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Medical Science Liaison, Western North Carolina/South Carolina/Eastern Tennessee/Kentucky/ West Virginia
With a strong background in clinical practice and research in HIV and other infectious diseases, Tyler Stone adds extensive skills to his role as Medical
Science Liaison at ViiV Healthcare. Accomplished as a leader and preceptor, he also holds expertise in complex HIV care management, anti-infective therapies, innovative interventional strategies, health outcomes, and quality improvement. Having developed a passion for HIV care during his post-graduate work, Tyler realized the values of knowledge sharing and compassion that had served him well in his personal and professional life would also help him provide exemplary HIV support to patients and providers. Motivated to help others overcome barriers, he is passionate about bringing his compassion and knowledge to ViiV to support healthcare providers, people living with HIV, and those who may benefit from pre-exposure prophylaxis.Current role: Tyler joined ViiV in early 2023 as a Medical Science Liaison. In this role, he identifies and interacts with external experts to better understand their insights on ViiV’s HIV portfolio. Tyler also serves as a medical expert for the ViiV portfolio and engages with healthcare providers on scientific topics of interest. In addition, he is a presenter at ViiV educational programs for healthcare professionals, attends advisory boards and scientific conferences, and supports ViiV in its clinical development activities.
Experience: In his most recent role before joining ViiV, Tyler was credentialed as a Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner (CPP) in the role of Pharmacy Practice Leader, Infectious Disease at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As a CPP in their Ryan White-funded HIV clinic, he provided HIV medical care for a diverse patient population with various co-morbidities and a high degree of psychosocial complexity while managing multiple infectious diseases, including HIV, hepatitis B and C, mycobacterial infections, and infections requiring long-term intravenous and oral antibiotics. Following his post-graduate residency at Wake Forest Baptist, Tyler transitioned to the role of Pharmacy Practice Leader, with responsibility for providing care in three areas: Infectious Disease Clinic/Outpatient Antimicrobial Therapy, Inpatient Infectious Disease Consults, and Antimicrobial Stewardship. His work
included collaborating with infectious disease physicians, pharmacy clinical directors/managers, infection prevention and clinical microbiology staff, and other professionals. His additional responsibilities included developing interventional strategies to maximize appropriate anti-infective utilization and improvement in patient outcomes, providing professional education, and serving as a preceptor for pharmacy students and residents. While at Wake Forest Baptist, Tyler was Primary Investigator or Co-investigator for numerous research projects, and he has authored or co-authored multiple academic works. He also served as Graduate Pharmacy Education Research Committee Chair, responsible for the direction and oversight of the residency research program and project teams. In earlier positions, Tyler worked as a pharmacy intern at The University of Kansas Health System and Target/CVS Pharmacy.Education: Tyler received his PharmD from the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence, Kansas, after completing a BS in Education with an emphasis in Health, Sport, and Exercise Science, also from KU. He completed his PGY1 Pharmacy and PGY2 Infectious Diseases residencies at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Personal interests: Tyler and his wife live in Winston-Salem with their two dogs, Lucy and Lola. In his spare time, Tyler enjoys exercising, traveling, fly-fishing, golfing, and spending time at the beach and in the mountains.
Contact: tyler.j.stone@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Central Midwest
Belma’s passion for HIV care was sparked while on an international service advanced pharmacy practice experience rotation in Eswatini, Africa.
She helped develop a pharmacy tech program at one of the schools in Eswatini. Ever since she has wanted to work on educating patients and their healthcare teams about medication options for HIV treatment and prevention. Belma received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy’s St. Louis College of Pharmacy in 2013. She also holds credentials as an HIV Pharmacist from the American Academy of HIV Medicine and an HIV Prevention Certified Provider from HealthHIV. Belma began her career in HIV at Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy in 2015, where she worked for six years developing programs focused on HIV support.Current role: Belma joined ViiV Healthcare as the Medical Science Liaison covering the Midwest territory in March 2023. In this role, she identifies and interacts with external experts to understand their insights on ViiV’s HIV portfolio and engages with health care professionals (HCPs) on scientific topics of interest. Belma also serves as a medical expert for the ViiV portfolio of products and presents ViiV education programs to HCPs. She also supports ViiV in its clinical development activities and attends advisory boards and scientific conferences.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Belma was an ambulatory care clinical pharmacist specialist at the Infectious Disease Clinic at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. SSM is a multidisciplinary teaching clinic where she directly cared for patients living with HIV and hepatitis, as well as those who could benefit from HIV prevention. In her role, she started a new Ryan White clinic and, within 2 years, the clinic was servicing 100 patients living with HIV and almost 30 PrEP patients. Belma led the clinic’s HIV treatment and prevention as well as hepatitis C treatment programs, which included developing clinic and health system-wide protocols and best practices, providing clinical education to practitioners and internal medicine residents, prescribing PrEP under a Collaborative Practice Agreement, and participating in clinical research – including serving as an investigator and site study coordinator for ViiV Healthcare’s PILLAR study. Also, while at SSM Health, she provided regular educational presentations about HIV treatment and prevention to internal physicians and, as needed, to leadership and providers in other departments. She followed HIV inpatients and collaborated with hospitalists to optimize disease and medication management. In addition, she developed a rapid start protocol for newly diagnosed patients with HIV and a Hepatitis C treatment protocol for the clinic. Belma created a collaborative practice agreement (CPA) for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and managed her own panel of PrEP patients through a CPA. This management encompassed ordering labs and prescribing PrEP as well as STI treatment and preventative interventions such as immunizations. She also presented to system- wide clinical and Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) committees.
Education: Belma received her PharmD from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis.
Personal interests: Belma was born in Bosnia and spent her early childhood living in Germany, until her family moved to St. Louis when Belma was ten years old. She speaks English, Bosnian, and German. In her spare time, Belma enjoys cooking, hiking, traveling, and spending quality time with her husband Brandon, their two daughters Isabella and Mila, and dogs Bader and Bailey. They are all die-hard St. Louis Cardinals baseball, St. Louis Blues hockey, and University of Tennessee football fans. Belma and her family are looking forward to traveling to Bosnia, Australia, and Denmark in the next couple of years to visit family.
Contact: belma.m.corpening@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison
Medical Science Liaison,West Tennessee/Arkansas/Alabama/Mississippi/ Louisiana
Nate Boutte brings to ViiV Healthcare over 15 years of experience in patientcentered pharmaceutical care as a specialty pharmacist. He holds extensive expertise in HIV, oncology, rare diseases, organ transplantation, hepatitis C, and Covid-19. He is highly adept at synthesizing clinical data and scientific evidence to enhance patient care strategies and is experienced in community and national media. Nate is passionate about patient advocacy, and his cherished value of ensuring family time motivates him to help patients do the same. At ViiV Healthcare, Nate welcomes expanding his reach beyond the specialty pharmacy setting he excelled in, reaching even more patients living with HIV and helping to ensure their access to care and treatment.
Current role: Nate joined ViiV in 2022 as a Medical Science Liaison, covering West Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In this role, he identifies and interacts with external experts to understand their insights on ViiV’s HIV portfolio. He also serves as a medical expert for the ViiV portfolio and engages with healthcare providers on scientific topics of interest. In addition, Nate is a presenter at ViiV educational programs for healthcare professionals, attends advisory boards and scientific conferences, and supports ViiV in its clinical development activities.
Experience: Nate has diverse pharmacy experience, beginning first as a pharmacist at Walgreens in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked closely with both HIV patients and underserved communities. Since then, he has served in various roles from staff pharmacist to pharmacy manager and from preceptor to mentor. In his most recent position before joining ViiV, Nate was Clinical Pharmacy Manager/Liaison for over five years at Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy in Memphis. In this role, he spearheaded the growth and management of all aspects of a community-based specialty pharmacy, including compliance, limited distribution, drug inventory management, shipping, and sales. The population served included about 500 people living with HIV or needing pre-exposure prophylaxis. Nate also integrated government-sponsored and third-party payer health care programs, prior authorization processes, and patient assistance programs to remove barriers for patients. He excelled at cultivating highly effective relationships with providers in HIV, oncology, HCV, rare diseases, and organ transplantation, collaborating to ensure appropriate therapy, and providing medical education. As the leader of a team of 15 staff, he oversaw the accurate fulfillment of 150–200 prescriptions daily within a fast-paced, specialty pharmacy environment. He was known for inspiring his team with a keen eye for maximizing talent through coaching and mentoring. Before this, Nate worked as Clinical Pharmacy Manager at Advanced Pharmacy Solutions for several years in Southaven, Mississippi. He led pharmacy operations to fill 800+ scripts daily across five states while managing all pharmacy workflows and processes, guaranteeing compliance, accuracy, and patient safety. He provided insightful educational presentations, trained new employees, and ensured quality compliance. In earlier pharmacy work, Nate worked one year as Staff Pharmacist before advancing to Pharmacy Manager and contributing over the following six years at three Memphis Walgreens pharmacies. His multiple responsibilities included training new pharmacy managers, managing drug inventory, and promoting community health through immunizations and preventive care. Through his dedicated efforts, one store became the top volume store in the district and a “Top 30” store nationally.
Education: Nate received his PharmD in 2007 from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee. He also holds a BS in Biology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Personal Interests: Nate lives with his wife and two children in Memphis, Tennessee, and was born in Calcasieu Parish Lake Charles in Louisiana. He loves his Cajun roots and is thrilled to visit home whenever he can to “get some crawfish, boudain, po-boys, and beignets on the regular!” Spending time with his family, including his three sisters, is a very important priority for Nate. He likes to relax by going to movies, binging Netflix, working out, playing video games, listening to music, or watching sports.
Contact: nate.s.boutte@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Southern California
Saira Rab brings to ViiV Healthcare an inspired dedication and 15 years of diverse clinical pharmacy experience in HIV and infectious diseases. Shaped by her experiences during pharmacy school and her years of clinical pharmacy practice, she recognizes the critical role of clinical pharmacy and engaged healthcare teams in ensuring exemplary care for people living with HIV. Knowing that optimal HIV care includes excellence in drug therapy as well as individual and community support, Saira is proud to share in the values and mission of ViiV and echoes the ViiV commitment to meeting the diverse needs of the HIV community.
Current role: Saira joined ViiV in the Spring of 2021 as a Medical Science Liaison for Southern California. Her responsibilities include identifying and interacting with external experts to understand their insights on the ViiV HIV portfolio and serving as a medical expert for the portfolio. In addition, she engages with healthcare providers on scientific topics of interest, presents ViiV educational programs for healthcare professionals, attends advisory boards and scientific conferences, and supports ViiV clinical development activities.
