In celebration of National Pharmacy Week, Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River is highlighting its award-winning team, spearheaded by supervisory pharmacist Leslie Ann Jago, who was recently named the 2026 Defense Health Agency Supervisory Pharmacist of the Year. Backed by her steadfast 15-year commitment to the command as a civilian pharmacist, Jago earned the national recognition for her leadership and dedication to patient safety, while remaining deeply invested in the growth and success of her staff.
"Dr. Jago’s selection as the Defense Health Agency Supervisory Pharmacist of the Year recognizes her commitment to exceptional leadership and the respect she has earned across the DHA pharmacy community," Radford said. "She leads an incredible and high-performing pharmacy team and we’re thankful for her service to the Pax and Branch clinic communities."
Operating across three geographically dispersed locations, the pharmacy team dispenses more than 94,000 prescriptions annually to a diverse universe of patrons. The department drives operational readiness by ensuring active-duty service members receive safe, accurate and timely medications to stay fit for the fight, while simultaneously providing pharmaceutical care to a large population of military retirees and dependent family members across the region.
Keeping pace with this high-volume operation involves continuously managing active-duty staff turnover. At Patuxent River, the pharmacy department is staffed by a team of certified pharmacy technicians comprising of both active-duty personnel and civilians. Jago and civilian pharmacists Traci Cooksey and Lisa Brown work side by side with Leading Petty Officer Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Reginald Smalls III, to instruct and develop incoming general-duty corpsmen directly at the deckplate level. Under their combined mentorship, these sailors learn the pharmacy trade through rigorous on-the-job training.
At the branch clinic level, pharmacist Kristin Smith works in close coordination with Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Antonio Arementeros to maintain that same standard of deckplate mentorship. Within the past year, Arementeros was selected as the enlisted technical leader for the Navy’s L22A pharmacy technician community, serving as the primary advisor to the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and the Navy surgeon general on all matters concerning enlisted pharmacy personnel. In this Navy-wide leadership capacity, Arementeros is responsible for shaping service-wide policy, determining manning requirements, updating training curricula, and collaborating directly with officer specialty leaders to resolve career progression hurdles and align pharmacy technicians to support operational healthcare missions across the fleet worldwide.
"During Pharmacy Week, I’m proud to recognize our civilian and military pharmacy technicians and our pharmacists for their skill, professionalism, and customer care they bring to our beneficiaries every day," said Capt. Ken Radford, director of Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River and commanding officer of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Patuxent River.
That relentless standard of care and technical vigilance is personified by Jago, whose daily leadership recently produced an impact felt across the entire Military Health System.
Jago's attention to detail played a key role in identifying and resolving a critical software issue affecting the military health network. Noticing a system error, she recognized the glitch could bypass standard safety checks. She promptly reported the issue through official channels, helping initiate a system-wide fix. By auditing and correcting records at her home site while supporting the broader rollout of safeguards, Jago helped protect operations across military pharmacies and the beneficiaries they serve.
For Jago, the award represents the daily collaboration and resilience of her entire department. "This recognition is truly a reflection of the dedicated professionals I have the honor of working alongside every day," Jago said. "Whether it is our experienced civilian staff or the young active-duty corpsmen learning the complexities of the pharmacy on the deckplates, everyone is united by an absolute commitment to patient safety and operational readiness. Watching our technicians grow into confident leaders while ensuring our warfighters and their families receive flawless care is the most rewarding part of what we do."
Beyond daily dispensing, the pharmacy personnel continually advance their operations through innovative process improvements. Staff members implemented advanced automation tools like Q-Anywhere and Q-Flow across branch clinics to streamline patient communication and save valuable staff hours.
"Our dedicated Pharmacy teams at the Main and Branch clinics are laser focused on medication safety and attention to detail that builds trust our patients place in our clinics," Radford said.
Driven by strong leadership and ongoing staff development, the personnel stand as a model of military medicine resilience and operational readiness. Their patient advocacy ensures the highest standard of care across the region.