Alum Andrew Wilcox receives the VA’s highest pharmacy leadership award for working to redefine pharmacy’s role in veteran healthcare

By Katie Ginder-Vogel

When Andrew Wilcox (PharmD ’01) first started his career in pharmacy, his focus was on individual patients.

“I got to know veterans and the family members managing their care, building rapport and connection and learning about their needs, concerns, worries, and successes,” he says.

But as he transitioned into leadership, he realized something: His patients had been replaced, but his process remained the same.

“Instead of patients, I was working with team members — the people who care for those patients,” says Wilcox, chief of pharmacy at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. “Just like in a patient visit, my team have their own things they’re working on — concerns, aspirations. So I refocused on a new question: How can I and our leadership team partner with our frontline staff on who they want to be as clinicians and frontline leaders?” 

“This inspires me to keep leaning into my values, caring for our team, and advancing care for veterans.”
—Andrew Wilcox

Seeking the answer to that question has guided his leadership journey and led him to receive the highest honor for pharmacy leadership in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: the 2024 Undersecretary for Health Excellence in Pharmacist Leadership Award.

“It’s very humbling, and I’m very honored,” Wilcox says. “This inspires me to keep leaning into my values, caring for our team, and advancing care for veterans.”

The program leaders who contributed to Wilcox’s nomination said he fosters a positive and inclusive environment, with a growth mindset that encourages all members of the team to bring new ideas to the table. Melissa Christopher, the VA’s national director of academic detailing, was impressed that Wilcox’s team shared his impact on them in their nomination.

“I was really touched by his impact on the staff and morale,” Christopher says. “It’s the first time I have ever seen that, in the four years I’ve been participating in awards selection.”

Nationally recognized care innovations

Under Wilcox’s leadership, the pharmacy department has established new services, expanded, and been recognized for positioning pharmacists to directly improve patient outcomes.

One of his team’s key achievements was earning the first-ever Clinical Pharmacy Practice Office (CPPO) Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT) Platinum Practice Designation in 2020. In the PACT care model, pharmacists are integrated into primary care teams, providing direct patient care. The team’s platinum designation means they built out the infrastructure and processes needed to execute the care model exactly as intended. More recently, they became the first to pilot an enhanced PACT model, tailored for rural practice environments.

“I’m proud of our ongoing commitment to advancing pharmacy practice, supporting frontline innovators, and enabling them to run with new ideas,” Wilcox says. “We share the cool stuff we do with colleagues across the country.”

Under Wilcox’s guidance, three other pharmacy-powered projects have also been recognized nationally by the VA as Diffusion of Excellence Gold Status Practices. The first, implemented in 2014, used pharmacist providers to offload 27% of primary care provider appointments by managing chronic diseases that are mainly treated by medication and increasing referrals through patient education.

“We optimized the team integration of clinical pharmacy practitioners within primary care teams to decrease wait times and increase access, improve quality, and boost team satisfaction. That became an award-winning program that caught fire and resulted in more pharmacist positions to do the same nationally,” Wilcox says.

The second Gold Status Practice — Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Coordinated Access to Reduce Exacerbations (COPD CARE), designed by School of Pharmacy Associate Professor Ed Portillo (PharmD ’14) — uses pharmacists on an interprofessional team to enhance the transition of care for COPD patients at discharge, including assessing patients’ inhaler technique, providing disease state education, and following up with patients. That intervention, which significantly increased primary care access and reduced 30-day readmissions by 14%, has been adopted by nearly 50 VAs.

The third Gold Status Practice awarded in 2024 is Centralized Specialty Medication Management, which manages high-cost specialty medications. When working with the clinic, led by Tyler Albright (PharmD ‘21) and School of Pharmacy Associate Professor Amanda Margolis (PharmD ’09, MS ’17), veterans are 25% less likely to discontinue their medication due to side effects within one year.

“Letting our Madison VA’s voice be heard and influence national change has been so impactful to be part of,” he says.

