Stephanie Villasis

Her Story
Villasis received her PharmD from the University of New England College of Pharmacy in Portland, Maine. Villasis was initially set on joining the workforce as an outpatient pharmacist; however, after her first fourth year APPE rotation with Baylor Scott and White charity clinics, she decided to pursue residency. This is where her journey with ASHP began. She attended the Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition and later matched with a postgraduate year 1 residency (PGY1) at Baylor. Villasis completed her PGY1 community-based residency in 2020 and secured a position with Baylor in the specialty pharmacy fulfillment services department.

Dr. Villasis currently works at Baylor Scott and White Clinical Pharmacist and UNT HSC College of Pharmacy Adjunct Faculty. Her current employment, practice, and academic, teaching, or precepting responsibilities includes Abdominal transplant clinical pharmacist/Ambulatory care Pharmacist responsibilities include educating patients on medication regimen; monitoring transplant specific labs; chronic disease management including diabetes insulin titration; order verification; patient assistance via PAP, copay cards and discount programs; prior authorizations and high level appeals.

Describe the facility where you work (eg. Is it a teaching hospital? Health Center?)
Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, is an internationally renowned destination for transplant care and one of the largest in the nation. Since their first transplant in 1984, more than 11,000 patient lives have been transformed, making them the highest volume transplant center in Texas. Their transplant services combine advanced clinical research and innovative approaches to provide quality results and outstanding service to patients and their families.

Recent Significant Projects
Upon initiating her role with the abdominal transplant clinic, Dr. Villasis began a service to reinforce education for the freshly transplanted patients to identify medication errors, areas of concern and provide additional education including pillbox training, side effects and life long versus short term therapies at their first clinic visit.

Dr. Villasis recently spear headed a project to identify areas of improvement and standardize their fresh transplant discharge process. Doing so reduced wait times for patients going home on the day of discharge. This project involved the inpatient transplant coordinator, the inpatient transplant floor, the outpatient retail pharmacy and program manager at Baylor All Saints.

Initial Involvement in ASHP
Dr. Villasis is currently serving as a member with the ASHP Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners Section Advisory Group (SAG) for Medication Management Services.

Why did you become involved in ASHP?
Dr. Villasis joined ASHP in 2017 once deciding residency was the next step in her career.

Advice for Someone New to Specialty Area
It is important to stay up to date with guidelines, policies and recommendations from organizations related to transplant. Finding a mentor and networking in the field is important to active in serving our patient population. Continue to serve the community and the field of non-traditional pharmacy by volunteering for tabling events, attending conferences and speaking on panels.

How would you explain the value of ASHP to a friend or colleague?
ASHP has helped me personally with networking opportunities and when attending meetings; running into past preceptors and mentors to continue that connection and finding new opportunities to grow along side them.

What is the value of ASHP for the profession?
ASHP allows for pharmacists of all levels of training to gain knowledge, grow in leadership and member roles to advocate for the field of pharmacy.