Speakers

One of the founders of the medDispense product in 1998, Andy is still passionate about providing affordable medication dispensing machines to hospitals 20 years later. He currently serves as the Sales Manager for our Medication Management product line and leads sales teams in North/South America, Asia, and Australia.

Daryl currently oversees clinical and operational activities as the Director of Pharmacy at Montefiore Nyack Hospital where medication safety is the top priority. He helped establish a clinical practice model that integrates pharmacists into multidisciplinary care teams, an enhanced clinical specialist service with a postgraduate residency training program, safer sterile compounding procedures, and improved medication dispensing and monitoring.

Since coming to Montefiore Nyack, we have added almost 10 positions to the Department, increased the number of board-certified pharmacists 4-fold, increased 340B revenue 8-fold, and implemented various targeted medication quality and performance improvement initiatives.

Prior to joining the Pharmacy Team at Montefiore Nyack, he was the Assistant Director for Clinical Pharmacy Services and Pharmacy Residency Director at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ where he was also the clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases and burn trauma.

He has held leadership positions with numerous professional and community organizations, has been a question writer for the Board of Pharmacy Specialists Certification exam, has nearly 50 publications or presentations in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, and was the recipient of the NJ Pharmacist of the Year Leadership Award.

Katherine DeSanctis, PharmD, MS is the Director of Pharmacy Operations at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. DeSanctis is responsible for safe and efficient pharmacy operations for inpatient care areas, procedural areas, and clinics across the main campus. She provides leadership and oversight of the large team working in the central distribution, compounding, and perioperative pharmacies.

Prior to her time at Mass General, Dr. DeSanctis completed her PGY-1 and PGY-2 Health System Pharmacy Administration residency training at UW Health. She also concurrently earned her MS in Health System Pharmacy Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy. Dr. DeSanctis earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago College of Pharmacy.

Dr. DeSanctis’ practice interests include pharmacy automation and technology, medication safety, pharmacist and technician advancement, and leadership development. She is an active member of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, the Massachusetts Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and the Vizient Pharmacy Council.

Doug Zurawski currently serves as Senior Vice President, Strategic Accounts at Bluesight, the leader in automated and intelligent medication management solutions. His goal is to dramatically improve the efficiency and safety of handling and tracking medications in hospitals. Zurawski spent the first 10 years of his career on the provider-side of healthcare serving in various health-system pharmacy leadership positions in Iowa and Michigan. The second 10 years of his career were spent in sales and marketing, sales management, and product development on the healthcare pharmacy technology division of McKesson and for technology start-up ForHealth Technologies, the world’s first provider of robotic automation for the compounding of IV admixtures in hospitals. In addition, Dr. Zurawski has experience as an independent consultant to hospitals and health systems in a variety of capacities, including IT, bedside point-of-care scanning, computerized physician order entry, and pharmacy operations. He holds a Pharm.D. and serves as an educator and adjunct faculty member at the University of Michigan and University of Maryland Eastern Shore Colleges of Pharmacy.

Fred Pane is Director Pharmacy Services, Capstone Health Alliance, where he is developing new contracting models and working with Capstone Health Alliance members to address todays evolving healthcare ecosystem and challenges, while delivering clinical and financial value to Capstone members and their patients.  Fred has a diverse background including creating an Enterprise Pharmacy Operations at an IDN in Pennsylvania, which was recognized as a Most Wired Hospital, as the Administrator of Pharmacy Services, while implementing robotics, BCMA, CPOE in the mid/late 1990’s.  He coordinated Pharmacy Formulary and Protocol Development for an 11 Hospital IDN/ACO, with 3000 beds, called PennCARE with 100K at risk lives and Chaired P and T Committee for the Health-system, building an evidence-based formulary tied into quality metrics and measuring 30-day readmissions.  

His experience includes, Sr. VP Business Development, Comprehensive Pharmacy Services; VP, Pharmacy Services and VP, Supply Chain for Coordinated Health, Allentown, Pa; PhRMA industry as Sr. Director, National Accounts/Health Care Systems/Pharmacy Solutions, The Medicines Company.  Prior to The Medicines Company, Sr. Director, Pharmacy Affairs at the GPO, Premier Inc.   

Fred received his BS Pharmacy from St. John’s University, School of Pharmacy, attended Leadership Programs in Pharmacy and Health Care, Univ. of Pa. Wharton School, and Thunderbird/Mid-Western University.  He is a Fellow of The American Society of Health-system Pharmacy (FASHP) and completed an 18-month Fellowship, Healthcare Leadership, with The Advisory Board Company (FABC) with a focus on understanding the current and future healthcare ecosystem, along with leadership.

