Chief Consultant
Michael A. Valentino, R. Ph., MHSA
Pharmacy Benefits Management Services
Washington, DC
Michael A. Valentino was appointed Chief Consultant for Pharmacy Benefits Management
Services, Department of Veterans Affairs Central Office in June 2004. As Chief
Consultant, Mr. Valentino is responsible for planning and directing a wide variety
of VA pharmacy issues including drug benefit design, formulary management and
pharmaceutical contracting, automated prescription fulfillment, professional
pharmacy practice, emergency pharmacy services and drug therapy policy development.
Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Valentino served as the Associate Chief
Consultant for the Pharmacy Benefits Management Strategic Healthcare Group in Hines,
Illinois where his responsibilities included management of VA National Formulary
initiatives and drug therapy outcomes assessment.
Mr. Valentino has also served as Director of Primary Care and Chief of Pharmacy
Service at the Topeka VA Medical Center, Formulary Leader for VA Network 15 and in
a variety of other VA positions. Mr. Valentino received a B.S. in Pharmacy from
Creighton University in 1983, a Master of Health Services Administration from Arizona
State University in 1991 and is a U.S. Army veteran.
Mr. Valentino is a recipient of Vice President Gore’s National Performance Award for
Reinventing Government for participation in the development of VA’s prototype bar-code
medication administration system (BCMA), the American Society of Military Surgeons’
2006 Andrew Craigie Award and the 2008 Presidential Rank Award.
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Deputy Chief Consultants
Joseph J. Canzolino, R. Ph.
Deputy Chief Consultant - Formulary Management
Pharmacy Benefits Management Services
Hines, IL
A graduate of the University of Illinois, College of Pharmacy with over 40 years
of broad-based experience in managed care directing pharmacy operations including
15 years as Director of Pharmacy for The City of Chicago, Department of Public Health.
Responsibilities included directing procurement of drugs and supplies for the city’s
39 Department of Health Clinics, developing requirements for pharmaceutical contracts
and negotiating rebate agreements with drug manufacturers. Managed the warehousing
and distribution of pharmaceuticals for all facilities. Served as a member of the
Department of Health’s Drug Review Committee and advisor to the City’s Health Commissioner
on pharmacy issues.
In July 1998, came to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Pharmacy Benefits Management
Services as a Pharmacist Specialist with responsibilities in the Contracting and
analyzing Prime Vendor data. In December 1999, accepted the position as Program
Manager for Operations with supervisory responsibilities for contracting and data
management. In January 2000, accepted the position of Assistant Chief Consultant,
for PBM. Areas of supervision include Pharmaceutical Prime Vendor Purchases data,
Prescription Utilization Data, Office Administration, Maintenance of the National
Formulary and Developing Requirements for Pharmaceutical Contracting.
Mr. Canzolino was promoted to Associate Chief Consultant, Pharmacy Benefits Management
in March of 2004. In that position, he was responsible for planning and directing
the Hines PBM staff. Specific responsibilities include management of VA National
Formulary initiatives, Advisor to the National Acquisitions Center on Pharmacy Issues,
Outcomes Research, administration of Public Law 102-585 and serves as a member of
the Public Law Appeals Board.
In November of 2008 Mr. Canzolino was promoted to Deputy Chief Consultant with the
responsibilities over the Pharmacy Benefits Management Services, VAMedSafe/Outcomes
Research, and Emergency Pharmacy Service.
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Ken Siehr R. Ph., MS
Deputy Chief Consultant - CMOP
Pharmacy Benefits Management Services
Kenneth Siehr is the Deputy Chief Consultant, Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM)
Services Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy for Operations. He has held this
position since October of 2007.
Mr. Siehr began his career with the VA in 1977 as a pharmacy intern at the Madison
Wisconsin Medical Center after completing his Degree in Pharmacy from the University
of Wisconsin Madison in May of 1977. After a 3 year tour as a Pharmacy Officer with
the United States Army stationed at Fort Ord, California he returned to the Midwest.
In September of 1988 he earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Roosevelt
University. He returned to the VA and held positions of increasing responsibility
in VA Pharmacy at the North Chicago, Chicago Lakeside and Milwaukee Medical Centers.
In 1996 he became the Clinical Support Division Manager at the Milwaukee Medical
Center responsible for a variety of services including Material Management, Radiology,
Biomedical Engineering, Nutrition and Food, Pastoral Care and Pharmacy. He concurrently
served as the VISN Formulary Leader for VISN 12. In July of 2004 VISN 12 restructured
Pharmacy Benefits Management at the Network Level and Mr. Siehr assumed the role
of VISN 12 Pharmacy Benefits Manager and Chief of Pharmacy at the Milwaukee VAMC
until promotion to his present position. As Deputy Chief Consultant, Pharmacy Benefits
Management Services Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy he leads an organization
with 7 mail out pharmacies across the country that process over 100 million prescriptions
annually with a budget of 2.8 billion dollars.