Experience: In her most recent role before joining ViiV, Saira served for 15 years as a Clinical Pharmacist Specialist in Infectious Diseases at Grady Health System (GHS) in Atlanta, Georgia, providing clinical pharmacy services to the HIV inpatient and Infectious Diseases consult services, the HIV outpatient clinic, and the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. Her accomplishments included the development and formalization of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and the establishment of its evaluation process. Through GHS, Saira also provided services at the Ponce De Leon Clinic, which annually serves over 6,000 people living with HIV and is distinguished as one of the largest Ryan White-funded clinics in the United States. Her responsibilities at the Clinic included educating and monitoring patients with HIV during antiretroviral therapy initiation or restart, educating and monitoring patients with hepatitis C/HIV coinfection during hepatitis C treatment initiation, and providing antiretroviral therapy recommendations for patients with highly drug resistant HIV infection. In her role, Saira also educated providers on antiretroviral therapy, drug interactions, adverse effects, and dosing. Her specialized pharmacy services included warfarin monitoring of HIV-positive patients requiring anticoagulation, and therapy recommendations for HIV-positive patients with hyperlipidemia. As a patient advocate, Saira implemented various approaches to help ensure patient access to medication, including co-pay cards and through patient assistance programs, networks, and foundations.
Concurrent with her work at GHS, Saira contributed over six years until 2021 as a PRN Infectious Diseases Consultant for Wolters Kluwer in Hudson, Ohio. Her diverse content development work included reviewing and editing material for monographs on antibiotic, antiviral, antiretroviral, antifungal, and antiparasitic agents. She ensured accurate and current information, and in addition, developed adverse drug reaction content. Saira also is experienced in community pharmacy, working as a Pharmacy Intern for two years at CVS Pharmacy in Colonie, New York. She is currently an active member of the Society of Infectious Disease Pharmacists (SIDP) and serves on their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce.Education: Saira earned a BS in Biology from The State University of New York Binghamton and a PharmD from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She completed her PGY-1 residency and PGY-2 residency in Infectious Diseases at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Personal Interests: Born and raised in upstate New York, Saira recently relocated to San Diego from Atlanta to be closer to her family. She enjoys traveling, reading, trying new foods, working out, spending time with family and friends, and going to the beach.
Contact: saira.x.rab@viivhealthcare.com
Director, Medical Science Liaison, East - North America
Motivated by her passion for education, developing others, and a desire to improve the lives of people living with HIV, Carmel’s interests create an ideal fit for her role at ViiV Healthcare. With her expertise and interest in HIV underpinning her entire career, Carmel is respected for her leadership skills, energized by the dedication of her team, and excited to be part of scientific discussions that advance the understanding of HIV and its treatment. She brings a background rich in pharmaceutical knowledge and practice, team management skills, and collaboration.
Current role:Carmel serves as Director of Medical Science Liaisons in the East. Having recently expanded her team, she enjoys focusing on team member training and development needs while continuing to guide and support their role in providing scientific support to HIV experts and healthcare professionals, clinical development support for research studies, and medical advisory support for the sales organization. An enthusiastic leader who loves to apply her well-developed teaching and coaching skills to interactions with her team, Carmel is immensely gratified to help her team create excellence in their work.
Experience: Prior to her current role in ViiV, Carmel was a Regional Medical Lead for ViiV during a two- year secondment on the Global Launch team for a key ViiV product. In this role, she gained valuable experience leading North American implementation of the global medical affairs strategy and plan, interacting as a member of the cross-functional global launch team, and preparing medical and commercial teams. The professional relationships and scientific credibility she had developed while working for nine years as a Senior Regional Medical Scientist at ViiV and GSK set her up to succeed during her secondment. Throughout her career, Carmel developed scientific engagement skills in additional pharmaceutical medical science liaison positions at Aventis, ViroPharma, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. She built her clinical pharmacy experience as the Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange, NJ. With her love of teaching, she found a natural fit early in her career as Assistant Professor at Rutgers College of Pharmacy in Piscataway, NJ. In this role, she specialized in Infectious Diseases and served as faculty and preceptor for undergraduate and PharmD students during their clerkship and clinical rotations.
Education: Carmel earned her PharmD in 1992 from Rutgers College of Pharmacy and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in infectious diseases in 1994 from the same institution. Her undergraduate work was also at Rutgers College of Pharmacy, where she obtained a BS in Pharmacy.
Personal Interests: Carmel lives in Far Hills, NJ with her husband and two children, who share a love of sports, especially lacrosse. Carmel enjoys attending their sporting events and is also an avid supporter of Rutgers Athletics. She enjoys going to the theater and spending time with family and friends at the beach.
Medical Science Liaison, Mid-Atlantic
Kamaria is driven by her passion to care for those most in need and make a difference while doing so. Having worked for 16 years in HIV and with underserved patient populations, she brings unique skills and extensive clinical pharmacy experience to her role as a Medical Science Liaison at
ViiV Healthcare. Focused on living out the ViiV mission to leave no person living with HIV or AIDS behind, Kamaria’s expertise in research, teaching, and management further complements her work. Kamaria feels fortunate and excited being at the forefront of HIV medicine and science—while learning and growing with a company that finds new ways to help people living with HIV.
Current role: Kamaria joined ViiV in 2021. As a Medical Science Liaison for the Mid-Atlantic region, she has developed a detailed understanding of HIV as well as the science and evidence for ViiV medicines and other treatment options in the therapy area. She also creates long-term peer-to-peer relationships with opinion leaders and other relevant stakeholders to understand their insights and needs, and presents medical information at ViiV educational programs. In addition, Kamaria works with healthcare professionals to foster their engagement in ViiV scientific activities such as advisory boards, speaker programs, and clinical trials.
Experience: Before joining ViiV, Kamaria was a Clinical Manager for over four years in the Division of Pharmacy at Atrium Health Biddle Point in Charlotte, North Carolina. As Manager of a team of seven clinical pharmacists at multiple sites within Atrium Health, Kamaria’s responsibilities included liaising between the Ambulatory
Care Division and pharmacy leadership, coordinating ambulatory care clinical services, developing and implementing formulary interchange documents, and serving on the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. Her other diverse responsibilities included maintaining pharmacotherapy services with an emphasis on HIV as well as anticoagulation, diabetes, and cardiovascular therapy management; and identifying and resolving inpatient/outpatient therapeutics-related challenges to enhance patient care, improve outcomes, and decrease costs. She also provided evidence-informed therapeutics, education, and training to resident physicians, pharmacy residents, and medical/pharmacy students. Her work on interdepartmental committees helped improve pharmacy-related patient care issues, and she researched, developed, and implemented quality improvement and process improvement measures in patients with diabetes. Prior to this, Kamaria worked as Clinical Staff Pharmacist at Carolinas Medical Center Biddle Point in Charlotte, where she advanced after one year to continue as Clinical Care Team Leader for the next ten years. She maintained pharmacotherapy services for HIV and multiple chronic conditions, addressed inpatient/outpatient therapeutic challenges, and contributed in research, quality improvement, and training.
Kamaria has held several academic positions—she taught 14 years as Adjunct Professor, and was Faculty/ Course Manager from 2018 to 2021 for the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte. She also was Coordinator for 14 years of the Atrium Health PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency Program in Charlotte, and served 14 years as Adjunct Clinical Professor for the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Education: Kamaria received her PharmD degree in 2005 from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and completed a Primary Care pharmacy residency at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2006. As an undergraduate, she received a Bachelor of Science in Biology at West Virginia State University.
Personal Interests: Kamaria lives in Charlotte, North Carolina but grew up in California and remains a “Cali- girl” at heart. She and her husband have one grown daughter, and are huge sports fans, typically following North Carolina Central University and Howard University football and basketball. Kamaria enjoys reading and traveling—especially anywhere with a beach! She loves to laugh and enjoys bringing joy to others.
Contact: kamaria.x.brown@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, North Central Florida/South Georgia
With expertise in HIV and infectious diseases and eight years of practice in diverse clinical and academic pharmacy settings, Somer Smith supports her role in ViiV Healthcare with a strong foundation. Her experience in inpatient and outpatient settings has given her valuable insight into achieving optimal HIV care. Somer’s research interests include antiretroviral pharmacotherapy, multi-drug resistant organisms, pediatric/adolescent/young adults living with HIV, prevention of maternal-to-child transmission (PMTCT), and infections in immunocompromised patients. Well- versed in the academic, private, and public health sectors, she is excited to share her expertise at ViiV while keeping pace with advancements to improve HIV care and treatment.
Current role: Somer joined ViiV in late 2019 as a Medical Science Liaison for the North Central Florida/South Georgia region. Her responsibilities include developing collaborative relationships with external experts to better understand their perspectives and providing information about ViiV products. In addition, she delivers educational clinical presentations to healthcare providers, supports ViiV clinical development activities, attends advisory boards and scientific conferences, and is involved in ViiV’s speaker training programs.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Somer gained extensive HIV experience over four years while at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. As an Infectious Disease Clinical Pharmacist in the HIV/Infectious Diseases and Pediatric HIV/Infectious Diseases departments, she provided pharmacotherapy consultation services for Ryan White Part D at Grady Infectious Diseases Ponce clinic and served as co-investigator for the International Maternal and Pediatric Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network Emory University site 5030. Her remit as co-investigator included protocol development and study execution for multiple IMPAACT HIV treatment and prevention protocols, including the Treating Infants Early (TIES) protocol. Additionally, she helped to develop and direct the statewide Georgia Perinatal HIV Services Program with the Georgia State Health Department, serving as a conduit between local public health departments, HIV healthcare providers, and labor and delivery units. Her efforts facilitated identification, linkage into care, and retention of HIV-infected pregnant women and exposed infants.
Somer also served as a Medical Science Liaison in HIV for Theratechnologies. Responsible for a 10-state geography, she fostered professional relationships with medical education and clinical research experts and delivered medical presentations to diverse healthcare audiences. Additional responsibilities included developing research opportunities, contributing to medical education strategies, assisting with team training, and participating in scientific meetings and conferences. Earlier in her career, Somer held faculty positions at the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of South Alabama (USA) School of Medicine, where she helped to initiate the antimicrobial stewardship program at the USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital and served as Quality Manager in the Ryan White HIV Clinic. Somer has published in the area of pediatric infectious diseases and has presented on local, state, and national levels to further the advancement of PMCTC.
Education: Somer received her PharmD in 2011 from Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy in Auburn, Alabama, and completed a joint ASHP accredited residency in infectious diseases with the USA School of Medicine and Auburn University School of Pharmacy in Mobile, Alabama. She also holds a BS in Biomedical Sciences from Auburn University.
Personal Interests: Somer lives in Mobile, Alabama with her husband and their toddler son, Barrett, and puppy, Remi. She enjoys spending time with her husband, playing outside with Barrett and grilling out with friends. Her hobbies include playing the piano, drawing, traveling, attending concerts and festivals, and DIY projects.
Contact: somer.x.smith@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Southeast US
Alftan Dyson has a clear vision and dedication to HIV interwoven in the educational pursuits, career accomplishments, and community service activities that define her. With a passion for excellence, she brings her inspired approach to ViiV Healthcare to share her broad HIV clinical pharmacy expertise and scientific knowledge along with teaching experience, leadership and managerial abilities, and public speaking skills. Motivated to give back to the world, her enthusiasm echoes ViiV’s commitment to improving the lives of all people living with HIV.
