ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Pharmacy industry veteran Kathleen Jaeger has been named senior vice president of pharmacy care and patient advocacy, a newly created position, at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.
NACDS said Monday that Jaeger, former chief executive officer of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) also will serve as president of the NACDS Foundation. In that role, she fills the vacancy created when Edith Rosato left to become CEO of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.
Plans call for Jaeger to start in those posts at NACDS on Nov. 28. She will report to Steve Anderson, president and CEO of NACDS.
"With 24 years of experience and leadership as a trade association CEO, pharmacist, attorney and advocate, Kathleen Jaeger will serve as a clear and compelling voice for the value of community pharmacy and for the needs of patients in this new and expanded role at NACDS," Anderson said in a statement.
As senior vice president of pharmacy care and patient advocacy, Jaeger will serve as a "highly visible spokesperson" for pharmacy patient care before key constituencies and target audiences, including in the media and at public and health care events, according to NACDS.
"Every day, countless patient care success stories play out in pharmacies in neighborhoods across America," Jaeger stated. "I look forward to helping to tell this story to advance patient care, and I look forward to doing so with the insights and true passion that flow from being a pharmacist and the daughter of a pharmacist. It is a distinct honor to represent community pharmacy and the value that it delivers to patients and to the broader health care system."
Also as part of her role at NACDS, Jaeger will direct the staff of the newly renamed Pharmacy Care and Patient Advocacy Department, NACDS said. The department advances pharmacy information and research, conducts outreach with NACDS members and with external constituencies including colleges and schools of pharmacy, and provides pharmacy insights and expertise that contribute to the association’s public policy advocacy and communications efforts.
"NACDS’ absolute commitment to telling the story of community pharmacies as the face of neighborhood health care has brought us to the point that pharmacy no longer is talking only to itself," Anderson explained. "We are raising awareness of the value of pharmacy among consumers and patients, among elected officials and policymakers, among the media and among all health care partners and stakeholders. Now it is time to take this work to the next level of success."
Previously, Jaeger has served as executive vice president and CEO of NCPA and as president and CEO of GPhA. She resigned as NCPA chief executive this past April after just months in the post in order to "to pursue other opportunities," NCPA said at the time. At GPhA, Jaeger resigned as CEO in June 2010 but remained an adviser to the generic drug trade group through the end of that year.
Jaeger also has been a partner in the food and drug practices of national law firms Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP and McKenna & Cuneo LLP, and she has served as a hospital pharmacist at the National Institute of Health, according to NACDS.
