Stephen LaHaye

Stephen’s Story

Stephen LaHaye received his B.S. in Pharmacy from Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana-Monroe) and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He began his career as an active duty Air Force pharmacist, but the majority of his career has been in pharmacy leadership roles in both for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals and health-systems. Dr. LaHaye has been active in state and national health-system pharmacy organizations for the past twenty years. He is a past-President of the Virginia Society of Health-System Pharmacists and has served on various ASHP councils, commissions and advisory groups as well as the ASHP House of Delegates.

Most currently, Dr. LaHaye is serving on the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology Advisory Group on Operations & Automation.

Overview of Facility/Health System

BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of healthcare by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for healthcare providers. BD and its 65,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to healthcare. In 2017, BD welcomed C. R. Bard and its products into the BD family. For more information on BD, please visit bd.com.

Significant Projects

For the last two years, Dr. LaHaye has been working with the Defense Health Agency to support the upgrade of automated dispensing cabinets to the BD Pyxis™ ES platform throughout Department of Defense healthcare facilities. The upgrade helps to support improvement of medication management workflows.

Initial Involvement in ASHP

Like most new pharmacists, I initially joined ASHP for the networking. As time went on, I came to realize the pivotal role ASHP plays in promoting practice initiatives and advocating for the profession. I am proud to say that ASHP is my professional home.

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

The way pharmacy informatics has grown over the last several years has been mind-blowing. The advancement in the interaction between EMRs and automation such as dispensing cabinets and IV pumps is truly amazing and directly impacts patient safety. My advice is to never stop learning about new technologies and think about how new technologies can be leveraged to help your patients. 

Value of ASHP

ASHP provides health-system pharmacists with a professional home; a place to network and develop relationships, opportunities to get involved and shape the future of pharmacy practice, and an environment to learn and share knowledge with other pharmacists.

It is impossible to adequately describe the value of ASHP to the profession of pharmacy. From resource guidelines to policy positions, residency accreditation to professional certificate programs, continuing education to board certification resources, and drug shortage management strategies are only a few of the benefits ASHP provides. ASHP is also the voice of our profession and it's advocacy efforts are truly exceptional.