Current role: As a Medical Science Liaison, Alftan identifies and interacts with external experts to gain an understanding of their views and provide information about ViiV products and diseases of interest to ViiV. In addition, she meets with healthcare professionals and scientists to discuss possible opportunities of interest to ViiV, is a scientific speaker for non-independent ViiV-sponsored programs for healthcare professionals, and presents at ViiV-sponsored advisory boards. Her responsibilities also include providing scientific support to the ViiV sales team, training contracted ViiV speakers, and supporting ViiV clinical development activities.
Experience: In her most recent role prior to joining ViiV, Alftan was Director of Pharmacy Services for two years at Medical Advocacy and Outreach (MAO) in Montgomery, Alabama. There she developed competencies in pharmacy policies, procedures, and processes, aligning with federal and state regulations, including those related to 340B operation. Helping to oversee MAO’s 340B operations helped Alftan ensure compliance with contract and in-house pharmacy operations and resulted in savings that allowed development of new clinical programs to improve patient outcomes. Alftan’s multiple other responsibilities included staff supervision and selection, finance and billing activities, inventory management, and staff training and orientation. During this time, Alftan also developed her public speaking skills as a community speaker and member of the Speakers Bureau for Janssen Therapeutics. Prior to this, Alftan was Store Manager, Local Specialty Pharmacy, at Walgreens Pharmacy at Jackson Hospital in Montgomery, gaining clinical and managerial experience while supervising staff, managing workflow, implementing patient care programs, interacting with physicians and other healthcare professionals, and identifying opportunities for quality improvement. In earlier work, Alftan was a Volunteer Clinical HIV/Hepatitis C Pharmacist at MAO of Alabama, focused on managing disease state treatment and patient medication counseling, and also progressed in Walgreens pharmacies to develop her clinical and pharmaceutical skills as Pharmacy Intern, Technician, and Manager. Alftan currently holds the position of Director, Zone 2 for the National Pharmaceutical Association (NPhA), and her dedication to advancing others is shown in her recent positions as Affiliate Clinical Instructor of Pharmacy Practice at Auburn University, Harrison School of Pharmacy in Auburn, Alabama and as Affiliate Clinical Instructor of Pharmacy Practice at Samford University, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Education: Alftan received her PharmD in 2013 from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, and is a Board-Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist (BCACP) and HIV Pharmacist (AAHIVP). In 2014, she completed her Community Pharmacy Practice Residency at The University of Missouri-Kansas City, and was awarded a Certificate from the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center (MATEC) Scholars Program in Kansas City, Missouri. Alftan holds a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Ohio State University in Columbus, and a BS in Biology with Minor in Chemistry, Pre-Professional, from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Personal Interests: Alftan lives with her husband and sweet Yorkie pup in Montgomery, Alabama, and is active in helping her community. As a lifelong learner, she enjoys sharing her knowledge with others, inspired by her favorite quote: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” In her free time, she’s found a way to balance her sometimes competing passions of being a foodie and fitness enthusiast, and finds relaxation through shopping. Alftan loves to travel, so much so that she’d gladly ride an airplane to work every day if she could!
Contact: alftan.x.dyson@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Connecticut/Upstate New York
Specialized in the treatment of patients with HIV and hepatitis C and driven by her passion to help those living with HIV live their best lives, Ann Linskey finds her role at ViiV Healthcare inspiring and rewarding. With clinical and community pharmacy expertise gleaned from more than 18 years in pharmacy, including pharmacy management experience, Ann underscores her work with an overarching interest in harm reduction, quality, and patient safety. She is skilled in working closely with patients, providers, and local AIDS Service Organizations to ensure optimal HIV care, and is effective in building relationships and facilitating teamwork. As a life-long learner, Ann is excited to share in ViiV’s continuing work to develop innovative solutions for HIV and leave no person living with HIV behind.
Current role: Ann joined ViiV in mid-2020 as Medical Science Liaison for Connecticut and Upstate New York. In her role, she meets with external experts to gain an understanding of their views and appropriately inform them about information relating to diseases of interest to ViiV and ViiV products. Additionally, she interacts with healthcare professionals and scientists about possible scientific opportunities of interest to ViiV, supports ViiV clinical development activities including site identification and subject retention, and liaises for Investigator Support Studies proposals. She also trains and develops contracted speakers, provides ongoing scientific support, participates in scientific conventions and advisory boards, and addresses unsolicited questions regarding ViiV products. Ann also provides internal scientific and therapeutic support and training.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Ann was Pharmacy Manager for over seven years at Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy in Hartford, Connecticut—a 340B pharmacy specializing in the treatment of patients with HIV and hepatitis C. With responsibility for clinically managing approximately 90 HIV patients and 20 hepatitis C patients at any given time, she focused on building trusting relationships with them, providing patient education, creating attainable care plans to resolve issues, creating novel solutions after identifying adherence barriers, and facilitating patient assistance measures to ensure affordability. Along with compounding specialty medications and ensuring safe and accurate medication preparation and dispensing, she optimized drug therapy by collaborating with healthcare providers to maximize positive outcomes, and pursued quality improvement through documentation, outcomes measures, and statistical analysis. Her role gave her opportunity to develop her communication skills through presentations on varied topics to peers, nurses, case managers, and patients.
Ann was a founding member of the interdisciplinary Connecticut Overdose Prevention Workgroup, working to combat the opioid crisis by collaborating with representatives from multiple organizations including AIDS Connecticut (ACT), the Connecticut Department of Health, and the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. She also served as preceptor to students at the University of Saint Joseph School of Pharmacy in Hartford, Connecticut.
Education: Ann received her PharmD in 2002 from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at the University of the Sciences, and holds AAHIVP certification from the American Academy of HIV Medicine.
Personal interests: Living in Wethersfield, Connecticut with her husband, two children, and chocolate Labrador Retriever, Ann enjoys spending time with her family during New England’s four varied seasons— going to the beach, riding bikes, hiking, picking seasonal fruit at local farms, and participating in a variety of winter sports.
Contact: ann.m.linskey@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison
Bonnie brings excellence and high performance to ViiV Healthcare along with 17 years of HIV-focused experience in clinical pharmacy, research, and pharmaceuticals. With a solid skill set in scientific knowledge and customer interaction, she is dedicated to ensuring patient access to innovative HIV medicines and to training and educational support of her colleagues and the greater HIV community.
Current Role: In her current role as Medical Science Liaison, Bonnie meets with HIV experts to gain an understanding of their views and assess their scientific needs, provides appropriate disease and ViiV product information, and responds to questions and concerns. She also supports ViiV clinical development activities and assesses possible scientific research opportunities. Recognized for her expertise in training and development, Bonnie plays a major role in new-hire training and mentoring, and she is ViiV’s competitor product lead. Having joined GSK in 2001 and being with ViiV Healthcare since its founding in 2009, Bonnie brings a wealth of experience to her customers and colleagues.
Experience: Prior to ViiV Healthcare, Bonnie broadened her HIV knowledge and expertise in a variety of positions, working most recently for GSK as a Senior Regional Medical Scientist in the HIV area. While at GSK she expanded her scientific and customer engagement skills and advanced over eight years to a senior role on the team. Prior to joining industry, Bonnie specialized as a clinical pharmacist in the Albany Medical Center AIDS Program for over twelve years, and she also worked as a research administrator in the Division of HIV Medicine at Albany Medical College. In addition, she served concurrently as adjunct faculty for many years at the Albany College of Pharmacy.
Education: Bonnie received her PharmD in 1987 from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and completed a residency in infectious disease and pharmacokinetics at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Throughout her career she has continued to pursue her interest in the area of HIV infection with specific focus on treatment and comorbid conditions.
Personal Interests: Bonnie lives with her husband Kevin in Laurel, Maryland, and has a teenage daughter and son. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, the beach, boating, and spending time with family and friends.
Contact: bonnie.d.collins@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison
In addition to her strong background in medical and scientific information, BoYoung Goh infuses her role at ViiV Healthcare with welldeveloped skills in relationship development, mentoring, collaboration, and cross-functional management. With her HIV pharmaceutical experience and interest in developing others, she is a valued team member whose leadership and mentoring help advance ViiV’s goals to create innovative treatments for people living with HIV.
Current Role: In her role as a Medical Science Liaison, BoYoung develops and maintains relationships with regional and national HIV experts and healthcare professionals, engaging in discussion and serving as a medical and scientific resource for ViiV-related products and initiatives. She also supports ongoing and new ViiV clinical studies by serving as a point of contact for investigators, and supports submission and progress of investigator-initiated studies, interacting with the internal clinical team for consideration of study opportunities and ensuring timely progress on active studies. BoYoung also serves as a resource to local AIDS Service Organizations, where she provides disease state and product education for patients and case managers, and supports the ViiV sales organization by collaborating and working crossfunctionally to provide medical training as appropriate.
Experience: Prior to ViiV, BoYoung gained extensive experience in Medical Affairs/Medical Research and Strategy at Daiichi Sankyo, where she thrived for six years following completion of her Rutgers Pharmaceutical Industry Fellowship in Medical Affairs at the same organization. In her most recent position as Associate Director of Medical Communications, she focused on the therapeutic area of thrombosis, with responsibilities including developing and maintaining relationships with regional and national experts, developing and leading medical advisory boards, developing slide presentations for medical science liaison use in responding to unsolicited inquires, and supporting sales representatives by providing clinical presentations and serving as a medical resource. In an earlier role as Manager, her diverse activities included training field Medical Affairs teams on new data releases and medical updates, leading pre-launch and launch initiatives while collaborating with cross-functional teams, and providing medical review for the in-line product promotional review committees. Additionally, she co-led the development and launch of two medical information websites designed for use by internal stakeholders and external customers. While at Daiichi Sankyo, BoYoung developed her leadership and mentoring abilities when she was selected as a Primary Preceptor through the Rutgers Pharmaceutical Industry Fellowship Program—serving to manage and mentor PharmD fellows and support their professional development.
Education: BoYoung earned her PharmD degree in 2007 at the University of the Sciences, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in Philadelphia, and completed her post-doctoral work in 2008 as a fellow in Medical Affairs at Daiichi Sankyo through the Rutgers Pharmaceutical Industry Fellowship program
Personal Interests: BoYoung relocated to San Francisco from New York City in early 2017, along with Oliver, her “adorable” French bulldog. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, the arts, and cooking and baking. She also likes being outdoors, whether at the beach, on a hike, or sightseeing.
Contact: boyoung.x.goh@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Pacific Northwest
Drawing on his expertise in community and clinical pharmacy, Cale Williams brings unique accomplishments and expansive skills to his role as Medical Science Liaison at ViiV Healthcare. With a robust background in specialty disease states including HIV, hepatitis, oncology, immunology, and pulmonology, Cale has emerged as a high-performing problem-solver and team player skilled in pharmaceutical research, education, and counseling. Coupling these talents with a proven record in team management, communication, and business operations, Cale applies an inspired approach at ViiV to help pursue high-quality care for all people living with HIV.
