NABP Honors Leaders at the Forefront of Public Health Protection at Association’s 115th Annual Meeting

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP®) honored leaders in the protection of public health at the Association’s 115^th Annual Meeting, held May 16-18, 2019, in Minneapolis, MN. Each year, the Association presents awards to individuals who have worked with unwavering dedication to ensure NABP’s continued service to the regulation of pharmacy practice and its efforts to assist the state boards of pharmacy in protecting the public health.

Those honored leaders include 2019 Honorary President Anita Young, EdD, RPh; 2018-2019 NABP President Susan Ksiazek, RPh, DPh; 2019 Fred T. Mahaffey Award recipient, the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy; 2019 Henry Cade Memorial Award recipients: David C. Benton, RGN, PhD, FFNF, FRCN, FAAN, and Humayun J. Chaudhry, DO, MACP; 2019 John F. Atkinson Service Award recipients Gordon White, JD, and Krystal Stefanyk; and 2019 Lester E. Hosto Distinguished Service Award recipient Virginia Herold, MS.

Biographies for the award winners follow.

2019 Honorary President: Anita Young, EdD, RPh

Dr Anita Young has been chosen as the 2019 Honorary President for her commitment to protecting public health and her significant involvement with NABP. Dr Young is devoted to increasing pharmacist engagement with community health and making health care more accessible. For over 50 years, Dr Young has been an active leader in the field of pharmacy. She is currently the NABP District 1 secretary/treasurer and serves on the Meeting Planning Committee for District 1 and 2. She also served on NABP’s 2017 Task Force on Best Practices for Veterinary Compounding and has served on NABP’s Advisory Committee on Examinations since 2015. She was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy from 2012-2014. Dr Young works hard to ensure that people dealing with drug abuse have access to necessary resources. She advocated for standing orders for intranasal naloxone for Massachusetts pharmacists, and she regularly does outreach to destigmatize addiction, especially among pharmacists and other health care providers. For the past 15 years, Dr Young has been the director of continuing pharmacy education at Northeastern University. In 2009, she developed Northeastern University’s Adult Immunization Training Program. In recognition of her lifelong dedication to community service and civic leadership in the field of pharmacy, Dr Young received the Bowl of Hygeia Award in 2017. Dr Young earned her bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; her master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston; and her doctorate in education from Northeastern University.

NABP President’s Award: Susan Ksiazek, RPh, DPh

During her presidency, Susan Ksiazek led the formation of a customer focus group to provide insight and expertise on NABP initiatives. During her presidency, NABP also launched the enhanced e-Profile system. An active member of NABP, Ms Ksiazek served as the District 2 secretary/treasurer for seven years and participated in many of the Association’s task forces, including the Task Force on the Definition of a Patient-Pharmacist Relationship and the Task Force on Pharmacy Technician Education and Training Programs. As a member of the New York State Board of Pharmacy, Ms Ksiazek served two terms as chair. She is also a member of the New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct. Ms Ksiazek has diverse pharmacy experience including community, hospital, and long-term care practice with a clinical specialty in geriatrics. Ms Ksiazek’s expertise in medication safety and regulatory and accreditation compliance led her to a position in hospital administration as the director of medical staff quality and education at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, NY. Ms Ksiazek earned her bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and received an honorary doctor of pharmacy license from the Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy.

Fred T. Mahaffey Award: State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy

Members of the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy received the 2019 Fred T. Mahaffey Award for their success in updating and implementing rules related to prescription monitoring program (PMP) data integration and reporting suspicious drug orders. The Board actively promoted PMP integration and interstate data sharing, as well as the enforcement of state laws and rules requiring prescribers to use Ohio’s PMP. The Board participated in efforts to request the Bureau of Justice Assistance to waive special conditions that were attached to grants for state PMPs. The Board also became the first state to require mandatory reporting of ICD-10 diagnosis codes to the PMP for every controlled substance prescription. Throughout 2018, the Board implemented rules to require the reporting of suspicious drug orders and customers by wholesale distributors. These rules became a model for other states. The Board also grew its staff to help conduct unannounced inspections, which allowed the number of inspections to go from 466 in 2015, to 2,332 in 2018. The Board has also worked hard to ensure that pharmacy technicians received the necessary training to perform their duties. In 2018, more than 20,000 pharmacy technicians successfully registered with the Board, ensuring that all technicians are subject to comprehensive background checks and uniform training standards.

