Josh Blackwell, PharmD, MS, BCSCP, is the Co-Founder of Pharmacy Initiative Leaders (PILs) and is a Clinical Pharmacy Manager at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

We talk through the power of mentorship and how PILs was designed to fill a gap in mentorship for pharmacy professionals. PILs has helped pharmacy leaders to be at their best for every stage of their career. He has great advice for new and seasoned practitioners on being both a mentee and a mentor!

This episode of small scripts highlights the 2025 impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Thanks to Dr. Molly Powers and Dr. Kristel Geyer for bringing the topic up!

Leigh Briscoe-Dwyer, PharmD, BSPharm, BCPS, FASHP, serves as President of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). She has also served in various organizations and professional societies in New York.

We talk through her current presidential year with ASHP and her message of telling your stories that coincides with ASHP’s ‘We Are Your Pharmacist' campaign. She is passionate about pharmacy and you’ll hear the top issues she is focused on this year!

Alex C. Varkey, PharmD, MS, FAPhA, serves as President of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and is the Director of Pharmacy Services at Houston Methodist Hospital-Texas Medical Center.

We talk through his involvement in APhA as a health system pharmacist and his goal for his presidential year of being all in and having APhA represent every area of pharmacy!

Jolynn Sessions, PharmD, CPP, BCOP, FHOPA, serves as President of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA). She is an EXCLAIM Pharmacogenomics Pharmacist and an Oncology Clinical Pharmacist Specialist at the Western North Carolina VA Health Care System in Asheville, NC.

We talk through her top three priorities for HOPA this year. You’ll hear the top issues in oncology pharmacy and how HOPA is finding ways to solve them!

Ryan Mezinger, RPh, is Senior Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ryan and his team have built an impressive outpatient pharmacy strategy and have grown their footprint immensely in the last few years. We also talk through the automation they implemented to help increase their capacity. You’ll hear how successful they have been and get tips on how to justify a similar strategy with urgency in your own health system!

Stephanie Jean, PharmD, MS, BCPS, is an Assistant Director of Pharmacy at UNC Health. She oversees the Medication Assistance Program for both pharmacy and medical benefit teams and the Pharmacy Revenue Integrity Team.

She has worked and managed teams remotely for the past four years, developing best practices along the way. Whether you lead teams remotely now or in the future you’ll hear great tips for engaging team members and building a cohesive culture. We also talk through ways to be successful as an individual working remotely. Remote work continues to thrive post-pandemic and here is to stay for many roles so listen in to hear ways you can be successful in it!

Champ Burgess, PharmD, MBA, is Vice President, Health System Strategy for Shields Health Solutions.

You’ll hear about the Shields Care Model and their impact on health system specialty pharmacy. We also discuss top issues impacting specialty pharmacy. Dr. Burgess and I previously worked together so we talk through this career path including our time as Assistant Directors together. Enjoy all things specialty pharmacy in this episode!