Current role: Having joined ViiV in 2019 as a Medical Science Liaison for the Pacific Northwest region, Cale identifies, develops, and maintains collaborative relationships with external HIV experts. Through communicating a deep scientific knowledge of the latest data, he engages medical audiences to ensure understanding of ViiV medicines. Cale also sources insights on patient needs and current data gaps, provides appropriate response to unsolicited medical information requests, and delivers educational clinical presentations to healthcare providers. In addition, he provides scientific support at major HIV-focused medical congresses, trains ViiV medical speakers, and assists with ViiV-sponsored speaker training events.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Cale developed expertise as a Clinical Pharmacist at Premier Inc./Commcare Specialty Pharmacy in Plantation, Florida, where his work resulted in significant contributions that improved the lives of patients with chronic illnesses. While there, Cale designed, developed, and implemented “Clinical Pathways”, a specialty HIV disease management program that enrolled 92% of patients who were treatmentnaïve or switching to new therapies. The program’s success resulted in Cale expanding its reach to include oncology, hepatitis, autoimmune disorder, primary immunodeficiency, and hemophilia patients, ultimately achieving a 96% medication possession ratio across all managed disease states. In his role, Cale also authored and led team-wide training on novel specialty medication topics, proper regimen selection, and comorbid disease treatment. His additional responsibilities included preparing and dispensing biologic infusion products, consulting with patients, and developing individualized care plans using medication therapy management (MTM) software. He also generated quarterly business reviews for key health plans and created computerbased strategies and solutions to comply with Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) medication dispensing guidelines.
In earlier roles, Cale developed community pharmacy skills in medication dispensing and compounding, patient counseling, MTM services, physician interactions, and pharmacy leadership. After graduation, he started as a rotating Lead Pharmacist for Target Store pharmacies in South Florida, progressing to Pharmacy Manager within two years. Cale broadened his community pharmacy experience while also leading the pharmacy team, developing team expectations and accountability standards, and conducting sales and payroll data analysis.
Education: Cale received his PharmD from the University of Florida in 2008. His professional certifications include Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS), Certified Specialty Pharmacist (CSP), and Credentialed Pharmacist (AAHIVP) by the American Academy of HIV Medicine.
Personal Interests: Cale is relocating to Portland, Oregon from Miami, Florida and is looking forward to new adventures in the Pacific Northwest. As a proud father of two-year-old twin boys, he enjoys traveling and embarking on new adventures with his family. Cale is an avid Florida Gators sports fan and enjoys cheering on his team at Gator football games!
Contact: cale.x.williams@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison
With a solid background in HIV, experience in patient care, and a passion for education, Catherine (Cathy) Schubert has much to offer in her role with ViiV Healthcare. Having worked closely with physicians and healthcare professionals in a variety of roles, she is skilled in diseasestate management and providing medical information, is adept at assessing and understanding clinical issues, and has proven strengths in education and training for both health care providers and patients. Cathy’s commitment and expertise are a complement to ViiV’s focus on innovation for all people living with HIV.
Current Role: Cathy has been with ViiV since the company was formed in 2009. As a Medical Science Liaison, she serves as a field-based medical resource for experts and clinicians in the southeast by providing educational and clinical support by communicating scientific data to help inform providers in patient management decisions. She also provides support for clinical trials and investigators through protocol feasibility, investigator recommendations, and site education for Phase IIb/III and Phase IIIb/IV studies, compassionate use programs, and investigator-initiated studies.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Cathy developed her clinical expertise working as a clinical pharmacist at Kaiser Permanente, collaborating with internal medicine physicians and cardiologists. At Kaiser Permanente, she served on the disease-state management workgroup to identify best practices to improve patient care and quality measures for chronic disease states. She has a passion for education evidenced by her creation of a class to educate patients about lowering their heart disease risk, which was implemented across the Kaiser Permanente-Georgia region. She served as preceptor and lecturer for pharmacy students and residents, and was involved in professional committees. Cathy left Kaiser Permanente and joined GSK as a Senior Regional Medical Scientist in the metabolic area and then transitioned into HIV at GSK.
Education: After completing a BS in Polymer and Textile Chemistry, Cathy earned a PharmD degree in 2001 at Mercer University, and then completed an ASHP-accredited Pharmacy Practice residency at Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia.
Personal Interests: Cathy lives with her husband, Tom, in Atlanta, Georgia. Cathy and Tom enjoy traveling, attending live performances at the Fox Theater, and exploring the food and cocktail scene in and outside of Atlanta. In her spare time, Cathy enjoys serving in her local community by cooking and delivering meals to those who are homebound, and relaxing by reading at the pool or beach.
Medical Science Liaison, Central Midwest
Inspired by her passion to ensure healthcare in under-served populations, Dainielle Fox feels a natural fit in sharing her talents as a ViiV Healthcare Medical Science Liaison. Grounded by her extensive HIV specialty and community pharmacy leadership and practice experience, Dainielle is enthusiastic to contribute in support of ViiV’s innovations in HIV medicines and access. On a path begun as a first-generation college graduate, Dainielle propelled herself to build a career around what she cares most about—ensuring HIV care for all, building enduring relationships, and becoming a leader who creates change for groups most in need. With a close friend who was recently diagnosed with HIV, Dainielle combines personal insight with her proven leadership abilities, HIV specialty expertise, and community pharmacy skills, giving rich perspective to her work.
Current role: As a Medical Science Liaison, Dainielle identifies and interacts with external experts to gain an understanding of their views and provide information about ViiV products and diseases of interest to ViiV. In addition, she is a co-presenter for ViiV promotional programs for healthcare professionals, attends advisory boards and scientific conferences, and supports ViiV clinical development activities.
Experience: In her most recent position prior to joining ViiV, Dainielle was Pharmacy Manager of an HIV specialty pharmacy at Walgreens-Boots Alliance in St. Louis, Missouri, where she led pharmacy operations while strategizing creative ways to grow and maintain the HIV specialty business. Building on her strong relationship skills, Dainielle established an ongoing relationship with a local organization focused on minority health disparities. This allowed her to organize and maintain monthly HIV testing in her pharmacy, and later expand the success to all HIV specialty pharmacies in St. Louis, resulting in a 50% increase in HIV patients and an 80% increase in HIV patient adherence. Through her efforts, community pharmacies evolved from being HIV specialty in name only to being full-service HIV pharmacies known for providing patients and providers with high-quality pharmacy care. Her additional responsibilities as Pharmacy Manager included managing the prescription department inventory, providing training to pharmacy staff, performing medication therapy management, and serving as district Team Leader. Dainielle also established a relationship with the International Institute in St. Louis, which helped ensure immunizations for refugees, and mentored student pharmacists and student pharmacy technicians.
While Pharmacy Manager, Dainielle served concurrently as Relief Pharmacist in a community-based specialty pharmacy at South Hampton Healthcare Center, Walgreens at St. Louis University Hospital, Community: A Walgreens Pharmacy on Euclid and New Ballas. There she provided patient care services to manage HIV and other specialty disease states, helped determine care programs, and counseled patients.
Prior to these roles, Dainielle was a Pharmacy Technician/Intern for ten years at Walgreens-Boots Alliance in St. Louis, and was a Pharmacy Intern at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and a Research Assistant at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. As a long-time active member of her community, Dainielle has contributed professionally and as a volunteer in multiple capacities. In recent years, she served as President of the St. Louis Graduate Chapter of Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity, National Public Relations Chair of the National Pharmaceutical Association, National President of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association, and MidAmerica Province Chaplain of the Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity.
Education: Dainielle earned a PharmD in 2016 from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy in St. Louis, Missouri and completed a BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2009 from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.
Personal Interests: Dainielle lives in St. Louis, Missouri. In her spare time, she enjoys CrossFit® workouts and competitions, spending time with her family, and traveling. She is active in her local alumni association and continues to be a preceptor for pharmacy students at local health fairs.
Contact: dainielle.x.fox@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison
Harold Kong has over twenty years of multifaceted experience in the HIV arena, including expertise gained in the private and public healthcare sectors. Known for developing strong professional relationships within the HIV community, Harold excels at identifying and responding to specific needs and is well-versed in a variety of HIV knowledge areas. With skills in both education and training, Harold is motivated by a dedication to improving patient outcomes and furthering client understanding of complex HIV-related issues.
Current Role: In his current role as Medical Science Liaison with ViiV Healthcare, Harold consults with and assists experts in HIV clinical practice and research by identifying their specific needs while providing relevant and insightful information to meet those needs. With advanced knowledge in many areas, Harold is readily conversant in discussing HIV topics including disease state, treatment and management, clinical research, and current issues and trends. A trusted resource to his colleagues as well, he is recognized for a keen ability to simplify complex medical concepts in a way that promotes rapid understanding and uptake of information. In his role with ViiV, Harold also facilitates educational initiatives and clinical research activities, representing the Medical Science Liaison team on ViiV’s Collaborative Research Trials and Investigator-Initiated Research teams.
Experience: Harold joined ViiV Healthcare in 2010. His extensive ViiV experience since then is complemented by his previous roles as a Senior Regional Medical Scientist for GSK’s HIV division where he focused on antiretroviral products, and as clinical liaison for Science Oriented Solutions, where he provided direct medical information support in GSK’s HIV regional sales force and their customers. While working previously for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Harold supervised the pharmacy directly affiliated with the world-renowned 5P21 HIV clinic. In this role, he managed the medication delivery process for over 4,000 patients with HIV while chairing the HIV Pharmacy Task Force. Gaining inpatient experience early in his career while at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, he served as a clinical pharmacist in the pediatric and women’s hospitals, later advancing to a supervisory role.
Education: After earning a Doctor of Pharmacy in 1984 from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Harold was appointed in 1987 as Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy at USC and served as a preceptor for pharmacy students. He held this position for the next 13 years in conjunction while working at the LAC+USC Medical Center.
Personal Interests: Harold lives in Southern California and enjoys spending time at home with his family. In addition to his love for gardening, he is an avid fan of the Game of Thrones® series.
Contact: harold.r.kong@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, East
As an accomplished leader who thrives in innovative environments, Hubert Sindjui brings over 15 years of progressive experience in nursing and pharmacy to his role in ViiV Healthcare. Highly skilled at building and maintaining lasting relationships, he excels at scientific engagement with therapeutic experts and healthcare professionals and has extensive expertise in infectious diseases, virology/ vaccines, endocrinology/diabetes, immunology, and nephrology. Well-versed in understanding payer needs, Hubert also has a proven track record of improving clinical pharmacy services and patient outcomes through clinical initiatives and educational approaches for patients and providers. He is excited and highly motivated to apply his scientific education expertise, leadership, and patient care skills as part of ViiV’s innovative approach to address the challenges of HIV—while creating connection with people living with HIV and with their communities.
