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 16 - May 14, 2018. Association members will have the opportunity to meet the candidates at the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Nashville, TN March 16-19, 2018.

The two candidates for President-elect for 2019-2020 are Daniel E. Buffington of Tampa, FL and Michael D. Hogue of Gardendale, AL. The two pairs nominated for election to serve 2019-2022 terms on the APhA Board of Trustees are: Sean Jeffery of Branford, CT, vs. Brian Hille of Boise, ID; and Brandi Hamilton of Bakersfield, CA, vs. Wendy Weber of Bellevue, NE. Dorothy L. Smith of McLean, VA, is unopposed as the candidate for Honorary President.

Attendees of the 2018 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 16, in the Davidson Ballroom of the Music City 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 CD of the Music City Center Saturday, March 17, 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 16, 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. Find more information on each candidate at APhA’s Election website.

Candidates for President-elect

Daniel E. Buffington, PharmD, MBA, FAPhA, is President of Clinical Pharmacology Services, an ambulatory care specialty practice in Tampa, FL. He is on faculty at University of South Florida Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, served as a Medication Safety Expert with the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for nearly 5 years, focused on innovation projects that feature medication safety and MTM services. He is serving his second term on the APhA Board of Trustees and the Florida Pharmacy Foundation’s board. He has previously served as President of both the Florida Society of Health- System Pharmacists (FSHP) and the American Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (AIPS). He serves on the Pharmacy HIT Collaborative, the American Medical Association (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology Panel, and the RBRVS Update Committee (RUC) focused on pharmacist billing. Buffington has practice experience in ambulatory care, drug information, hospital, managed care, clinical research, health information technology and forensic pharmacology. He received his PharmD and MBA degrees from Mercer University and completed a residency and clinical pharmacology fellowship from Emory University. He has been recognized as an APhA Fellow and has received numerous professional awards including the APhA Pinnacle Award, Daniel B. Smith Practice Excellence Award, the ASHP Award of Excellence and has been recognized multiple times as Florida Pharmacist of the year (FPA and FSHP). He is committed to expanding the utilization and impact of pharmacist’s services to improve health outcomes and patient safety, as well as assisting to reduce the total cost of care.

Michael D. Hogue, PharmD, FAPhA, FNAP is Professor of Pharmacy and Associate Dean at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. He is highly regarded as an expert in the area of immunization practice, vaccines, and vaccine-preventable diseases. He is currently the Speaker of the APhA House of Delegates and Trustee for APhA. He formerly served as the APhA-APPM President, and was the APhA-ASP National President. Dr. Hogue was awarded the APhA Practice Management Excellence Award in 2015. Dr. Hogue has practice experience in Ambulatory Care practice with CHD Meridian Healthcare, a closed-model HMO; and with the Jefferson County (AL) Department of Public Health where he worked with the under- and uninsured. He is a previous independent pharmacy owner, and co-owner of a home infusion company. In addition, Dr. Hogue has experience in chain community pharmacy as a staff pharmacist and clinical coordinator. He was on the APhA staff in industry relations, and completed an executive residency in association management with APhA and NCSPAE (now NASPA). He is active in the Alabama Pharmacy Association where he has served on the Board of Trustees and chaired numerous committees in the past. He has served as APA's parliamentarian for the past 10 years. Dr. Hogue is a member of the Gardendale City School Board where he is currently serving as Board President and he is active in his church and community.

Candidates for Trustee (Pair One)

Sean Jeffery, PharmD, BCGP, FASCP, AGSF, is Director of Pharmacy Services at Integrated Care Partners, a physician-led, clinically integrated network responsible for Hartford Healthcare’s value-based practice transformation. His career has focused on implementing innovative patient care services for that promote the value of pharmacists in care coordination. Currently, he oversees pharmacy network development and strategy, population health management, and provides clinical support to the care-management team. He is also a Clinical Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy. Previously, Dr. Jeffery was a consultant pharmacist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System where he served as a PGY2 Geriatrics Residency Program Director. Dr. Jeffery has served on the APhA Policy Committee (’16), chaired the Polypharmacy Special Interest Group (SIG) for the American Geriatrics Society, chaired the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Geriatrics SIG, and served as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. He co-founded the Coalition for Senior Medication Safety to raise awareness among seniors about medication safety in New Haven, CT. He was recognized as a Fellow of the American Geriatrics Society (2016), an Ohio State University Distinguished Alumni (2013). Dr. Jeffery earned his bachelor of science from the University of Connecticut and PharmD from the Ohio State University.

