Minnesota Pharmacy Legislative Day Speakers

Michelle Aytay

RPh, CDE, Region #21 Clinical Services, Walgreens Co., MPhA President-Elect

Michelle Aytay graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1996 and has been practicing community pharmacy with direct patient care in Minnesota since that time. She currently advances clinical pharmacy services in her work with Walgreens. Her volunteer leadership roles span numerous organizations. Aytay serves as co-chair for the MPhA Public Policy Committee and as a member of the Pharmacy Advocacy Task Force. She is on the MPhA Board of Directors and Executive Finance Committee. She also serves as President of the Minnesota Pharmacists Foundation. She is active in numerous capacities at the College of Pharmacy, including serving as Pharmacy Alumni Society President and on the Century Mortar Club Board of Directors. She is a preceptor, residency director, mentor and Leadership Networking Partner. Aytay actively promotes the role of pharmacists in patients’ health through community involvement with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association. Her leadership has been recognized through numerous awards, most recently the University of Minnesota Pharmacy Alumni Society Distinguished Pharmacist Award. She also serves on the Minnesota Department of Health Pandemic Preparedness Taskforce.

Tamara Bezdicek

PharmD, BCPS, Fairview Health System, PATF Co-Chair

Heidi Ecker

Director Government Affairs & Grassroots Advocacy, NACDS

Heidi Ann Ecker Director of Government Affairs and Grassroots Programs National Association of Chain Drug Stores Heidi joined the NACDS team in 2008 and brings with her over 20 years of experience in federal lobbying and government relations experience in the national health care arena. In addition to complementing NACDS federal government relations activities, Heidi directs and orchestrates strategic grassroots/grasstops programming, conducts field-based advocacy and grassroots trainings, and engages advocates to support NACDS policy priorities. Besides having worked for U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Heidi has extensive government relations and policy experience in healthcare-concentrated industries representing patients, physicians, nurses, psychologists and community pharmacists. Her four-year effort advocating on behalf of physicians as Director of Federal Advocacy at the American Osteopathic Association led her team to an invitation-only strategic coalition of five with the White House during the nation's largest Patients Bill of Rights debate. During her time there she successfully increased grassroots participation in Hill Day Programs from 20 to 1,500 participants, and her concluding Hill Day program ushered in same-day House-passage of federal medical malpractice reform legislation. At the American Nurses Association, Heidi led her team for two years to advance a pro-nurse agenda through lobbying, grassroots and political activities. In this role, Heidi directed the group's Presidential Endorsement Process and personally interviewed 7 of 11 candidates vying for the U.S. Presidency to evaluate their support for nursing policy issues. Upon endorsement of Kerry-Edwards, she spearheaded political grassroots support and National Political Convention events. Prior to joining NACDS, Heidi served as Vice President of Legislative and Political Affairs at a firm whose client list includes Blue Cross Blue Shield, AARP, Verizon, Anheuser-Busch, AOL/Time Warner. Heidi also spent two years advocating on behalf of community pharmacy in her role at the National Community Pharmacists Association and two years as Director of Government Relations at the American Psychological Society. As a respected grassroots advocate in the Washington, DC community, Heidi has spoken at hundreds of events to train grassroots advocates across the nation, as well as the world, when she addressed over 800 countries at the International Congress on Physical Activity when she served as the Executive Director of the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity.

Molly J. Ekstrand

RPh, BCACP, AE-C, Medication Management Program Leader, Park Nicollet Health Services, MPhA President

Molly Ekstrand is a pharmacist and leader of the Medication Management program in the Park Nicollet Health System in the Minneapolis/St Paul Metro Area. She leads efforts to develop and implement the MTM program and infrastructure. In just 4 years, Park Nicollet has expanded to ten pharmacists (9.6 FTE) serving 16 primary care clinics reaching over 800 patients each month. Ekstrand practiced MTM in Family and Internal Medicine clinics for over 10 years; she has provided and documented MTM services to thousands of different patients.

Buck Humphrey

PATF Lobbyist

Buck Humphrey is an experienced government affairs and public relations executive with relationships and a track record with political leaders in Minnesota, throughout the Midwest and in our Nation’s Capital. For more than twenty years, Buck has worked at the intersection of the private and public sectors on issues at the federal, state and local levels. He knows and has worked with Governor Dayton, the minority leaders, speakers and much of the Minnesota Senate and House legislative membership. He has similar relationships with state capital leaders throughout the Midwest and around the country. Over the past 4 years, Buck has been on the lobbying team that has passed MAC transparency provisions and build a bipartisan patient pharmacy network access coalition. He is an experienced lobbyist, knowledgeable about our issues and with a strong desire and commitment to move our agenda.

