Speakers at DSN’s Industry Issues Summit discuss big trends, such as AI, health equity, the future of pharmacy
Drug Store News’ 25th annual Industry Issues Summit, held Wednesday Dec. 13 in New York City, explored a plethora of issues, including technology in the health, wellness and beauty space, how retail pharmacy is redefining the modern healthcare experience, how merchants and suppliers can work better across the supply chain and how collaboration and technology are improving health in all communities, and more.
The summit kicked off with a keynote sponsored by The Emerson Group, entitled The Generative AI Glow-Up: New Radiance in Health, Wellness & Beauty CPG, led by Sharon Gai of AliHealth.
Gai shared with a packed audience how CPG's are differentiating from competitors by adding AI in every step of their workflows. She also addressed how to operationalize Generative AI to separate your brand from competitors stuck in the archaic ways of product creation.
A second panel, entitled Redefining the Modern Healthcare Experience, and moderated by Scott Miller, president of Strategic, Community, & Specialized Pharmacy at McKesson, involved a discussion on how retail pharmacy is improving chronic care, promoting health and wellness and discovering serious illness early so patients can avoid costly ER visits and hospital stays.
Panelists included Kevin Host, senior vice president of pharmacy at Walmart; Jeff Key, Pioneer Rx president; Julie Lenhard, Wegmans vice president of pharmacy; Craig Norman, HEB senior vice president of pharmacy; Dain Rusk, Publix senior vice president; Tom Utech, iA CEO.
In the following panel, “Merchant to Maestro," Andy Murray of the University of Arkansas / Center for Retailing Excellence and chair of the University of Arkansas's Walton College of Business Customer-Centric Leadership Initiative, informed the audience how merchants and suppliers can work better across supply chain, revenue teams that sit outside of merchandising and e-commerce teams not integrated with physical store merchandising teams (and, others) to bring big mutual value-creation ideas to the table.
The next discussion entitled, Integrating the Front-End Into the Pharmacy's Healthcare Model, was moderated by Lari Harding, senior vice president of business development at Inmar. The panelists' discussion focused on these questions: what is the role of front-end suppliers and how can they work better with retailers to drive more trips, grow the market basket and enhance pharmacy's healthcare image?
Panelists included Colette Heimowitz, vice president of nutrition and education at SimplyGood Foods Company, Alex Hurd, Walmart / Canada vice president, health, Sherri Keeth, Sam's Club vice president, DMM Healthcare + OTC, John Reed, L'Oreal Dermatological beauty general manager, and Jake White, CVS vice president of consumer health & wellness,
Deborah Weinswig, founder and CEO of Coresight Research, presented 2024 Shopper Outlook and offered consumer reaction to the role of retail pharmacy in consumer-driven health.
What is Village MD & How Does it Work? was moderated bv Valerie Mondelli of RevSpring and featured an inside look at Village MD with Adam Chesler, Village MD senior vice president of strategic initiatives.
Lastly, a panel, titled, How Collaboration & Technology are Improving Health in all Communities, was moderated by Shannon Huneke, strategic partnerships innovator and executor at Accenture.
Panelists focused on how can pharmacy work with suppliers, providers, payers, communities, government and academia to improve health outcomes for all patients, especially those in underserved communities.
Panelists included Jason Ausili, head of pharmacy transformation at EnlivenHealth, an Omnicell Innovation; Diane Borton, CareSource community & retail partnerships director; Stacy Burch, Embecta vice president, North America marketing; Anna Prilutsky, Haleon vice president, North America marketing; and Dr. Marc Watkins, chief medical officer at Kroger.