Joshua Paul Lorenz of Columbus, Ohio, has been named the 2010–2011 Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow. The fellow program, which focuses on legislative policy analysis and development, is offered through a collaboration between ACCP, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy.
Lorenz earned his doctor of pharmacy degree in 2009 from Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Indianapolis. While enrolled at Butler, he also earned a master of business administration degree. He will complete a PGY1 pharmacy practice residency affiliated with The Ohio State University in June.
“The program had a dramatic increase in the number of qualified applicants this year,” said Gary R. Matzke, a past ACCP President and the founding director of the fellow program. “The selection committee, composed of eight individuals from the sponsoring organizations and past fellows, was delighted with this increased interest by pharmacists in healthcare policy.”
The Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow program, the country’s first such program for pharmacists, was established in 2006. The current fellow, Stephanie Hammonds, works in the Majority Health Policy Office of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the U.S. Senate – previously under the leadership of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and now chaired by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
Lorenz will begin his fellowship September 1, spending 1 month with the ASHP government affairs staff and 1 month with the ACCP government and professional affairs staff. In November, he will begin working as a policy fellow on a congressional committee or with the personal staff of a U.S. senator or representative.
The congressional placement process is guided by the three fellow program developers: Matzke, Associate Dean for Clinical Research and Public Policy at VCU School of Pharmacy; Edwin Webb, ACCP Associate Executive Director; and Brian Meyer, Director of ASHP’s Government Affairs Division.
“I applied for this fellowship to have a role in shaping the policy that impacts the lives of my patients and other health care professionals every single day,” says Lorenz. “I look forward to working with legislators to create meaningful and effective health policy while helping foster improvements in the health of those in the United States.”
Originally from Fairfield, Ohio, Lorenz is pursuing his goal of practicing direct care with underserved patients by completing an ambulatory care pharmacy practice residency at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. He works with patients at the Columbus Neighborhood Health Center, a group of five federally qualified health centers with a multicultural population. He also is completing a longitudinal rotation at the Ohio Pharmacists Association, focusing on policy analysis and public communication with special emphasis on the Ohio Health Care Coverage and Quality Council Payment Reform Task Force.
Lorenz’s previous volunteer work includes providing diabetes and medication education to homeless and Hispanic populations at Mercy Franciscan at St. Raphael’s in Hamilton, Ohio, and tutoring and mentoring homeless children in the School on Wheels program in Indianapolis. Advanced pharmacy practice experience includes rotations in administration and management at Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center, general medicine at Community Hospital East, managed care/health care policy at Eli Lilly, and community practice at CVS/pharmacy, all in Indianapolis.
He participated in the Paul Ambrose Scholars Program in Washington in 2008, was named Outstanding Student of the Year by the Indiana Pharmacists Alliance in 2008, and received Butler University’s Health Sciences Student Assembly Award in 2007.
To learn more about the Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow program, visit http://www.pharmacy.vcu.edu/sub/prospective/postgrad/publicpolicy/default.aspx.