Craig Beavers, the Cardiovascular Pharmacy Specialist at UK, Healthcare Director of Cardiovascular Services at Baptist Health Kentucky and Indiana, and Assistant Adjunct Professor with the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, joins us in this episode to discuss why pharmacists should be leaders in pharmacogenetics implementation, the next steps for PGx in health systems and how he thinks when it comes to comprehensive medication management. 

Show Notes: 

1:55 - What led you to become a pharmacist and what led you to focus on cardiovascular pharmacy?

4:55 - The pharmacist’s perspective

8:18 - Research: focus and interests

10:45 - Pharmacogenetics in the context of cardiovascular disease

13:22 - The role of pharmacists in the future

18:45 - Comprehensive medication management

22:03 - Patient stories: where pharmacogenetics makes an impact

24:00 - The challenges of the next steps in PGx programs

27:51 - What technology can help health systems succeed

31:24 - The human connection in PGx implementation

33:30 - Craig's go-to PGx resources 

34:40 - Here more from Craig

Behnaz Sarrami, a pharmacist and entrepreneur with a collaborative pharmacy consulting business known as Missouri Pharmacogenomics Consulting, joins us in this episode to discuss how pharmacists can approach physicians to deliver value-added pharmacy services, how to incorporate pharmacogenomics (PGx) into patient care as a collaborative practice pharmacist and the two main lessons she has learned about starting a pharmacogenetics consulting business.

Many pharmacists want to explore different ways to operate at the top of their license

Behnaz Sarrami is a pharmacist and entrepreneur with a collaborative pharmacy consulting business known as Missouri Pharmacogenomics Consulting, and she has shared some her own advice and experiences with pharmacy consulting.

0:24 - Behnaz’s background

1:04 - Pharmacists practicing at the top of their licenses

2:04 - The journey to Missouri Pharmacogenomics Consulting

3:45 - The challenges of getting started

8:05 - Two pieces of advice for other pharmacists

10:13 - Why pharmacogenetics?

12:02 - A holistic approach

15:35 - The business model: a simple overview

17:28 - What factors drive success?

20:59 - Hear more from Behnaz

John Papastergiou, arguably Canada's most famous pharmacist, business leader, educator, and pharmacy innovator, has joined us in this episode to tell us about the utilization of pharmacogenomics (PGx) in pharmacy practice, the changing role of pharmacists, and a groundbreaking study that showed the effectiveness of PGx for treating depression in a pharmacy setting. 

Show Notes: 

How can community pharmacists shape the future of pharmacogenetics?

We’ve had a great conversation with John Papastergiou, a pharmacist and pharmacy owner who has not only implemented pharmacogenetics into his store, but has also conducted a study within his own pharmacy that proves the effectiveness of PGx in pharmacies for treating depression.

0.24 - John’s Background

1:52 - His work as a community pharmacist

5:23 - The changing role of pharmacists

8:47 - How services become commonplace

12:07 - John’s experiences with pharmacogenetics

13:36 - Proving that pharmacies can implement pharmacogenetics

21:46 - When PGx is the key: a patient story

25:16 - Reimbursement: the path to becoming the standard of care

28:35 - The importance of a holistic approach to prescribing

30:08 - What are the next steps?

33:00 - Hear more from John

Katherine (Katie) Capps, Co-Founder & Executive Director of the GTMRx Institute as well as Founder & President of Health2 Resources, joined us in this episode of Precision Insights to discuss what comprehensive medication management (CMM) is, and how pharmacogenetics can be used in the CMM process. 

Colleen Keenan, Research Consultant of Advisory Board’s Clinical Innovators Council, joined us in this episode to discuss about how Clinical Innovators Council is making pharmacogenetics a more accessible concept for health system clients, current trends in how health systems are starting to implement and standardize PGx and the challenges around PGx implementation. 

Sara Rogers, Director of the American Society of Pharmacovigilance (ASP) and Co-Chairman of the Pharmacogenomics Access and Reimbursement Coalition (PARC) joined us in this episode of Precision Insights to discuss the past, present and future of reimbursement for pharmacogenomics. 

Jared Augenstein, Director of Manatt Health, joined us in this episode of Precision Insights to talk about the reimbursement trends for digital health, the limits of telehealth/virtual care and the opportunities it presents, and differentiating innovations that will improve outcomes, quality, and cost from those that won’t. 

James Lu, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Helix, joined us to talk about the current state of genetics use in patient-centered care, the critical elements for successful large-scale genomics initiatives, and a vision to improve care delivery with reusable genetic information for life. 

Erik Abel, VP Insights, Ursa Health & former Director of Clinical Transformation, Highmark Health, joined us to talk about ways to leverage data & technology to help clinicians make optimized treatment decisions, move towards a truly informed prescribing, and to manage system-level changes in healthcare.

Erik is a subject matter expert in clinical operations, health IT and pharmacotherapeutics.