A conversation with Dr. Mark Garofoli, director of experiential learning and clinical pharmacy

Dr. Mark Garofoli is a 2004 graduate from the Pitt School of Pharmacy and a 2008 graduate of the Strayer University MBA program, and is a Board-Certified Geriatric Pharmacist (BCGP), Certified Pain Educator (CPE), and Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist (CTTs), with APhA certificate training in Immunizations and Medication Therapy Management (MTM). He began his career as a pharmacist and in field management with CVS Health, then became an MTM pharmacist with Humana Healthcare, before initially joining the WVU School of Pharmacy by developing MTM and managed care pain management programs. Dr. Garofoli created and coordinated the West Virginia Expert Pain Management Panel, which developed the West Virginia Safe & Effective Management of Pain (SEMP) Guidelines. He is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Experiential Learning for the WVU School of Pharmacy, along with being a Clinical Pain Management & Addiction Pharmacist at the WVU Medicine Center for Integrative Pain Management and Pain Fellowship Faculty for the WVU School of Medicine. He is a 2021 TEDx Talk presenter and a recipient of the WV GenerationRx Award. Dr. Garofoli has consulted as CDC grant reviewer, an expert witness in multiple criminal and civil court cases, multiple advisory boards, and is the host of the Pain Pod on the Pharmacy Podcast Network - all while also developing and conducting presentations across the country revolving around pain management, substance-use disorder (addiction), substances of abuse, and drug diversion. We discuss his experiences as an experiential instructor and clinical provider in the heart of the opioid epidemic.