ALUMNI NEWS
Ask an Alumnus William Pong, PharmD ’91, MBA System Director Pharmacy Operations AMITA Health Dr. William Pong, PharmD, MBA, is the system director of pharmacy at AMITA Health System. He received his PharmD from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his MBA from Olivet Nazarene University. Pong is responsible for leading pharmacy operations for the 19 hospitals across AMITA Health as well as advancing and supporting system initiatives, including outpatient oncology pharmacies, ambulatory services, retail pharmacies, 340B program strategy and compliance, pharmacy fiscal budget improvement and business development, specialty pharmacy, and more. In the 28 years of his pharmacy career, Pong has practiced in a variety of hospital settings, including community, academic, single-site, multisite, and health systems. He has held several nonprofit and for-profit leadership positions, including clinical, operations, and administration. Before joining AMITA Health, his most recent roles include administrative director of pharmacy for Loyola University Health System, system director of pharmacy services for Wheaton Franciscan Health Care, and regional director of pharmacy for Vanguard Health System. Pong is a mission-focused leader with a history of producing sustainable results working with highperformance teams to implement key strategies that focus on patients, colleagues, and the organization. His experience covers a wide span of pharmacy practice, including operations, clinical, informatics, regulatory, finance, quality, strategy, business development, and leadership. In addition, Pong has been a preceptor for hundreds of pharmacy students, serving as an adjunct professor for various colleges of pharmacy, including UIC, Midwestern University, Purdue University, and Drake University.
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P H A R M A CY.U I C . E D U
Q A
As a pharmacist, how can I best prepare to adapt to the inevitable changes ahead in the next 20 years?
Understanding the dynamics and forces that continue impacting the changes in the healthcare climate, such as focusing on population health, access to care delivery, and efforts in reducing the overall cost of care, are important for adapting to inevitable changes ahead. I believe the vision to see what lies ahead in five, ten, or twenty years is critical to how we plan today for a changing tomorrow. As practitioners, we need to stay flexible and open-minded and strategically position ourselves and the profession to address the unmet needs facing patient care and the healthcare delivery system.
Q A
What are you working on right now, and what have you learned from it?
Aside from the traditional hospital acute care pharmacy operations, such as cost containment, regulations, formulary, etc., I am working to help advance pharmacy practice and position my health system for success in future clinical practice and financial stewardship. This includes preventative medicine, ambulatory services, specialty pharmacy, revenue cycle, practice models, residency programs, and more. Of course, this is all happening while we are learning to function as a system across all the AMITA pharmacies. What I have learned is that pharmacy has become a very dynamic field, and we, as a profession, must be ready to advance as the healthcare system evolves. In addition, there are opportunities for standardization, optimization, and sharing best practices.
