Specialty Council on Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy

2023 Members

Emily Benefield, PharmD, BCPS, BCPPS {Chair}
Benefield is the Pharmacy Clinical Programs Manager at Seattle Children’s Hospital overseeing the pediatric pharmacy solid organ transplant team and other clinical pharmacy service lines. After receiving her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy from Washington State University, she completed both her PGY1 pharmacy residency and PGY2 pediatric pharmacy residency at the University of Oklahoma. Benefield previously practiced as a pediatric solid organ transplant clinical pharmacist.

Mary Leick, PharmD, BCPS, BCTXP {Vice Chair}
Leick is the Pharmacist Program Coordinator for Solid Organ Transplantation at Nebraska Medicine and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy. She also serves as a Pharmacist Specialist for hepatology and adult liver transplantation. Leick received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Practice and PGY2 Solid Organ Transplant residencies at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina.

Stephanie Anders, PharmD, BCPS
Anders is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Abdominal Transplant at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Purdue University and completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency at Rush University Medical Center (previously Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke’s Medical Center). In addition to her eleven years of experience with inpatient and ambulatory clinical practices, Anders served as the Program Director for the PGY2 Solid Organ Transplant for seven years, prior to her current role as Supervisor for Transplant Pharmacy Services.

Stacy A. Bernard, PharmD, BCPS, BCTXP
Bernard is a Solid Organ Transplant & Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement Pharmacist practicing at the original Mayo Clinic. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Washington State University; PGY1 residency at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and PGY2 Solid Organ Transplant residency at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. Bernard has experience working in investigation, regulatory research, and academia at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She founded the Solid Organ Transplant PGY2 Pharmacy Residency Program in Rochester, MN and is the Residency Program Director. Bernard is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and has received the honor of Associate Appointment for unusually important contributions to the practice, research, and educational activities of Mayo Clinic.

Mary Moss Chandran, PharmD, BCTXP, BCPS, CPP, FAST, FCCP
Chandran is a Solid Organ Transplant Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Clinical Education with the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, with a primary practice in kidney transplant, liver transplant and pancreas transplant ambulatory care, pediatric liver transplant ambulatory care, and pediatric to adult transplant transitions. She currently serves as Course Director for the Solid Organ Transplant elective at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Chandran has previously practiced as a Pediatric Solid Organ Transplant Pharmacy Specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado and as a Solid Organ Transplant Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at University of Maryland Medical Center. She received her PharmD from the University of California San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and completed a PGY1 pharmacy residency and PGY2 solid organ transplant pharmacy residency at University of North Carolina Medical Center.

Linda J. Fitzgerald, PharmD, BCPS, BCTXP
Fitzgerald is a MSL in Transplantation at Sanofi. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from University of Missouri-Kansas City and completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency and PGY2 critical care specialty residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Fitzgerald previously practiced as an adult solid organ transplant pharmacist and served as the Clinical Team Lead of the Transplant Pharmacist team at Michigan Medicine.

Heather J. Johnson, PharmD, BCPS
SOT_JohnsonJohnson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and practices as a Clinical Specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center with focus in abdominal transplantation. She graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and completed a fellowship in renal transplant pharmacotherapy at Hennepin County Medical Center. Johnson developed transplant pharmacy services and trained numerous pharmacists at the Istituto Mediterraneo per I Trapianti e Terapie ad alta Specialiazzione in Palermo, Italy. She has served previously as Residency Program Director for both Transplant and Pharmacy Residencies.

Karen Khalil, PharmD, BCTXP
Khalil is the Xenotransplant Project Manager at NYU Langone Health, where she facilitates and oversees the ongoing xenotransplant research at the institution. She received her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from Northeastern University in Boston. She completed a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, MA where her interest in solid organ transplant began. She then completed a PGY2 in Solid Organ Transplant at University of Illinois at Chicago and joined the NYU Langone Health Transplant Team in 2018 where she managed kidney, liver, and pancreas transplant recipients before transitioning into her current role.

Alicia Lichvar, PharmD, MS, BCPS, BCTXP
Lichvar is currently a Clinical Transplant Pharmacist at the University of California San Diego Health. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in 2013. Lichvar then completed a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency and a PGY2 Solid Organ Transplant Pharmacy Residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She then went on to complete a Clinical Transplant Pharmacy Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati, where she also obtained her Masters of Science in Clinical and Translational Research. Previously, she was a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and an Abdominal Transplant Clinical Pharmacist at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System.

Demetra Tsapepas, PharmD, BCPS, FAST
Tsapepas is the Program Director of Quality, Education and Research for Solid Organ Transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgical Sciences at Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She received her Bachelor’s and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. She completed both a PGY1 and PGY2 Solid Organ Transplantation residency at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Her professional interests focus on quality and outcomes improvement through the evaluation of immunosuppressive strategies, medication adherence, and healthcare information technologies.

Georgina Waldman, PharmD, BCTXP
Waldman is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist for the heart and lung transplant centers at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She then completed a PGY1 Acute Care and PGY2 Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy Practice Residency at University of California San Diego Health before moving to Boston.