Board Member Information

Susan M. Proulx, PharmD is President of Med-ERRS. She earned both a BS in Pharmacy and PharmD degrees from Northeastern University in Boston, MA and completed an ASHP Residency at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA. Her previous professional experience includes both community and hospital pharmacy practice with eight years affiliation with the Medical College of Pennsylvania and its hospital in clinical and program director positions. Prior to joining ISMP in 1995, Dr. Proulx was a Pharmaceutical Consultant, as well as Director of Business Development for ADIS International. She is a preceptor for students from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and Temple University, School of Pharmacy. She is a regular columnist for US Pharmacist and frequently invited as a lecturer for state, national, and international healthcare organizations.

George DiDomizio has extensive experience with pharmaceutical trademarks acquired during his 35 years with Merck where he served as Chair of the Trademark Committee.Since his retirement from Merck in 1991, he has acquired additional trademark experience consulting with multiple pharmaceutical companies on a variety of trademark issues, including interaction with FDA and the EMEA.He holds a Juris Doctor degree.

Ruta Freimanis, PharmD, RPh served as the Associate Executive Secretary and then as Executive Secretary of the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council from 1978-2000. Dr. Freimanis was a member of various national and international nomenclature Committees at the World Health Organization (WHO), the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA), and the American Chemical Society Nomenclature Committee. Dr. Freimanis was involved in the creation of new stem classifications for drugs, in the expansion of classification definitions for existing stem classes and the creation of over 1,000 new nonproprietary names both at the and WHO levels. She has authored and edited multiple articles related to her work of the USAN Council, as well as authored the Drug Nomenclature-USAN chapters in Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy.

Frances Jagla is involved in all aspects of trademark, copyright, and unfair competition counseling and litigation. She has substantial US and international experience in name development, clearance filing, registration, maintenance and enforcement of trademarks and copyrights for Fortune 100 companies. She received her undergraduate degree from Indiana University and her JD from Valparaiso University School of Law. Ms. Jagla has spent the majority of her career as in-house counsel in the pharmaceutical, healthcare and software industries. She is Counsel at the law firm of Leydig Voit & Mayer out of their Seattle Washington office. She is a frequent lecturer on pharmaceutical trademark practice as well as international trademark acquisition and protection.

Bruce Lambert is a professor in the Department of Pharmacy Administration, clinical professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and adjunct professor in the Department of Communication at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He is a founding member of the UIC Institute for Patient Safety Excellence. Dr. Lambert’s research focuses on drug name confusion, prescribing behavior, pharmacoepidemiology, patient safety and medication errors, pharmaceutical promotion, health outcomes associated with provider-patient communication, and on information retrieval. He is currently the principal investigator on a four year center grant, funded by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Lambert has received numerous awards for his work in patient safety and medication error prevention. He has served on many committees for national organizations related to patient safety including the US FDA and United States Pharmacopeia, the Chicago Patient Safety Forum, and the National Patient Safety Foundation.

Louis C. Martinelli is co-founder and Partner of Health Alliance Strategies LLC, a managed health care consulting and training firm. Louis received Pharm.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the of California San Francisco and is retired from pharmacy academe, where he held professorships and two deanships, and from the pharmaceutical industry where he held responsible positions for training, contract manufacturing, and drug regulatory affairs. Louis also is a member of the Board of Trustees of Med-ERRS’ parent corporation, Institute for Safe Medication Practices, where he serves as its chair.

William Thomas has 27 years experience in sales, marketing and business development in the pharmaceutical industry. He has been part of the management committee of 5 specialty pharmaceutical companies during that time. Bill has also lead commercial planning for 3 of those companies and has marketed or launched over a dozen prescription branded specialty products. He also has been responsible for naming several pharmaceutical products. Bill obtained his BS in Chemistry from the University Delaware

Allen Vaida, PharmD, FASHP previously served as director of pharmacy, assistant vice president and director of pharmacy, vice president of clinical operations, and chief operating officer at Mercy Suburban Hospital in Norristown, PA. He has served on the boards of several healthcare organizations, including as a trustee for ISMP from its incorporation as a nonprofit organization in 1994 until his employment at ISMP in 2000. Dr. Vaida served on the United States Pharmacopeia's Safe Medication Use Expert Committee from 2000 through 2005 and is currently a member of the advisory board for the Maryland Patient Safety Center. He also is a clinical assistant professor at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, adjunct assistant professor at Temple University School of Pharmacy, adjunct associate professor for the Centers for Heath Policy and Primary Care and Outcomes Research at Stanford University and Stanford University School of Medicine, and adjunct faculty for the Executive Patient Safety Fellowship offered through Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Vaida received a BS in Biology from the University of Scranton, a BS in Pharmacy from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota.