Northeastern District Candidates for 2014 Board Election
The Northeastern District seat is presently held by Gene Minton.
Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name. Please scroll down to see all 5 candidates.
David Catalano
David Catalano is a Pharmacy Manager for the Walgreen Company in Raleigh, North Carolina. His primary functions are leading, managing and supporting the operations of the pharmacy, serving as the Clinical Pharmacist Lead for Walgreens HIV Specialty Network of the Southern operations, and regulatory point pharmacist for NCBOP meetings. David received a Bachelors of Science degree in Zoology in 1987 and a Bachelors of Science degree in Pharmacy in 1994, both degrees from the University of Rhode Island. David quickly promoted to pharmacy manager at Walgreens, running the department till 1997 when he was asked to relocate to Tidewater, VA to assist in managing the growth of a new Walgreens market. In 2003, David was promoted to a supervisor’s position and relocated to Raleigh, NC to supervise the growth of Walgreens in NC beyond the Charlotte market. In 2009 David resumed a role as a Pharmacy Manager allowing him to take an active role in promoting and developing the immunization and MTM programs. Through his career, David has taken an active role in state pharmacy associations. While in RI, David held a council seat helping to direct the future of pharmacy in the state. When he moved to VA, he was elected to the Treasurer’s seat in the Tidewater branch of the VA Pharmacist’s Association.
My concerns about the strength of retail Pharmacy developed quite early in my career, especially since I come from a family of an independent pharmacy owner. I quickly learned that the way for pharmacists’ voices to be heard would be by working together as one strong voice from a strong state association like NCAP.
I feel that the transformation of pharmacy and the pharmacist's role in the community begins at pharmacy school. Early education about the importance of one voice for pharmacy, whether working in the clinical, retail chain or independent setting, is the best way to be heard as a representation of our profession. These are great times for all pharmacists. There is a tremendous need for our professional skills as our population ages and the amount of medications being taken per person continues to increase. We are experts in our field and we need to make sure the expertise of our trade is recognized by the people that make the laws and that our professional skills are not given to another group because of pharmacists not uniting together.
Thomas "Tom" D'Andrea
Tom obtained his B. S. in Pharmacy from Butler University in 1978, and a MBA in 1992 from Campbell University. His experience in the pharmacy field includes retail, government and long term care. Tom’s career started in retail as a store manager with Revco. D. S., spending most of that time in Red Springs, N.C. Tom is a former owner of two pharmacies located in Wagram and Red Springs, serving a rural clinic and assisted living facilities. Tom is the former owner and President of MedStar Pharmacy, Inc. which sold to NCS HealthCare, Inc. in 1998. He continued with NCS and held the position of Divisional Vice-President of Operations.
Tom has worked for the State of North Carolina for the Division of Facility Services as a Consultant Pharmacist in the Long Term Care section, and then for the Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) as Chief of Pharmacy and Ancillary Services. During his tenure at DMA, he promulgated many policies favorable to pharmacists, including the elimination of the six prescription limit for Medicaid recipients.
Tom is currently working for Neil Medical Group, a long term care pharmacy with operations in Mooresville and Kinston, as the Vice President of Pharmacy Services. He is an At-Large Board Member for the North Carolina Pharmacy Association, and a Board Member for the North Carolina Drug Utilization Review Board. He also has served on numerous advisory boards for drug manufacturers and wholesalers. Tom is also a long standing member of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists.
Tom and his wife live in Raleigh and have six children; two have graduated from NC State, one has graduated from the United States Naval Academy, one is attending NC State and two are still in high school. He is looking forward to using his experience to serve the pharmacists and people of the Great State of North Carolina.
Gene Minton
Gene attended the UNC School of Pharmacy and graduated in 1975. During school he worked with Kerr Drugs and developed a desire to be a community pharmacist and built upon this foundation eventually starting his own business, Drugco Pharmacy, in 1987. He currently owns and operates three community pharmacies, one specialty pharmacy, and several DME operations. He has been active in state and local politics for many years, and has been able to use this experience to work almost daily for the advancement of the profession in North Carolina. Gene serves on the NC Mutual Board of directors and is currently serving his second year as President of the NC Board of Pharmacy. In 1989 Drugco Pharmacy's single location at that time was named by Drug Topics Magazine to its Honor Roll of Outstanding Independent Drugstore Retailers. Also Gene was the Bowl of Hygeia recipient for North Carolina in September 2000. Serving as an immunizing pharmacist since 2008, he was a part of a diverse group of pharmacists who worked together to get expanded Immunization authority by protocol passed by the legislature in 2013 that now allows pharmacists to give many vaccines and directly improve the health of many NC patients. Gene also helped start the Association of Community Pharmacists in NC and has served the board many years as chairman and vice-chairman. He has tirelessly worked to advance the profession, whether it be pushing for pharmacists to be awarded Provider Status or fighting daily for adequate reimbursement in pharmacy operations at all levels. During his time on the Board of Pharmacy, Gene has shown to be interested in, and knowledgeable, about the issues affecting all practice settings-including community, hospital, industry, long-term care, and academia.
