Montefiore Einstein has named Dr. Ruth Cassidy, B.S., PharmD, MBA, FACHE, FASHP, to be the inaugural chief pharmacy officer of the Montefiore Health System. She began serving in this new position on Monday, Jan. 6.
In her new role, Cassidy will be responsible for overseeing pharmacy services across Montefiore’s acute and ambulatory locations. This also extends to Montefiore’s Specialty Pharmacy, which provides home delivery of medications to patients across the Bronx and Westchester.
Cassidy brings decades of expertise in delivering pharmacy care. She has long had an eye towards medication safety, regulatory oversight and providing exceptional patient care.
“There is no better person than Dr. Cassidy to be our inaugural chief pharmacy officer and member of our leadership team dedicated to enhancing patient and caregiver care and support,” said Peter P. Semczuk, DDS, MPH, the Regional Senior Vice President for New York City and Executive Director of the Moses Campus and Faculty Practice Group at Montefiore. “Her role will be central as we continue to invest in new technologies and quality assurance strategies that streamline medication processes, reduce burden on providers and, most importantly, optimize patient outcomes.”
Cassidy will be managing pharmacy operations, which will provide help for New Yorkers dealing with chronic diseases. Over 40% of adult New Yorkers suffer from at least one chronic disease, making medication to manage it all the more important. The pharmacy operations Cassidy will oversee span from novel cancer breakthroughs that genetically modify one’s immune cells to attack cancer cells to building on successful communications strategies that support care coordination and mitigate potential drug side effects following hospital stays.
“I’ve been privileged to spend most of my career serving Bronx patients and families,” Cassidy said. “By joining Montefiore and leading pharmacy operations, an area that touches every service, I have the opportunity to leverage existing relationships with community partners, bring forth new collaborations across the system and ensure a consistent experience across our campuses that will benefit every provider and their patients. I can’t wait to dive in.”
Cassidy earned her Master of Business Administration from West Texas A&M University, her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine and her Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from St. John’s University.
She has previously served at the St. Barnabas Hospital Health System as Senior Vice President of Clinical Support Services and Chief Pharmacy Officer. In that role, she designed and oversaw that system’s first Outpatient Pharmacy and Specialty Pharmacy. She also launched an American Society of Healthy-System Pharmacists-accredited pharmacy resident program.
