Advisory Board

Christopher M. Bland, PharmD

Christopher M. Bland is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, Southeast Georgia campus in Savannah, Georgia. He received his PharmD degree from the University of South Carolina in 2000 and has been board certified in pharmacotherapy since 2003. He was recently named a Fellow of both the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. Dr. Bland's primary practice is in infectious diseases and internal medicine at St. Joseph's/Candler Health System in Savannah. Dr. Bland is co-founder of the Southeastern Research Group Endeavor (SERGE-45) - a practice-based research network primarily in the Southeast with over 40 institutions and 50 pharmacists. Dr. Bland has given several regional and national presentations as well as published several manuscripts related to allergy assessment and skin testing.

Brandon Bookstaver, PharmD

Brandon Bookstaver, PharmD, is an Associate Professor & Director of Residency & Fellowship Training in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcomes Sciences at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy in Columbia, South Carolina. He also serves as an Infectious Diseases Pharmacist at Palmetto Health Richland. Following graduation from the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy in 2004, he completed a Pharmacy Practice residency and Infectious Diseases specialty residency at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Brandon thoroughly enjoys coordinating student research and is heavily involved in pharmacy residency training, including his role as the Infectious Diseases PGY2 Residency Director and Clinical Fellowship Director at USC/Palmetto Health. He has over 75 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of infectious diseases and teaching and learning. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family (wife Nicole, son Aaron & daughter Maddie Paige), traveling and Gamecock athletics.

Justin Chen, MD

Justin Chen, M.D., is an adult & pediatric allergist at East Texas Allergy & Asthma Associates in Longview, TX. He earned his M.D. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. His residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Allergy & Immunology were completed at the UT Southwestern University Hospitals & Clinics, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and Parkland Memorial Hospital. Dr. Chen is board-certified by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology and the American Board of Internal Medicine. He serves on the clinical faculty of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler and is a registered Pediatric Immunology Consultant for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Dr. Chen has authored multiple scholarly articles on drug allergies, food allergies and chronic urticaria. His research on penicillin allergy testing was honored by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in 2016 and he was named the Daniel W. Foster Fellow by UT Southwestern in 2017.

Nicole Griffith, PharmD Candidate

Nicole (Nikki) Griffith is a 4^th professional year student at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy. During her student career she has worked extensively on expanding pharmacist driven penicillin allergy skin testing both locally and across the state of South Carolina. Currently, her research has focused on the impact of penicillin skin testing as an antimicrobial stewardship tool. Nikki is active in several pharmacy organizations including SSHP, ACCP and our local ASHP state affiliate, SCSHP. Her career goals include completion of a PGY1 residency and PGY2 specializing in Infectious Diseases.

Emily Heil, PharmD

Emily Heil, PharmD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She also serves as the Pharmacy Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She completed her undergraduate and PharmD at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and subsequently completed her pharmacy practice and infectious diseases pharmacy residency training at the University of North Carolina Hospitals. She is currently serving as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists. Her research interests include individualization of antimicrobial dosing, particularly in critically ill patients, antibiotic allergies, gram-negative resistance, and antimicrobial stewardship.

Bruce Jones, PharmD

Dr. Bruce M. Jones is an Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System practicing in the Savannah City-Wide Antimicrobial Management Program. He also serves as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy and a Clinical Preceptor for Mercer University, University of Georgia, and South University Schools of Pharmacy. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from East Tennessee State University Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. He then completed a Postgraduate Year One (PGY1) Pharmacy Practice Residency at St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System. Dr. Jones is a member of IDSA, GSHP, ACCP, SIDP, and the Southeastern Research Group Endeavor (SERGE-45). Dr. Jones is board certified in Pharmacotherapy (BCPS) and has completed the Advanced Antimicrobial Stewardship Training Program through MAD-ID.

Renee Kleris, MD, MPH

Renee completed her pediatrics residency training through the Brown University School of Medicine Program in Providence, Rhode Island. She then went on to complete her fellowship training in Allergy/Immunology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. During her fellowship, she obtained her MPH at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her primary research project during residency focused on the management of penicillin allergy through an inpatient multidisciplinary team. She additionally worked to create a dedicated outpatient penicillin skin testing clinic at Duke and formed collaborations between transplant infectious disease and anesthesia to increase access to testing for patients who would likely require penicillin/penicillin derivatives and those interested in updating their allergy status.