He provides input to American Society of Health-systems Pharmacy (ASHP) addressing issues that are impacting the profession of Health System Pharmacy, the Healthcare Ecosystem, and with The Advisory Board Company on Healthcare, Industry, Supply Chain, and Pharmacy issues.   He has presented at numerous professional meetings and has numerous publications including, the first article on “White Bagging” and “Value Based Contracting”.  He recently worked with several physicians, developing new Healthcare Economic Models for Devices, Drugs, and Diagnostics, providing input on creating a Clinically Integrated Supply Chain.

Heimo Hrovat earned a Master’s Degree of Pharmacy from University of Vienna, as well as a Master’s Degree of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is leading a 216-year-old retail pharmacy in Austria. Furthermore, he is the managing owner of H+H SYSTEM, located in the USA and Europe by operating in more than 60 countries. His passion is to improve hospital and retail pharmacy workflows to save space, time, and lives. After spending several years in various pharmacies, getting medical distribution experience in international drug wholesaling, managing the storage and organization family business, he has invented a new workspace that supports the exchange tray replenishment process making it perfectly compatible with RFID.

Jennifer is a Director of Clinical Strategy at Bluesight. She is a passionate pharmacy leader with 10+ years of experience creating pharmacy service lines. Most recently Jennifer served as the Clinical Coordinator for Loyola University Medicine – MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, IL with a primary practice area in Emergency Medicine. As a coordinator, one of her many responsibilities included reviewing and trending hospital-wide medication safety errors and collaboratively working with other departments to create systems to prevent medication errors. She believes that information technology solutions are crucial to reducing medication errors and keeping our patients safe. She has received her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Illinois, her PharmD from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Masters of Science degree in Pharmacy focusing on Toxicology from the University of Florida. She has completed a postgraduate year one residency at the University of California at San Francisco and is a Board-Certified Clinical Pharmacy Specialist

Kevin MacDonald has worked with Internet of Things (IoT), RFID and cloud software technologies for more than 15 years and has been recognized for numerous industry awards including being named Top 50 in Digital Health by Rock Health and as a finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the DC region in 2015. He is also named as an inventor on six patents related to IoT usage in healthcare.

Kevin co-founded Bluesight (formerly Kit Check) in 2011 as its CEO and bootstrapped the company through its first 16 hospital customers. Along with his co-founder, Kevin subsequently raised $22 million in venture funding and led the company’s rapid growth to over 250 hospitals that have automated tracking and management for more than 11 million medications. Bluesight represents the fastest known growth rate for pharmacy technology adoption and has been recognized as a UHC Start-up Challenge Finalist, a Health IT Start-up to Watch by Becker’s, a Technology Breakthrough Product by Premier, and the Hottest Start-up in Washington, DC. Kevin is seen as an innovator for bringing both IoT and cloud technologies to the hospital pharmacy for the first time.

Prior to Bluesight, Kevin served in executive and technical roles at Sun Microsystems and ODIN Technologies working with companies ranging from Smith; Nephew and Johnson & Johnson to Pfizer, BMS, Fidelity and Airbus. Kevin is an accomplished Karaoke singer and a graduate of 2016 NCAA Basketball Champion Villanova University where he earned a degree in computer science.

Leslie is a proud multi-hyphenate with a passion for fostering meaningful connections and crafting engaging experiences. As the Community Manager at Bluesight, Leslie is dedicated to cultivating spaces where customers can collaborate, share ideas, and exchange knowledge with the team. Leslie holds a B.S. in Finance and an M.S. in Nonprofit Management and Leadership, bringing a unique perspective to the business of belonging.

Lori works with generic drug companies and 503B compounders to bring more RFID-enabled products to market, increasing the availability of pre-tagged drugs for our customers. Lori is also responsible for selling DoseData, helping Bluesight’s pharmaceutical partners make data-backed strategic business decisions. Prior to joining Bluesight, Lori worked in the healthcare startup space and spent a decade at The Advisory Board Company. Lori earned her MPH from Tulane University in New Orleans and holds a BA in Women’s Studies from UMass Amherst.

Mike is the Product Manager for KitCheck and is focused on making medication intelligence a reality for the hospital pharmacy. Before joining Bluesight, Mike worked in product management at Cambridge Associates, a leading investment management firm. Mike earned his B.A. from the University of Richmond and has spent time living abroad in England and Ecuador.

