Pamela Schweitzer, Pharm.D.

Rear Admiral (ret), USPHS
Senior Strategy Consultant

Rear Admiral (RADM) Pamela Schweitzer retired in September 2018 from a four year term as the Assistant Surgeon General and 10th Chief Pharmacist Officer of the United States Public Health Service (PHS). As Chief Pharmacist Officer (first female in this role), RADM Schweitzer was responsible for providing leadership and coordination of more than 1,300 PHS pharmacy officers in 13 agencies with the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health & Human Services.

Of her 29 year career in federal service, she most recently served at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Previously, she served in varied assignments in the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). RADM Schweitzer has a wide variety of experiences with developing clinical programs and managing large projects.

While at CMS, she worked with states on modernizing their Medicaid eligibility and enrollment systems, drug pricing and public health. During her time with Indian Health Service, she was the national transformation lead for transitioning from paper to electronic medical records, the national lead for the IHS-VA mail-out partnership project involving the IHS transferring prescription refill workload to the VA Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP) and implementing processes to improve health and healthcare and optimize reimbursement.

RADM (ret) Schweitzer received her Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from California State University Fullerton (CSUF), earned her Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy, completed an Ambulatory Care/Administrative Residency at University of California Irvine Medical Center and has been a Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist (BCACP).

RADM (ret) Schweitzer has been recognized for her leadership contributions, including the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Distinguished Federal Pharmacist Award (2014), the USPHS Mary Louise Anderson Leadership Award (2012), IHS Senior Pharmacist of the Year Award (2013), the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy 2015 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, 2016 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) William Zelmer Lecture Award, National Council for Prescription Drug Program (NCPDP) Champion Award (2017) and Surgeon General Exemplary Service Medal (2018), ASHP 2019 Distinguished Leadership Award.

RADM (ret) Schweitzer is married to her husband, Paul, and they have two grown children and two grandchildren. Their favorite place to hike is the Grand Canyon. She has summited Mt Rainier, Mt Whitney, and Mt Kilimanjaro (twice), is a private pilot and certified scuba diver.