New Mexico Society of Health-System Pharmacists

Chris completed a PGY1 residency at Mission-St. Joseph’s Health   System in Asheville, NC and went on to become the first PGY2 resident   specializing in Ambulatory Care / Primary Care at New Hanover Regional   Medical Center in Wilmington, NC.  In 1999, he was joined by 3 other   junior faculty members in establishing the Dallas-Ft. Worth externship   rotation site as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice for Texas   Tech University, while also practicing in ambulatory care at the Baylor   Senior Health Centers in Dallas.  His love for the Southwest brought him   back to Albuquerque in 2001, where he worked as a Pharmacist Clinician   for Lovelace Health Systems and briefly as a Clinical Education Manager   for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. McFarland is currently a Pharmacist Clinician in the Internal   Medicine Resident clinics at UNM hospital and serves as a preceptor and   Clinical Assistant Professor for the UNM College of Pharmacy.  His   practice interests and areas of focus include cardiovascular disease and   diabetes.

President-Elect: Gretchen Ray, Pharm.D., PhC, BCPS
Gretchen received her PharmD from the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy and completed a pharmacy practice residency from the University of New Mexico Hospitals followed by a specialty residency in cardiovascular pharmacotherapy. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the UNM College of Pharmacy. Along with her teaching duties at the College of Pharmacy, she is also involved in the UNMH residency committee. She practices as a pharmacist clinician at the UNM Family Medicine Center and the UNM Northeast Heights Family Medicine Clinic where she has developed two diabetes and cardiovascular risk reduction clinics. These clinics serve as teaching sites for both 4th year Pharm.D. students as well as UNMH residents.

Secretary: Debby Caraballo, Pharm.D. PhC, BCPS. Debby Caraballo obtained her Pharm.D. in 2006 from Purdue University, Indiana and completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency in 2007 at the VA in Albuquerque, NM.  She is Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and an inpatient pharmacist clinician for the internal medicine and cardiology groups. She currently practices at Lovelace Medical Center as a clinical pharmacist dedicated to the telemetry unit where she is responsible for conducting multi-disciplinary rounds to ensure adherence to evidence-based recommended pharmacotherapy and TJC core measures. She developed an education program for patients to provide information on CHF, ACS, Afib, anticoagulants and smoking cessation. She developed a monthly education program for nursing staff focused on cardiovascular pharmacotherapy.   She precepts UNM College of Pharmacy students and is involved in research on anticoagulant therapy monitoring and safety.  She focuses on cardiology and quality improvement and has been actively involved in developing quality improvement initiatives with the cardiology department, including clinical pathways for ACS, acute CHF and atrial fibrillation; major bleeds review program; anticoagulation protocols for special populations; door-to-balloon, and cath-lab process improvement projects.

Treasurer: Nathan Varley, Pharm.D., R.Ph. – Albuquerque.
Nathan Varley received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of New Mexico, College of Pharmacy in 2002.

Nathan began his pharmacy career as a staff pharmacist for the Lovelace Carlisle Clinic Pharmacy. He later was promoted to pharmacy manager and served as consultant pharmacist to the clinic.

In 2006, with the introduction of Medicare Part D, Nathan transferred to the Lovelace Health Plan where he is currently employed as a clinical pharmacist. He was tasked with starting the Lovelace Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Program.  Nathan’s interdisciplinary approach to MTM gives patients with multiple disease states and multiple medications access to disease management and case management; while optimizing medication therapy through a comprehensive review of all medications, including prescription, herbal, vitamins and over-the-counter. He also counsels MTM enrolled seniors on drug cost reduction and the risk-benefit use of medications. In addition, Nathan has administrative and formulary management responsibilities related to the Health Plan’s Medicare Part D business, which insures close to 29,000 New Mexico seniors. He further assists the health plan’s clinical pharmacy team and health plan pharmacy director in the development of drug coverage criteria and new drug coverage determinations.  Nathan actively serves the Lovelace Health Plan in other clinical and administrative roles as a member of the Medicare Operations Committee, Medical Directors Committee, Fraud and Abuse Committee, Pharmaceutics and Therapeutics Committee, Technology Assessment Committee, Strategic Plan Committee, and the HealthCare Reform Project Management Team.

