In anticipation of the 2024 ASHP Conference for Pharmacy Leaders, ASHP is hosting a series of podcast episodes. Join our host, Cynthia Von Heeringen, senior education director at ASHP as she interviews Denise Scarpelli, vice president and chief pharmacy officer at University of Chicago to discuss the upcoming session, How Strong is Your Bench? Developing Future Pharmacy Leaders with Strategic Succession Planning. Denise will give an overview of the session design and share a bit of her own story with this creative process for developing future leaders.
The information presented during the podcast reflects solely the opinions of the presenter. The information and materials are not, and are not intended as, a comprehensive source of drug information on this topic. The contents of the podcast have not been reviewed by ASHP, and should neither be interpreted as the official policies of ASHP, nor an endorsement of any product(s), nor should they be considered as a substitute for the professional judgment of the pharmacist or physician.
(upbeat music) - Welcome to the ASHP official podcast, your guide to issues related to medication use, public health, and the profession of pharmacy. - Hello, thanks for joining us today on ASHP official. In anticipation of the 2024 ASHP conference for pharmacy leaders, ASHP is hosting a series of podcast episodes focused on highlighting key sessions, hot topics and can't miss moments at the meeting. I'm Cynthia Von Haringen, senior education director on the national meetings team at ASHP. And today we're sitting down with Denise Carpelli, vice president and chief pharmacy officer at University of Chicago to discuss the upcoming session. How strong is your bench developing future pharmacy leaders with strategic succession planning? Nice to see you, Denise. - Hi, Cindy, how are you today? - I'm great. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us about the session at the leaders conference. No problem, happy to do that. - So we really only have a short time today and there are just a couple of questions, but question one, you've been to the leaders conference and you know there's a lot of education going on and in fact, there'll be five different sessions going on at one time. Why should attendees choose your session at the conference? - Interesting question, but this session will go through the Lean Six Sigma process for succession planning. Today health systems are relying on pharmacy more to higher level position since pharmacy is a vital piece of financial health of an organization. Pharmacy leadership is being promoted to roles as CEO, CEO or take on additional roles outside of pharmacy. The number of pharmacists entering or graduating profession has decreased over the past few years, almost by 10% per year. And many pharmacists are not pursuing leadership roles anymore. There is also an increase of pharmacy leaders retiring from the profession. With the strain on viable candidates, it is crucial for pharmacy leaders to conduct succession planning annually to prepare for this and identify key individuals who will fulfill these roles and develop the skill sets of these individuals to take on these roles. - Those numbers are staggering. Wow, I had really no idea that it was that extreme. So I can understand that this is truly, truly a valuable exercise. So tell the attendees a little bit what they'll actually be doing in the session. Should they choose to attend? - So if you choose to attend the session myself and Kevin Colgan are gonna tag team and go through an actual succession planning process. So either if you have a current team or if you don't have a team, we have some examples that you can use through it. But we are gonna go through the whole entire process. And some of you may be aware, but maybe not aware. Kevin Colgan was the vice-president chief pharmacy officer here at University of Chicago. And I was his replacement. And I think I was chosen through a succession planning process. And key things that we will go through this exercise were things that Kevin went through and choosing a replacement for him when he decided to retire. - That is super. And I do know Kevin and I'm really glad that you two have agreed to do this together because it's very personal, but it's also very valuable for attendees at the conference to hear this information about how it works. And also that even if they don't have a team and they're an aspiring resident who wants to be a leader at some point that they could have a mock team, so to speak, so that they could actually participate in the program even if they're not actively managing a team. - You are correct. So you don't need to have a team to participate on part of the exercise. We are gonna give you some examples of some key leaders in their background. And for you to actually do the exercise for them. So if you're a current leader and have a team, please come prepared with your team. Or if you don't have a team, we will provide that for you and walk you through that. So it's open for everyone. Someone who's in a current leadership role or someone who aspires to be in a leadership role. - That is awesome. And I really loved the use of the active learning, of course, as an educational planner that really gets me excited. But the leaders conference is a great place to do this. We have wonderful, engaged participants, and I'm really looking forward to it. So let's switch the focus a little bit to our second question. What are you looking forward to at the leaders conference besides, of course, participating as a faculty member? - I was like going to a leadership conference one selfishly as close to home, but really honestly. It's to see colleagues that I haven't seen to meet new colleagues. This is a way to always, for me to step away from my day to day, get re-energized, hear about things that are happening in practice, share strategies or ideas what other people are doing. Sometimes even just to learn it, other people are facing the same challenges that we are. But I always enjoy this conference. I always walk away with something, and I always walk away meeting someone new. But it's really just connecting with colleagues and sharing ideas and catching up with individuals that maybe I haven't seen in a while. - I agree. It's really so important to unplug so that you can get energized. And you can't really do that if you're at work. And to really unplug and go to a conference is such a great way to support your future growth. Well, that is all the time we have today. I want to thank Denise for joining us to discuss how strong is your bench, developing future pharmacy leaders with strategic succession planning. If you haven't already, I encourage you to visit leaders.ashp.org to register for the meeting. Thanks again for joining us for this special edition podcast, and we hope to see you there in Chicago. - Thank you for listening to ASHP official, the Voice of Pharmacists Advancing Healthcare. Be sure to visit ashp.org/podcast to discover more great episodes, access show notes, and download the episode transcript. If you loved the episode and want to hear more, be sure to subscribe, rate, or leave a review. Join us next time on ASHP official. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
