Happy New Year's Eve!

The WMSHP board is also excited to welcome Chase Kiriazis, PharmD as a board member this year. 

We look forward to seeing you next week on January 8th at 6:30 pm over Zoom (invitation being sent out soon). 

For anyone who is interested in joining WMSHP this year, we are working diligently to keep our membership rates as low as possible while still providing you with high quality programming and networking opportunities. Wait until you see what this year has in store!

Annual Membership Dues Effective February 1:

• Pharmacist $75
• Technician $10
• Resident $20 

Happy Holidays!

Emailed: December 22, 2025

Hello everyone, this is Ashley Blanchette and I am proud to be your 2026 WMSHP President!

We at the board are looking forward to providing you with the regular CE opportunities you have come to count on, including our monthly meetings, residency research showcase, and all-day Spring Seminar.

Stay tuned for more information on the revamped summertime membership drive and community building event as well as more opportunities for formal and informal networking!

Prospective members are welcome to come and see what WMSHP is all about- please email ashleyblanchette@gmail.com in advance for more details!

Stay safe and warm this holiday season. See you at our next meeting on January 8th!

Your friends and colleagues,

Ashley Blanchette, PharmD - President

Kristina Stoncius, PharmD - President Elect

Jessie Prociv, PharmD, BCACP - Immediate Past President

Benjamin Pontefract, PharmD, BCPS - Chairperson

Brad Miller, PharmD - Secretary

Bryan Homberg, PharmD - Treasurer

Kelsey Ernst, PharmD, BCACP - Continuing Education Chair

Lupe Chavez, PharmD - Community Outreach Chair

Matthew Hickson, PharmD - Resident at Large

Nathan Kanous, PharmD, BCPS - Board Member

Jeff Van Houten, PharmD - Board Member

Heather Hamilton, CPhT - Technician Board Member

Hello everyone,

For my last President's Corner, I am asking for you to participate in voting for our e-board members: Nominations for WMSHP Board

Also, any students out there that are looking for help covering the cost of Midyear registration, please apply to our scholarship! It's a quick turn around time this year, so don't delay: 2025 WMSHP Midyear Scholarship Application

I'd like to thank Kamah Ellena, PharmD, BCCCP for her presentation on sedation in the ICU - it is truly amazing to me some of the different areas that pharmacists can help to improve patient care and in such innovative pathways!

It has been an honor being your president this past year. I'm looking forward to passing the torch to Ashley Blanchette and continuing to support the board in this upcoming year! We have some more great CE events coming up in 2026, we look forward to seeing many of you after the holidays!

Jessie Prociv, PharmD, BCACP

WMSHP President

Hello everyone!

Here is the official request: 

If you or someone you know is interested in joining the WMSHP e-board, please send me an email for more details at procivj@gmail.com. Make sure to include your name and a short (1-5 sentence) summary of who you are to share with our voting members. The open positions will include 4 e-board positions, president-elect, technician, and treasurer. 

I'd love to have this all voted for in time to announce at next month's meeting.

Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you!

Jessie Prociv, PharmD BCACP

WMSHP President 2025

It feels like maybe Fall has finally arrived today, I hope everyone had a memorable summer! Let's take a look at what WMSHP has been up to recently.

Our White Caps game had great attendance again this year with 49 total people attending. We also elected Matt Hickson as our Resident-at-Large E-board member for the 2025-2026 year. Matt is completing his PGY1 residency at Corewell West. Please join me in welcoming him!

Just last month we met in Grand Rapids on Corwell's Campus to hear Maja Gibbons, PharmD, BCOP present on Updates in Supportive Care Managment for Cancer Patients. We have another CE coming this week in Kalamazoo at Main Street Pub to listen to Ben Pontefract PharmD, BCPS talk about Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacy.

We held our Residency Showcase last week and had a great time connecting programs with prospective candidates. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make the event a success—your energy and enthusiasm were truly appreciated.

Please be on the lookout for e-board nominations! If you or someone you know is interested in getting more involved with WMSHP, please send me an email for more details at procivj@gmail.com. Make sure to include is your name and a short 1-5 sentence summary of who you are for us to share with our voting members. The open positions will include 4 e-board positions, president elect, technician, and treasurer. 

Lastly, we are hosting 2 mock interviews, an in-person event on October 30th at Ferris’s Grand Rapids campus and a virtual event on November 6th. For further information on the mock interviews, please email pontefb@ferris.edu. We could use some volunteers, you know that would look nice on your CV!

We had a great time at Founder’s this month listening to residents Kayla Backus and Hollyann Holmquist present their research projects completed at Munson and Trinity Health, respectively. And a special thank you to our Resident at Large, Kyle Brillantes, for setting up trivia after the CE!

Our meeting next month, on May 13th, will be our annual Spring Seminar at the Prince Conference Center Calvin University. Sign in and breakfast will start at 7:15 AM with the first CE starting at 8:30 AM. We have a wonderful group of presenters and topics for the day:

• Deeb Eid - Law Update
• Paige Watkins – Pearls in Kidney Transplant
• Haylee Batten – Pain
• Tracey Mersfelder – Gout and SGLT-2i
• Katie Axford – Implicit Bias: Weight Bias

One final note, the e-board has our planning meeting in June. If you have suggestions for speakers or CE topics please send them along to me at procivj@bronsonhg.org. Otherwise, I hope to see many of you at the Whitecaps game on August 7^th!

Jessie Prociv, PharmD BCACP
WMSHP President

Thank you to everyone that attended our virtual meeting this month. Jessie Whitten gave a terrific presentation on alternatives to opioid treatments in the emergency department – thank you, Jessie!

