A few years after launching the Emily Jerry Foundation’s National Pharmacy Technician Initiative and Interactive Scorecard, introduced in partnership with ASHP in 2013, I had the honor of speaking at the Northland Association of Pharmacy Technicians Annual Fall Conference in Fargo, ND. Back in 2015, I was thrilled to present at this important event, knowing that North Dakota was the only state to receive a perfect score from ASHP ’s team of experts. That’s why it was such a privilege to be invited back ten years later to deliver two CE presentations the week before last, including the keynote, at this year’s 32nd Annual Fall Conference, appropriately themed “Medication Safety: Fitting the Pharmaceutical Care Team Together Piece by Piece.”
From the very start of the conference, I was touched and pleasantly surprised to see that every attendee received a crocheted “positive pill” holding a small banner that read: “Every medication you touch: Makes a difference,” alongside a picture of my beautiful daughter, Emily. It was such a meaningful reminder of exactly why the pharmacy team does this important work, and of Emily’s lasting legacy, which continues to inspire so many around the globe…ultimately saving countless lives!
Pharmacy technicians play such a vital role in ensuring safe medication use. My longtime mentor, Mike Cohen from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), once told me: “Chris, there’s not a pharmacy on the planet that can operate safely without well-educated, career-oriented pharmacy technicians.” I couldn’t agree more.
My friend Diane Halvorson, RPhTech, CPhT-Adv, CSPT, embodies exactly that standard of excellence. From serving two consecutive terms as President of the North Dakota State Board of Pharmacy, to becoming the first pharmacy technician elected to the NABP Executive Committee, to being nationally recognized as the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB)’s Certified Pharmacy Technician of the Year—throughout her career, Diane has led by example, elevating the profession while always keeping medication safety the absolute top priority.
I extend my deep appreciation to Diane and her team for the warm welcome and for their unwavering commitment to advancing the pharmacy technician profession and protecting patients.
Last week in Fargo, on behalf of the Emily Jerry Foundation, I had the privilege of speaking at the Northland Association of Pharmacy Technicians (NAPT) 32nd Annual Fall Conference and was also honored to be invited to lecture again at the North Dakota State University‘s College of Health and Human Sciences. The auditorium was filled with interprofessional students, primarily future pharmacists and nurses, who listened with attentiveness and engaged with a real sense of purpose.
As was the case with this presentation, I’m always so grateful to be invited back to speak to the next generation of future leaders in healthcare and was deeply humbled and inspired by their overall energy. These young professionals will soon step into roles where every decision they make will directly affect patients’ lives. What makes moments like this so meaningful is my unwavering belief that their leadership, compassion, and dedication will be pivotal in preventing medication errors, advancing patient safety, and driving the lasting changes in healthcare that we are all striving for…changes that will ultimately end up saving countless lives!
As I often remind students during my lectures, the guardian angel logo of the Emily Jerry Foundation, modeled after my beautiful daughter, Emily, isn’t there solely because I believe she is my guardian angel (though I know she is). She is their guardian angel too, representing the human side of their future careers in healthcare. We are all patients at some point in our lives, as are our loved ones. Keeping this human side of healthcare at the center of everything they do on a day-to-day basis, always striving to provide the best possible care for every single one of their patients, will surely make all the difference throughout their entire careers.
For me, these experiences are deeply personal. I share Emily’s story not only to honor her memory but also to shed light on the human cost of medical error. Emily’s life was tragically cut short in 2006 by a preventable medication error, one instance of a far broader issue that unfortunately claims hundreds of thousands of lives every year in the U.S. These tragedies are not inevitable. They are preventable. And preventable means they simply do not have to happen.
A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Heidi Eukel, Professor of Pharmacy Practice at NDSU, for inviting me and making this event possible. I am profoundly grateful to their entire staff and students, for the warm welcome and for embracing the importance of this vital conversation.
I want to extend my deepest thanks to RxToolKit for partnering with the Emily Jerry Foundation and shining a light on our mission through their recent article, “The Emily Jerry Foundation: Beyond the Medication Error.”
When I began this journey more than sixteen years ago, after Emily’s life was cut short by a preventable IV compounding error, my aim was simple yet profound: to ensure that healthcare systems change, so that no other family suffers what ours did.
