David F. Chen vice president for pharmacy leadership and planning at ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists). In this role, Chen supports ASHP’s Pharmacy Executive Leadership Alliance, the Pharmacists in C-Suites initiative, the Section of Pharmacy Practice Leaders, and the Pharmacy Administration and Leadership Residents’ Collaborative.
Before joining ASHP, Chen was director of pharmacy at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, Maryland, where he also supervised the pharmacy department at Kessler/Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital. He began his career as a director-in-training at Dallas/Fort Worth Medical Center, then moved into director of pharmacy roles in Texas and Florida, and regional leadership positions in California and Maryland with Owen Healthcare (now part of Cardinal Health). He also served as a central operations supervisor at the University of Maryland Medical Center Pharmacy.
In addition to working with ASHP’s Section of Pharmacy Practice Leaders, Chen also supported the ASHP Section of Home, Ambulatory, and Chronic Care Practitioners and the Section of Specialty Pharmacy Practitioners.
Chen has led multiple ASHP initiatives that advance pharmacists’ ability to optimize medication therapy and the contributions of the pharmacy enterprise to the financial sustainability of health systems, including the development of ambulatory care clinic models, the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative, the Future Directions Summits, Conference for Pharmacy Leaders, Managers Boot Camp, and the annual ASHP/ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Forecast article. He has also coauthored several publications on the evolution of multi-hospital pharmacy organizational structures and services, including Pharmacy Executive and Mid-Level Manager Perceptions of Leadership in Contemporary Health-System Leadership, which assessed the state of pharmacy leadership and identified opportunities and challenges in maintaining, growing, and filling formal leadership roles in the profession.
Chen was recognized as the 2001 Washington Metropolitan Society of Health-System Pharmacist of the Year and received the 2015 Order of the Silver Mortar from Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity. In 2018, he was named Honorary Resident of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Pharmacy Residency Programs, and in 2019, received the ASHP CEO Award for Staff Excellence.
Chen earned his Bachelor of Science in pharmacy from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and his MBA from Loyola University of Maryland. He also completed the Owen Healthcare Director-in-Training program and the ASHP Foundation’s Pharmacy Leadership Institute.