Our Faculty and Staff

Dr. Denise Elia received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Nova Southeastern University. Early in her training and career she worked for several years in retail pharmacy, however she has spent most of her career in hospital pharmacy. She has served in many clinical and operational roles as well as administrative roles within the hospital pharmacy practice setting. Dr. Elia worked at JFK (HCA) Medical Center, in Atlantis, Florida in various positions that included, clinical pharmacist that covered many services lines (adult intensive care, internal medicine, surgical services, and oncology care). She also served as the Lead Pharmacist/Manager. Notable focus areas, infectious disease/antimicrobial stewardship, medication safety and oncology. Her experience is not limited to clinical pharmacy, as she had operational roles as well and helped advance technology in hospital pharmacy to promote safe medication dispensing and drug administration. Most recently, Dr. Elia has served as the Clinical Pharmacy Manager at Bethesda (BHSF) for Bethesda EAST and WEST Hospitals. She has extensive experience in advancing clinical pharmacy services, such as in antimicrobial stewardship, emergency room pharmacy services and transitions of care. In this clinical manager role, she had oversight over all adult, pediatric and neonatal services lines. She has chaired and participated in various clinical interdisciplinary committees such as the pharmacy and therapeutics committee, medication use committee, policy committee, medication order set committee, the computerized order entry (CPOE) committee, stroke committee, formulary optimization, medication safety and critical events committee. She additionally has extensive experience in quality improvement projects and regulatory compliance.

Dr. Elia has served as adjunct faculty preceptor to various colleges of pharmacy for both introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPE) and advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE). Focus areas for APPE have included advanced hospital practice, infectious disease, inpatient anticoagulation, and drug information.