In addition, Nathan enjoys his position as Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy, where he precepts pharmacy students in the fields of Managed Care Pharmacy, Medicare Part D, and Medication Therapy Management.

Central Region Representative: John Scott, Pharm.D.
John Scott holds baccalaureate degrees in biology (UTEP, 1969) and pharmacy (UNM, 1977).  He received the Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2002 from Creighton University.  John completed 2 years of post-doctoral studies in drug information and health policy development at the Texas Tech School of Pharmacy in 2004.  John currently works for the Lovelace Health Plan in the area of drug utilization evaluation.  He has experience in managed care pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, and retail pharmacy.  He has a current appointment with the UNM College of Pharmacy and has had appointments with the Texas Tech School of Nursing and School of Pharmacy.  He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Society of Health System Pharmacists from 1994-1996 and was actively engaged in the Texas Pharmacy Act Sunset Review at that time.  He has served as President and Immediate Past President of NMSHP.  He is currently a member of NMSHP, TSHP, and ASHP.

Northeast Region Representative: Robert Motha, R.Ph.
Robert Motha, RPh, is a Staff Pharmacist, practicing at Holy Cross Hospital in Taos. As a member of the Pharmacy Department, he is working with a group of strong clinicians providing pharmaceutical excellence for all patients in a setting that offers professional collaboration among all caregivers. Prior to moving to Taos, he served as the Director of Pharmacy Services for the Southcoast Hospitals Group in Massachusetts which is comprised of three community hospitals and affiliated outpatient medical and surgical centers. He received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Northeastern University in Boston and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts.

Northwest Region Representative: Scott Conklin, Pharm.D., R.Ph.
Scott Conklin is a clinical pharmacist at San Juan Regional Medical Center (SJRMC) in Farmington. He started at SJRMC as an intern in 2005. Scott graduated from UNM COP in 2008 and began staffing at SJRMC soon thereafter. In January 2011 he initiated the first clinical pharmacy position at the facility. Scott is also the lead pharmacist involved in the implementation of the SJRMC computerized provider order entry. He enjoys precepting pharmacy externs, and is a volunteer assistant professor at UNM COP.

Southeast Region Representative: Claude Powell, R.Ph. – Carlsbad

Claude Powell, R.Ph. Claude has over 30 years of pharmacy experience and management in inpatient, outpatient, LTC and home infusion care. Specialty areas he has been involved with include inpatient decentralized services, contract development, medicare/medicaid compliance, the joint commission and other regulatory agencies; policy and procedure development, government audits, sterile products, billing, automation, and leadership development. He has worked closely with providers to help provide the best possible pharmaceutical care for their patients, having focused on such areas as epilepsy, diabetes, HIV, chemotherapy, and pediatrics.  He is an active preceptor. Clause is serving his 4th year as se representative.

His involvement with NMSHP has focused on education and technician issues. He served as a technician for 5 years prior earning his pharmacy degree. He is a member of the new mexico board of pharmacy committee that is rewriting the technician standards, and is a strong believer in technician empowerment. Claude moved to Carlsbad 12 years ago to start a clinical program from scratch.

He has been named employee of the year here as well as clinical manager of the year while at Carlsbad Medical Center.

Technician Representative: Bridget Knowlton, CPhT – Albuquerque

NMPhA Representative: Michel Disco, R.Ph., MBA – Albuquerque.
Michel Disco received her B.S. in Pharmacy in 1973 and MBA in 1983 at the University of New Mexico. Michel spent 31 years in community pharmacy before she joined the UNM College of Pharmacy as the Assistant Dean for External Programs in 2002. Michel’s passion for advancing the profession is expressed by her actions: teaching and encouraging pharmacists to prescribe and administer vaccines.  Most of Michel’s career was spent in New Mexico, with five years of practice in Alaska. She has been on the Board of NMSHP for 14 years. She is an active member of NMPhA, APhA, NCPA and AACP.