Chelsea Maier

Biographical Information
Chelsea Maier obtained her Doctor of Pharmacy from Sullivan University and completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Residency training at the Robley Rex Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Louisville, KY. She has served in the Specialty Pharmacy at UofL Health as a staffing pharmacist, clinical pharmacist and manager since its opening in 2017. She became a Certified Specialty Pharmacist in 2020 and Apexus Advanced 340b Expert in 2023.

Current employment, practice, and academic responsibilities:
UofL Health is a fully integrated regional academic health system with more than 12,000 team members, seven hospitals, four medical centers, 200+ physician practice locations, 1,000+ providers, Frazier Rehab Institute, Brown Cancer Center and the Eye Institute. The health system operates three retail pharmacies and one dually accredited specialty pharmacy. In her current role, Chelsea is responsible for maintaining URAC and ACHC accreditations, enhancing the specialty pharmacy’s role through identification and initiation of new ways to support the health system, serving as chair of our Quality Management Program, overseeing all ambulatory pharmacist practices, and serving as a preceptor students and residents.

Significant projects and accomplishments:
After identifying a gap in specialty pharmacy content in pharmacy students' didactic education, Chelsea initiated an elective in Specialty Pharmacy and has co-coordinated the elective since 2021. This elective provides second year pharmacy students with insight into the roles, operations, and clinical aspects of specialty pharmacy to encourage consideration of specialty pharmacy as a career path. Additionally, she has assisted in the development of a Community Based PGY1 Program with a concentration in Specialty Pharmacy learning experiences.

Promotion of Health System Pharmacy Practice
Chelsea has developed Administration learning experiences specific to outpatient operations for APPE students, PGY1 and PGY2 residents. Administration learning experiences are not widely available for students and, when offered to residents, typically focus on inpatient operations in health systems. The intent of an outpatient administration learning experience is to expose all types of learners to the opportunities and challenges involved in serving in outpatient administrative role. The learning experience focuses on relationship building, communication strategies, new service development, quality improvement and compliance. For those not interested in a career path in management, the purpose of this rotation is to help them gain an appreciation for operations and learn how to find their role on any team to serve as an "unofficial" leader, as many pharmacists do.

Professional Engagement & SSPP
Chelsea Maier has been a member of ASHP since 2013. She has been a member of the Section of Specialty Pharmacy Practitioners (SSPP) Section Advisory Group (SAG) on Accreditation and Compliance since 2021, served as Vice Chair from 2022-2023 and will be serving as Chair from 2023-2024. She found her "organizational home" among the Section of Specialty Pharmacy Practitioners and has been honored to make so many meaningful and helpful connections through this group.

Please describe ASHP’s value as a professional organization in contributing to the education of the pharmacy workforce? What do you think are some key success, resources, and opportunities? Please describe in at least 3-5 sentences
ASHP's value as a professional organization for development of the pharmacy workforce lies in the inclusivity of the organization. ASHP provides opportunities for pharmacists, learners, and technicians at all levels of their career to serve as an active member, leader, or speaker. Also, the variety of platforms for sharing ideas and education allows members to receive knowledge through whichever platform is most convenient to them truly meeting them where they are at.

Professional Advice
Share your ideas! It is easy to feel like you don't have much to contribute during networking sessions or committee meetings early in your career but your new perspective could be the answer to a long time concern of one of your colleagues. By speaking up and sharing your solutions and ideas you will invite others to collaborate towards new opportunities and improve your own practice along the way.