RxToolKit’s article captures not only where we’ve come from, but the progress we’re seeing across several fronts:
All of this work is driven by a belief that while human error may sometimes be inevitable, harm need not be. It is only through systems built with intention, through education, awareness, accountability, and partnership, that we can protect patients and honor Emily’s legacy.
To the team at RxToolKit: thank you for using your platform to spread our message, for recognizing the need to move beyond blame and towards culture change, and for standing with us as we push forward. Your work helps catalyze the conversations and actions that lead to safer care.
To everyone reading: if Emily’s story has moved you, if you believe our healthcare system can do better, I invite you to join us — through donations that support our programs, or amplifying the message. Every voice and every effort matters.
On World Patient Safety Day, I am deeply honored to see my daughter Emily’s story and my ongoing work with the Emily Jerry Foundation referenced in BD’s important blog post: Safeguarding Our Smallest Patients: Technology-Driven Solutions for Safer IV Compounding.
This year’s theme, safe care for every newborn and child, resonates profoundly with me. The smallest patients face the biggest risks, and as Emily’s father, I know the devastating impact of preventable medication errors.
I’m especially grateful for the opportunity to collaborate on this project with my friend Craig Greszler, Associate Director of Medical Affairs at BD. For over a decade, the Emily Jerry Foundation has been proud to partner with BD, a company that has worked tirelessly to develop clinically proven technology “tools” and systems that dramatically reduce the probability of human error creeping into pharmacy and clinical workflows.
Craig and his amazing team at BD share the same passion I do: ensuring these proven technologies are no longer viewed as optional, but rather adopted as the true standard of care. When that happens, we will significantly improve medication safety and, most importantly, save countless lives.
I’m grateful to BD for keeping patient safety as the north star in healthcare—and for their unwavering commitment to helping us move closer to a world with zero preventable harm.
Read BD’s full blog post here: https://bit.ly/3KrQ5TF
Last week, on behalf of the Emily Jerry Foundation, I had the honor of returning to Purdue University College of Pharmacy to lecture in the Patient Safety and Informatics course (PHRM 868), taught by my good friend, Dr. Dan Degnan. This required course for all third-year PharmD students pursuing their doctorates, challenges future pharmacists to reflect deeply on their role in preventing harm and shaping a culture of safety in healthcare.
Standing before more than 150 students, I was humbled by their attentiveness and inspired by their clear sense of purpose. These young professionals will soon be making decisions that directly impact patients’ lives. They are the future leaders, advocates, and experts in medication safety, and their dedication gives me great hope for the future.
For me, these moments are deeply personal. I share Emily’s tragic story to provide the human side of patient safety that we can all relate to. Every one of us, and our loved ones, will receive healthcare at some point in our lives. That reality underscores why this work matters so much. My daughter’s life was cut short in 2006 by a preventable medication error, an event that is sadly not isolated, but part of a much larger issue claiming hundreds of thousands of lives each year in the United States. Errors like these are not inevitable, they are preventable. And “preventable” means they simply don’t have to happen.
That is why courses like Dr. Degnan’s are so critical. They do more than teach content, they shape mindsets, instill responsibility, and inspire future pharmacists to be guardians of safety at every step of the medication use process.
One student’s reflection from the previous lecture captured it perfectly:
“Chris’s story didn’t invoke fear, but responsibility. It pushed me to delve deeper into patient safety… to anticipate potential pitfalls before they arise.”
Another wrote:
“Through his words, passion, and hope I felt changed and motivated to honor Emily. It is my duty to change the system and spread awareness to prevent another occurrence like hers from happening again.”
To know that Emily’s legacy continues to resonate, and motivates real change, fills me with gratitude and determination to keep forging ahead together with our vital mission to save lives from preventable medication errors.
My heartfelt thanks to Dr. Degnan for inviting me back, and to the Purdue P3 students for your engagement. Your commitment assures me that Emily’s legacy, and the mission to achieve zero preventable harm, will live on in the lives you protect and ultimately end up saving.
It was truly a joy to attend the ASHP Pharmacy Futures Meeting last week in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with so many outstanding professionals in the pharmacy community, individuals who have mentored, educated, supported, and inspired me for over a decade and a half in my journey with the Emily Jerry Foundation and our shared mission to improve medication safety.
When I first began this work, it was the pharmacy community that immediately welcomed me into the fold with open arms. From the very beginning, they understood what I was trying to accomplish and shared my deep passion for preventing medication errors and saving lives. Over the years, many of these dedicated clinician caregivers have become not only trusted colleagues, but also dear friends.
