Founding Director

Noosh Portrait
Mark Neuenschwander
Founding Director

For three decades, Mark Neuenschwander has been promoting wise development and sound deployment of medication-safety technologies.

He was a leading voice in persuading the FDA to require manufacturers to include bar codes on all immediate drug containers. Most notably, he served as a catalyst for moving America’s hospitals to adopt bar-code medication administration (BCMA) at the point of care.

For his accomplishments, Mark was honored as the tenth recipient of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Today, his thought leadership extends to advocating for compounding accuracy. He is the founding director of the THRIV Coalition for IV Accuracy—a coalition of healthcare stakeholders promoting universal adoption and consistent utilization of workflow management systems to ensure that IV preparations are just what the doctor ordered.

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THRIV Advisory Board
Charles Boicey THRIV Advisory Board
Charles Boicey
RN

Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Clearsense, LLC, Past President of American Nursing Informatics Association. Started a clinical nursing career in the US Army, moved into nursing and clinical informatics, and now focuses on healthcare data analytics.

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Christopher Chabris
PhD

Research Psychologist, Senior Investigator at Geisinger Health System, co-author of the best-selling science book, The Invisible Gorilla, which presents the results of the authors’ research in inattentional blindness and other cognitive illusions.

Speaker Cohen
Michael R. Cohen
RPh, MS, ScD (hon.), DPS (hon.)

President of The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), which he founded in 1994. Chairs the International Medication Safety Network and serves as a consultant to the FDA. Recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award from National Quality Forum and the Joint Commission, Harvey A. K. Whitney Award from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and is a 2006 MacArthur Fellow.

Jay Crowley THRIV Advisory Board
Jay Crowley

Co-Founder and VP of UDI Solutions at USCM Life Sciences, following a 26-year career with the FDA, including Senior Advisor for Patient Safety. Led the development of a framework and authored key requirements for FDA’s Bar Code Rule and Unique Device Identification UDI system and rules.

Jerry Fahrni THRIV Advisory Board
Jerry Fahrni
PharmD

Hospital pharmacist, pharmacy informatics and technology thought leader/expert, project manager for leading pharmacy technology companies, author: In the Clean Room A Review of Technology Assisted Sterile Compounding Systems, Consultant in pharmacy automation and informatics at Jerry Fahrni Consulting.

Christoph Lehman THRIV Advisory Board
Christoph Lehmann
MD, FAAP, FACMI, FIAHSI

Neonatology and medical informatics, Director of UT Southwestern Clinical Informatics Center, past president of the International Medical Informatics Association.

Marianne Ivey THRIV Advisory Board
Marianne Ivey
PharmD, M.P.H., FASHP

ASHP’s Harvey A.K. Whitney Award recipient, Past President of ASHP, VP Pharmacy Services at Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, Professor Emerita of Pharmacy Practice/Administrative Sciences at College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati.

Jim Jorgenson THRIV Advisory Board
Jim Jorgenson
MS, RPh, FASHP

Following 30 years of hospital pharmacy leadership, Jim is CEO Visante, Inc. a leading pharmacy consulting firm.

Erick Kastango THRIV Advisory Board
Eric Kastango
MBA, BS Pharm, FASHP

Practiced pharmacy in hospitals, healthcare corporations, and cGMP manufacturing settings. Served on expert panels for USP and ASHP related to sterile compounding. Provides consulting services for compounding compliance,  training for state boards of pharmacy compounding inspectors, and is president of Kastango Consulting.

Laura Mark THRIV Advisory Board
Laura Mark
PharmD

Vice President of Pharmacy for Allegheny Health Network. 2019 Recipient of the prestigious Sister Gonzales Duffy Lecture Award from the Pennsylvania Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Mary Beth Navarra Siro THRIV Advisory Board
Mary Beth Navarra-Sirio
RN, MBA

Has provided testimony to the FDA, served on the Institutes of Medicine Committee on HIT Safety, worked closely with the ONC on its proposed patient safety standards and sat on the HIT Safety Collaborative. Past president of the National Patient Safety Foundation, now sits on IHI board and is co-founder and principal of Sirio2 Healthcare Innovations.

Tina Suess THRIV Advisory Board
Tina Suess
RN, BSN

Manager Medication Safety Integration at Lancaster General Hospital, an early technology adopter, leader in identifying best practices with automated dispensing systems, bar-code medication administration, and smart-pump integration.

Marc Swiontkowski THRIV Advisory Board
Marc Swiontkowski
MD

Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon, Professor, University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, American Orthopaedic Association (Past President), Orthopaedic Trauma Association (Past President), Editor-In-Chief of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

Gwen Photo
Gwen Volpe
RPh, LSS Black Belt, FASHP

Gwen is the Senior Director of Medication Technology and Analytics for Fresenius Kabi.  She has extensive experience with medication-use technology, emphasizing patient safety and process improvement. A leader in the commercialization of RFID and 2D barcodes, Gwen tirelessly advocates for standards that drive efficiency and safety for clinicians.

Ray Vrabel THRIV Advisory Board
Rayburn Vrabel
PharmD

Retired pharmacy automation consultant, hospital pharmacy practitioner, and automation vendor executive.