Leading the Future of Specialty Pharmacy

By Kara Sweet

Specialty pharmacy is a field on the rise. Its focus on providing medication management and continuous patient interaction makes it an essential health care component for those with complex diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and HIV/AIDS.

Nicholas Cashman.

Nicholas Cashman

The growth of the field is what sparked the interest of Nicholas Cashman, PharmD/MBA ’22. “I started looking into the intricacies of how specialty pharmacies provide care to their patients and the relationships they have with different stakeholders in the patient care supply chain,” he says. “It’s a really unique dynamic.”

Together with fellow students Lydia Deinhart, PharmD/MBA ’22, and Andrey Polukhin, PharmD/MBA ’22, Cashman founded the Student Association of Specialty Pharmacy (SASP) chapter at UB in 2018. Their goal was to promote student engagement through education, professional development, and networking with members and affiliated partners of the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP).

A Nationwide Model

UB’s pioneering efforts were recognized at the NASP 2019 Annual Meeting & Expo, where the UB chapter was featured as a model to inspire creation of additional student chapters.

The conference inspired Cashman.

He approached NASP’s president and CEO, Sheila Arquette, BS ’89, with a proposal to form a committee that would act as a liaison between NASP and officers of all individual SASP student chapters.

Cashman’s novel ideas included informational starter kits for each new student chapter, distribution and review of a student chapter report card at the end of each academic year, and biannual student leader meetings.

UB SASP Members, 2019 NASP Annual Meeting & Expo.

UB SASP Members, 2019 NASP Annual Meeting & Expo

“The NASP Executive Committee was so impressed, they approved Nick’s proposal and invited him to serve as the first student president,” Arquette says.

Cashman is the 2020-21 NASP-SASP National Executive Committee (NEC) student president. His goal is to continue to spread awareness across the country through the establishment of new SASP chapters.

“UB acted as a catalyst for many of the successes that the local chapter has achieved,” Cashman says. “The other SASP chapters across the country are capitalizing on the framework we built.”

 

Growing Student Leadership

Harriet DeSouze.

Harriet de Souza

Harriet de Souza, PharmD/MS ’22, was one of the students who saw the newly formed SASP as a perfect match with her professional goals. “I want to pursue a career in research and development of the very same drugs dispensed at specialty pharmacies,” she says. “SASP was a fantastic opportunity to network and learn about this field from a patient-centered viewpoint.”

She quickly climbed the ranks. As a P1, she was the UB SASP liaison. By her second year, she was secretary and chair of social media and marketing. Currently, she serves as vice president for the UB chapter and, in 2020, was elected director of social media and marketing for the SASP-NASP National Executive Committee.

In her national role, she manages a LinkedIn group, distributes a newsletter each semester and helps student chapters set up their social media accounts. “In a world where we rely so heavily on computer-based communication, I want to keep SASP a community rather than a collection of chapters separated by distance,” she says.

From Connections to Career Possibilities

As a PharmD/MBA student, Cashman is aiming for a management position in the specialty pharmacy field. His leadership roles at UB and NASP will help make that dream a reality.

“I've been fortunate to make a lot of connections across the U.S. during my time as student president of the NASP-SASP National Executive Committee,” he says. “I’m confident that I can leverage my skills and experiences as a student into a professional role.”

SASP has also turned possibilities into realities for de Souza.

“I am so very grateful that UB was the institution I chose to attend,” she says. “I have made countless connections and I’ve been given the unique opportunity to pursue two of my dreams: working with patients in a clinical setting, and developing the skills necessary to keep searching for better ways of treating their diseases.”