Professional Biography
Elisa Ashton, Pharm.D. joined the School of Pharmacy faculty in 2008. Currently she is a Clinical Pharmacist at Mercy Medical Group in Sacramento. She is the pharmacy lead for the Medical Group’s Pay-For-Performance initiatives and serves on a multi-disciplinary Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Core Team to ensure efficient and appropriate use of e-prescribing. Dr. Ashton works in the Group’s PRICE Clinic (Pharmacist Review to Increase Cost-Effectiveness), where she works with fellow health care providers to ensure cost-effective medication practices for low-income seniors. Her practice interests include Drug Utilization Review, Quality Improvement and Performance Metrics, Health Policy Review and Implementation, Health Information Technology and Health Information Exchange.

Prior to joining the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Dr. Ashton worked for five years with the California Department of Healthcare Services, Medi-Cal program. Responsible for the oversight of Medi-Cal’s Drug Use Review program, she worked extensively with Medi-Cal’s databases to target areas to improve medication use. She served as a key advisor to the Department of Healthcare Services on the Governor’s Executive Orders around Health Information Exchange (HIE) and Health Information Technology (HIT), particularly e-prescribing. She continues to collaborate with state agencies to advance the adoption of HIE throughout California as a means to improve patient safety and decrease medication errors.

Dr. Ashton has also served as Director of Clinical Programs for a pharmaceutical benefits management (PBM) company and was responsible for the development and implementation of Disease Management programs in asthma, congestive heart failure, secondary prevention, diabetes, peptic acid and infectious diseases. She has also worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a Business Manager in a disease management subsidiary and as a Medical Science Liaison on a Medical Affairs team.

Dr. Ashton began her pharmacy career as a Clinical Pharmacist in Ambulatory Care at the UC Davis Medical Center where she established a role for pharmacy in Pediatric Pulmonary and Pediatric Nephrology Clinics. Dr. Ashton graduated from the University of the Pacific, School of Pharmacy in 1989. She completed a one-year residency in hospital pharmacy practice at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center in 1990.