Learn more about OSHP Member Edward Saito, PharmD, BCACP

Title: Assistant Professor (co-faculty)
Institution: Pacific University/Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center
Specialty: Ambulatory Care
Role in Pharmacy:

Edward Saito is an Assistant Professor and co-faculty at Pacific University School of Pharmacy.  He is also a clinical pharmacist with Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center (VGMHC).  In his current position, he teaches and precepts students and residents, coordinates service opportunities with the VGMHC migrant farmworker outreach program, and practices collaboratively as part of an interprofessional team to manage chronic conditions.  He is currently assisting the School of Pharmacy to develop a learning track that will allow students to explore the challenges and rewards of practicing in rural and underserved settings.  His clinical practice primarily consists of referrals for diabetes management, hypertension, and tobacco cessation.  However, he is currently piloting a joint referral program for asthma and COPD management with RN-performed spirometry assessment.  Additionally, as part of a HRSA Primary Care Teaching and Enhancement grant recently obtained by VGMHC, he is a primary preceptor for PGY1 community pharmacy residents providing an interagency transitions-of-care service at Tuality Community Hospital.  He also impacts provider prescribing practices at VGMHC by serving on the organization’s Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee, which recently implemented a formulary and formulary exception process across its 340B pharmacy operations, and by providing organization-wide provider and nursing education on anticoagulation management.  His current practice and research interests are focused on the establishment of an outpatient antibiotic stewardship program at VGMHC.

Professional Journey:

Originally from Honolulu, HI, Eddie earned his PharmD from Creighton University in Omaha, NE.  He then completed a PGY1 pharmacy practice residency at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, NC, and a PGY2 ambulatory care residency at Kaiser Permanente Colorado.  He has been with Pacific University in his current position for the past three years.

Other Professional Activities:

Currently, he is serving OSHP as a member of the Professional Relations and Membership Councils, is one of the inaugural leaders of the new OSHP Ambulatory Care Section, and was recently elected to serve as Junior Board Member-at-Large for the upcoming year.  He is also on the ASHP Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners advisory group for clinical practice advancement and is serving the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialities (BPS) as an item writer and reviewer for the BCACP certification exam.

Advanced Training:

Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist (BCACP)

What made you take interest in co-leading the Ambulatory Care Section and why should other ambulatory care pharmacists get involved with the section?:

"I joined OSHP immediately after moving to Oregon because I knew that it was an organization of passionate pharmacists who were advancing pharmacy practice across the state.  As a new practitioner in Oregon, OSHP made it easy to get involved and start meeting other pharmacists.  I became interested in leading the Ambulatory Care Section when I first heard the plans for implementation.  I am excited for the foundation that the new OSHP sections provide to promote member engagement, educational opportunities, practice-based and social networks, and hopefully unify the voice of pharmacist practitioners across Oregon.  Ambulatory care pharmacists in our state are doing amazing things and practicing in increasingly unique settings, and I hope that this section provides an opportunity for collaboration, shared learning, and celebration!"

Fun fact about yourself:

"I enjoy cooking and jazz music.  My hobbies include outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, surfing, and running.  I am participating in Hood to Coast for the 3rd year in a row."

Inspirational Quote:

"Wherever there is want, there is your place to supply; wherever ignorance, there is your place to teach; wherever sickness, there is your place to heal; wherever oppression, there is your place to relieve; wherever injustice, there is your place to vindicate; finally, wherever in the battle of life there is need of hands or nerve or brain, there amidst the carnage and desolation in the middle of the sulfurous smoke and the hail of death and the tempest of passion and hate, is your place to stand or fall fighting with your face to the foe."

-Harvey Washington Wiley

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