ALUMNI NEWS
Ask an Alumnus: An Agent of Change Denise Scarpelli, PharmD ’96 Denise is the Executive Director of Ambulatory Pharmacy and Business Development at the University of Chicago. She is responsible for leading all Ambulatory pharmacy services for the University of Chicago. Scarpelli, a 25-year retail pharmacy veteran, joined Walgreens in 1993. During her tenure at Walgreens, she held various leadership positions, ascending from pharmacist to pharmacy director in Chicago. She was promoted into pharmacy leadership in 2001 and joined the University of Chicago in her current role in 2017. Scarpelli earned a Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy in 1996. Scarpelli is a member of Illinois Board of Pharmacy. Scarpelli is a former member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy and currently a member of the Midwestern College of Pharmacy Dean’s Advisory Board.
Q
As a pharmacist, how can I best prepare to adapt to the inevitable changes ahead in the next 20 years?
A
Healthcare is an ever-changing landscape including Pharmacy. Pharmacy has changed so much over my 25-year career; my best advice is to stay current with all the changes. Embrace the changes and learn how to make the changes relevant to your practice. Be innovative and develop new practice models that support the change. Stay involved in local and national pharmacy organizations and always be the voice for pharmacy. Depending on your practice area you should subscribe to relevant journals or publications that will help you stay up to date with all the changes.
Q A
What excites you about the profession of pharmacy?
What excites me are all the changes happening in pharmacy from some states changing their practice act to give pharmacists the ability to practice at the top of their license to possible achieving provider status at the federal level. New automation being developed to free up the pharmacist to spend more time with patients and automation and technology helping patients stay adherent to their drug regimen. Also, all the new residency programs being developed to prepare the future pharmacist for either clinical or administration roles.
Q A
What are you working on right now and what have you learned from it?
Currently I am working on remodeling the Outpatient Pharmacy, growing our Specialty Pharmacy, and learning home infusion. What I have learned is to continue to help our patients and stay relevant in the healthcare space; we need to expand our services, improve our automation and technology, and offer more ambulatory services to help keep patients at home. I have also learned that networking within the industry has helped me make informed decisions on which companies and vendors to work with and learn the best practices.
Q A
How does your pharmacy degree inform your leadership style?
When I went to pharmacy school there were not many courses on leadership, however, Pharmacy has taught me to be disciplined, a self-starter, innovator, compassionate, and a teacher. My degree has helped me develop ways to improve patient care and lead a team that is compassionate to our patients. The experiences of my pharmacy career have taught me the leadership skills to be fair and consistent with my team and to help my team through all the changes that have occurred in pharmacy over the last 25 years. My pharmacy degree has taught me we are in a profession that is always learning; so as a leader I stay current learning all the new items hitting healthcare, read a few leadership books a year, and sharing that knowledge with my team.
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WINTER 2018
