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CHEN EARNS THIRD PINNACLE
BROAD SPECTRUM
Steven Chen, chair of the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy, has won an unprecedented third Pinnacle Award from the American Pharmacy Association (APhA), one of the nation’s highest pharmacy honors.
The 2016 award recognizes his collaborative work on two significant initiatives. The first is the national Health Resources and Services Administration’s Patient Safety and Pharmacy Services Collaborative, for which he developed a medication intervention and safety measurement tool adopted by pharmacy teams in clinics nationwide. The second is for his efforts as part of the School of Pharmacy’s own three-year, $12 million Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation grant, which placed pharmacy teams in AltaMed Health Services’ safety-net clinics across Los Angeles to improve patient outcomes while reducing healthcare costs. The latter project was conducted in partnership with principal investigator Geoffrey Joyce and the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.
In announcing the award, APhA noted that synergistic federal and private-sector initiatives such as these have dramatically reduced adverse drug events nationwide.
The William A. and Josephine A. Heeres Chair in Community Pharmacy, Chen previously earned the Pinnacle Award for Individual Career Achievement in 2013 and was part of a USC School of Pharmacy team that received the 2007 Pinnacle Award for pioneering work in safety-net clinics. This is the school’s fourth Pinnacle Award.
