After being recognized as the Third Quarter Outstanding Associate, the senior leadership team named 7-year-veteran, Divine Chi, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCOP, the 2022 Frank H. Devocelle Legacy Award winner. Dr. Chi, who works as lead oncology pharmacist at the Olathe Health Cancer Center, will receive a $2,000 cash award, lunch with CEO and President Stan Holm, and other gifts.

Going Beyond the Call of Duty

Divine was first introduced to Olathe Health through the 2014-2015 Pharmacy Residency Program. After graduating, he worked as a cardiology pharmacist before rejoining the Olathe Health team as an oncology pharmacist in 2017.

“When I was given the opportunity to return and lead pharmacy services at the Cancer Center, it was an easy choice,” Divine said. “As a resident at Olathe Health, I had worked closely with key individuals across the health system and developed strong relationships.”

After joining the oncology team, Divine obtained board certification in oncology pharmacy (a non-job requirement) within two years. Since making the Olathe Health Cancer Center his home base more than five years ago, Divine has:

• Volunteered to build all chemotherapy-related PowerPlans and computerized provider order entry (CPOE) orders, also providing CPOE training for new providers and serving as an in-house IT expert for Cancer Center providers.
• Worked closely with a team of clinicians and IT specialists to implement tagraxofusp-ezrs (Elzonris) for treating Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasms (BPDCN), making Olathe Health Cancer Center the first community cancer center in the United States to successfully use this therapy for BPDCNs outside of clinical trials.
• Implemented and continued to manage most aspects of COVID-19 prophylaxis with tixagevimab-cilgavimab (Evusheld) at the Cancer Center.

Outside of these clinical achievements, Divine has taken on scheduler functions at the Cancer Center. His clinical expertise has been invaluable in this role. In one instance, Divine was able to help schedule weekend treatments of growth factors when the scheduler and RN were out sick from COVID-19. He is also able to streamline chemotherapy scheduling orders, reducing scheduling work for peers and providing a better patient experience.

“Divine is a tremendous resource to the Cancer Center and other Olathe Health departments, and he takes initiative to further the mission of our system, ” Phil Schneider, director of pharmacy at Olathe Health, said. “There are countless examples of how Divine has improved workflows and enhanced relationships with providers and non-clinical departments to improve patient care.”

Following His Calling

Growing up in a country that routinely had poor health outcomes, healthcare was a natural career choice for Divine.

“I chose healthcare attempting to make real, positive differences in the lives of others,” Divine said.

Divine’s desire to solve problems at their root cause has helped him excel in his role. Oftentimes this results in him going above and beyond the scope of his work to achieve the best outcomes.