De Martini to Serve as Keynote Speaker at White Coat Ceremony

On Saturday, Aug. 25, the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will host its 5th Annual White Coat Ceremony from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.  

Founding Dean Kathy Webster announced this week that the ceremony’s keynote speaker will be Loriann De Martini, who is the chief executive officer of the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP).

“Dr. De Martini is well known in the pharmacy profession nationally and statewide for her accomplishments and contributions to improving patient care,” Webster says. “She will serve as a role model and inspirational speaker for our incoming class of PharmD students and we are honored for her involvement in this year’s White Coat Ceremony.”

In September 2016, De Martini was named to her chief executive role within CSHP, which is a non-profit professional association established to serve the needs of clinically trained pharmacy professionals across all care and retail settings.

Prior to joining CSHP, De Martini worked at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) for 24 years. From 2012 through 2016, she led the Office of Quality Performance and Accreditation as deputy director. Within that role, she was responsible for coordinating department-wide initiatives that continually improved the quality and performance of programs and processes within the Department of Public Health and ultimately enhanced the services provided to Californians.

Nationally, De Martini has held multiple leadership roles with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), CMS Hospital Faculty Bureau, CMS Long Term Care Expert Panel member, and American Society of Consultant Pharmacist Advisory Board.

She has also contributed to the Institute of Medicine’s report on prevention of medication errors, and is a member of the national Public Health Accreditation Improvement Advisory Committee. De Martini’s leadership led to the first-ever statewide Medication Error Reduction Program (MERP) for 400 plus hospitals. The program was nationally recognized by the Institute for Safe Medication Practice (ISMP), in 2010, as a program that all states should adopt.

De Martini holds faculty appointments at three pharmacy schools in California. She is a Fellow with the Health Care Leaders Network with California Health Care Foundation and has received several awards on outstanding leadership in public health. De Martini has also authored several articles related to medication use and safety, most recently a white paper published by CDPH on Comprehensive Medication Management.