Kendall Gross, PharmD, BCPS, DPLA (Kendall.Gross@ucsf.edu) is the Manager of the Pharmacy Informatics and Automation Teams at UCSF Health in San Francisco, CA. She leads an enterprise team of 14 pharmacists and technicians in informatics, automation, and project management.
She received her PharmD from the University of Georgia in 2008 and completed residencies in Pharmacy and Critical Care at the University of Kentucky before joining UCSF in 2010. As a clinician, she focused on leveraging technology to drive high-value care and subsequently established UCSF’s first Informatics Specialist role to build on those successes.
In her current role, she provides strategic informatics leadership, directs system maintenance for pharmacy-owned technologies, and manages shared processes and tools with IT teams. She’s responsible for a broad project portfolio, having completed more than 20 major enterprise implementations over the last five years. She supports organizational governance and system strategy and alignment as the Chair of the Pharmacy Informatics Steering Committee, Co-Chair establishing the IT Medication Management Capability, and statewide as the past Chair of the University of California Automation & Informatics Collaborative. She is also a Volunteer Associate Professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy.
She has held progressive roles in ASHP and SOPIT and is the current Chair of the Section Advisory Group (SAG) on Clinical Decision Support. She has additionally led the Get IT Done workgroup and individual SAG project teams, contributing to ASHP Bytes podcast, blog post, and webinar projects and giving presentations at ASHP Midyear and CSHP Seminar.
We are at a pivotal moment in pharmacy and healthcare. As AI, automation, and care models evolve rapidly, there’s a tremendous opportunity - and responsibility - for us to proactively shape how these tools are used to truly support our people and patients. It’s more important than ever to have Pharmacy at the table, guiding how technology is applied safely and effectively, solving the right problems, and ensuring it delivers meaningful outcomes.
Looking ahead, I see three key areas where we should lead: continuing to refine Pharmacy’s role in responsible use of AI and advanced technologies, preparing the workforce - including pharmacists and technicians - for technology-driven practice changes, and enabling scalable, sustainable innovation across health systems. As informaticists are often change agents within their organizations, I also believe there is a growing need for shared resources to support effective change management.
SOPIT continues to be an invaluable forum for unifying our efforts, navigating rapid advancements, and advancing the profession through collaboration and knowledge sharing. Through my work in the Clinical Decision Support SAG, I’ve focused on bridging technical and practice needs, helping create resources that balance innovation with scalability and long-term maintenance.
I’m honored to be considered for the Director-at-Large position. If elected, I would aim to build on SOPIT’s strong foundation, supporting the Section through actionable guidance and collaborative leadership. I’m excited to continue working alongside fellow informaticists to guide the future of pharmacy informatics and would welcome the opportunity to contribute at this next level.