Rodriguez de Bittner Named One of Maryland’s Top 100 Women

Dr. Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner honored by The Maryland Daily Record for professional achievements and impact.

By Andrew Tie
May 9, 2024

Magaly Rodriguez de Bittner, PharmD, FAPhA, FNAP, associate dean for clinical services and practice transformation and professor in the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research (P-SHOR) at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP), has been named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by The Maryland Daily Record.

In its 29^th year, Maryland’s Top 100 Women recognizes high-achieving women who are making an impact through their leadership, community service, and mentoring.

“Dr. Rodriguez de Bittner is a visionary leader, innovative practitioner, inspirational mentor, and tireless advocate for the pharmacist’s role on the health care team,” said Jill A. Morgan, PharmD, BCPS, BCPPS, FNAP, professor and chair of P-SHOR. “Her contributions and accomplishments demonstrate her dedication and commitment to patients, students, the pharmacy profession, and the community.”

Rodriguez de Bittner serves in many roles at UMSOP, such as the Felix Gyi Endowed Memorial Professor in Pharmapreneurship and executive director of the Center for Innovative Pharmacy Solutions.

She received a BS in pharmacy from the University of Puerto Rico before receiving her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) from UMSOP. She completed a clinical residency at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Baltimore, where she provided pharmacy services at the pharmacotherapy clinic from 1992 to 2015. Rodriguez de Bittner also was the coordinator of the Diabetes Care Outpatient Education Program for Giant Pharmacy from 1998 to 2005.

As an innovator and advocate, Rodriguez de Bittner has been vocal in championing critical legislative changes for the pharmacy profession and health care in Maryland. She was instrumental in developing and passing the Collaborative Practice Law to allow pharmacists and physicians to work together on collaborative protocols to improve patients’ medication management, as well as the recent passage of a payment parity law for patients to have access to pharmacists’ services.

At UMSOP, she served as associate dean of academic affairs from 2004 to 2006, the first woman and Hispanic to do so in the 183-year history of the School, and chair of the then-Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science from 2006 to 2015. She has been a trailblazer for diverse faculty and women to pursue leadership roles in health care institutions. She has also served as president of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation.

Rodriguez de Bittner’s research and scholarly interests include cultural competence, innovative clinical program development and practice models, and evaluation of health outcomes. She also leads the School’s Pharmapreneurship® initiative, which describes the School’s commitment to supporting and best positioning its faculty, students, and staff to achieve their career aspirations and therefore address the nation’s health care, research, policy, and societal needs through innovation. Under her leadership, the School has created a pharmapreneurship pathway in the PharmD curriculum, created a business pitching competition for students, and now offers multiple scholarships for students who demonstrated pharmapreneurial skills.

“I am so honored to be named to Maryland’s Top 100 Women, and I’m thankful to The Maryland Daily Record, my colleagues, and mentors who have supported me throughout my career and the many students I’ve had the pleasure of working with,” Rodriguez de Bittner said. “I have dedicated my career to finding innovative and pharmapreneurial solutions in community pharmacy, the pharmacy profession, and health care.”

Rodriguez de Bittner has received numerous honors and awards during her career, such as being named one of the Next 10 Women in Pharmacy in 2022, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation’s Pinnacle Award, and APhA’s Community Pharmacy Residency Excellence in Precepting Award. She’s also received the Maryland Pharmacist Association’s Bowl of Hygeia and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by The Maryland Daily Record in 2015. In many of her national honors and recognitions, she has been the first woman to receive those awards.

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