In memoriam: Hae Mi Choe, Pharm. D.

This memorial was reposted from the College of Pharmacy

Hae Mi Choe, PharmD, associate dean for Pharmacy Innovations and Partnerships at the College of Pharmacy, chief population health officer at Michigan Medicine, and executive director of the Michigan Institute for Care Management & Transformation with Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan (BCBSM), passed away on Saturday, July 12, after a courageous battle with an aggressive form of leukemia. 

Dr. Choe earned her PharmD from the University of California, San Francisco, and before joining the University of Michigan in 1999, spent five years overseas in Seoul, South Korea, developing and implementing anticoagulation and asthma services for the first time at Samsung Medical Center.

Vicki Ellingrod, Dean of the U-M College of Pharmacy, remembers Dr. Choe as a visionary who stopped at nothing to ensure that pharmacists took their seat at the proverbial table, and were viewed and utilized as an integral part of the healthcare team.

“Dr. Choe is known far beyond the walls of U-M as a pioneer who transformed the role of a pharmacist on care teams not only in the Ann Arbor area but across the country,” Ellingrod reflected. “She was a one-of-a-kind leader who left this profession better than she found it, and we are fortunate enough to have had her in our ranks. More importantly, for two decades, I have been able to call her a dear friend. She will be deeply missed by all of us at the College of Pharmacy, and we send our deepest condolences to her family. I am confident her impact will live on forever.”

Dr. Choe revolutionized how pharmacy care is practiced with the development of the pharmacist-centric care model in 1999 – embedding pharmacists in primary care clinics and retail pharmacies to help patients control chronic conditions like hypertension. It was the solution Dr. Choe saw to an overwhelmed healthcare system in the 1990s. Being the visionary she was, she knew the value pharmacists could bring to managing chronic conditions long before many others in the healthcare field.

Today, that program is utilized in U-M Health clinics and Meijer pharmacies across Michigan, and in 2024, was replicated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to expand care in the southeastern United States.

A champion for patients and always approaching life through the lens of lifting up others, during her final days, while trying to find the proper pain management plan, she was having conversations with her closest family and friends, and said, “We need to make this easier for patients. Help me, help others.” This characteristic of looking for positive change to better the society is something Dean Ellingrod and David C. Miller M.D., M.P.H., Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and CEO of Michigan Medicine, reflect on.

“Dr. Hae Mi Choe was a highly valued and appreciated member of the Michigan Medicine team, serving most recently as Chief Population Officer after several other leadership roles related to population health,” said Miller. “She was an incredible leader and individual, and her contributions and expertise will always remain a part of this organization’s exceptional history as a leading academic medical center.”

In a career that spanned three decades, Dr. Choe received many honors, including the ASHP Best Practice Award, Michigan Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ President’s Award, the American Pharmacists Association Foundation’s Pinnacle Award, and, most recently, the ASHP Board of Directors Distinguished Leadership Award.

Outside of pharmacy practice, Dr. Choe was also a widely published researcher and educator in chronic disease management, care delivery, medication optimization and pharmacoeconomics.  

Her devout commitment to her career did not stop Dr. Choe from taking pleasure in some of her favorite things – walks with friends and colleagues, sharing her infectious laugh and smile, enjoying desserts and sweets (her favorite food group) and spending time with her husband, Yong, and children, Allison and Chris.