee for APhA. Other APhA service includes appointments to various House of Delegates committees including Policy Committee Chair in 2010-11, AMCP Model Audit Guidelines Task Group, 2010-11 and CPPA Oversight Committee 2012-13. Additional professional involvement includes membership and committee work with NCPA, Cardinal Health National Advisory Board, Health First Health Plans P&T Committee and Creative Pharmacist Advisory Board. Activities outside the profession include Sebastian Chamber of Commerce Immediate Past Board Chair & LGA Chair, American Cancer Society Treasure Coast Council, and Sebastian River Medical Center Trustee. Tolle graduated from University of Florida in 1988. She has won several professional awards including the Palm Beach Atlantic University Community Pharmacy Preceptor of the Year in 2015, Bowl of Hygeia in 2012, APhA Fellow in 2011, APhA Good Government Pharmacist of the Year in 2004 and Cardinal Health’s Ken Wurster Community Leadership Award in 2011.

Candidate for Honorary President

Stanley M. Shaw, Ph.D., FAPhA, FASHP, FFIP is a Professor Emeritus, Nuclear Pharmacy at Purdue University College of Pharmacy. He received a B.S. in Pharmacy and M.S. in Pharmaceutical Science from South Dakota State University and a Ph.D. in Bionucleonics from Purdue. As a faculty member in Bionucleonics he conducted radioactive tracer research in the 1960’s. In the early 1970’s his love for pharmacy propelled him to focus on nuclear pharmacy and become one of the leaders in the development of education, professional matters and recognition as a specialty practice in pharmacy.  He was a co-organizer of the first nuclear pharmacy session held at the APhA Annual Meeting in 1974. He joined with others to petition for the formation of the Section on Nuclear Pharmacy and for recognition of nuclear pharmacy as the first specialty practice by the BPS. Following recognition he was appointed as a founding member of the BPS Specialty Council on Nuclear Pharmacy. Dr. Shaw was appointed as Vice Chairman Pro Tem of the new Section and elected as chairman twice. He served on countless nuclear pharmacy committees, presented orally at meetings, served as Section Historian as well as on the APhA House of Delegates. His involvement in APhA spans over 40 years. Dr. Shaw was recognized by APhA as a Fellow, as a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award in Nuclear Pharmacy and the Daniel B. Smith Practice Excellence Award. He was recognized by South Dakota State University as a distinguished alumnus in education and by the AACP as an educator. He credits his career to the Lord, the nuclear pharmacy team and his super pharmacist wife, his rock of support.

The following individuals served on the 2017 APhA Committee on Nominations and slated the President-elect and Trustee candidates: Matthew Osterhaus (Chair), Marialice Bennett, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Johnson, and Valerie Prince.

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 63,000 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. For more information, please visit www.pharmacist.com.