Pharmacists are among the most accessible and trusted health care professionals, serving patients in communities across the country. Their firsthand understanding of pharmacy operations and patient needs help shape stronger programs, partnerships, and experiences across the health care system.
Across Evernorth, 2,500 pharmacists bring that perspective to a wide range of roles. They partner with network pharmacies, plan sponsors and patients to strengthen relationships, inform decisions, and create opportunities for pharmacies to deliver more patient care. During American Pharmacists Month, Evernorth is recognizing three pharmacists whose work reflects that shared commitment: Kelly DeCanio in product strategy, Ali Chehab on the Independent Pharmacy Affairs team, and Deanna Nasello, a pharmacist with Express Scripts Pharmacy.
Expanding clinical services in community pharmacies
Kelly DeCanio’s interest in pharmacy began with science. While studying biochemistry and molecular biology, she was fascinated by the precision and clinical knowledge pharmacists bring to preparing and dispensing medications. But it was the opportunity to help people understand and navigate their care that turned that early curiosity into a lasting purpose. During the rollout of Medicare Part D in 2006, Kelly served as an ambassador, helping seniors review their medications, understand a complex new benefit, and identify options that supported therapies already working for them.
Today, as Senior Director of Network Solutions Product Strategy, Kelly leads work to make pharmacy-delivered clinical care easier to access, implement, and scale. Her team shapes MoreThanRxSM Services, a suite of solutions that expands opportunities for pharmacists to support patients, particularly as communities face provider shortages and challenges accessing timely care. Kelly draws on her community pharmacy experience and direct feedback from independent and chain pharmacies to guide decisions, ensuring new services and products are operationally viable for pharmacists and relevant to the people they serve. For her, the goal is not to make care identical everywhere, but to build a common foundation that can adapt to local needs without losing the personal connection that makes community pharmacy so valuable.
How independent pharmacy partnerships strengthen patient care
Ali Chehab’s connection to pharmacy is personal. After his father was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, Ali became curious about how medications could help and why some caused side effects. That experience, combined with the values his parents instilled in him about helping others, led him to community pharmacy, where he could be someone patients trust to answer questions and make their care easier to understand.
After more than a decade of owning and operating independent pharmacies, Ali joined Evernorth to apply his perspective to work that can bring healthcare leaders together to advance shared goals and support pharmacy owners on a broader scale. His favorite part of the role is turning insight into meaningful action for independent pharmacy partners. Working with teams across Evernorth, he helps identify opportunities to better support independent pharmacists and draws on his professional experience to consider what those ideas could mean in practice for a pharmacist, their staff and their patients. Together with the rest of the Independent Pharmacy Affairs team—including Senior Director and fellow pharmacist Stephanie Smith Cooney—Ali is focused on building relationships and practical solutions that create lasting value for independent pharmacies and the patients they serve.
How pharmacists support medication adherence
Deanna Nasello always knew she wanted a career in healthcare, but pharmacy showed her the impact one conversation could have. Today, as a pharmacist with Express Scripts Pharmacy, she specializes in cardiovascular, pulmonary, and women’s health. She works directly with patients to identify and address barriers that may affect their ability to stay on therapy. Rather than make assumptions, Deanna engages patients to understand potential barriers to care and connects them with support tailored to their needs.
By meeting patients where they are and making it clear she wants to help, Deanna gives patients the time they need to work through challenges that may make it difficult to follow their treatment plan. For example, a patient may need clearer guidance about the difference between a daily inhaler and a rescue inhaler. Other times, side effects, a complicated medication routine or simply forgetting can get in the way.
Having worked in community pharmacy—including as an intern at an independent pharmacy—Deanna understands the important role pharmacists play in patient care. She also knows that questions sometimes arise after a patient leaves the pharmacy. In those moments, she can provide additional support by listening, offering education, and helping patients feel more confident managing their care.
A shared commitment to better care
Although Kelly, Ali, and Deanna serve in distinct roles, their work is connected by a common goal: helping pharmacies and patients thrive. Together, they demonstrate how pharmacists across Evernorth contribute to a more collaborative model—one that values pharmacy expertise, elevates patient and pharmacy voices, and supports trusted care in local communities.
Through continued collaboration, Evernorth and network pharmacies can strengthen partnerships and shape patient-centered solutions that improve access, affordability, health outcomes, and the overall care experience.
Pharmacies are the heartbeat of local care. That’s why we are proud to partner with community pharmacies across the country to open new doors of access to patients.
Evernorth MoreThanRxSM is a suite of products that opens new doors of access to patients through our partnerships at retail pharmacies across the nation and through home delivery. Pharmacists in our network can test for common disease and illness, immediately prescribe and fill the medication, and provide medication counseling – often all in one visit.