Wilcox and his team have also advanced additional innovative pharmacy-led solutions, earning national recognition as CPPO Strong Practices. This includes a population management initiative to enhance pharmacist-driven primary care.

Wilcox has also inspired two inpatient practice model transformations, most recently with the addition of five acute care clinical pharmacist practitioner positions to decrease the number of patients per pharmacist and allow pharmacists to be fully integrated within medicine teams.

“I give credit to my team,” Wilcox says. “Our partnership with the School of Pharmacy and the people we’ve been able to recruit and hire — high-performing individuals who are great clinicians, great preceptors, leaders, innovators, and really awesome people, who care for each other and bring a shared value system to work — they make everything happen.” 

Leadership journey

Wilcox’s leadership journey began in middle school student council, where he says he “got the bug for getting involved and having a say,” which continued through high school and college. At the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy, exposure to VA pharmacy residents in his pharmacotherapy lab opened his eyes to the VA’s pharmacist-led care model.

“I leaned toward the VA, the largest integrated healthcare system in America, for my residency, and I got a slot,” he says.

After residency, he joined a VA outpatient clinic in Rockford, Illinois, as a clinical specialist running the anticoagulation and medication management clinics. Attending the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin’s Young Pharmacist Leadership conference solidified his commitment to leadership.

“That was very formative for me,” he recalls. “It struck me how many challenges there are and how much need there is for pharmacists and technicians to step up. I left feeling like there was more I could be doing.”

Soon after, he took on his first formal leadership role, returning to the Madison VA as associate chief of pharmacy.

“I found myself as a fish out of water,” he says. “I’d been a frontline clinician and was now responsible for inpatient care, budgets, HR, and technology.” To get up to speed, he completed the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ Pharmacy Leadership Academy, and in 2011, after three years as associate chief, Wilcox became chief of pharmacy at the Madison VA. He now oversees 200 people within the pharmacy service — which covers outpatient pharmacy, ambulatory care pharmacy services, and acute care services for the 130-bed hospital.

Wilcox also directs the Madison VA’s two-year health system pharmacy administration and leadership pharmacy residency, which he says benefits from strong ties to the School of Pharmacy.

“Our relationship with the School of Pharmacy is deeply rooted through the faculty who practice at our site, our residents and pharmacists teaching at the School, and all the student pharmacists we take for clinical rotations,” says Wilcox. “I can say with confidence we’re better because of our relationship with the School.”

At the national level, Wilcox also shapes pharmacy practice through his work on the VA’s Clinical Pharmacy Executive Committee, where he works with regional and national teams to advance practice across the system.

“I knew that if I leaned into my commitment and passion for this place, patient care, and Wisconsin pharmacy, and surrounded myself with good people, positive things would come.”
—Andrew Wilcox

“I knew that if I leaned into my commitment and passion for this place, patient care, and Wisconsin pharmacy, and surrounded myself with good people, positive things would come,” he says. “That was 17 years ago, and I’ve continued to learn, grow, and stay committed to those values. I’ve surrounded myself with great people, and we challenge and advance each other.” 

His commitment has paid off, racking up a litany of awards, including the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin’s 2019 Pharmacist of the Year award; Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 12 Director Award in 2020 for COVID-19 response; Madison VA Director’s Team Innovation recognitions in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012; and the William S. Middleton Memorial VA Strategic Priority Award in 2019.

Wilcox says that his team will keep challenging the status quo, aiming to improve veterans’ care and expand pharmacists’ roles. For example, this summer, the Madison VA is starting a PGY-2 residency training program in pharmacogenomics — one of the first two in VA and the handful across the country.

“As chief, I’m able to set and drive our mission, vision, values, and culture, and it’s the team who embraces that, improves upon it, amplifies it, and lives it out day to day,” he says. “We’ll continue to innovate and help pharmacy be the solution to the challenges out there.”