Events like this always feel like a reunion. I’m reminded how fortunate we are to be surrounded by so many experts who are just as committed to driving meaningful change in patient and medication safety. Being in the same space with so many like-minded leaders each year continues to give me tremendous hope for the future of healthcare.
It was an absolute honor and privilege to attend the ASHP Pharmacy Futures Conference last week in Charlotte, North Carolina, on behalf of the Emily Jerry Foundation, where we proudly celebrated the accomplishments of our Medication Safety Scholars.
Together with our valued partners at the ASHP Foundation, we recognized five outstanding Doctor of Pharmacy students, Macaleigh Mancuso, Sam Patton, Azhar Hussain, Travis Schubert, and Whitney Dike, for successfully completing the second academic year of our Medication Safety Scholars Program.
While Whitney was unable to attend in person, it was a true pleasure to connect with the other four Scholars at the conference. I was incredibly moved by their passion, leadership, and unwavering dedication to improving medication safety across all areas of healthcare. Their commitment truly inspires me and gives me tremendous hope for the future of patient safety.
As we all know, “do no harm” is the fundamental principal in healthcare. Yet medication errors still account for the largest percentage of preventable medical errors, with an astounding loss of life every year. Pharmacists, as the medication experts, play a vital role in improving outcomes and ensuring safer care for every patient. While medication safety is taught in pharmacy school, mastering the skills necessary to take a leadership position in this space requires real-world engagement and application.
That’s exactly what the Medication Safety Scholars Program is designed to provide. Through a comprehensive, structured educational experience…including completion of the ASHP/ISMP Medication Safety Certificate Program, monthly mentoring calls led by our coach, Dr. John Hertig, with nationally recognized medication safety experts, delivery of an educational activity, and the development of a future-focused improvement initiative, these Scholars have stepped forward as future leaders in this critical space.
I’m incredibly proud of each of you and excited for the positive impact you’ll make on medication safety throughout your careers!
This next generation of pharmacy leaders inspires confidence that we can and will achieve safer systems of care, and ultimately help prevent tragic medication errors from occurring. Thank you all for embracing this mission. You are making a difference that will ultimately save countless lives!
Over the past 16+ years, I’ve had the immense privilege of sharing Emily’s story and speaking across the nation on behalf of the Emily Jerry Foundation. From hospitals and universities to national conferences, I’ve devoted my life to a singular mission, ensuring that what happened to my beautiful daughter Emily never happens to another patient… or family.
Preventable medication errors continue to claim far too many lives, lives that could and should be saved. And while these tragedies are heartbreaking, they are not inevitable. They are preventable. I truly believe we can save countless lives together by staying laser-focused on what I’ve always understood to be the primary cause of virtually every one of these tragedies: the inherent “human error” component in medicine. The reality is, God made us all fallible, no matter how well-intended, how thoroughly educated, or how experienced we may be. It doesn’t matter how many times a physician has successfully performed a procedure, how many times a nurse has administered a patient’s medication regimen, or how often a pharmacy team has compounded a treatment for a patient…every person remains capable of making a “human” mistake. That’s the bad news I always feel compelled to share. But here’s the good news: we can definitely fix this going forward. By acknowledging our human fallibility and intentionally designing our systems, processes, and protocols around that fact—and by fully embracing the High Reliability Organization (HRO) journey and the proven methodologies that drive continuous improvement in healthcare—we can truly begin saving countless lives.
That’s why I’m reaching out humbly to all my friends and healthcare colleagues, who are just as passionate as I am about improving patient and medication safety. If you believe your hospital, health system, pharmacy team, nursing staff, physician specialists, university, or medical conference, could benefit from a powerful, deeply personal message on why medication safety matters now more than ever, I would be honored to speak and collaborate with your teams.
Because this isn’t just a “healthcare issue”…it affects all of us. Every one of us will receive healthcare in our lifetime. So will every one of our loved ones. Let’s work together to build systems that are worthy of that trust!
If you’d like to connect or explore the possibility of bringing this message to your organization, please don’t hesitate to reach out and send me an email at chris@emilyjerryfoundation.org.
