Anthony Olson, PhD, PharmD, FAPhA

Bio

Anthony W. Olson is adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota - College of Pharmacy and a senior investigator with Geisinger's Center for Pharmacy Innovation and Outcomes.  Dr. Olson specializes in pragmatic and translational research on pharmacist services and person-centered interventions designed to improve the care experience and outcomes, especially for individuals living in rural communities. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, and several health plans. Dr. Olson has also served as the Speaker of the House of Delegates for the Minnesota Pharmacists Association and a national officer for the American Pharmacist Association - Academy of Pharmaceutical Research & Science.

Expertise

• practice-based research of patient care preferences, expectations, experiences, and outcomes
• investigation of psychosocial factors mediating health behaviors and the medication use process
• mixed methodological research to improve service design, implementation, and evaluation of integrated care models

Awards & Recognition

• Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association (FAPhA), 2025
• Dick Davidson NOVA Award – American Hospital Association, 2024
• Distinguished Young Pharmacist – Minnesota Pharmacists Association, 2019

Professional Associations

• Academy Health
• American Association of College of Pharmacy (AACP)
• American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
• Duluth Area Pharmacists (DAP)
• Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN)
• Minnesota Pharmacists Association (MPhA)
• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Ambassadors Program 

Olson AW, Allen N, Elmayan A, Green K, Harry M, Kempfert J, Maki H, Nelson S, St. John R, Witherspoon S, Rapps M. (Feb 2025). Getting inside the closed referral loop: A mixed methods study using a community-based participatory approach to explore the patient experience with a social care referral platform. Health Services Research. In Press. doi:10.111/1475-6773.14451

Olson AW, Bucaloiu A, Allen CI, Tusing LD, Henzler-Buckingham HA, Gregor CM, Freitag L, Hooker SA, Rossom R, Solberg L, Wright E, Haller IV, Romagnoli KM. (Jan 2025). ‘Do they care?’: A qualitative examination of patient perspectives on primary care clinician communication related to opioids in the USA. BMJ Open, 15:e090462. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2024-090462

Hooker SA, Starkey CM, Bart G, Rossom RC, Olson AW. (Oct 2024). Predicting buprenorphine adherence among patients with opioid use disorder in primary care settings. BMC Primary Care, 25(2024):361. doi:10.1186/s12875-024-02609-9

Olson AW, Brown JT. (Dec 2023). How pharmacogenomics informs and influences the medication experience. Innovations in Pharmacy, 14(4):7. doi:10.24926/iip.v14i4.5796.

Stratton TP, Olson AW. (Jun 2023). Personalizing personalized medicine: The confluence of pharmacogenomics, a person’s medication experience, and ethics. Pharmacy: A Journal of Pharmacy Education and Practice, 11(3):101. doi:10.3390/pharmacy11030101

Olson AW & Burns AL. (Mar 2023). From patient-centered to person-centered: The pharmacist’s role and value in community integrated care. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 63(3):736-741. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2023.03.003

Adekunle OA, Olson AW, Schommer JC, Brown LB. (Dec 2022). Investigation of predictors influencing patient-pharmacist relationship establishment. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 63(3):853-862. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2022.12.024

Adekunle OA, Olson AW, Schommer JC, Brown LB. (Dec 2022). Influence of the patient-pharmacist relationship on willingness to accept pharmacist-provided services. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 63(3):760-768.e1. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2022.12.016

Rossom RC, Crain AL, O’Connor PJ, [and 17 others, including Olson AW]. (Nov 2022). Design of a pragmatic trial to improve screening and treatment of opioid use disorder in primary care. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 124(2023). doi:10.1016/j.cct.2022.107012

Olson AW, Isetts BJ, Stratton TP, Vaidyanathan R, Hillman LA, Schommer JC. (Jun 2022). An exploratory QUALquan comparison for patient-centeredness priorities in outpatient care for patients and pharmacists. Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 5(6):578-589. doi:10.1002/jac5.1618

Olson AW, Schommer JC, Mott DA, Adekunle O, Brown LM. (Apr 2022). Financial hardship from purchasing prescription drugs among older adults in the US before, during, and after the Medicare Part D 'donut hole': Findings from 1998, 2001, 2015, & 2021. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, 28(5):508-517. doi:10.18553/jmcp.2022.28.5.508

Olson AW, Isetts BJ, Stratton TP, Vaidyanathan R, Hager KD, Schommer JC. (Feb 2022). Addressing hidden curricula that subvert the patient-centeredness “hub” of the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process “wheel.” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 86(2):140-150. doi:10.5688/ajpe8665

Olson AW, Stratton TP, Isetts BJ, Vaidyanathan R, Van Hooser JC, Schommer JC. (Apr 2021). Seeing the Elephant: A Systematic scoping review and comparison of patient-centeredness conceptualizations from three seminal perspectives. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, (14):973-986. doi:10.2147/JMDH.S299765

Olson AW, Vaidyanathan R, Stratton TP, Isetts BJ, Hillman LA, Schommer JC. (Feb 2021). Patient-centered care preferences & expectations in outpatient pharmacist practice: A three archetype heuristic. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, S1551-7411(21):00065-6. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2021.02.00

Grant: Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) Title: Overdose Data to Action at Essentia Health’s St. Mary’s Medical Center Role: Co-investigator Name of PI: Collins, D Source of Support: Minnesota Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Start/End Date: 3/1/24 – 3/1/28

Grant: Behavioral Health Integration in Medical Respite Care for People Experiencing Homelessness Title: Behavioral Health Integration in the Bob Tavani House for Medical Respite Care Name of PI: Olson AW Source of Support: United Health Group Foundation and the National Institute for Medical Respite and Recuperative Care Start/End Date: 1/1/23 – 7/1/25

Grant: National Institutes of Health – The Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative Title: Clinic-Randomized Trial of Clinical Decision Support for Opioid Use Disorder in Medical Settings (COMPUTE 2.0) Role: Site PI Name of PI: Bart G & Rossom RC Source of Support: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse Start/End Date: 7/1/22-7/1/25