Born and raised in Bertie County North Carolina, Gene currently resides near Littleton with his wife of almost 40 years, Sybil. They have two children, Jeanie Minton White and Jenna Minton Huggins, both pharmacists licensed in NC. He enjoys his family, the beach, his livestock, and working for the advancement of the profession of pharmacy.
"I am proud to be a member of the NC Board of Pharmacy and to serve with what I consider to be a great board of dedicated individuals. If you choose to support me and help me be successful in serving another term, you can rest assured that I will continue to work to make the board a great asset to the health care of the citizens of North Carolina and a place where pharmacists are respected. I am accessible to you, am dedicated to the job at hand, and will consider it a great honor if I am re-elected".
Christopher R. Peoples
Chris received his BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences and PharmD from Campbell University School of Pharmacy in 1999 and 2003 respectively. He currently serves as the Pharmacy Manager and Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Community Leader for Walgreens. In addition, he is a part-time staff pharmacist for Novant Health Franklin Medical Center.
Chris knew early on that pharmacy was his calling. At the age of 16, he began working for Revco as a pharmacy technician. He then moved onto intern positions with Target and Eckerd prior to becoming a pharmacist with Walgreens in Greenville, NC in 2003. He is a current member of NCAP and ASHP. He worked with the former Director of the Board of Pharmacy, David Work, to create a Comprehensive Law Quick Reference for Pharmacists which is available on the Board's website. He resides in Louisburg with his wife, Jodi, a Board-Certified clinical pharmacist for Novant Health, and their three children.
Chris supports the Board’s mission to protect the public health and safety of the citizens of North Carolina. In addition, a focus for him as a board member would be to listen to his peers and represent their interests as the profession of pharmacy continues to become more complex. Chris brings a wealth of community and retail information to the table but has an equally important view of how Health Systems’ face challenges in today’s health culture. This allows him a unique opportunity to represent many aspects of the profession with a goal of advancing the importance of the profession of pharmacy in every dimension of patient care. He wants very much to have this opportunity to serve on the Board and appreciates your vote.
Brooke Rawls
A Raleigh native, Brooke was drawn to the medical field early on, earning her EMT in high school and joining the Buies Creek Fire and Rescue Department during her years at Campbell. Brooke received her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from Campbell University School of Pharmacy in 2002 and completed post-doctoral training in Primary Care with Campbell University & Duke Family Medicine.
She started her pharmacy career as one of the founding members of Physicians Pharmacy Alliance (PPA) in 2003. She has built and designed multiple clinical tools used today by PPA’s expert pharmacy team. This includes an extensive Medication Reconciliation platform designed to evaluate and deliver patient medication regimen reviews. Today she supports PPA in a role as SVP, of Provider Relations working to create and forge new and bidirectional communication pathways with physicians to further collaborate around patient regimen needs. Throughout her 12 years as a pharmacist Brooke has been focused on finding innovative and effective ways to improve medication adherence in the under served populations.
Additionally, Brooke served as one of the14 Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) Network Pharmacists, acting as the Director of Pharmacy Programs for Northern Piedmont Community Care Network for 7 years. She is a guest lecturer, and has served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor with Campbell University School of Pharmacy for many years. She has also served as a member of the North Carolina Medicaid DUR board, North Carolina Association of Pharmacist (NCAP) MTM Task Force and NCPA Patient Care Program Development committee. Currently she is a member of the Medicaid P & T committee for North Carolina. Although Brooke’s passion for pharmacy was founded in clinical practice the last half of her career has shifted toward developing policy and processes that improves patient understanding of their medication.
Outside of work, Brooke loves spending time with her family- Bobby (PharmD ’02) and their two children Larkyn(7) and London(3). She enjoys spending much of her free time at the beach, running in charity road races and attending her children’s sporting events.
Brooke’s interest in running for the NC Board of Pharmacy is driven by her desire to see pharmacists and the profession of pharmacy embrace healthcare innovation and demonstrate their ability to make positive impacts on population health and policy issues with their patient centered focus.
CENTRAL DISTRICT CANDIDATES' BIOS/PHOTOS
PLEASE CONTACT KRISTIN MOORE AT THE NC BOARD OF PHARMACY OFFICE
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ELECTION.