Nick helps generic drug companies, 503B syringe compounders, and tech companies in the pharmaceutical industry ready their products and equipment for the next generation of medication tracking. He spends his days making sure the drugs Bluesights’s customers need are available in a pre-tagged format, and that manufacturers can better understand how their products are used so that the future of hospital pharmacy is better than the present. Prior to his position in corporate development, Nick ran the Customer Success organization for Bluesight. Before Bluesight, he was a project and product manager at Epic Systems, specializing in specialist practices, anesthesia, and surgery management systems.

AJ is currently the Sr. Product Manager for CostCheck at Bluesight. He completed his undergraduate studies and Pharmacy school at the University of Pittsburgh, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree. He has over 10 years of hospital pharmacy experience, most recently serving as the Manager of Pharmacy Operations for UPMC St. Margaret Hospital in Pittsburgh where he championed many process improvement projects including implementing a controlled substance diversion monitoring program in conjunction with nursing leadership. AJ was active in Health System Pharmacy Operations planning and initiatives including policy review and development, chairing the UPMC Pharmacy Operations Finance committee, and serving on the Health System Pharmacy Operations Construction and Diversion committees. AJ has extensive experience in all aspects of health system pharmacy operations, controlled substance management, coordinating diversion investigations, peri-operative pharmacy services, and pharmacy automation.

Arash Dabestani is currently the Dean and Professor at Long Island University College of Pharmacy. He was the Senior Director of Pharmacy at NYU Langone Health for eight years prior to joining academia, and previously served as associate director of pharmacy at Stanford University Hospital and Clinics. Prior to becoming a pharmacy administrator, he maintained an active clinical practice in hospital pharmacy and specialty pediatric home health care. Arash received his PharmD from Campbell University and his Master in Health Administration from the University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Arash has over 25 years of experience as a health system pharmacy executive (Sentara, NYU, and Stanford University), as well as a practicing pharmacist in community, hospital, home infusion, and specialty pharmacy.

He is considered a global subject matter expert in pharmacy technology, inventory automation, supply-chain, medication safety, and quality control. In 2007, Arash became a Senior Leadership Fellow of the Advisory Board in Washington DC after completing a two-year fellowship for high-performing emerging executives. That year, he also was named Virginia Society of Health-System Pharmacists pharmacist of the year. Arash has formed and facilitated multiple pharmacy leadership forums in Washington DC, New York, and the San Francisco Bay area. In 2023, he was invited to the White House to discuss the topic of medication quality. He currently lectures at NYU School of Dentistry and has previously lectured at the UCSF, Virginia Commonwealth, and Long Island University Schools of Pharmacy. Arash has served multiple terms on the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Practice Manager’s Leadership Development Section and was named a Fellow of ASHP in 2011.

Bill Wood (RPh) is Visante’s expert on the 340B Drug Purchasing Program. He also has experience with operating home infusion and tele-pharmacy programs.

Formerly, Bill was Director of Infusion Services, Outreach Services, Tele-pharmacy Services, 340B Programs, and Government Relations for the Department of Pharmacy Services at the University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics in Salt Lake City.

There, he developed several innovative programs based on Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act limitation on the prices of drugs for qualifying covered entities. He was also responsible for establishing a hemophilia disease management program with Utah Medicaid. He initiated and oversaw a remotely operated tele-pharmacy program at a Federally Qualified Community Health Center under an Alternative Methods Demonstration Project with the HRSA Office of Pharmacy Affairs.

While at the University of Utah he was an Adjunct Instructor and a Clinical Instructor at the College of Pharmacy. He represented the University of Utah at numerous legislative meetings in Washington.

Over the years, Bill has been invited to present his work and publish his findings. The topics focus on his career interests: optimizing the benefits of full participation with the 340B program, successful hemophilia disease management, partnering with Medicaid for improved disease management, developing Tele-pharmacy, and advances in home infusion therapy.

He is a member of ASHP and has served on the Government Relations Committee of Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access. In 2004 he received the Utah Society of Health System Pharmacists Pharmaceutical Care Award. In 2011 he was appointed to the Board of Directors for Aspirus Ontonagon Hospital, a licensed 25-bed Critical Access Hospital that also includes a 46-bed skilled nursing unit and rehabilitation center.

Bill Wood is a graduate of the University Of Illinois College Of Pharmacy where he earned the Herbert Emig Award for Excellence in Clinical Pharmacy.