The week before last, I had the privilege of spending a few days in New York City to speak at a truly impactful Medication Safety Symposium hosted by Touro University’s College of Pharmacy. The following day, I was honored to join my friend Dr. Emily Messing, PharmD, BCPS, CPPS, a Touro alum and Medication Safety Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, for a Dean’s Hour lecture with a remarkable group of pharmacy students pursuing their doctorates.
It was also a very special moment to finally meet Azhar Hussain in person, one of the Emily Jerry Foundation’s five distinguished Medication Safety Scholars. Azhar attended the session and will graduate our program in June at the ASHP Pharmacy Futures Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.
When I founded the Emily Jerry Foundation more than 16 years ago, I never wanted to be someone who simply told a heartbreaking story about my daughter and then walked away. Especially not when it comes to the clinician caregivers, I deeply respect…those who always lead with empathy, compassion, and a relentless commitment to improving the quality of life for patients facing chronic disease. Over the years, I’ve learned that many of these professionals entered healthcare out of a genuine love for science and a sincere desire to save lives and improve the outcomes for the patients they are so dedicated to serving.
That’s why, from the very beginning, the Foundation’s mission and my advocacy have been rooted in being part of the solution, working to prevent the kinds of tragic, preventable medication errors that took Emily’s life. My goal has always been to help stop these errors before they happen…ultimately saving countless lives in the process.
Opportunities like the recent one’s at Touro University continue to inspire me. These students aren’t just mastering the complexities of lifesaving medications, they’re stepping into their roles as the next generation of healthcare leaders. They’re the ones who will carry the torch forward, with a deep and unwavering commitment to patient safety and error prevention across every area of care.
A heartfelt thank you to my friend Dr. Batoul Senhaji-Tomza, PharmD, MPH for making all this possible and for organizing such meaningful events. I’m truly excited to continue growing the partnership between Touro University College of Pharmacy and the Emily Jerry Foundation.
Photo credit; Rebecca L. Rosen
The Emily Jerry Foundation is determined to help make our nation’s, world renowned, medical facilities safer for everyone, beginning with our babies and children. We are accomplishing this very important objective by focusing on increasing public awareness of key patient safety related issues and identifying technology and best practices that are proven to minimize the “human error” component of medicine. Through our ongoing efforts The Emily Jerry Foundation is working hard to save lives every day.
Last Updated: October 21, 2025 by ejfadmin
Celebrating 12 Years of Progress in Pharmacy Technician Oversight and Overall Medication Safety Improvement!
What began with unspeakable heartbreak after Emily’s preventable medication error has grown into a lifelong mission: ensuring no other patient or family ever endures a similar tragedy.
Over the past 16+ years, I’ve had the privilege and the immense blessing of working alongside incredible clinician leaders, educators, and industry innovators to advance safer systems, strengthen processes, and inspire the next generation of healthcare professionals who share the same passion for preventing the preventable.
When the Emily Jerry Foundation launched the National Pharmacy Technician Initiative and Interactive Scorecard in 2013, our goal was simple yet ambitious: to raise awareness and drive reform in how pharmacy technicians are trained, certified, and overseen across the U.S.
This interactive map (located near the bottom of our homepage if you scroll down a bit at https://emilyjerryfoundation.org/), developed by EJF and powered by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), was designed to highlight disparities among states and promote stronger, safer standards for IV medication preparation in hospitals and health systems nationwide.
Today, I’m proud to share that our 2025 update marks another major step
forward:
✅ 17 states improved their overall scores this year.
✅ In 2013, five states had a “0” score—no oversight of pharmacy technicians. Today, we’re down to just one.
✅ 22 states now earn a “B” score or higher, compared to just 13 in 2013.
This progress reflects more than a decade of collaboration and shared commitment to patient safety. It shows what’s possible when foundations, clinician caregiver experts, healthcare organizations, regulators, and policymakers unite to drive lasting change.
A sincere thank-you to Douglas Scheckelhoff and his outstanding team at ASHP for their partnership, data, and dedication to fairness and transparency, each vital to this initiative’s success.
Looking ahead, I’m excited to continue collaborating with the ASHP state
affiliates who recognize the vital importance of having well-educated,
career-oriented pharmacy technicians on their teams to ensure medication safety. The Emily Jerry Foundation and I personally stand ready to support and collaborate in any way possible to advance technician oversight and these vital medication safety initiatives.
Let’s keep fighting the good fight and keep this positive momentum moving forward…until one day, our nation achieves straight “A”s across the board!