Henry Cade Memorial Award: David C. Benton, RGN, PhD, FFNF, FRCN, FAAN

Dr David C. Benton, chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), received a 2019 Henry Cade Memorial Award for years of collaborative leadership with NABP to address critical issues impacting the practices of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy through the Tri-Regulator Collaborative. Dr Benton is a global expert in nursing and regulatory policy and has provided support to countries in all World Health Organization regions in their efforts to implement and modernize nursing and health professions regulation. He is a prolific author with over 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters to his name, appearing in publications such as the Journal of Nursing Regulation and the International Nursing Review. For the past 25 years, Dr Benton has held senior roles throughout the nursing field. Prior to working for NCSBN, Dr Benton spent 10 years with the International Council of Nurses. He worked as a nursing and health policy consultant from 2005 to 2008, and then served as the CEO from 2008 to 2015. Dr Benton received his general nursing degree from Highland College of Nursing and Midwifery, his master of philosophy in nursing education from the University of Abertay Dundee, and his master of science in health research methods and doctor of philosophy in nurse regulation from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Henry Cade Memorial Award: Humayun J. Chaudhry, DO, MACP

Dr Humayun J. Chaudhry, president and CEO of the Federation of State Medical Boards, received a 2019 Henry Cade Memorial Award for years of collaborative leadership with NABP to address critical issues impacting the practices of medicine, nursing, and pharmacy through the Tri-Regulator Collaborative. Dr Chaudhry is a clinical associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He is the coauthor of Fundamentals of Clinical Medicine, 4^th edition, and Medical Licensing and Discipline in America. In 2016, Dr Chaudhry was recognized by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the “50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders in America.” Dr Chaudhry spent 14 years with the United States Air Force Reserve, rising to the rank of Major and serving as a flight surgeon. Dr Chaudhry’s experience also includes working as a hospital director of medical education and serving as the health commissioner for Suffolk County, NY, for two years, where he oversaw 1,300 employees. He is the past president of the American College of Osteopathic Internists. Dr Chaudry earned two master of science degrees: the first in anatomy from New York University and the second in health care management from Harvard School of Public Health. His doctor of osteopathic medicine degree is from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.

John F. Atkinson Service Award: Gordon White, JD

Gordon White received a 2019 John F. Atkinson Service Award for his dedication and integrity in practicing law with the intention of prioritizing the protection of public health. Upon graduating law school, Mr White initially worked for a private law firm before serving as an attorney in the Indiana Attorney General’s Office for 41 years, and as a counsel for the Indiana Board of Pharmacy for 25 years. Mr White counseled the Board through inspecting pharmacies and pharmacists, updating licensing standards for out-of-state wholesalers, establishing and implementing Indiana’s PDMP, and decision making to decide which entities should have a controlled substance registration. Mr White has also advised the Indiana State Board of Nursing for 25 years and provided counseling to nearly 20 other boards or commissions. The Board is especially grateful to Mr White because he never allowed Board members to make decisions unless they understood the ramifications of their choices. For both Board members and individuals who came before the Board, Mr White would make sure they understood the process and helped them through it. Mr White faithfully attended Board meetings and always explained in detail the impact a person’s decision would have. He always prioritized transparency, efficiency, and justice. In 2018, he received the Distinguished Hoosier Award from Governor Eric Holcomb for his long-term service to the state of Indiana. Mr White earned his juris doctor degree from the Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis.

John F. Atkinson Service Award: Krystal Stefanyk

Krystal Stefanyk received the 2019 John F. Atkinson Service Award for her dedication to protecting the public health and through her work in pharmacy and facility inspections. Ms Stefanyk has been actively involved in NABP and has served as an NABP accreditation surveyor for 11 years. She has also been a presenter at NABP meetings regarding compliance in pharmacy. Ms Stefanyk has worked for the past 13 years as a North Carolina Board of Pharmacy inspector. This includes her current Board position as the director of the investigations and inspections since 2014 and serving as a Board inspector from 2006 to 2014. While with the Board, she organized a multistate workshop on inspecting nonsterile compounding facilities with speakers from US Pharmacopeia (USP) and fellow state boards. Ms Stefanyk was the driving force behind the Board’s investigation and inspection staff obtaining sterile compounding certification through the CriticalPoint training program. Ms Stefanyk also revamped the Board’s inspection forms so that they could be used to determine USP compliance in all of the Board’s inspections. She also updated North Carolina’s sterile compounding inspection form so North Carolina could become a member of the Multistate Pharmacy Inspection Blueprint Program. Ms Stefanyk received her bachelor of science degree in criminal justice from the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Lester E. Hosto Distinguished Service Award: Virginia Herold, MS

Receiving the 2019 Lester E. Hosto Distinguished Service Award is Virginia Herold for her strong commitment to protecting the public health and her significant involvement with NABP. Ms Herold is a mainstay of Association meetings and has presented at several Annual Meetings and Interactive Forums. She was a member of the .Pharmacy Advisory Committee from 2013 to 2018 and is a current member of the .Pharmacy Executive Board. She has also been an active participant in several NABP task forces and work groups, including the 2018 Suspicious Orders Work Group, the Task Force on Pharmacist Prescriptive Authority, and the Task Force on Standards for the Use of PMP Data. Ms Herold served as executive director of the California State Board of Pharmacy from 2006 to 2019, and as assistant executive officer of the Board from 1990 to 2006. Ms Herold dedicated her career to leading the Board in protecting the public health in California. She also notably helped to establish California’s new drug container labeling requirements. Ms Herold received her bachelor of science degree in textiles, economics, and science coursework and her master of science degree in consumer economics and protection coursework from the University of California, Davis.

NABP is the independent, international, and impartial Association that assists its state member boards and jurisdictions for the purpose of protecting the public health.