St. Louis College of Pharmacy Alumna Earns National Award

Contact: Bryan C. Daniels
Director, Public Relations
(314) 691-3130 – Cell
e-mail: bdaniels@stlcop.edu

St. Louis College of Pharmacy Alumna Amy DeWein Earns National
Award for Improving the Quality of Life and Care for Senior Citizens

ST. LOUIS (June 20, 2011) – Shortly after graduating from St. Louis College of Pharmacy in 1989 and during the early part of her career, Amy DeWein set a path to do things differently; her goal was to practice pharmacy in an untraditional way. She was determined to be effective, making a difference in the lives of patients.

“Coming from a background of community pharmacy, I immediately recognized the impact of working one-on-one with patients – helping them manage their health,” DeWein said. “In the late 1980s, this was a new way of practice. My interest became making that model sustainable for pharmacy. I’ve been on that mission since I left St. Louis College of Pharmacy.”

In recognition for her contributions to geriatrics in pharmacy and dedication to improving the quality of life and care for seniors, DeWein, who also is an adjunct professor of pharmacy practice and preceptor at STLCOP, has received the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists’ (ASCP) 2011 Armon Neel Senior Care Pharmacist Award.

Today, DeWein is a well respected advocate for the profession and founder of the Senior RxAccess Program, a community-based medication therapy management program in St. Louis that serves older adults who are homebound and in community and independent-living settings. For the past 10 years, DeWein’s care-based model has earned national attention for its comprehensive approach to geriatric chronic care management and its ability to improve medication use by seniors.

DeWein said the award is gratifying and serves as motivation to further stress the importance of pharmacist-directed medication management and need to work one-on-one with patients.

“I’m passionate and motivated about what I do because I know that I’m improving someone’s health exponentially – beyond dollars,” she said. “I truly believe that once pharmacists establish a consistent standard of care – by working with patients one-on-one – we will be able to have the tipping point necessary to be integrated as a required member of the health care team. As pharmacists, we need to commit to a philosophy of having a true practice – as modeled by other health disciplines – where we are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to modify medication therapy so patients have improved medication use.”

In addition to working in community settings, DeWein has experience in hospital, informatics, and health care service program design and has integrated her experiences to advise pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), software vendors, and care management initiatives through pharmacist-directed patient care interventions. DeWein earned a bachelor’s degree pharmacy from STLCOP, master’s degree in health care services from Washington University, and Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree from the Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy at Shenandoah University. She’s a board member of the Missouri Pharmacy Association (MPA) and holds leadership positions with the national and state chapters of ASCP.

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