CPhA Awards 2021

He is holder of two patents pending for dosage forms used in the management of opiate and alcohol addiction. Mike is one of only two pharmacists ever named to serve as the US Olympic Committee’s Team Pharmacist, serving during the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008. He has addressed professional healthcare organizations nationwide on a variety of pharmacy-related topics and has advised clients from the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL and NCAA for over 20 years. He represented APhA on a joint task force with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association charged with creating guidelines for managing medication in the athletic medical facility and contributed to NATA’s “Position Statement: Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids”. He has practiced in long-term care, hospice, mail-service, compounding, and community pharmacy.

Mike has been interviewed on local and national television to address various pharmacy-related topics and has served as technical advisor for several public service announcements on opiate abuse.
Mike has chaired the APhA Policy Committee, and the APhA House of Delegates Nominating Committee and has served numerous committees of APhA and CPhA. He has been recognized by APhA-APPM as Fellow (2014), and for Distinguished Achievement Award in Specialized Pharmacy Practice (2012), and by CPhA as Student of the Year (1989), and Distinguished Young Pharmacist (1995).

Mike is married to Lisa and is father to Nicole, Aaron, and Ty.

Dr. Colayco believes that everyone deserves a fair opportunity to live well, no matter who they are or how much they earn. She earned her PharmD and MS in Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy from the University of Southern California (USC).

Dr. Colayco volunteers her time as Chair of the Social Impact Subcommittee on the Board of Councilors to the Dean of the USC School of Pharmacy, a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council at USC, and a member of the Quality Improvement and Utilization Management Committee for Kern Health Systems, a managed Medicaid health plan.

In her free time, Dr. Colayco enjoys practicing yoga and hanging out at the beach with her family.

Katie goes far beyond expectations to help her patients in any way she can. She goes personally to the schools to perform COVID tests, volunteers to vaccinate at free clinics and goes to patients’ homes to test or vaccinate. Katie is a mentor to students from local high schools and universities. In addition, the pharmacy supports local organizations and schools, sports teams, and events every year for the community.

Katie is an active advocate for independent pharmacies throughout California. She is well known to our local elected officials for her advocacy and community support. She currently serves as the chair for the Special Interest Group of Pharmacy Owners in CPhA. She is a member of Phi Delta Chi, NCPA, CPESN, CPhA, CPAG, Coarsegold Chamber of Commerce, Oakhurst Chamber of Commerce, Merced Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and a graduate of the Leadership Development Institute.

Katie lives and breathes pharmacy practice. She has successfully established and led two community pharmacies through the COVID-19 pandemic. She has integrated her pharmacies into the communities they serve and actively supports those communities with her time, her skills, and her money. She believes that rural communities, otherwise underserved, depend most on their local community pharmacists to bridge their healthcare gaps. Katie has expanded her assets, her skills, and her services to meet those needs.

Katie resides in Fresno, CA with her husband, Jeff Meyer, and their son Aulin. They are expecting their first daughter in August 2021.

Dr. Tabon has clinical pharmacy experience in a variety of settings including community, acute care, and managed care practice settings. He previously worked as a heart failure disease manager and with geriatric patients in Orange County. He has experience in specialty medication reviews, population health analytics, and pharmacy leadership. He currently works with the USC Medical Plaza Pharmacy and Keck Hospital of USC in creating improved discharge services for patients in the community practice setting. He also works on an interprofessional geriatric team with Eisner Health in Downtown Los Angeles caring for older adults in underserved communities. On top of teaching at the USC School of Pharmacy, he serves as faculty educating students in the USC physical therapy, dentistry, occupational therapy, and physical assistant programs about the valuable role pharmacists play on the healthcare team.

Dr. Tabon was a past recipient of the OptumCare National Superhero Award for his work in developing new models of care utilizing technology and pharmacist-based services. His idea to incorporate pharmacists into primary care clinics utilizing telehealth technologies won the Optum Clinical Innovations Award in 2016. He was also awarded the USC School of Pharmacy Professor and Preceptor of the Year by the student pharmacists in the Class of 2020, 2021, and 2022 this past year.

Dr. Tabon believes in helping others find success in their own lives. He has mentored hundreds of students and residents over his career in California, Washington, and Oregon. He continues to support the profession behind the scenes by helping colleagues find their internal compass to get through dips in their professional and personal lives. He hopes that his actions will inspire others to pay it forward for future generations.

Cathy’s continuous challenge to work in leadership roles at school and outside organizations led her to become elected as President of CPhA- ASP MBKU chapter by the end of her first year in pharmacy school. Some ways in which Cathy has contributed to her community was by uniting with MBKU organizing College of Pharmacy to create an inter-professional volunteer opportunity to distribute COVID vaccines. One of Cathy’s favorite memories is working alongside faculty, physician assistant students, and student pharmacists to deliver vaccination clinics throughout Orange County. While managing her various roles, in her free time, Cathy also serves her community by working as an Intern Pharmacist at Albertsons Sav-On in Huntington Beach.