Jeff Lindoo

RPh, Thrifty White (retired), MPhA Public Affairs Co-Chair

Jeff Lindoo, R.Ph. grew up in the world of pharmacy. His earliest experience consisted primarily of reading comic books in the back of his Grandfather's and Father's pharmacy in rural Wisconsin. He later graduated to responsibility for emptying the trash and finally worked as a clerk, made fountain syrups, scrubbed the floors and worked as a technician (before the concept of technicians really existed) in the pharmacy, preparing prescriptions for his Father's final approval. He has been a member of MPhA since graduating from the NDSU College of Pharmacy in 1974. He worked his entire 42-year career in pharmacy for Thrifty White Pharmacies, serving in multiple positions and retiring in June of 2016. He is Immediate Past President of MPhA, serving on the Executive Committee and as co-chair of the Public Affairs Committee. He is a member of the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy National Board of Advisors. He served on the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy from 1996 to 2000 and as Vice President in 1999. He is a former member of the Minnesota Retailers Association Board of Directors and Board Chair in 2010. He is also a member of APhA, ASCP and NCPA.

Steve Schondelmeyer

PharmD, PhD, CMC Endowed Chair, Professor & Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Care and Health Systems, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy

Stephen W. Schondelmeyer, PharmD, PhD, is a professor of Pharmaceutical Economics in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the Century Mortar Club Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutical Management and Economics. Dr. Schondelmeyer is also the Director of the PRIME Institute, which focuses on economic and policy analysis related to the role of pharmaceuticals and pharmacists in society. A leading expert on pharmaceutical economics and public policy, Dr. Schondelmeyer has spent his 40-year career working extensively on competition and pricing of drug products, affordability and access to drug therapy and pharmacists service, coverage and reimbursement policy under public and private third party programs, and pharmacy workforce trends and policy. His work has shaped both policy and actions related to the role of pharmaceuticals and pharmacists’ services in today’s society. He has served as an advisor to the U.S. Congress, to many state legislatures, and to foreign governments. He is often called upon by the public media as an expert on the dynamic and economic aspects of the pharmaceutical market. Dr. Schondelmeyer holds a BS in Pharmacy from the University of Missouri; a PharmD and clinical pharmacy residency from the University of Kentucky; and a Master’s in Public Administration and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Administration from Ohio State University.

Jill Strykowski

Director of Pharmacy, Mercy & Unity Hospitals, Allina Health, Pharmacy Advocacy Task Force Co-Chair

Jill Strykowski received her bachelor's degree in pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Master of Science in Social and Administrative Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota. Her master's thesis was entitled Implementation and Outcome Analysis of an Anticoagulation Clinic. Jill has written and lectured about various aspects of antithrombotic care; but importantly, it was through this work that she became passionate and interested in the potential of leadership of pharmacy practice. Jill is currently the Director of Pharmacy for Mercy Hospital and Unity Hospital in the 13-hospital Allina Health system. Jill has mentored PharmD-IV students and Residents for the last 15 years and has found this relationship to be the greatest joy in assisting young pharmacists in reaching their personal and professional goals. In 2013-14, Jill was elected President of the Minnesota Pharmacist Association and continues as Past-President. Over the course of the last 4 years, Jill has served as a co-chair for the Pharmacy Advocacy Task Force to advance legislative changes for the practice of pharmacy. Jill also serves as a member of to the Dean's College of Pharmacy Advisory Board. Additional interests include participation in global health using the practice of pharmacy to advance healthcare. Jill has traveled with pharmacy students and residents to Peru and Tanzania to assist with the provision of pharmacy services in resource poor areas. Jill is also interested in healthcare public policy, patient safety initiatives, and new business opportunities for the profession that serve the needs of our communities through the practice of pharmacy.

Jill Strykowski received her bachelor's degree in pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Master of Science in Social and Administrative Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota. Her master's thesis was entitled “Implementation and Outcome Analysis of an Anticoagulation Clinic. Jill has written and lectured about various aspects of antithrombotic care; but importantly, it was through this work that she became passionate and interested in the potential of leadership of pharmacy practice. Jill is currently the Director of Pharmacy for Mercy Hospital and Unity Hospital in the 13-hospital Allina Health system. Jill has mentored PharmD-IV students and Residents for the last 15 years and has found this relationship to be the greatest joy in assisting young pharmacists in reaching their personal and professional goals. In 2013-14, Jill was elected President of the Minnesota Pharmacist Association and continues as Past-President. Over the course of the last 4 years, Jill has served as a co-chair for the Pharmacy Advocacy Task Force to advance legislative changes for the practice of pharmacy. Jill also serves as a member of to the Dean's College of Pharmacy Advisory Board. Additional interests include participation in global health using the practice of pharmacy to advance healthcare. Jill has traveled with pharmacy students and residents to Peru and Tanzania to assist with the provision of pharmacy services in resource poor areas. Jill is also interested in healthcare public policy, patient safety initiatives, and new business opportunities for the profession that serve the needs of our communities through the practice of pharmacy.

Cody Wiberg

PharmD, MS, RPh, Executive Director, Minnesota Board of Pharmacy

Cody Wiberg, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, received a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota in 1985. He has worked as a clinical pharmacist for the Hennepin Regional Poison Center and the Minnesota state psychiatric hospital system, as a community pharmacist and as a nursing home consultant. From 1999 until he joined the Board in September 2005, he was the Pharmacy Program Manager for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Cody is a Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and an Instructor and Course Director for the University of Florida Graduate School (from which he received a Master of Science in Pharmacy Policy and Outcomes in 2009). Cody was named to Minnesota Physician's quadrennial list of the state's 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders in 2008 and 2012.