Roszak appointed senior VP, National Association of Chain Drug Stores
July 7, 2021
Dr. Sara Roszak
A history of effective leadership has led the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) to appoint Sara Roszak, DrPH, senior vice president, health and wellness strategy and policy. She brings high-level experience in government, public health and associations to this position and her other new role as president of the NACDS Foundation – an organization that seeks to improve patient health through research, education and philanthropy.
Joining NACDS in 2014, she has served as the organization’s vice president, pharmacy care and health strategy and as the NACDS Foundation’s vice president of research programs. During this time, she has also served as an adjunct professor of clinical education at the University of North Carolina’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and she earned a Doctor of Public Health degree from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health’s executive program in health leadership in 2019.
“Completing UNC’s doctoral program in health leadership was an important milestone in reaching my professional goals,” said Roszak. “Not only were the program’s leadership and public health policy training top-notch, but the strong relationships built with faculty and my cohort of colleagues have also lasted far beyond graduation. As I begin my new role within NACDS, I look forward to leveraging these skill sets and relationships to better serve the pharmacy industry; and as the NACDS Foundation president, I look forward to further advancing research and education on innovative care delivery.”
Roszak’s impact at NACDS includes contributions to the organization’s vision and internal infrastructure that aim to remove barriers to pharmacy care. Recently these developments supported her advocacy efforts related to pharmacy services during the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as spearheading a multi-year literature program to align research and policy, she led a program that adapted the role of pharmacy technicians to free pharmacists to focus on patient care, and she developed relationships with such agencies as the United State Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“When the pandemic struck, her leadership flowed naturally into NACDS’ work to remove needless barriers to pharmacy care and to reduce friction for NACDS members to serve the American people with COVID-19 testing and vaccinations,” said NACDS President and Chief Executive Officer Steven C. Anderson. “At every step of the way, Sara has demonstrated effectiveness in building and leveraging partnerships. We look forward to her continued resolve to achieve results on behalf of this amazing industry.”
In her policy role, Roszak’s team will develop recommendations related to state and federal policy and regulation, based on the priorities of NACDS leadership, in the following areas: access to pharmacist-provided services, care-delivery models, substance abuse prevention and such public health issues as COVID-19 response and recovery. She will also assist members of the leadership team responsible for reimbursement issues, state and federal advocacy, grassroots and political engagement and communications.
Before she joined NACDS and the NACDS Foundation, she worked with the National Association of County and City Health Officials to increase collaboration between pharmacies and public health departments. She has also worked on the staff of U.S. Senator Bob Graham, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
NACDS represents regional and national organizations that operate at least four pharmacies across the U.S. The NACDS Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports research and educational initiatives.
Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.