Current role: Hubert joined ViiV in 2020 as a Medical Science Liaison covering the East region, including Washington, DC and northern Virginia. His responsibilities include engaging with external experts to gain an understanding of their insights on the ViiV HIV portfolio, serving as a medical expert for the portfolio, and interacting with healthcare providers on relevant scientific topics of interest. He also conducts presentations and educational programs for healthcare professionals, attends advisory boards and scientific conferences, and supports ViiV clinical development.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Hubert was a Hepatitis C/Infectious Disease Clinical Pharmacist in acute care and clinic settings at Total Health Care (THC) in Baltimore, Maryland. Supervising a team of 30 THC pharmacy staff across nine locations, Hubert ensured optimal clinical pharmacy services delivery and oversaw medication therapy management and clinical services for HIV, hepatitis C/infectious disease, and diabetes. His accomplishments include initiating an HIV Drug Adherence Improvement Initiative in 500+ patients at the THC Ryan White HIV Clinic—this resulted in improved medication pick-up rates and a 5% increase in viral load suppression rates, along with a significant return-to-stock cost savings for HIV drugs. He also pioneered the launch of a hepatitis C prior authorization and patient monitoring program, treating over 120 patients and attaining a 100% approval rate. Concurrently, he also worked as an Ambulatory Care Pharmacist at Kaiser Permanente in Kensington, Maryland, providing Ambulatory Care pharmacy services primarily focused on endocrinology, cardiology, infectious disease, and psychiatry.
Hubert gained additional clinical pharmacy experience in several earlier roles—as a Clinical Pharmacist in Medication Therapy Management at Aegis Health Services in Baltimore and as a Wellness Pharmacist in Medication Therapy Management at Supervalu Inc. in Bowie, Maryland. In these roles, his responsibilities included providing in-person, evidence-based medication therapy management services, collaborating to create and modify treatment and action plans, and supervising a pharmacy staff team across three locations. At Supervalu, he enrolled and coached over 300 diabetes patients in his diabetes management program, which led to a significant reduction in hemoglobin A1C levels for most of them. Hubert also worked as a Licensed Practical Nurse for Home Health Connection in Bethesda, Maryland.
Education: Hubert received a PharmD from Notre Dame of Maryland University in 2013. He received a Practical Nursing Certificate from the University of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. in 2004.
Personal interests: Hubert lives near Washington, DC in Bowie, Maryland with his wife Kengni and their four children. In his free time, he plays sports including tennis, basketball, and swimming, and enjoys taking family road trips. Hubert is keenly interested in giving back to the community and in world news and politics. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of a non-profit, The All Cameroonian Cultural & Development Foundation (ACCDF); is a volunteer Student Mentor for the Haut-Nkam Community Leadership Academy Program; and is bilingual in English and French.
Contact: hubert.m.sindjui@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison
With a passion for making a difference in people’s lives, Jessica Shavalian feels proud to be part of ViiV Healthcare and the company’s strong commitment to developing effective HIV treatments. Inspired by ViiV’s historic accomplishments, she is excited about ViiV’s continuing and future development of HIV compounds and novel formulations, and for their potential to improve the lives of people living with HIV. She brings expertise in community pharmacy and keen insight on the holistic needs of patients and providers in HIV prophylaxis and treatment.
Current role: Having joined ViiV in 2020 as a Medical Science Liaison, Jessica is a medical expert for the ViiV portfolio and engages with healthcare providers on scientific topics of interest to ViiV. In addition, she presents at ViiV educational programs and events for healthcare professionals, attends advisory boards, and participates in scientific conferences and conventions to stay informed on recent developments in HIV disease-state and product research. Jessica also supports ViiV clinical development activities, trains and develops ViiV speakers, and provides ongoing scientific support.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Jessica worked for four years at Walgreens Community-Based Specialty Pharmacy in West Hollywood, California, delivering clinical pharmacy services to patients with HIV, oncology, and multiple sclerosis. A key aspect of her role was to foster and develop relationships between patients and their providers to ensure prompt treatment. To ensure optimal and effective use of HIV and oncology medications over time, she continued therapy management, collaborating with prescribers and other healthcare professionals based on drug therapy guidelines and clinical judgment. Her HIV work included treatment with pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis therapies, and she engaged patients in discussions about disease progression, medication dosing, and overall health to identify barriers to therapy and potential side effects, to increase adherence. Among other responsibilities, she also maximized patient financial assistance, performed thorough verification of medication histories/ reconciliations, assisted in prior authorizations and service/treatment authorization requests, and prepared hazardous, sterile, and non-sterile compounded medications. In addition, she precepted pharmacy students and interns.
During her university studies, Jessica held several leadership roles including Co-Chair of Operation Diabetes, where she trained diverse teams and managed projects to educate patients on lifestyle modifications to achieve and maintain glycemic control. In this role, she also planned events and symposiums to deliver the latest educational information to colleagues and other healthcare personnel, collaborated with other organizations to maximize community impact, and performed blood glucose and A1c patient screenings. As Secretary of the Phi Lambda Sigma Pharmacy Leadership Society, Jessica served as a leader for the School of Pharmacy, planning and managing community service events, fundraising, and patient advocacy initiatives. She organized and conducted the Annual Leadership Competition, Quiz Bowl, Residency Mock Interviews, and Inter-Health Sciences Competition.
Education: Jessica received her PharmD in 2015 from the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She also received a BA in Psychology in 2010 from the University of California, Los Angeles in California.
Personal interests: Jessica is a native of Los Angeles and returned to live there after completing her studies in northern California. Her myriad interests include practicing yoga, playing tennis, hiking, listening to live music, and exploring different cuisines.
Medical Science Liaison
With a career spanning nearly 20 years in pharmacy practice, HIV clinical research and pharmaceuticals, Jimena brings extensive experience and a deep understanding of HIV care and treatment to ViiV Healthcare. Wellversed in clinical research and skilled in collaborative relationships with healthcare professionals, her dedication and focus add strength to ViiV’s commitment to finding innovative treatments. Jimena is excited to share in ViiV’s mission focused on helping people living with HIV.
Current Role: Jimena joined ViiV in 2016. In her role as Medical Science Liaison, she establishes interactions with healthcare professionals and experts in HIV, providing information as appropriate for ViiV’s products and disease states. She delivers scientific presentations in academic and community settings and leads medical presentations during regional advisory boards. Jimena also supports ViiV research activities, including identifying clinical sites and facilitating the referral process and pre-study visit, and functioning as a point of contact between ViiV, the contract research organization, and the investigator site to address any study issues. In addition to training her colleagues on information and updates collected during her attendance at key national medical and scientific conferences, Jimena also functions in an appointed role as a Product Project Lead, providing training to the Medical Science Liaison team when new data is available on her designated product and liaising between the ViiV global team and the North American medical team.
Experience: Prior to ViiV, Jimena developed her skills in HIV in a Medical Science Liaison role with Bristol-Myers Squibb, forming collaborative relationships with healthcare professionals and experts and delivering scientific presentations and education on the company’s products and virology disease states. She also was Medical Science Liaison point for HIV and hepatitis C co-infection. Prior to that, Jimena developed extensive clinical research expertise while working for six years as a Ryan White Title III Clinical Research Pharmacist in the North Broward Hospital District in Fort Lauderdale, supporting physicians in managing hepatitis C and HIV coinfection, monitoring response to therapy, and managing side effects. She also worked closely with patients infected with HIV, counseling them on adherence, side effects, and medication regimens, and coordinated an educational HIV Hispanic Support Group. Earlier in her career, Jimena honed her pharmacy skills working as a clinical pharmacist in a hospital setting, and as a Research Associate providing adherence counseling to research patients on the use of HIV antiretroviral and other therapies. She also gained experience as a Regulatory Affairs Manager for B Braun Medical in Bogotá, Colombia, prior to relocating to the US.
Education: Jimena earned her PharmD in 2006 from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and completed a BS in Pharmacy at National University of Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia.
Personal Interests: Jimena lives in South Florida, near Fort Lauderdale, with her husband, two wonderful boys, and a Labrador. She enjoys spending time with her family and listening to music. Jimena is bilingual in spoken and written English and Spanish.
Medical Science Liaison, Ohio/Michigan/Western Pennsylvania
Having a long-standing passion for infectious diseases pharmacy and improving patient lives, Kelli Cole is highly motivated to contribute to ViiV Healthcare’s mission and thrilled to be part of the cutting edge of scientific progress in HIV therapies. Her interests include management of immunocompromised patient populations and antimicrobial stewardship. With solid experience in an academic medical center pharmacy setting and as a Medical Science Liaison in antimicrobials, Kelli has developed expertise in areas including clinical pharmacy, clinical trials and research, formulary management, scientific content development, and Medical Affairs strategy. Strongly identifying with ViiV’s core values of Patient Focus, Transparency, Respect, and Integrity, she is dedicated to sharing in ViiV’s aim to leave no person living with HIV behind.
Current role: Kelli joined ViiV in 2020 as a Medical Science Liaison covering the region of Ohio, Michigan, and western Pennsylvania. Her responsibilities include collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to support ViiV’s products and educational programs, and engaging with healthcare providers to provide accurate clinical, scientific, and medical information. In addition, she facilitates clinical development activities and contributes to company-wide Medical Affairs strategies and initiatives.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Kelli worked most recently as a Medical Science Liaison in antimicrobials with Summit Therapeutics of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In this role, she developed content and served as a scientific medical reviewer for antimicrobial customer-facing materials including presentations, response letters, and diagnostics review summaries. In addition, she led the Antimicrobial Stewardship work stream, developing company and Medical Affairs strategy for alignment of product with antimicrobial stewardship principles. She also designed a multi-year advisory board strategy and led a virtual advisory board associated with the annual meeting for the Making a Difference in Infectious Diseases (MAD-ID) organization. In additional responsibilities, she developed engagement strategies for therapeutic experts and investigators involved with a Phase 3 clinical trial program, created a strategic publication plan, drafted opinion editorials, and initiated and managed a therapeutic area journal club. Kelli also developed and executed numerous aspects of a Phase 3 clinical trial program.
Before her work as a Medical Science Liaison, Kelli worked for six years as an Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio. Her key responsibility was management of an antimicrobial stewardship program with a restricted formulary and prospective audit-and-feedback process, including review of all patients admitted on antiretroviral therapy. She also managed the entire anti-infective formulary including antiretrovirals, and was a member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. Kelli conducted research in antimicrobial stewardship, general infectious diseases, and HIV, and also precepted over 50 PGY1 Pharmacy Practice residents, five PGY2 Critical Care residents, and more than 20 pharmacy students.
Education: Kelli received her BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences and PharmD degree at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, and completed a PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice Residency and a PGY-2 Infectious Diseases Residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.
Personal interests: Kelli lives in Toledo, Ohio with her boyfriend and their golden retriever, Brady. In her free time, she enjoys running, biking, and swimming, as preparation for her participation in half-marathons or triathlons. She also enjoys spending time with her extended family, and loves to travel—whether it’s a relaxing getaway or an active, adventurous trip around the world. In between, she makes time for dancing!