Brian Hille, BSPharm, is the Vice President of Pharmacy, Patient Care Services at Albertsons Companies, overseeing patient care services, specialty pharmacy operations, and wellness services. Albertsons Companies operates almost 1,800 supermarket-based pharmacies in 36 different states under 18 well known banner names, including Safeway. Brian joined Safeway in 1998 and has led the expansion and pioneering of innovative direct patient care services such as adult and adolescent immunizations, travel health services, medication therapy management, medication administration, diabetes education, and pharmacist prescribing. With a patient centered approach and a focus on quality, Brian also built the company’s specialty pharmacy offering from the ground up, which included leading the remodeling of the company’s pharmacies nationwide to create private patient care rooms, transforming the pharmacy space into the anchor for health and wellness within each store. Over the years, Brian’s innovative work has been recognized in the profession and healthcare, with him and his team being awarded the National Immunization Champion by APhA three times and the Immunization Excellence Award by the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit twice. Brian has been an active member of the American Pharmacists Association for over 15 years, serving on numerous advisory boards and committees. He also serves on committees for the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy and the Pharmacy Quality Alliance. Brian graduated from Oregon State University in 1991 with his pharmacy degree.

Candidates for Trustee (Pair Two)

Brandi Hamilton, PharmD, MS, is the Clinical Pharmacy Manager at Adventist Health Bakersfield in Bakersfield, CA, a position she has held since completing her Health-System Pharmacy Administration Residency at CHI St. Luke's Health - Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston, TX. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy Practice at The University of the Pacific Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Her practice focuses on elevating clinical pharmacy specialists in integrated roles in the inpatient setting and fostering excellence in interdisciplinary patient care, as well as expanding pharmacy services into ambulatory care to improve population health. Her leadership experience began rather early in her pharmacy career and includes serving as APhA-ASP National President and an APhA Trustee, as well as on the APhA New Practitioner Advisory Committee, APhA Policy Review Committee, APhA New Business Review Committee, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy's Clinical Administration PRN Student and Resident Subcommittee, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists' Section of Pharmacy Practice Managers' Advisory Group on Patient Care Quality. She has been recognized as a Pharmacists Provide Care Champion for her ongoing professional advocacy efforts. Brandi completed her Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy and her Master of Science in Pharmacy Leadership and Administration at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy.

Wendy Weber, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, FAPhA, Wendy Weber is a clinical pharmacist at CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center – Bergan Mercy. Her practice areas over the years include internal medicine, emergency medicine, trauma intensive care, pediatrics and neonatology. Other areas of interest include clinical research, precepting pharmacy practice residents and student pharmacists, and leadership development. While she has spent the majority of her career in the inpatient clinical environment, Wendy has also practiced in community pharmacy and worked as a government contractor developing educational materials for providers. Her practice experience has given her a front row seat to the opportunities and challenges facing pharmacy in both acute care and community practice. Wendy has served in numerous leadership roles within the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and the APhA Foundation, including APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APhA-APPM) President, APhA Trustee, and APhA Foundation Director. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from North Dakota State University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Wendy is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and a Fellow of the APhA.

Candidate for Honorary President

Dorothy L. Smith, Pharm.D. is CEO of Consumer Health Information Corporation.  She has dedicated her career to developing patient education programs that patients can “understand” so they can make informed decisions about their medications, medical devices, and disease management. Dorothy has been a champion for patient-centered pharmacy practice since completion of her BSP degree and residency at the University of Saskatchewan. After watching patients suffer from a lack of medication management and being told “do not counsel patients”, she realized that looking at healthcare problems from the “patient’s point of view” was the answer. Dorothy later received her Pharm. D. degree from the University of Cincinnati, and went on to develop one of the first clinical pharmacy training programs at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver General Hospital. She also developed one of the first ambulatory patient pharmacies where every patient was counseled by a pharmacist in a private room and given written instructions to take home.  She has been active in APhA as a pharmacist and former staff member serving as Director of Clinical Affairs. She represented APhA as a founding member of the National Council on Patient Information and Education and has continued to serve APhA on many committees including APhA’s recent Policy Report on Patient Safety. She has written 23 books including “Medication Guide for Patient Counseling” and “Understanding Prescription Drugs” for health professionals and consumers across the U.S. and Canada and has published 125 articles and presented more than 200 presentations to professional and consumer organizations. In 1983, Dorothy founded Consumer Health Information Corporation. The company has developed more than 1000 patient education programs that have significantly increased patient adherence. She has collaborated with many national organizations, FDA, academia, pharmaceutical companies, publishing companies, consumer associations, and the mass media to promote the role of the pharmacist in patient education and helped decrease the communications gap between patients and their health care providers. She is the recipient of multiple awards including the APhA Foundation Pinnacle Award; University of Cincinnati Master Alumni Award, Honorary Life Membership of the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA); and The Honorable Paul G. Rogers Medication Communicator Award. She has served on many national professional committees.  She was a founding member of ACCP. 

Dorothy is a stalwart patient advocate believing that “Patients are smart and always have a reason for not following the prescription label instructions.  As health care providers, we just need to learn what their daily hurdles are and figure out how to provide the information they need. I am convinced that consumers hold the key to controlling health care costs.”