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| James Gagnon, PharmD |
James Gagnon, PharmD, director of Clinical Services for UMass Medical School Clinical Pharmacy Services, has been named president of the Massachusetts Pharmacists Association (MPhA).
Gagnon, who will serve a one-year term as president, was installed at the MPhA’s 130th annual awards banquet last month, held during the New England Pharmacists Convention in Mashantucket, Conn.
In his acceptance speech, Gagnon touched on the timely topic of sterile compounding pharmacies in Massachusetts, and the critical role that pharmacists play in ensuring public safety and patient access to important medications. He also said that he looks forward to leading MPhA’s public policy efforts on a number of fronts, including securing health care provider status for pharmacists and to extending authorization for trained pharmacy interns to administer vaccines.
In his position with UMMS, Gagnon is responsible for supervising clinical pharmacy support including therapeutic class and new drug reviews, utilization management strategies and leading quality assurance initiatives for Clinical Pharmacy Services’ clients. Among the organizations served by the program are health care provider and payer organizations such as Health New England, Neighborhood Health Plan of Massachusetts; and the Medicaid programs for Massachusetts (MassHealth), Alabama, Nevada and Vermont.
A key client project for Gagnon and his team over the past year has been working with Commonwealth Care Alliance on the development and implementation of a pharmacist-run medication therapy management program for Medicare Part D.