Contact: kelli.a.cole@viivhealthcare.com
Director, Medical Science Liaisons, West
Having gained experience in both HIV clinical medicine and ViiV Healthcare Medical Affairs in the UK, Dr. Kevin Demarcke brings international experience to his role as Director of Medical Science Liaisons for ViiV Healthcare in the US. Kevin’s clinical and industry expertise is complemented by his welldeveloped business acumen, recognized teaching ability, and excellence in developing people and improving their capabilities. His passion for communicating life-changing science informs his work, and he finds deep satisfaction in his opportunity through ViiV to positively impact the lives of people living with HIV.
Current role: In early 2019, Kevin joined ViiV as Director of Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) for the West, covering a region of 14 states. Responsible for implementing ViiV strategy and ensuring high-quality delivery through his team, Kevin oversees MSL territory development, review, and medical audience expansion. In addition, he delivers ViiV promotional programs across the country, presenting solo or as a co-presenter with external experts. Kevin provides coaching and training to ensure his team’s high performance. He also collaborates closely with Medical Affairs, and coordinates cross-functional projects between MSLs and ViiV sales representatives to ensure successful project execution.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV in the US, Kevin served as Medical Advisor for three years at ViiV Healthcare UK Ltd in London. In this role, his responsibilities included developing conference symposia and medical presentations, organizing advisory boards, and speaking proactively (promotionally) or reactively (offlicense/ pipeline). He also held final signatory authority for ViiV for the APBI Code of Practice (Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry standards for promotion of medicines). Kevin performed in several key ViiV leadership roles as well, including Capabilities Lead, Launch Lead, and Field Team Lead.
Before his move to industry and while based in the UK, Kevin expanded his clinical HIV experience working in a Sexual Health and HIV clinic. As a Trust Medical Officer ST1–2/3, he worked for three years under the UK’s National Health Service in the Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) & HIV Department at Saint Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College London, NHS Trust. There he strengthened not only his clinical and research skills but managerial, teaching, and business skills. Based on his experience in performing operational analyses of the clinics, he implemented improvement strategies such as audits and clinical governance and produced pro forma evaluations, all of which contributed to improved operational efficiencies. Drawing on his natural teaching skills, Kevin trained new physicians and nurses in clinic, offered biopsy procedural training, and educated medical, nursing, and midwifery students.
Education: Kevin is an MD who graduated in 2011 from the Free University of Brussels (VUB, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) in Belgium. He earned a Diploma in Genito-Urinary Medicine from the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, and a Diploma of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London.
Personal interests: Kevin lives in Los Angeles and in his free time enjoys hiking, traveling internationally, and learning from other cultures. As a native of Belgium, Kevin speaks Dutch, and is also bilingually proficient in English and French while having a conversational knowledge of German.
Contact: kevin.x.demarcke@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, South-Central Texas
Kim Nezianya has a passion for excellence in her life that shows through in her strong commitment to clinical and scientific advancement not only for herself, but for those she mentors along the way. In her role at ViiV Healthcare, she integrates her passion for excellence and her in-depth HIV training into daily interactions with healthcare professionals and colleagues, facilitating the critical exchange of information and insights aimed at improving care for all people living with HIV.
Current Role: Kim joined ViiV in June, 2018 as a Medical Science Liaison covering the region of South-Central Texas, including Houston, Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding areas. Her responsibilities include meeting the scientific needs of external experts and other healthcare professionals, providing clinical development support to investigators conducting clinical trials, and providing regional scientific support for the ViiV sales organization. She also is a scientific speaker for non-independent, ViiV-sponsored programs for healthcare professionals and for Pharmacy and Therapeutics and formulary committees.
Experience: Kim came to ViiV after completing her HIV Specialty Pharmacy Practice Residency at KC CARE Health Center (formerly Kansas City Care Clinic), a federally-qualified heath center dedicated to providing quality care, access, research and education to the underserved and all people in the Kansas City community. In her role as a resident, she provided comprehensive pharmaceutical care for the management of HIV, HIV pre/post-exposure prophylaxis, sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis C, hormone replacement therapy, transgender health, and metabolic disorders.
During her post-graduate training, Kim also served as a Midwest AIDS Training + Education Center (MATEC) HIV Clinician Scholar, broadening her knowledge and practice with 12 months of in-depth HIV training and preceptorship. She also held an appointment as Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Advanced Pathophysiology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Pharmacy, where she lectured and was a preceptor for 3rd and 4th year pharmacy students. Additionally, she was a mentor in the STAHR Scholars Pharmacy Program (Students in Training, in Academia, Health, and Research), which operates to cultivate culturally diverse candidates and candidates from underserved areas who are applying to the UMKC School of Pharmacy.
Education: Prior to receiving her Doctor of Pharmacy in 2018 from UMKC School of Pharmacy, Kim completed a dual undergraduate degree with a BS in Chemistry and BA in Communication Studies. Kim is currently enrolled in the Master of Business Administration degree program at the UMKC Henry W. Bloch School of Management.
Personal Interests: Born and raised in the Dallas metroplex area, Kim now resides in Houston, Texas. In her free time, she enjoys working out, finding the city’s best hole-in-the-wall food joints, and most importantly, cheering on the Dallas Cowboys!
Contact: kim.x.nezianya@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Texas
With an extensive background in HIV/AIDS pharmacotherapy and advanced knowledge in infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship, Kristen is uniquely positioned to help ViiV Healthcare meet the needs of the HIV community. Her expertise provides strong support for advancing ViiV’s goal of delivering innovative new options to help ensure optimal care and treatment of people living with HIV.
Current Role: Kristen joined ViiV in 2018 as a Medical Science Liaison. Her responsibilities include meeting with HIV experts to gain an understanding of their views and to assess their scientific needs. In addition, she provides appropriate disease and ViiV product information to healthcare professionals, responds to healthcare professional questions and concerns, and provides support for ViiV-sponsored clinical studies.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Kristen expanded her HIV knowledge and expertise in multiple roles within the HIV specialty area. In her most recent position, she was Clinical Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist at the University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas. Charged with promoting appropriate and optimal use of antimicrobial agents, Kristen specialized as an HIV/AIDS Pharmacotherapy Specialist, promoting evidencebased practice and adherence to clinical guidelines while conducting daily rounds with the Infectious Disease consult service. Additionally, as an HIV/AIDS Pharmacotherapy Specialist for the South Plains Community Action Association Clinic in Lubbock, Kristen conducted a weekly clinic for indigent and unfunded HIV/AIDS patients and served as the pharmacist member on a Local Pharmaceutical Assistance Program Board. She also presented updates in therapeutics and guidelines to medical staff and provided them with therapeutic recommendations. In addition, she counseled patients, partners, and families on medications and antiretroviral therapy, while coordinating the patient assistance programs.
For five years until joining ViiV, Kristen held an appointment as Adjunct Faculty at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy in Lubbock, where she taught for the Advanced Infectious Diseases Rotation, coordinated the microbiology laboratory experience, and conducted lesson and experiential rotation planning. In other professional roles, Kristen advanced her pharmacy skills and knowledge in medical center and long-term care settings.
Education: Kristen earned her Doctor of Pharmacy in 2009 from Texas Tech University Health Science Center in Lubbock, Texas. She continued on to complete a preceptorship in Advanced Infectious Diseases Practice Experience and PGY2 Practice Experience at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy in Lubbock. A Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist with Added Qualifications in Infectious Diseases, she has maintained her AAHIVP certification since 2015. Her undergraduate studies and pharmacy prerequisites were completed at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Personal Interests: Having lived in beautiful West Texas for the past 17 years, Kristen enjoys outdoor and other family activities with her college sweetheart/husband and their three children, including supporting the Texas Tech Red Raiders team—especially during football season. In her free time, Kristen enjoys running, swimming, and supporting local theater plays and musicals. She considers herself a bit of a foodie and admits she prefers Marvel to DC Comics characters—except for Batman—as everyone loves Batman! As an avid fan, she has even named her children and dogs after various Marvel characters.
Medical Science Liaison, Miami and Puerto Rico
With more than 15 years of combined pharmacy clinical experience in HIV, hepatitis C, infectious disease, antimicrobial stewardship, solid organ transplant, and chemotherapy, Leira Ramírez-Ruiz brings a diverse, well-rounded background to her role for ViiV Healthcare. After gaining extensive experience working for many years as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist on the hospital side in infectious disease and antimicrobial stewardship, Leira discovered her interest in HIV care when she moved to an ambulatory setting, applying her specialty pharmacy expertise in an HIV clinic. This ignited a new passion for her, and she pursued it vigorously to enhance her HIV qualifications. Thrilled to be at the forefront of HIV care and innovation at ViiV, Leira is eager to share in advancing HIV treatment and care for all those living with HIV, while enhancing the knowledge of the healthcare providers who guide their care.
Current role: As Medical Liaison for Miami, Florida and Puerto Rico, Leira serves as medical expert for the ViiV portfolio and interacts with healthcare providers on scientific topics of interest. She delivers presentations for healthcare professionals at ViiV educational programs and events, and also attends advisory boards as well as scientific conferences and conventions to stay up-to-date on recent data in the HIV field. In addition, she supports ViiV in its clinical development activities, trains and develops speakers, and provides ongoing scientific support as needed.
Experience: Leira came to ViiV from her most recent prior joint position as Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Specialist in HIV and Hepatitis C for the Memorial Physician Group, Division of Infectious Disease, Hollywood, Florida and Memorial Specialty Pharmacy in Miramar, Florida. In two key years there, she created her position as a new role and developed it strategically to assist the specialty pharmacy while also providing service to clinic providers and patients. This dual approach encompassed the inpatient and ambulatory aspects of HIV care and awakened Leira’s interest in pursuing a career path in HIV. Her numerous responsibilities included being an integral part of the infectious disease provider team, providing patient education on new regimens and medication adherence, and supervising HIV/hepatitis C and reimbursement staff. Prior to this, Leira worked for 12 years at Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Weston, Florida as the Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. In progressive leadership roles there, she initiated the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and her Infectious Disease pharmacist position. She participated in daily Infectious Disease rounds; was responsible for antibiotic dose adjustments, pharmacokinetics, and medication use evaluations; and was in charge of antimicrobial restrictions and precepting pharmacy and medical students/residents. Leira also served as a member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and Infection Control Committee, was Vice Chair of the local hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Committee, and was a member of the Cleveland Clinic Enterprise Antibiotic Stewardship committee. She was inducted into the Society of Infectious Disease Pharmacists (SIDP) with added Infectious Diseases qualifications (AQID) by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties for her work in the field of infectious disease. From 2015 until her departure, Leira provided specialty coverage in additional roles for the Transplant Service for inpatient and ambulatory care in kidney, heart, and liver transplant recipients; and provided oncology infusion coverage at the Egil and Pauline Braathen infusion center. Over the past decade until 2020, Leira also taught as Clinical Affiliate Assistant Professor in multiple Colleges of Pharmacy, most recently at Nova Southeastern University and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Earlier in her career, Leira practiced as a Board-Certified Medical Technologist at numerous hospitals and laboratories in Puerto Rico, including Clinical Laboratory San Cristóbal Hospital.