Our CE next month will be given by four P4 students on their research projects. As a reminder, this will be in person at Ascension Borgess’ Lawrence Education Center and will be Thursday March 13. I know there was initially communication about a date change, so make sure you have the right date on your calendar!

Lastly, Michigan Pharmacists Associate (MPA) is holding their Annual Convention and Exposition (ACE) in April this year from the 11-13th with a new location: the Grand Travers Resort and Spa in Traverse City. There will be plenty of live CE and networking opportunities for attendees.

We look forward to seeing you all in person next month!

Hello everyone, I'm Jessie Prociv and I'm taking the reigns as the President for 2025 at WMSHP. My goals for this year are to provide some high quality CE for our members, support our students and residents as they move through their education, and network with a lot of really great people.

I want to thank all of our returning e-board members and welcome a few new faces: Bryan and Megan. And a special shout out to Ben for doing a great job as President last year and thank you in advance for all the guidance in 2025 as the Past President. You all make this organization so meaningful to the pharmacy profession!

We have Dr. Tracey Mersfelder presenting later this week on MASH which will be a virtual event, please make sure you are registered!

I'm excited for all the opportunity 2025 might bring. If anyone has ideas on how WMSHP can help to further meet the needs of any members, please reach out to me via email at procivj@bronsonhg.org.

Thank you,

Jessie Prociv, PharmD, BCACP

Hello everyone! I hope you all have an excellent Thanksgiving weekend. I am excited to announce our newly elected E-board for the upcoming year. Our president-elect is Ashley Blanchette, our secretary is Brad Miller, and our new E-board members will be Kristina Stoncius, who will be rejoining the E-board, and new members Bryan Homberg and Megan Van Baren. Congratulations, everyone!

As it is December, this will be my final announcement for everyone. I will be sticking around on the E-board next year as the Immediate Past President, but all presidential duties will pass on to our new president, Jessie Prociv, who will be taking over starting in January. Thank you everyone who helped make this year a success. It has been my pleasure to serve as President, and I look forward to seeing everyone in the coming years. Have a nice holiday season, everyone!

Hello WMSHP members! Can you believe it's already November? This is actually the final President's Corner you'll receive from me as president. WMSHP will be on a bit of a break for December before I pass the reigns off to Jessie Prociv as the incoming president. I will still be serving as the immediate past president. So, feel free to reach out to me still if needed!

As for November at WMSHP, we just had our monthly CE meeting last week where Devon Stonerock, PharmD gave a fantastic talk on Car-T therapy. As a immunotherapy lay-person, it was an incredibly helpful overview about how to manage side effects from these medications. Thank you Devon for sharing your expertise with us, and thank you Kristina Stoncius for coordinating the event!

As a reminder, elections are currently open for voting through the end of the month. If you haven't already, be sure to vote at the following link: WMSHP E-board Voting - 2024. Finally, WMSHP currently has our yearly Midyear scholarship applications open. if you know any P4 students in the state of Michigan that are going to Midyear, send them our application link here: WMSHP Midyear Scholarship 2024 Application.

That brings us to the end of this month's President's Corner. It's been an amazing year, and I appreciate everyone's support. You'll hear from me one last time when I announce our new E-board in December. Until then, have a nice month, everyone!

Hello WMSHP Members! It's that time of year again. Voting is now open for next year's E-board. Voting will remain open throughout the month of November 2024, and can be completed at the following link: WMSHP E-board Voting 2024. We will announce your new E-board members in December 2024. Please see below for the biographies of our nominees.

President-Elect:

Ashley Blanchette has served as a board member of WMSHP for the past two years and as the Resident at Large member from 2020-2021. She is currently serving as the Co-Chair of the MSHP Organizational Affairs Committee, Vice Chair of the MPA Government Affairs Committee, and working to improve transitions of care as the Manager of the Corewell Health Medication History team. She has previous experience as President of the Macomb County Pharmacy Association, board member of the Oakland County Pharmacists Association, and committee member of the MPA Local Association Development Committee. If elected, she hopes to apply her passion for advocacy and team-building to further strengthen our region's professional community.

Secretary:

Brad Miller is an Informatics Pharmacist at Corewell Health in Grand Rapids. He graduated from Ferris State University over two decades ago. After working as an Emergency Medicine Pharmacist at Spectrum Health Butterworth for several years, he joined the pharmacy informatics team. Brad has been the secretary of WMSHP since 2004.

E-board (3 Openings):

Bryan Homberg is a 2021 graduate from Ferris State University College of Pharmacy. He started his pharmacy career in independent pharmacy practice as Pharmacist Manager, PIC, and LTC Coordinator for Flint Family Pharmacy. In 2022 he joined Genesee County Pharmacists Association as a board member at large, and was involved in legislative action and MPA house of delegates. He has since started work at Bronson Battle Creek as an Inpatient Clinical Pharmacist in September of 2024, and looks forward to bringing his experiences to the west Michigan area.

Hi everyone! My name is Kristina Stoncius and I am interested in continuing as a WMSHP board member. I have been a board member since 2021, beginning as the PGY1 resident board member and after that continuing on as an E-board member! I am currently a pharmacist at Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, where my clinical interests are internal medicine and oncology! 

Megan Van Baren is a clinical pharmacist with Corewell Health in Grand Rapids. She completed her pharmacy school education at Ferris State University. After graduation in 2021, she completed a PGY-1 residency with Corewell (Spectrum) Health. Post residency, she has worked as a clinical pharmacist for Corewell Health Butterworth. Her current areas of practice include cardiology and oncology. In her free time she enjoys attempting to stay on track with her Goodreads reading challenge. In pharmacy school she was involved with multiple student organizations and is looking forward to becoming more involved with professional organizations in the future.