Q&A with APhA2017 Keynote Speaker Leana Wen, MD (APhA)

Thursday Mar 30th, 2017

Leana Wen, MD, MSc, believes pharmacists and all health care providers can impact individual patient care. During the Second General Session at the 2017 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Francisco, Wen, who is currently Baltimore City Health Commissioner, will talk about the importance of the patient’s story. She’ll share lessons about approaching patients in a more holistic way to provide the best care possible.

In addition to her current role in Baltimore, Wen is also a Rhodes Scholar, TED speaker, and author of the book When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests. Wen spoke with pharmacist.com in the lead-up to her keynote, which will take place on Sunday, March 26, about her experience working with pharmacists and what she hopes the audience will take away from her address.

Read the entire interview. 

Related Stories

Lead poisoning cases fell 19 percent in Baltimore last year, even as more children tested for exposure (Baltimore Sun)

The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin.

Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday.

Read the entire story.

Azar Unveils Plan to Help Pregnant Patients Quit Opioids (MedPage Today)

States will get help from the federal government integrating services for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid patients with opioid use disorder under a pilot program announced Tuesday by Health and Hu

Trump declared an emergency over opioids. A new report finds it led to very little. (Vox)

To much fanfare last year, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to declare a public health emergency over the opioid epidemic. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue,” Trump said at the time. “It is time to liberate our communities from this scourge of drug addiction.”

When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

Read the entire story.

Visit the Newsroom