Education: Leira received her PharmD in 2005 from Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and completed her Pharmacy Practice Residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. She also has a BS in Medical Technology from Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce and studied biology there as well as at the University of Puerto Rico. She is also Board certified in Pharmacotherapy (BCPS) as well as in Infectious Disease (BCIDP). She is a certified HIV Pharmacist by the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVP) and also certified in Antimicrobial Stewardship by Making a Difference in ID (MAD-ID).
Personal interests: Leira lives in Miramar, Florida with her husband and two children. She has lived in the US for the past 16 years and is a native of Ponce, Puerto Rico, where her extended family lives. In her free time, she enjoys going to the beach, exploring different fitness programs, and riding bikes with her family. Leira is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Medical Science Liaison
With more than twenty years of clinical and pharmaceutical HIV experience, Mariela brings a collaborative and solutions-focused approach to ViiV Healthcare. She infuses her role as a Medical Science Liaison with a deep commitment to advancing HIV research and treatment for all individuals affected by HIV.
Current Role: Since joining ViiV in 2016 as a Medical Science Liaison, Mariela has focused on supporting scientific dialogue, education, and collaboration with HIV leaders, AIDS Service Organizations, and people affected by HIV.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Mariela gained extensive HIV experience at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she advanced to Executive Medical Science Liaison in HIV and viral hepatitis during her eight years with the company. She was also selected to contribute in a variety of leadership and training roles of increasing responsibility supporting the medical, commercial, and market access teams.
In addition to her HIV-related experience at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mariela honed her clinical and teaching skills as Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago for fourteen years. As part of the university’s HIV program, she provided pharmacy services for patients with HIV. Notably during that time, she also developed a nationally recognized and accredited comprehensive HIV post-graduate residency program for pharmacists, and supervised several HIV programs throughout Chicago.
Education: Mariela received her PharmD in 1994 from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science in Philadelphia, followed by an infectious diseases/critical care fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to her PharmD, Mariela earned her BS in pharmacy from the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras.
Personal Interests: Bilingual in Spanish and English, Mariela lives in Chicago with her husband, their teenage son, and their rescue dog, Roxy. In her spare time, she enjoys creating sweet and savory treats in her kitchen, gardening, traveling, and volunteering with the Chicago Food Depository.
Contact: mariela.x.diaz@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison
Having joined ViiV Healthcare in 2016, Megan is motivated by her strong interest in HIV patient and community education, her commitment to patient advocacy, and her passion for providing and evolving HIV care. With outstanding interpersonal skills and extensive clinical expertise, she has a proven record of positive relationships with customers, healthcare professionals, and colleagues. Megan is excited to pursue her passion and be part of ViiV’s innovation and outreach to all people living with HIV.
Current Role: As a Medical Science Liaison, Megan interacts with HIV experts to provide scientific support, acts as liaison between ViiV and its clinical trials sites, and supports the field sales organization with education as well as support for healthcare professional queries. With her expertise in patient and community education, Megan was selected to serve as a mentor supporting the recently formed Community Medical Liaison group. She also volunteered for the 2017 ViiV Community Summit, where she organized an addiction and HIV plenary discussion for attendees, who represent North American AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) and other community HIV support organizations. In addition to her ViiV work, Megan continues as a Clinical Staff Pharmacist at Community – A Walgreens Pharmacy, an opportunity that ensures her clinical skills and knowledge are up to date in HIV and other therapeutic areas.
Experience: Prior to ViiV, Megan developed wide-ranging clinical skills and expertise during her six years at Community – A Walgreens Pharmacy, as a Clinical Staff Pharmacist working in multiple leadership roles, with specialty clinical focus in areas including HIV/AIDs, hepatitis C, substance use disorder, and addiction recovery. In support of Community’s status as a Center of Excellence for HIV, hepatitis C, and transplant, Megan helped ensure the pharmacy remained current with evidence-based therapeutic approaches. With her interest in community education, Megan also stepped into a role as Community Specialty Pharmacy Liaison, where she interacted with top institutions and key healthcare professionals, and was recognized for maintaining a high level of excellence in her customer relationships. She organized and conducted educational events on disease management, patient care, and specialty services, providing education for regional ASO and pharmacy staff, and providing HIV education for patients at ASOs and addiction recovery centers. In a more recent initiative, she developed another of her key interest areas by providing naloxone education within addiction recovery centers. Megan also has gained advocacy experience by consulting on complex health insurance and patient assistance programs, and has overseen research activities in quality assurance, patient adherence, and patient satisfaction.
Education: Megan earned her PharmD in 2011 from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston, with her pharmacy rotations including specialty pharmacy for HIV and hepatitis C, as well as various hospital, community, and ambulatory pharmacies. Postgraduate, she received her Specialty Disease State Network certification in Virology.
Personal Interests: Megan, originally from Northern New Jersey, lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband, Nathaniel. In her spare time, she enjoys running/competing in races, spending time with family, and taking advantage of all that New England has to offer – great cities, beaches, ski mountains, sports teams, and more. Megan also has a passion for traveling and exploring the world.
Contact: megan.x.dominguez@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Central US
Inspired by the alignment of her personal values with the mission and values of ViiV Healthcare, Mónica Calderón joined ViiV in late 2018 to continue her lifework in HIV. Along with embodying a passion for HIV and a dedication to ensuring care for all people living with HIV, Mónica brings to ViiV more than ten years of experience in HIV drug information, clinical practice, and medication error prevention, with NIH and FDA experience and a specialty focus in HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), and antiviral therapeutics. She carries a deep compassion cultivated by her experience in the 1990s with a close friend who contracted HIV—Mónica’s support for him as he struggled with medication resistance and limited treatment choices helped shape her career path and desire to create change in HIV care.
Current Role: As a Medical Science Liaison, Mónica applies her expertise in providing medical education to healthcare professionals and ViiV field staff on ViiV products and related activities. In addition, she creates and maintains ongoing scientific engagement with HIV experts and healthcare professionals, ensuring their thorough understanding of the science supporting ViiV products and clinical trials. Mónica also seeks to identify gaps in scientific research, gleaning insights to guide future support of specific patient populations and healthcare needs.
Experience: Mónica considers herself fortunate to have experienced her career in HIV through the lens of clinical practice as well as through federal agencies in research, practice, and regulatory oversight. In her most recent role prior to joining ViiV, Mónica was an HIV/HCV Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in the Infectious Diseases and Hepatology Clinic at University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, where her responsibilities included developing treatment protocols, providing clinical and pharmacologic expertise to clinic teams, educating patients on medication topics, and lecturing in an elective infectious disease course at Skaggs School of Pharmacy.
Prior to this, Mónica worked in several roles in the federal environment. As a GS-14 Senior Medication Safety Evaluator for FDA’s Division of Medication Error Prevention and Analysis in Silver Spring, Maryland, Mónica reviewed New Drug Applications and Investigational New Drug applications as they relate to patient safety, medication error prevention, post-marketing product complaints, and adverse events for antiviral therapeutic products. She became highly skilled in human factors and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis for patient safety and medication errors, and her work contributed to improvements in labeling, adverse drug reporting, and post-marketing product surveillance procedures. While at Leidos Biomedical Research in Bethesda, Maryland, Mónica supported NIH as a contract HIV Clinical Pharmacy Specialist for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, providing clinical services in their HIV clinic. Mónica’s earlier NIH research fellowship gave her opportunity to develop skills in pharmacokinetics research, HIV clinical services, and HIV patient education.
Education: Mónica received her PharmD in 2008 from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Amarillo. After completing an ASHP-Accredited PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore and a Clinical Pharmacokinetics Research Fellowship at NIH, she later became a Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist in 2009. Her post-baccalaureate studies were at the University of Houston, and she earned a BA in Psychology in 2001 from the University of Texas at Austin.
Personal Interests: Mónica lives in Denver, Colorado with her partner, where she enjoys an active outdoor lifestyle that includes snowboarding and rock climbing. She also strength trains and likes to keep fit, enjoys spending time with friends and family, and loves food—especially exploring new cuisines! She is a fluent Spanish-speaker.
Contact: monica.m.calderon@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Manhattan/Upstate New York/Northern New Jersey
With experience in the ambulatory care clinical pharmacy setting as well as in the pharmaceutical industry, Rebecca Borsi adds a well-rounded perspective to her role at ViiV Healthcare. Rebecca’s accomplishments throughout her career highlight her commitment to addressing the unmet needs of people living with HIV. She is proud to be a member of the organization and share in ViiV’s unrelenting commitment to the advancement of HIV medicine.
Current role: Having recently joined ViiV in September 2019, Rebecca covers Manhattan, Upstate New York, and Northern New Jersey as a Medical Science Liaison. In her role, she identifies and interacts with external experts to gain an understanding of their insights on ViiV’s HIV portfolio. She also serves as a medical expert for the ViiV portfolio and engages with healthcare providers on scientific topics of interest. In addition, she is a presenter at ViiV educational programs for healthcare professionals, attends advisory boards and scientific conferences, and supports ViiV in its clinical development activities.
Experience: Prior to joining ViiV, Rebecca was a Senior Medical Science Liaison in Infectious Diseases for Janssen Scientific Affairs in New York City. Her responsibilities included delivering on-label and scientific presentations to a wide array of healthcare professionals including physicians, mid-level practitioners, pharmacists, and allied healthcare professionals. She successfully managed a demanding territory with access challenges, leveraging her clinical and product knowledge to expand her medical audience and foster relationships with key external experts.
After successful completion of residency training, Rebecca went on to become the first HIV clinical pharmacist at Lehigh Valley Health Network AIDS Activities Office in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Over the course of her career in clinical care, she provided comprehensive medication therapy management to persons living with HIV, including antiretroviral medication education, comorbid disease state management and intensive adherence counseling. Her HIV expertise was utilized to interpret complex genotypic resistance tests to offer recommendations on appropriate antiretroviral therapy in heavily treatment-experienced patients. Rebecca also played an instrumental role in HIV prevention, providing education and on-treatment monitoring for all pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) patients seen within the clinic. Rebecca is a Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist and one of her proudest achievements was implementation of a comprehensive pharmacist-run tobacco cessation program within the clinic.
Education: Rebecca received her PharmD from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Boston, Massachusetts. She completed her PGY-1 training at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania and pursued a PGY-2, specializing in HIV at Erie County Medical Center Immunodeficiency Services in Buffalo, New York.
Personal Interests: Rebecca was born and raised in New Jersey. She lives in lovely Jersey City, New Jersey with her husband, Chip—her grade school sweetheart—and their two rescue fur babies, Josie (dog) and Emmy (cat). In her free time, Rebecca practices yoga, is an avid reader, and enjoys spending time with her family, especially her two sweet nieces.
