Our Team
Delesha Carpenter, PhD
Delesha Carpenter is an Associate Professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her educational background includes clinical training in respiratory therapy and public health. She has over ten years of experience working on patient-provider communication research and has developed several technology-based interventions to improve clinical outcomes for youth with chronic diseases. Her primary research interests are patient-provider communication, chronic disease self-management, mHealth, medication adherence, mental health, and rural health. She has authored more than 95 peer-reviewed publications and led more than a dozen research studies as a principal investigator.
Stephanie Kiser, RPh
Stephanie Kiser is a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina. She directs the Rural Pharmacy Health Certificate program, which engages PharmD students in rural pharmacy practice sites across Western NC and prepares Rural Scholars for collaborative, interprofessional practice. She works closely with rural pharmacists and rural communities to leverage opportunities to advance pharmacy practice in those settings, while addressing rural health disparities.
Geoffrey Curran, PhD
Dr. Curran is a medical sociologist. He is a Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Psychiatry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). For the past 15+ years he has been continually funded by the National Institutes of Health (US) and the US Department of Veterans Affairs to develop and test a range of implementation strategies designed to support the uptake and sustainment of evidence-based practices. Dr. Curran also has written widely on research design and methodology in implementation science. He is the Director of the Center for Implementation Research, which is supported by funding from the UAMS College of Pharmacy, UAMS College of Medicine, and the UAMS Translational Research Institute (TRI; grant UL1 TR003107). The Center is devoted to developing and testing implementation strategies across a wide range of service contexts (especially community pharmacies and primary care locations), assisting with the implementation of practices within community practices, and training the next generation of implementation scientists.
Salisa Westrick, BS Pharm, MS, PhD, FAPhA
Dr. Westrick is a sterling professor and department head of Health Outcomes Research and Policy at Auburn University. Her research program applies various organizational theories and management principles with the goal to optimize organizational performance through innovation adoption and evaluation of various types of pharmacy-based innovations including immunization, biometric screening and medication therapy management services. While much of her research experience is related to pharmacy-based immunization services, concepts related to adoption and implementation of innovations are transferrable and applicable to other organizations and other innovations. Her research programs can be classified into two areas: access to care among older adults and innovation adoption.
Meagen Rosenthal, PhD
Meagen Rosenthal is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Administration at the University of Mississippi. She received her PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of Alberta, Canada. She has been a faculty member at the University of Mississippi since 2014. Her research focuses on two primary areas. The first area focuses on the integration evidence based advanced clinical services into the community pharmacy setting. Previously published work in this area has focused specifically on topics such as the delivery of MTM services and pharmacists’ independent prescribing. The second area focuses on patient-centered research development around Type 2 diabetes and obesity. Previously published work in this area has included the process of patient-centered research question development and weight management in the community pharmacy setting.
Tessa Hastings, PhD
Tessa Hastings is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcomes Sciences at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy in Columbia, South Carolina. Hastings received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Health Outcomes Research and Policy from Auburn University. Her research applies implementation science principles to improve healthcare safety and effectiveness through the adoption of innovations in pharmacy settings, primarily focusing on pharmacy-based immunization services and immunization information systems.
Megan G. Smith, PharmD, BCACP
Megan Smith is an Assistant Professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy. She is an advocate for elevating community pharmacy practice through teaching and research. She is the Residency Program Director for UAMS PGY1 Community-Based Residency Program, and helped to launch the Arkansas Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network. She obtained her Doctorate of Pharmacy degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy (UNC), completed a PGY1 community pharmacy residency at Kerr Drug, followed by training in practice-based research and education through a community pharmacy research fellowship at UNC. Her research areas include community-based point-of-care testing, delivery of clinical services within community pharmacy, and testing implementation strategies within community pharmacies.
Jure Baloh, PhD, MHA
Jure Baloh is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and Affiliated Investigator at UAMS Center for Implementation Research. He received a PhD in Health Services and Policy from the University of Iowa. His research focuses on examining factors and processes (and their interplay) that influence implementation of innovations in health services organizations, with an emphasis on applying and evaluating organizational theory in implementation research.
Ashley Nicole Hannings, PharmD, BCACP
Ashley Hannings is the Associate Director of Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from UGA in 2011. She completed a PGY-1 residency at the McWhorter School of Pharmacy at Samford University & Jefferson County Department of Health in Birmingham, AL, with an emphasis in ambulatory care. She then completed a PGY-2 residency in community pharmacy & academia through the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Kerr Drug in Chapel Hill. Dr. Hannings is based out of the Division of Experience Programs and works with students during their Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE), facilitating their learning during patient care experiences, including immunization clinics and ambulatory care clinics. Dr. Hannings coordinates the college’s immunization efforts, which includes a collaboration with the University Health Center to provide influenza vaccinations across campus and through two county government contracts. In addition, she serves as co-coordinator for the entrepreneurship program, is a trainer for the American Pharmacists Association’s Pharmacy Based Immunization Delivery Program, and is board certified in ambulatory care.
Tyler Melton, PharmD, MPH, BCPS
Tyler Melton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), College of Pharmacy. He has ten years of pharmacy practice experience including inpatient and outpatient pharmacy in rural environments. Tyler joined UTHSC in September of 2020, after completing a postdoctoral research fellowship in Community Pharmacy Practice and Prescription Drug Abuse and earning his Master of Public Health from East Tennessee State University. His areas of research expertise include community pharmacy practice, rural health, health disparities, and prescription drug misuse.
Abby Gamble, MA
Abby Gamble is a Program Manager for various research projects in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her MA in Biological Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma. She previously researched public health issues and developments in North Carolina, especially in rural communities, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and coordinated clinical trials in UNC’s School of Medicine. Her research interests include health disparities, social and behavioral aspects of health, and rural health.