David Light, Chief Executive Officer of Valisure, is a biotech entrepreneur and scientist with over 15  years of broad experience in the field. A graduate of  Yale University, David studied molecular biology and has worked in various scientific and business roles at start-ups like Synthetic Genomics, Ion  Torrent, and Valisure. 

At Ion Torrent, David developed core technologies that directly led to the semiconductor DNA sequencing company’s acquisition by Life Technologies and ran its flagship technology programs through development and global commercialization into the #2 sequencing technology in the world. As Founder and CEO of Valisure, an independent laboratory and Partner For Quality that checks and certifies the chemical composition of medications and healthcare products before they reach consumers, David helped fund and invent the core technology and led its entry and impact into the market. David is named inventor on numerous patents, published in journals including Nature and the cover of Electrophoresis, and has been invited to submit testimony at congressional hearings and speak at the U.S. Capitol Building. 

David sits on multiple boards of non-profit organizations, was appointed an Affiliate Professor at Long Island University, has lectured at Yale University for the past decade, and is passionate about entrepreneurship and improving public health. He has been quoted in numerous publications, including Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CBS News, NPR, and Forbes, to name a few. 

David is married with five children and resides in New Haven, Connecticut.

Kenny is the Senior Director of Pharmacy Services at NYU Langone Hospitals system. He provides executive leadership and coordination for all pharmacy services provided within NYU Langone Hospitals to promote standardization and alignment of practices across all pharmacy sites.  

He has helped to coordinate pharmacy initiatives across the enterprise, including working closely with the pharmacy leaders at our five hospital locations, investigational pharmacy, hospital-owned retail pharmacy, hospital-owned specialty pharmacy, standalone ED pharmacy, and multiple infusion center pharmacies. Administratively, he has oversight over 20 pharmacies in the system, pharmacy strategy, and business, the 340B Program, medication safety and quality, regulatory and compliance, clinical services, and pharmacy systems.

Prior to his current role, Kenny served as the inaugural Director of 340B Program starting in 2016.  He managed both compliance and optimization of the 340B Program, where he and his team built the program from the ground.  His role evolved into a dual focus in 2018, engaging in Pharmacy Business and Analytics, as well, where he has supported pharmacy-related contract negotiations, pharmacy projects/initiatives, and pharmacy-driven analyses. 

Prior to assuming his 340B Director’s role, Kenny served as the Assistant Director of Pharmacy, Ambulatory Services, where he had a dual role of managing an infusion center pharmacy and handling all medication management for NYU Langone Hospitals in the ambulatory care setting to promote safety and standardization. Before he stepped into pharmacy leadership, Kenny was an oncology pharmacist at the Perlmutter Cancer Center. 

Kenny received his doctorate of pharmacy from Rutgers University in New Jersey and his master’s in business administration with a concentration in healthcare from George Washington University in Washington, DC. He became a 340B Apexus Certified Expert (ACE) in 2017.

Lauren Forni is the Director of Clinical Solutions for Kit Check, the leader in automated and intelligent medication management solutions. Lauren has 8 years of pharmacy management experience, most recently serving as the Assistant Director of Pharmacy Services at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. She is passionate about modernizing health systems through innovation and technology solutions to empower clinicians and improve patient care. Lauren has expertise in improving strategic, operational, and financial performance within a health system and has extensive knowledge of pharmacy supply chain, pharmacy operations, informatics and information systems, 340B, and drug diversion.

Tim Kress-Spatz is Co-founder of Bluesight (formerly Kit Check) and was named to Rock Health’s Top 50 in Digital Health in 2014. He has been programming since the age of 9 and started his professional career on Wall Street building highly-scalable consumer and enterprise websites and trading systems. He continued his career focusing on the digital needs of the world’s largest consumer brands. Tim led the architecture design and system development for Bluesight’s hospital pharmacy kit processing solution. His experience in consumer technology shapes his focus on bringing friendly software to the hospital pharmacy that is easy to install, easy to use and delivers measurable benefits. Tim is a graduate of Villanova University with a degree in computer science.

TJ Bozada is the Product Manager for Data Products at Bluesight. TJ is responsible for the design and execution of the product strategy and roadmap, as well as planning go-to-market strategies. Previously, TJ worked for a variety of B2B SaaS start-ups, including Insilica, ToxTrack, Optoro, and Veenome. His passion is converting client needs and obstacles into data-driven products and solutions. TJ received dual B.S. degrees in Biomedical Engineer and Applied Math & Statistics from the Johns Hopkins University.