The University of Saint Joseph Hosts CVS Executive's Talk on Evolving Pharmacy Profession

by Susanne Davis

West Hartford, CT (02/06/2023) — On February 1, the University of Saint Joseph School of Pharmacy and PA Studies hosted a talk by Prem Shah, Executive Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer for CVS Health and Co-President of CVS Pharmacy. He presented, "A New Day in Retail Pharmacy: Evolving the Profession, Together," to 80 USJ Pharmacy students and faculty. USJ was the first stop on CVS's planned tour of dozens of pharmacy schools around the country.

USJ's Dean of the School of Pharmacy and PA Studies and Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, Ahmed Abdelmageed, introduced Shah as "an influential voice in community pharmacy practice."

Shah, a pharmacist himself, framed his talk with two facts:

1. Pharmacists are consistently named among most trusted health care providers nationwide

2. Patients spend more time with their pharmacist than any other health care provider and COVID-19 changed the way Americans view their pharmacist

He shared insights on the current state of the pharmacy industry and discussed opportunities to evolve and expand the role of pharmacists in the future, building on the important role they played during COVID-19 to help ensure equitable access to convenient, high-quality health care in communities across the country.

Discussion topics included:

• The challenges for pharmacists during the pandemic, especially those in the community setting and the resulting opportunities that will hopefully reshape the profession
• The critical role of community pharmacy as an accessible and convenient destination for important health care
• New innovative models to address workload issues and help create capacity for more pharmacist services, including technology and software applications
• Public policy reform that allows pharmacists to continue to evolve and perform expanded health care services that will fundamentally change the way health care is delivered in America

"Retail pharmacy is the place your community goes to get health care," Shah said, noting that Americans want more local and convenient health care, when they want it. He posed a question for students to consider, "How can we expand the role of the pharmacist to support that?" He told them, "This will be your white space to impact the industry. It will take a different mindset to address this issue."

Before the program ended Shah urged the students to "continue to learn, continue to build connections. Whatever you do, make sure you love what you're doing." He and the team of CVS experts who attended the event also took time following his remarks to spend time with students, and answer their questions individually.

USJ student Abigail Opoku, Pharm.D.'24 said of Shah's talk, "It was very informative. It helped me understand how we as pharmacists can be more effective."

Her classmate Leah Moore, Pharm.D.'24 added, "Learning about the business side of pharmacy we can see that if the business doesn't run well then the pharmacy doesn't run well, and then patients can't get the help they need."

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