Caitlin Mardis, PharmD

Dr. Mardis is the Director of Continuing Education and Professional Development for the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcomes Sciences. Dr. Mardis graduated from the Columbia campus of the South Carolina College of Pharmacy and completed a pharmacy practice and a solid organ transplantation residency at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Prior to returning to the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy, Dr. Mardis practiced as a solid organ transplant clinical specialist at Virginia Commonwealth University and at the Medical University of South Carolina and served as the Assistant Director of Transplant Quality and Compliance at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Nathon Parker, PharmD

Dr. Parker graduated from University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy with a Doctor of Pharmacy in 2006. Since graduation he has worked at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (CRMC), which is a 220 bed community hospital, for the past 13 years and has run the antimicrobial stewardship program since 2009. He is a Board Certified Specialist in Pharmacotherapy (BCPS) since 2012, granted the Added Qualification for Infectious Diseases in 2017/2018. Dr. Parker has also completed the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists certification in Infectious Diseases, and a specialty certification in Anticoagulation. He precepts pharmacy residents and pharmacy school students during their infectious disease rotations at CRMC. Dr. Parker was born and raised in Cheyenne, WY and most of his family still lives there so he is invested in helping improve healthcare in the local community. He loves doing outdoors with my spare time such as camping, snowboarding

Hana Rac, PharmD

Dr. Hana Rac is a clinical instructor at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy and practices as the lead antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist with the Antimicrobial Stewardship Collaborative of South Carolina (ASC-SC). She graduated from the South Carolina College of Pharmacy in 2015. After graduation, she completed a PGY1 pharmacy residency at Emory University Hospital followed by a PGY2 infectious diseases pharmacy residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Mary Staicu, PharmD

Mary L. Staicu, PharmD, is an Infectious Diseases Clinical Pharmacy Specialist practicing at Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, NY. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Buffalo, NY, then completed her PGY1 general pharmacy residency and PGY2 Infectious Diseases specialty residency at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY. In her current position, Mary is a founding and active member of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Team and serves on various hospital and system-wide committees, striving to promote the appropriate use of antimicrobial agents through clinical stewardship interventions, program and guideline development, and active research. She serves as a mentor and preceptor for PGY-1 and PGY-2 pharmacy residents, and teaches house-staff and medical students. Although involved in multiple antimicrobial stewardship research projects, her specific area of interest is the clinical and economic implications of the penicillin allergy label.

Nicholas Torney, PharmD

Nicholas Torney graduated from Ferris State University College of Pharmacy in 2014 (Go Bulldogs!). He completed his Post-Graduate Year 1 (PGY1) and PGY2 Infectious Diseases (ID) pharmacy residency training at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, MI. As a PGY2 resident with the leadership of his residency program director, Nick started a pharmacist-managed inpatient penicillin skin testing program. In addition to de-labeling penicillin allergies, Nick’s responsibilities include being co-director of the antimicrobial stewardship program at Munson Medical Center, as well as the PGY2 ID residency program director. In his spare time, he enjoys stand up paddle boarding, running, playing guitar, Michigan craft beer, and traveling with his fiancé.

Luis Tulloch, MD

Dr. Tulloch graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine and completed a general internal medicine residency at the University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals. He continued his training in infectious diseases, completing an Infectious Diseases Fellowship at the UCLA Multicampus program. His interests include antimicrobial stewardship, quality improvement, and medical training. Dr. Tulloch is particularly interested in using health information technology to streamline antibiotic selection and subsequent de-escalation. His goal is to spread the principles of antimicrobial stewardship to as many healthcare personnel as possible. Recent projects include creating and implementing an antimicrobial stewardship curriculum for second-year medical students and familiarizing Infectious Diseases fellows with penicillin skin testing as a method for decreasing inappropriate antibacterial use.

Geoffrey Wall, PharmD

Dr. Geoffrey C. Wall is a Professor, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy at Drake University and Director of the Drake Drug Information Center. His clinical practices include the Internal Medicine and Medical Intensive Care Teaching Services at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, IA. Dr. Wall received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Utah in 1992 and his Doctor of Pharmacy from Idaho State University in 1998. He completed an ASHP-accredited Internal Medicine Specialty Residency at Scott and White Memorial Hospitals and Clinics in 1999. He is Board-Certified in Pharmacotherapy. He is a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. Dr. Wall has written a number of peer-reviewed papers and textbook chapters on a variety of topics and has designed or participated in several clinical trials. His research interests include drug treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, clinical evaluation of drug allergy, pulmonary pharmacotherapy, and rheumatologic disorders.