Virginia Commonwealth University Welcomes Anna Legreid Dopp, Pharm.D.
as Second Pharmacy Healthcare Policy Fellow
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) is please to welcome Anna Legreid Dopp, Pharm.D. as the second participant in the Pharmacy Healthcare Policy Fellow Program. The collaborative program was established in 2006 in recognition of the need to foster enhanced experience and training for clinical pharmacists in health care and public policy evaluation and development. Promoting the development and incorporation of qualified, passionate medication use experts in public policy positions will assist pharmacy as a discipline in having a greater impact on policy related to medication use and the role of pharmacists in patient care.
The program is designed to be sufficiently flexible to allow Fellows the opportunity to seek placement in issue areas of particular interest. The core goal is to give Fellows experience working with Washington, DC-based pharmacy organizations in the government affairs offices of ACCP and ASHP, followed by placement in a Congressional office, a federal government agency or both.
The clinical pharmacy community will be well served by Dr. Dopp’s decision to participate in the Fellow program. Her educational and professional background makes her an excellent fit for this position and a valuable asset for any Congressional office or government agency. Dr. Dopp earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2002 from the University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy before joining Medtronic as a Research Scientist in the Electrochemical and Physical Chemical Imaging Lab. In 2003 she moved to the Clinical Research Department where she served as a Principal Training and Education Specialist and manager of the Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management business unit. In May of 2005 she joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, School of Pharmacy as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Extension Services in Pharmacy Division and as a Clinical Pharmacist in the University of Wisconsin Heart Failure and Transplant Clinic where her primary responsibilities included the development and delivery of continuing professional education programs for pharmacists, healthcare practitioners and pharmaceutical industry employees. In addition to her academic responsibilities she served as a consultant to Medtronic’s Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management Core Clinical and Outcomes group and as a community pharmacist for Walgreens.
Dr. Dopp noted that decision makers in Washington, DC, and states across the country regularly set policies that affect the lives of patients and health care providers without in some cases fully understanding the significance of these decisions. “Pharmacists are well aware that by working collaboratively with a patient and his or her physician, we can usually improve health outcomes. I hope that by working in a similar manner with decision makers in Congress I can help improve policy outcomes,” remarked Dr. Dopp.