Esteban Gallardo, Pharm.D. | 2025 MHE Emerging Leaders in Healthcare

I’m a Houston native and still reside here with my wife and two kids. As a first-generation American, I credit my parents for instilling invaluable skills in me early on, such as resiliency, a strong work ethic and a deep sense of pride in my work. These are qualities I carry forward into everything I do.

I’m a double Cougar: I earned both my Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Houston. After receiving my Texas pharmacy license, I worked in community pharmacies as a pharmacy manager and clinical pharmacist before joining CareAllies.
At CareAllies, I advanced from clinical pharmacist to clinical program manager, and I now serve as chief of pharmacy and director of CareAllies’ PGY1 Managed Care Residency program.

Turning point in your career

As I put myself through pharmacy school, I always envisioned myself as a community pharmacist helping individuals in my area. However, in 2013, through networking connections, I became interested in the idea of extending my reach through managed care. Those connections opened my eyes to how managed care pharmacists use their clinical knowledge and training to significantly impact patient care at a larger scale. For instance, helping to improve medication adherence at a population level ensures patients get the medications they need while healthcare systems achieve overall cost savings. It wasn’t a path I anticipated, but I’m so glad things happened as they did. Those connections reshaped my vision and my career. I now use my community experience to lead a team of managed care pharmacists who are an integral part of a multidisciplinary approach to care.

While my path has changed, my perspective has not. My experience interacting directly with patients, fellow pharmacists and community physicians greatly influences how I look at challenges. How will each decision impact patient care? How will each decision affect a patient’s relationship with their pharmacist or physician? My role is to strengthen and preserve those relationships and to help improve patient care while encouraging the next generation of pharmacists to do the same.

In fact, one of the things I like best about my current path with CareAllies is that it’s allowed me to develop young professionals and guide them toward more collaborative solutions to drive improved health outcomes. I began mentoring pharmacy students in 2014 and was honored to be recognized in 2020 with an Ambulatory Care Preceptor of the Year award by my alma mater. Since then, I’ve enjoyed nurturing residents and Pharm.D.s as the director of CareAllies’ residency program.

Biggest day-to-day challenges

Like almost everyone, trying to keep up with the increasing pace of change is one of my biggest overarching challenges. The blazing speed at which everything changes — from regulatory shifts and technological advances to organizational adjustments — requires a lot of day-to-day thinking about how these changes might affect my team and what we must do to stay on top of them. That’s in addition to retaining all the core competencies needed to continue to be a successful pharmacy leader and continually advocating for the role pharmacists can play in achieving patient-focused,
value-based care.

Top priority

People often have a limited idea about how a pharmacy team can facilitate improvements in a value-based care environment. So, as in years past, my goal this year is to work closely with community physicians to help them identify ways to improve health outcomes for their patients. Appropriate medication utilization is a key ingredient in
that quest.

For example, two years ago, my pharmacy team partnered with a South Texas independent physician association to address medication adherence issues in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the country. We knew we’d need to take a collaborative approach to tackle such a complex challenge, but together, we developed a tool to identify patients who need additional support as well as a process to help these patients get the medications they need. We earned a KLAS Research Points of Light Award for our work, but for me, the best reward is knowing the physicians now have a proactive way to help their patients overcome barriers to care, adhere to their medication regimens and better manage their chronic conditions.

Change one thing about U.S. healthcare

I’d want to make it easier for people to access the care they need. So many individuals can’t access a primary care provider (PCP) today, and this problem will only compound as the physician shortage increases and the patient population gets older. I believe it’s essential for pharmacists and other professionals, such as advanced practice providers, to do our part to ease the access issue by innovating and supporting PCPs in every way possible.

Book or article that everyone working in healthcare should read

Adam Grant’s “Give and Take” is an excellent book for any professional to read. It delves into the importance of collaboration and how to understand and cooperate with the “givers” and “takers” in our personal and professional lives. While the book isn’t specific to healthcare, it touches on a topic I truly believe is essential to improving healthcare. Collaboration and teamwork are must-haves if we want to make a positive difference in patients’ lives.

Personal goal this year

What I am looking forward to this year is spending time in Paris for the first time with my wife and family. I’m trying to learn to speak some French and understand aspects of the culture to broaden my horizons. Also, I will be coaching my son’s Little League baseball team this summer, and I hope to teach the kids that hard work pays off, build their confidence and win the end-of-season tournament.