Getting involved with the pharmacy organization allowed Cathy to develop her leadership and interpersonal skills, which she leveraged to inspire and lead others to help within their community. Her success is attributed to her involvement with the school CPhA chapter and local CPhA chapter. Cathy intends to utilize the valuable skills of leadership, communication, and professionalism, learned from these experiences to ultimately empower others.

Vince began his career with Congressman Bill Thomas, Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, working on international trade policy. He then returned home to serve the residents of Kern County.

For nearly a decade, Vince served as district director to House Leader and Congressman Kevin McCarthy, until Vince was elected to the State Assembly in 2016.

Vince is a lifelong resident of Kern County. He earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and masters from Princeton University. He serves on the boards of the Jim Burke Education Foundation and Honor Flight Kern County where he works to send WWII, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans to Washington, DC to see their memorials.

Dr. Carter spent 33 years with Longs Drug Stores, Inc. as staff pharmacist, pharmacy manager and trainer for pharmacy technicians and new pharmacy managers. She was also involved in store acquisitions in Las Vegas and Beverly Hills and helped with many store openings. Longs awarded her with the Pharmacy Manager of the Year. She also worked for Walgreens and UC Santa Barbara Student Health Pharmacy.

In her spare time, Colleen returned to the track. She officiated in high school, NCAA, national and international competitions, including 4 Olympic Trials and 2 Olympic Games. She was the first woman name honorary referee of the Santa Barbara Easter Relays. She also received the honor of Official of the Year from USATF Southern California, Santa Barbara region.

Colleen is a member of Alpha Chi Omega Sorority and Lambda Kappa Sigma Pharmacy Fraternity.

Steve has a PharmD from USC and a JD from Northrup University. He is a licensed California pharmacist and attorney. He has been very active in pharmacy legislative and regulatory affairs for over 40 years and a well know participant in Board of Pharmacy meetings.

He holds healthcare executive certifications from USC and UNC, Chapel Hill. Steve is an Instructor for Pharmacy Law and Ethics for the University of California San Diego. Steve has been a faculty member and guest lecturer for several other California Schools of Pharmacy. He was the featured speaker for KGI’s White Coat Ceremony. He has been an invited speaker for the Oregon, Florida and Texas pharmacy organizations

Steve is active in AMCP, APhA, and ASHP and a Past President of the American Society for Pharmacy Law (ASPL). He is a member and a Past President of both CPhA and CSHP for whom he has been a featured speaker and very active in their government relations.

In addition, he is a Past President of AMCP, the national organization of managed care pharmacists, for which he has been a presenter and a Keynote moderator at its national and international meetings.

Steve was honored by CSHP as its Pharmacist of the Year and a Lifetime Membership. He is the current President of the Institute for Pharmacy in the Public Interest (IPPI).

His 40+ year very innovative pharmacy experience includes the US Army, retail/community and hospital practice, traditional and cGMP compounding, pharmaceutical repackaging, wholesaling, residency program administration, drug benefit administration, and more.

I was greatly helped by my wife and Millie Kwan, RPh. They helped me through several major changes. At the same time, we helped improve the community from being a major force in the Florence-Firestone Chamber of Commerce to contributing time and energy in various community improvements from Model Cities, the “Enterprise Zone,” the “Empowerment Zone,” Sheriff’s bicycle patrol, B.I.D., Sr. Citizen Center, Adopt a School Programs, and Headstart.

At the same time I bought the store, I slowly became more involved with our state and national pharmacy organizations. North and Southern Ca. Pharmacy Association becoming CPhA., NACP, APhA, and ACA. They all had their place, especially CPhA. We were even the depot and developed a drug formulary for the Flying Samaritans helping take care of patients in several towns of Baja California. I was close to USC Pharmacy volunteering as an Adjunct Professor and Preceptor – mostly under Mel Baron.

During the Civil Unrest in 1992, my pharmacy was destroyed, but my Rx files were saved by a computer tape backup. We took care of our patients by shifting to filling and delivering Rx’s with the help of Harold Washington, Sr., PharmD at his Bevins Pharmacy expedited by Millie Kwan, RPh. I worked, planned and with much help was able to open a temporary location half a block away in 12 days well stocked and Ok’d by the DEA and accredited by the Board of Pharmacy. We always helped and pushed our personnel to achieve and go for their dreams.

A local student in the area came to work for me when he was 16, continued through the USC School of Pharmacy and bought my pharmacy when I was 70 in the year 2000. Helped out there for 6 years, worked part time at a few pharmacies, and Mel Baron was instrumental in asking me to help out and set up Eisner Pharmacy in the Eisner Ped. and Family clinic, now known as Eisner Health. It’s a wonderful place to work and I’ve been there 11 years part time except for the Covid Pandemic and am back working again for one of the best PICs and pharmacy administrators Nicole Alton, PharmD.

During the last 10 years, our local pharmacy association had some hard times. We were able to combine Santa Monica Bay, South Bay, Hollywood-Wilshire, and Central LA Pharmacy Associations into one strong one. Greater LA Pharmacists Association with the help of CPhA, and Jon Roth, Marshal Abdullah, Janice Cooper, Jerome Mo, Kathy Besinque, and especially our current president, Gail Orum, were instrumental in helping make GLAPhA strong.