PBN 2021 Leaders & Achievers Awards
Leslie Pires | Director of specialty pharmacy and 340B, Care New England Health System
Leslie Pires had a conversation with a guidance counselor that changed her life. After deciding to apply to college and be a biology major, her high school guidance counselor encouraged her to do a joint application in pharmacy. She now works as the director of specialty pharmacy and 340B for Care New England Health System in Providence.
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Specialty pharmacy is a new area of pharmacy that focuses on getting patients the medications that they may need for illnesses such as cancer or rheumatoid arthritis that are typically mail ordered and not available through a patient’s local pharmacy.
Pires coordinates working with doctors and insurance companies, facilitating one-on-one meetings and advising for patients to make sure they are responding to medications, navigating side effects and getting answers to their questions.
“We’re trying to make it less miserable,” Pires said. “Let’s help the patient get through it. We can make the process easier.”
Pires also tackles the burden of the financial obligation for patients who utilize the pharmacy. Any profits the program earns go back into helping to coordinate care. Be it finding rides to chemotherapy, coordinating pet sitting so a patient may receive overnight treatments, or looking for cost-reduction strategies through federal grant programs, Pires and the 340B program are there for patients.
“[Patients] need to focus on getting better and getting well [and] the mental adjustments to the disease, and if I can remove that burden from them, that means something to me,” Pires said.
Pires, who holds a Doctor of Pharmacy and a master’s degree in pharmacology, says she runs her department and all facets of her life with caring in mind.
“Caring is why I do what I do,” said Pires, who also assists the homeless by volunteering through the Mathewson Street Church in Providence.
