Doug Meyer

His Story

Doug Meyer, B.S.Pharm., M.B.A., BCNSP, earned a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and completed the Clinical Pharmacy Residency at Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. His Master in Business Administration was earned from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee School of Business. Additionally, Mr. Meyer has a Board-Certified Nutrition Support Pharmacist (BCNSP) Certification.  He is currently the Director of Pharmacy at Legacy Meridian Park Hospital in Portland, OR.

Facility

Legacy Health is an eight-hospital health system in Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA. Legacy includes community and teaching hospitals, a children’s hospital, and an inpatient Center for Behavioral Health. Average daily census across the system is about 1000 patients per day. Legacy Health also has an extensive ambulatory clinic network. Legacy supports 6 PGY1 residents, and has PGY2 programs in Infectious Diseases and Ambulatory Care. 

Recent Significant Projects

In his previous role at Legacy as Medication Safety Officer, Mr. Meyer was passionate about his work with creating safe medication use systems, safe management of hazardous drugs, parenteral nutrition protocols and creating and fostering a Just Culture in the department.  As a Pharmacy Director, he focuses on improving clinical practice, efficient operations, compliance, designing a UPS<797> compliant clean room suite and engaging staff to take excellent care of patients and be part of the pharmacy “family” in the department. 

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

Being a Director of Pharmacy requires you to wear many hats on any given day: project manager, drug information specialist, counselor, IT expert, HVAC person, sleuth and many more. Try to complete a task or two off your list every day and make progress on the others as much as you can. Your staff are the life blood of the department and they want to do a great job.  Encourage and support them, make sure they have the tools they need to do the job and be there for them when things get crazy.  Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice from someone who has probably seen your issue before. 

Involvement in ASHP

Mr. Meyer has been an active member in the ASHP sections. He served in the Section of Inpatient Care Practitioners (SICP) from 2015-2021 as the Chair of the Advancing Pharmacy Practice with Technicians (APPT) Section Advisory Group (SAG) and also was elected the SICP Section Chair from 2019-20.  In 2021, he was appointed to the Section of Pharmacy Practice Leaders (SPPL) Educational Steering Committee.  He is looking forward to learning how the ESC operates and provides valuable education and information to the SPPL members.  

Why did you become involved in ASHP

“My first Midyear Clinical Meeting as a student (in Dallas!) opened my eyes to the opportunities and resources that being a member of ASHP offers. The resources and connections are invaluable. I also strongly believe that it is our responsibility as pharmacy professionals to be actively involved in our professional organizations to advocate for the future of our profession. I had strong mentors as a resident who helped instill this pride of professionalism into my personal philosophies.”

How would you explain the value of ASHP to members?

“I love to network with other individuals working on similar projects to share ideas. ASHP helps you link with others either online or at conferences to build your network of pharmacist colleagues. We work for different organizations, but all have similar goals for the advancement of our profession and safe, effective medication use. ASHP lets us share with each other to work towards those goals.”
“ASHP is an important voice for all of us at the local and national level. The advocacy for the profession of pharmacy must be strong for us to continue to move forward as one. We continue to make strides and that would not happen without ASHP.”