Meet Our Expert: How Rafael Saenz Designed a Path to His Dreams and (May Have) Engineered His Own Luck

At every turn in Rafael Saenz’ career – of which there have been more than he initially anticipated – he has thought to himself, time and again, “Man, did I make the right choice.” What he once imagined would be a relatively linear journey has instead been filled with the unexpected: rare opportunities, life-changing lessons, and what he claims has been a whole lot of luck. But with his background in industrial engineering and process design – along with a kind of genuineness that takes you by surprise – one could argue that luck has nothing to do with the self-described “charmed career” that’s unfolded over the years. Perhaps Rafael has, albeit unknowingly, been the engineer of his own success and good fortune ever since making that choice – to become a pharmacist –at just 12 years old.

As simple as that

Despite having been “raised behind a nurses’ station,” where he’d practice his injection technique on a spare orange while waiting for his aunts to get off work, it wasn’t the traditional physician/provider role that he was interested in. “I always knew I wanted to be a pharmacist,” he recalls, “even before I knew what pharmacists actually did.” Growing up in rural south Texas, Rafael – now Rafael Saenz, PharmD, MS, FASHP – remembers tagging along with his father to H-E-B, where they’d pick up medications from the grocery chain’s in-store pharmacy. At home, Rafael would study the pill bottles on his father’s nightstand, taking note of dosing and delivery instructions, expiration dates, refill quantities, and other important details he’d communicate to his dad, who spoke only Spanish. “As a kid, I saw it simply: The doctors told you what was wrong. The pharmacists helped you get better. And I wanted to help people get better.”

In the time since, Rafael has 1) learned what pharmacists actually do; 2) done just about everything a pharmacist could do; and 3) without a doubt, helped people get better – in virtually any sense of the word.

On a roll

After completing his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, his Masters of Science in Health System Pharmacy Administration from the University of Wisconsin, and his residency in Health System Pharmacy Administration from the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Rafael took a job interview at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) – mostly, he admits now – out of courtesy, to which he adds, “I wasn’t really looking to move to Pittsburgh, but taking the interview was the right thing to do” – and doing the right thing, as you’ll come to learn about Rafael, is a hallmark of his character. As “luck” would have it, the job turned out to be something he could only have dreamed of – from the extraordinary opportunities to the impactful relationships and beyond – all of which he credits with laying much of the foundation of his subsequent successes.

First, he was tasked with – or, in his words, “gifted with” – the assignment of building a pharmacy technician training program, which would be one of only three in the country at the time. With his ten years of experience as a pharmacy tech prior to pharmacy school, it was a fitting project – almost as if by design. Then, he was tapped to overhaul the health system’s retail service line. And while wait times were slashed from two hours to <30 minutes, it’s the transformation in the staff’s happiness and morale that he remembers most. Another ‘once-in-a-career’ opportunity that came his way while at UPMC (and which he has now done three times in his career) was leading an initiative to deploy pharmacists to units, completely redesigning the health system’s clinical practice model.

The lucky streak continued, when Rafael’s leader declined a post in Europe due to family obligations – instead sending Rafael himself to design, implement, and oversee a number of solutions across Italy, Ireland, and Germany between 2007 and 2013. Ultimately, it was his own family obligations – the news that he was becoming a father – that brought Rafael back to the states, landing at the University of Virginia.

I always knew I wanted to be a pharmacist, even before I knew what pharmacists actually did.

Changing course

As a leader in change management, Rafael had always considered himself something of a master of adaptability. And he regularly taught his teams and mentees that success is not linear. Still, up to this point, he realizes now that he had subconsciously considered his own path to be relatively straightforward. Sure, he had taken unexpected roles in unexpected places, but he was always in health systems and always working toward a particular role – his “dream job” – that he’d had his sights set on from the very beginning. It was in this next chapter – when he found himself on something of a detour – that he had a realization: “I felt differently about change when it happened to me.” Ever the optimist, though, he describes it more as “taking the long way – and getting to see so much more than I would have otherwise.” Later, after his successful consulting business slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic, luck struck again, just at the right time, when the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) reached out with an open role – and it’s there that Rafael’s eyes were opened to all of pharmacy, beyond health systems alone.

In every role before that and in the ones since, including his current post at McKesson, as Vice President, Knowledge Management & Thought Leadership, Rafael has held strongly to two core beliefs. First: being genuine and showing up as yourself makes the world better. And second: relationships and how you make people feel will last longer than anything. “You’re not how I thought you’d be,” is a reaction he gets regularly – to which he replies with that warmth and genuineness that, again, can take you aback when meeting someone with his list of accolades, “Thank you, I think.” One of the biggest surprises? His affinity for motorcycles. “I know I look like a pharmacist more than a biker, but that’s the real me,” he jokes (seriously).

A clear path

For all the blessings he’s had in professional life, home is where Rafael feels like he truly hit the jackpot. “I have two wonderful children, Sam and Nora, who make me prouder every day. And they are such wonderful people because their mother, my wife, is such a wonderful person. I couldn’t be luckier.” But again, can it really be called luck? Or was it destiny? Or by unwitting design? Or maybe a little bit of everything? That may be impossible to answer with certainty, but one thing is for sure: the Rafael who has spent countless weekends on the bike, winding through the turns of the Blue Ridge Parkway, taking the long way “just to see,” and with no real destination in mind – the same 7^th-grader riding along to the H-E-B pharmacy with his dad – has always known exactly where he’s headed. 

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