NABP Welcomes Eleni Anagnostiadis, RPh, Patient Safety Senior Manager

March 12, 2004 12:00 AM

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy®'s (NABP®'s) NABP's appointment of Eleni Anagnostiadis, RPh, as the senior manager of the Association's patient safety program signals NABP's commitment to this important initiative. Anagnostiadis brings to NABP more than 15 years of experience in pharmacy practice, association management, and patient safety programs. As the executive director of the National Institute for Standards in Pharmacist Credentialing (NISPC) for the past three years, Anagnostiadis was successful in improving the operations and scope of NISPC, expanding the administration of the Disease State Management (DSM) examination administrations by 40%, and extending the recognition of the Certified Disease Manager credential within pharmacy, disease management, and insurance arenas.

In announcing Anagnostiadis' joining of NABP, Executive Director/Secretary Carmen A. Catizone, MS, RPh, DPh, expressed his enthusiasm for NABP being able to have a significant impact in patient safety issues because of the expertise, experience, and demonstrated ability to achieve successes that Anagnostiadis brings with her, "We are excited that Eleni is joining NABP and will be helping to establish and launch the Executive Committee's patient safety program with the tireless energy, foresight, and proven ability to advance an issue forward that she demonstrated while leading NISPC."

As discussed at NABP's Fall Legislative Conference in September 2003, NABP President Donna S. Wall stated in her closing remarks, "As state board of pharmacy members, we are responsible for the safety of each patient receiving pharmaceutical services within the health care system." Wall went on to explain that to "lead the advocacy for quality health care and patient safety" is one of NABP's strategic goals. Following in Wall's mindset that the protection and safety of the public should be NABP's main concern, the Association has developed the patient safety senior manager position, whose chief responsibility is just that — patient safety.

Anagnostiadis spent 12 years at Giant Food, Inc, in Landover, MD, where she held many positions including assistant pharmaceutical buyer, assistant pharmacy manager, staff pharmacist, and pharmacy intern. In her last position at Giant Food, as manager of Wellness and Professional Services, Anagnostiadis developed and coordinated training of pharmacists for certification in immunizations, cholesterol, and diabetes disease state management; obtained American Pharmacists Association/American Society of Health-System Pharmacists® accreditation for Giant Food's Community Resident Position; taught immunization classes at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy; and implemented an aggressive immunization marketing program, which resulted in an 80% increase of flu vaccinations and a 300% increase of pneumonia vaccinations from 1998 to 1999.

"We [NABP] are very excited to have Eleni join our staff as our patient safety senior manager. . . ." said Wall. "I believe Eleni's experience communicating with other pharmacy organizations and developing various programs geared toward protecting the public health will greatly benefit NABP's patient safety initiative."

Renee Renganathan