Contact: rebecca.a.borsi@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Midwest
Inspired to keep pace with the rapidly evolving field of HIV care, Sonia brings an enthusiastic drive and spirit of collaboration to her work at ViiV Healthcare. Drawn to the HIV field in part because of its unique challenges, Sonia benefits from over 13 years of specialty HIV experience as a clinical pharmacist, involving research, patient care, and teaching. She holds a particular interest in HIV/HCV co-infection, as well as women and children living with HIV, including pregnancy and adolescents. Her experiences engendered a deep understanding of complex HIV issues and expanded her capabilities in addressing concerns such as socioeconomic barriers in vulnerable populations, access to care and treatment, and medication adherence. As a natural learner, she appreciates the immense value of shared knowledge, education, and teaching. Sonia is excited to be part of ViiV and apply her dynamic style and expertise to help advance care for all people living with HIV.
Current role: Sonia joined ViiV in 2019 as a Medical Science Liaison for the Midwest region. Her work includes establishing collaborative relationships with external HIV experts to communicate scientific data and ensure understanding of ViiV product information. In addition, she gathers insights to better understand patient needs, facilitates research collaborations and Investigator Sponsored Research, provides appropriate support for unsolicited requests from healthcare professionals, and works with ViiV’s commercial team to deliver promotional programs.
Experience: In her most recent roles, Sonia held an adjunct faculty position at the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy in Chicago while serving as an HIV Clinical Pharmacist for over 13 years at the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center in Chicago. Established as a partnership between Cook County Health and Hospitals System and Rush University Medical Center, the CORE Center is one of the nation’s largest HIV/AIDS clinics, providing primary care to over 5,500 patients living with HIV in Chicago. In her work there, Sonia developed expertise in pediatric/adolescent HIV management, pregnancy in women living with HIV and in HIV/HCV co-infection. She was appointed as the Hepatitis Clinic Treatment Coordinator and became expert in reviewing HIV genotypes, taught residents and fellows, participated in clinical research, and delivered presentations at multiple professional meetings and conferences. While expanding her patient care skills in medication adherence counseling and medication refills, she became well-versed in medication access topics including benefits, prior authorization, and formulary matters. Earlier in her career, Sonia built a solid foundation in retail and clinical pharmacy while working as a Registered Pharmacist at Osco Pharmacy in Chicago and at John Cochran VA in St. Louis, Missouri.
Education: Sonia received her PharmD from the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy in Chicago in 2004, completing her pre-pharmacy curriculum at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. Her pharmacy residencies included an HIV Specialty Residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy, and an ASHP Accredited Specialty Residency in Primary Care at John Cochran VA/St. Louis College of Pharmacy in St. Louis.
Personal Interests: Sonia lives in the suburbs of Chicago and enjoys spending time with her husband and two little ones. When she has free time, she enjoys traveling and checking out the newest restaurants in town.
Contact: sonia.8.patel@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Eastern Pennsylvania/Southern New Jersey
Amy brings a passion to her role as Medical Science Liaison at ViiV Healthcare, as she always had a career desire to work with people living with HIV. Her strong academic and clinical practice background has developed her deep awareness of the diversity and complexity of HIV issues. She has a love of teaching others about HIV, driven by her hopes of decreasing HIV-associated stigma. Amy has been recognized for her intensive medication management expertise, having received referrals often for patients with the most difficult clinical challenges, such as non-adherence and drug resistance. She believes in ViiV’s mission of leaving no patient living with HIV behind and is excited to be part of making that goal a reality.
Current role: As Medical Science Liaison, Amy’s responsibilities include identifying and interacting with external experts and other healthcare professionals to understand their views and appropriately inform them about information related to diseases of interest to ViiV and ViiV products. She also provides clinical development support to investigators conducting clinical trials and regional sales support for the ViiV organization. In addition to her ViiV work, Amy continues clinical pharmacy practice for a half-day each week at the Dorothy Mann Center for Pediatric and Adolescent HIV at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Experience: Before joining ViiV, Amy taught for over four years as a Clinical Assistant Professor in HIV at the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Temple University School of Pharmacy in Philadelphia. There she taught PharmD students about HIV and saw patients in a Ryan White-funded HIV primary care clinic. In her teaching and pharmacy work, she cultivated a strong interest in specialty HIV areas, including pediatric HIV, heavily treatment-experienced patients, and drug resistance. During her HIV pharmacy residency in Houston, Amy worked at Therapeutic Concepts and Texas Children’s Hospital’s Retrovirology Clinic. During her residency, she also had an opportunity to work with Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) providers in clinics across sub-Saharan Africa. This experience furthered her interest in supporting HIV clinic pharmacists in low and middle-income countries. Amy’s HIV care experiences have developed her support of community health approaches as critical in ensuring support for patients living with HIV, including wrap-around services for sexual health and substance abuse (e.g., needle exchanges and medication-assisted treatment). She has volunteered with her students at Prevention Point Philadelphia, assisting with needle exchange as part of a community harm reduction approach. Amy has also contributed as author or co-author for multiple publications and book chapters.
Education: Amy received her PharmD in 2014 from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore, Maryland, and a BS in Health Promotions and Disease Prevention/BA in Biology in 2010 from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. She completed a PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice Residency at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a PGY-2 HIV Ambulatory Care/Clinical Pharmacogenetics Residency at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy in Houston, Texas.
Personal Interests: Amy lives with her husband and their Italian greyhound in South Philadelphia. She enjoys trying new restaurants and especially loves finding new ice cream shops. She is also looking forward to resuming traveling post-pandemic!
Contact: amy.c.min@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, New York City Outer Boroughs – Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Long Island
Working at ViiV Healthcare gives Katie McCrink the opportunity to expand her reach in meeting the needs of people living with HIV. In her role as Medical Science Liaison, she welcomes the chance to serve a broader HIV population effectively while building on infectious disease experience developed in local hospital and clinic settings. Katie chose a career path in infectious diseases based largely on her interest in understanding the unique needs of HIV patients and the complex scientific, historical, and social aspects of the disease. Proud to contribute to ViiV’s innovative approach, she is inspired to help meet unmet needs while changing the HIV treatment paradigm.
Current role: Katie joined ViiV in Spring 2021 as Medical Science Liaison for the outer boroughs of New York City. She identifies and interacts with external experts to understand their insights on ViiV products, engages healthcare providers on scientific topics of interest, and presents medical information to healthcare providers at ViiV educational programs. Katie also supports clinical development activities, serves as a research liaison and scientific resource for investigators of ViiV-sponsored or investigator-sponsored studies, and engages with providers by attending advisory boards and scientific conferences.
Experience: With a background primarily in clinical infectious diseases at academic medical centers, Katie has expertise in working with inpatient and outpatient populations having a high burden of HIV, COVID-19, and multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. Her focus has included antimicrobial stewardship, infectious diseases consulting, and HIV management. In her most recent position, Katie was Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Prior to that, she completed her Infectious Diseases residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. Both of these facilities are major healthcare centers primarily serving underserved, indigent populations. At University Hospital, Katie was the first clinical infectious diseases pharmacist in the outpatient Infectious Diseases/HIV Clinic; her work established a continuing pharmacist presence in the clinic. She has developed extensive experience in managing antiretroviral therapy and in managing severe opportunistic infections in HIV, solid organ transplant, and other immunocompromised patient populations. Her expertise also includes COVID-19 inpatient management of persons living with HIV, and delivery of HIV disease state and antiretroviral patient education.
Additional past pharmacy roles include working in Critical Care at Jackson Memorial Hospital, in various clinical areas and in pharmaceutical operations (i.e., IV compounding) at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and in retail settings at Publix in Miami. Katie also has presented at multiple conferences and institutions, including poster presentations and lectures.
Education: Katie completed her PharmD in 2018 at Nova Southeastern University, College of Pharmacy in Davie, Florida, and her BS in Chemical Science (minor in Biological Science) in 2014 at Florida State University College of Arts and Sciences in Tallahassee, Florida. She completed a PGY-2 Infectious Diseases Residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, and a PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Personal Interests: Katie was born and raised in Miami, Florida and is proud of her Cuban and Irish/Scottish heritage. Currently living in northern New Jersey, Katie enjoys fitness center workouts as well as her exercise bike. She likes to bake and is especially interested in exploring the science and chemistry behind her creations. Katie is married to her high-school sweetheart and describes herself and her husband as “huge foodies” who enjoy traveling to experience other cultures and foods.
Contact: katie.x.mccrink@viivhealthcare.com
Medical Science Liaison, Mid-Atlantic – East North Carolina and Virginia
As a Medical Science Liaison for ViiV Healthcare, Krista builds on her solid background in clinical pharmacy, infectious diseases, and HIV. Her passion for HIV stems from her keen interest in global communicable diseases as well as from caring for patients negatively affected by HIV stigma. Krista’s experience has shaped her advocacy for the crucial role of pharmacists in educating healthcare providers about medication- related issues. Understanding that HIV differs from other disease states because it requires medication for lifelong suppression, she recognizes pharmacists as uniquely positioned to assist providers and patients in navigating the use of HIV medications. Determined to help expand the reach of HIV education to a wide and diverse array of healthcare providers, Krista is thrilled to be part of ViiV’s dedication to advancing HIV education and care.
Current role: Krista joined ViiV in Spring 2021 as a Medical Science Liaison for the Mid-Atlantic/East North Carolina and Virginia region. Her responsibilities include serving as regional medication expert on ViiV Healthcare products, and interacting with investigators to help ensure successful completion of ViiV- sponsored and investigator-sponsored clinical trials. She also works with the ViiV commercial team to provide educational programming to healthcare providers.
Experience: Before joining ViiV, Krista most recently was an HIV Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner for over two years at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Infectious Disease Clinic. This multidisciplinary ambulatory care clinic is based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and provides care to thousands of patients state-wide. Krista’s responsibilities included medication counseling of treatment-experienced and treatment-naïve HIV patients, and developing recommendations for medication alterations based on drug interactions, co infection, viral resistance, and primary care disease state management. In addition, she served as preceptor for students on HIV/infectious disease rotation, and assisted in researching a patient-driven tobacco treatment program for people living with HIV. Previous to her employment at UNC, Krista was an Infectious Disease Clinical Pharmacist at the WG (Bill) Hefner Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina, where she was responsible for the pharmacologic management of veterans living with HIV and hepatitis C in Charlotte and at two other VA sites. Her care made a difference to the more than 300 HIV-positive veterans and more than 1100 hepatitis C-positive veterans with whom she interacted.
In support of her research and education interests, Krista has presented multiple HIV and infectious disease educational/research programs at conferences and institutions, educating diverse audiences including patients, providers, and healthcare professionals. Most recently, she provided HIV antiviral adherence education to HIV case managers on behalf of the North Carolina AIDS Education and Training Center Program (AETC-Southeast).
Education: Krista received a PharmD in 2015 and a BS in Biomedical Science in 2011, both from the University of South Florida in Tampa. She completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Residency in 2016 at Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy/University Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, and her PGY2 HIV Ambulatory Care Residency in 2017 at the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy, University of Oklahoma Infectious Disease Institute in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Personal Interests: A native of Dominica, Krista grew up in Florida and currently lives in Mebane, North Carolina. In her free time, Krista enjoys reading and spending time with her family and husband—who was also her high-school sweetheart!
Contact: krista.m.williams@viivhealthcare.com
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