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Timothy J. Stroup, R. Ph.
Deputy Chief Consultant - PBM Strategic Planning
Pharmacy Benefits Management Services
Timothy J. Stroup, R.Ph., is the Deputy Chief Consultant, VA Pharmacy Benefits Management
Services, Strategic Planning (Dep Chief Consultant-PBM Strategic Planning). The
VA Pharmacy Programs have over 6200 pharmacists and over 3800 pharmacy technicians
providing care to approximately 6 million veterans annually.
Mr. Stroup has over 31 years experience in VA Pharmacy and has served at six facilities
across the Midwest United States. He has received numerous awards including the
Hammer Award and two Scissors Awards for improvements to government and has been
published in numerous pharmacy publications.
Mr. Stroup is a native Nebraskan and a Pharmacy graduate of the University of Nebraska.
He has served as an adjunct instructor for the University of Missouri-Kansas City
College of Pharmacy and on numerous committees of healthcare organizations including
APhA, ASHP, USP, AMSUS and others. He has served as a VA representative to the APhA
Federal Pharmacy Forum numerous times plus has served as Chairman of the Federal
Pharmacy Caucus. In addition, Mr. Stroup is actively involved in local community
activities including church, credit union, neighborhood, school, and city. He and
his wife, Shelly, have been married for 34 years and has two sons which are both
married. Other interests include Nebraska football, woodworking, and photography.
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Virginia S. Torrise, Pharm. D.
Deputy Chief Consultant - PBM Professional Practice and Clinical Informatics
Pharmacy Benefits Management Services
Washington, DC
Virginia S. Torrise was selected as VA’s Deputy Chief Consultant for Pharmacy Benefits
Management in August 2002. As Deputy Chief, she oversees the PBM responsibility
of oversight for multiple programs, including the VA’s formulary committees, pharmacy
residency training, adverse drug event reporting, medication safety reviews, recruitment
and retention initiatives, emergency pharmacy preparedness and pharmacy informatics
development. The PBM provides program guidance and policy direction to VA Pharmacy
Service.
Dr. Torrise transferred to Washington D.C., after serving as the Chief of Pharmacy
Service, at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System. She has been a pharmacy
manager for over 10 years, working at 3 VA health care centers and as the Director
of the West LA CMOP, where sophisticated automation was used to dispense mailed
prescriptions to veterans. Early in her career, she worked as a clinical pharmacist
at a large community hospital and a VA ambulatory care clinic. In private sector,
she has worked as a systems analysis to implement electronic physician order entry.
Dr. Torrise received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Southern
California, School of Pharmacy.
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Associate Chief Consultants
Vincent Calabrese, Pharm. D.
Associate Chief Consultant - PBM/EPS
Pharmacy Benefits Management Services
Hines, IL
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Ronald A. Nosek, Jr., R.Ph., MS, FASHP
Associate Chief Consultant, PBM
Director, Meds by Mail Program-CHAMPVA
Ronald A. Nosek, Jr. joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2008 as Associate Chief
Consultant-PBM and serves as the National Director for the CHAMPVA Meds by Mail Program.
Mr. Nosek is a native of Limerick, Pennsylvania and received his B.S. in Pharmacy from
Temple University in 1988 and his M.S. in Pharmacy Administration from the University of
Texas at Austin in 1999.
Prior to joining the VA, Mr. Nosek served over twenty years as a Pharmacy Officer in the
Unites States Navy retiring at the rank of Commander. During his naval career, Mr. Nosek
completed a variety of challenging assignments both state side and abroad. Tours of duty
included naval facilities located in Portsmouth, Virginia; Adak, Alaska; Millington, Tennessee;
Rota, Spain; Bethesda, Maryland; and Washington, DC. Mr. Nosek has held various positions of
leadership, held several academic appointments at schools of pharmacy, and chaired numerous
hospital committees. Additionally, he held positions as Residency Program Director at a
large tertiary care medical center and the Director of Ancillary Services onboard the
Navy’s 1,000 bed hospital ship, the USNS Comfort. Mr. Nosek has also served on several
national committees including ASHP House of Delegates and USP’s Safe Medication Use Expert
Committee. Mr. Nosek completed his naval career in June 2008 as Director of Pharmacy at
the National Naval Medical Center. Mr. Nosek received numerous personal military awards
during his naval career, was the recipient of the Navy’s Junior and Senior Pharmacist of the
Year Awards, and is a Fellow of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists.
He and his wife Barbara reside in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania are the proud parents of
four children.
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