Intern Alumna Spotlight: Mary Andrawis-Refila, PharmD, MPH, CPHQ

Originally published in the December 2020 AMCP Foundation Insights e-newsletter. 

Since AMCP Foundation’s founding in 1990, over 200 student pharmacists have taken part in our summer internships. We're pleased to highlight our intern alumni in this reoccurring feature.  

Name: Mary Andrawis-Refila, PharmD, MPH, CPHQ 
Current Title: Founder and President, Serafina Health Strategy 
Internship Program: AMCP Foundation/Pfizer, Inc. Managed Care Summer Internship 
Internship Site: VA Cleveland 
Year: 2004 

What is your role today and your responsibilities?  

I am the founder and president of Serafina Health Strategy. I establish vision for the company, build relationships with potential clients, and ensure that clients receive the highest quality and most efficient products and services from us.  

What does a typical day look like for you? 

I usually start my day by quickly skimming health care related news and then reading recent articles from quality improvement and health care journals to stay up to date. Then I catch up on emails, flagging any items needing a quick response. Next comes my work time, where I dive into my projects. This includes meeting with clients to understand their needs and then the bulk of my day is focused on developing and providing high-quality deliverables. Deliverables include things like quality improvement program design, training materials and content, and program execution (day-to-day operations).  

How did the AMCP Foundation internship prepare you for your career? 

I was extremely lucky to know about and be chosen for the AMCP Foundation/Pfizer Managed Care internship – it set me on a path of meeting giants in the field of pharmacy like Marissa Schlaifer and Mark Brueckl and understanding an aspect of the field of pharmacy that I otherwise would not have been exposed to. Understanding concepts of managed care is a critical foundation in understanding our health care system. I went on after pharmacy school into public health and got my MPH from Johns Hopkins, and early in my career worked at my dream job at CMS, the nation’s largest payer as the provider of Medicare and Medicaid. My training and experience from the internship was fundamental to my success both in my MPH program and as a CMS employee. It gave me a running start to really understanding and navigating our nation’s health care system and policies.  

What advice do you have for pharmacy students? 

You can do almost anything with a pharmacy degree – do not be afraid to identify your passion and interests and use your unique and amazing pharmacy training to be the very best at that thing!  

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