Tessa Rife, PharmD, BCGP

Tessa.Rife@va.gov

Dr. Tessa Rife graduated from the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy in 2010. She started her career at the VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System in Corpus Christi, Texas, working in the outpatient pharmacy. There she also started new clinical pharmacist practitioner services providing anticoagulation management and primary care. Dr. Rife knew early on that she had a passion for helping veterans on a larger scale and partnered with the VISN 17 PBM and Academic Detailing Program Managers to lead a variety of medication safety and cost savings initiatives. In 2015, she continued these efforts by joining VISN 21 as the Academic Detailing Program Manager at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Her academic detailing work has largely focused on pain and opioid safety initiatives, naloxone, and substance use disorders. These efforts are also reflected in her clinical practice, where she served as a clinician on the Addiction Consult and Prescription Opioid Safety Team for 5 years. Dr. Rife is now part of a new HUD/VASH Substance Use integrated Care Team, where she provides education and distributes substance use harm reduction supplies to veterans residing in HUD-VASH housing. Dr. Rife leads a variety of local quality improvement and research initiatives, teaches interdisciplinary learners, and maintains faculty appointment at the University of California, San Francisco, School or Pharmacy.