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ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has promoted Sara Roszak to senior vice president, health and wellness strategy and policy. The move builds on her tenure of demonstrated leadership at (NACDS) and a career that includes expansive roles in associations, government and the public health sector. Roszak was also elected president of the NACDS Foundation – a separate organization focused on improving patient health through research, education and philanthropy.
Sara Roszak
Roszak joined NACDS in 2014 and has assumed positions of increasing responsibility. Most recently, Roszak served as NACDS’ vice president, pharmacy care and health strategy, and as the NACDS Foundation’s vice president of research programs.
At NACDS, she has been a leader in forging the vision and internal infrastructure to help remove barriers to pharmacy care, and she helped to translate this approach rapidly and effectively into advocacy on pandemic-specific issues. She also spear-headed the multi-year NACDS Literature Program to align research with policy objectives; oversaw execution of NACDS’ Optimizing Care Program to allow pharmacists to further focus their efforts on patient care by enhancing the role of pharmacy technicians; and fostered NACDS’ relationship with agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on topics related to preventive care.
“Sara’s past, present and future at NACDS can be summarized by member focus, bold vision, and meticulous and aggressive execution,” said NACDS president and CEO Steven Anderson. “In the years leading up to the pandemic, Sara was a prime mover of NACDS’ proactive approach to expanding access to pharmacy patient care and advancing innovative care models. When the pandemic struck, her leadership flowed naturally into NACDS’ work to remove needless barriers to pharmacy care and to reduce friction for NACDS members to serve the American people with COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. At every step of the way, Sara has demonstrated effectiveness in building and leveraging partnerships. We look forward to her continued resolve to achieve results on behalf of this amazing industry.”
Speaking in his capacity as chair of the NACDS Foundation, Anderson also noted, “In recent years we have hailed the transformation of the NACDS Foundation into a vigorous and authoritative incubator of research that benefits patient health, and Sara served as an agent of that transformative change. As we look to build upon the Foundation’s extremely strong position, Sara is poised to work with the Foundation’s Board of Directors to lead the organization to new heights.”
In her new NACDS role, Roszak will lead the public policy team responsible for translating Board of Directors-established positions into actionable legislative and regulatory proposals at the federal and state levels. She will lead continued execution of NACDS’ health and wellness strategy and policy to drive toward better access to care.
She will play a major role in the direction of federal and state policies related to patients’ access to pharmacist-provided services, innovative care-delivery models, substance abuse prevention, and public health issues including COVID-19 response and recovery. As part of NACDS’ “One Team” vision, Roszak will collaborate with other members of the senior management with primary responsibility for reimbursement issues, state and federal advocacy, grassroots and political engagement, and communications.
Prior to joining NACDS and the NACDS Foundation, Roszak built partnerships across pharmacies and health departments at the National Association of County and City Health Officials. She also worked for U.S. Senator Bob Graham while he co-chaired a Congressional commission focused on preventing biological terrorism and a Presidential commission focused on the BP oil spill. She held positions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
While working at NACDS, Roszak completed the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Executive Doctoral Program in Health Leadership (DrPH). She obtained her master in public health (MPH) and MA in international affairs from the George Washington University.
Roszak reports directly to Anderson.
