Pharmacy Careers

PITTSBURGH — Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Health, will be the featured speaker for the University of Pittsburgh’s graduate student commencement convocation at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 29. Merlo, a Pitt alumnus and University trustee, was named Pitt’s 2016 Distinguished Alumni Fellow, the University’s premier alumni honor, which recognizes extraordinary professional achievements. In 2010, he received Pitt School of Pharmacy’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 2008 was named a Legacy Laureate.

FLINT, Mich. — Diplomat Pharmacy on Tuesday named Atul Kavthekar as its CFO and treasurer, effective May 1. Kavthekar will head up Diplomat’s financial operations and investor relations, as well as managing the company’s liquidity, balance sheet risk and capital market transactions, reporting directly to CEO and chairman Phil Hagerman.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid announced Amanda Bourque, a Rite Aid pharmacy technician from Coventry, R.I., and JoAnn Lankford, a Rite Aid customer from Providence Forge, Va., were selected at random from more than 13,000 unique entries as the winners of its Vote for Your Favorite Pharmacy Team Member Contest. Established in 2003, the contest was designed to honor Rite Aid pharmacy associates for their commitment to providing outstanding customer care and service.

SAN FRANCISCO — The American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting and Exposition drew more than 6,100 pharmacists and student pharmacists form March 24-27 in San Francisco.

This year’s theme, “Making an Impact in Patient Care,” served as a mandate for attendees to step up efforts in patient care and demonstrate why pharmacists should have a much larger role in any new federal health care policy.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Pharmacy claims switching and routing solutions company eRx Network on Tuesday named an industry veteran as its CEO. Mark Doerr joins the former Change Healthcare company from Giant Eagle, where he oversaw pharmacy enterprise solutions, merchandising, managed care and specialty for the company’s more than 200 pharmacies.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association on Thursday announced a new strategic partnership with the PRS Pharmacy Services around an exclusive pharmacy Seller/Buyer Offering Plan for the 22,000 independent community pharmacies NCPA represents.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health is teaming up with the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and the Pittsburgh Public Schools that will bring its prescription drug abuse prevention program, Pharmacists Teach, to students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

IRVINE, Calif. — The majority of Americans prefer visiting their local pharmacy to get their inoculations, as opposed to visiting the doctor's office, according to  the PrescribeWellness 2017 Vaccination and Preventive Care Survey.

Of the 62% of survey respondents who chose pharmacy over practitioner, most of the reasons hinged upon convenience.