Meet the Preceptors at HCA Florida Blake Hospital

Learn more about the Pharmacy Residency Program preceptors at HCA Florida Blake Hospital.

Pharmacy Residency Program Preceptors

Irvin Alfonso, PharmD, CPh

Director of Pharmacy

Preceptor: Administration

Irvin Alfonso, PharmD, CPh is the director of pharmacy at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. He was born in Puerto Rico, raised in North Bergen, NJ, and moved to Florida in 1982. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1992 from Nova-Southeastern College of Pharmacy in Davie, Florida. Dr. Alfonso started his career at Jackson Memorial Hospital as the clinical operations coordinator where he established the pharmacy trauma services at the Ryder Trauma Center. He then transitioned to Mercy Hospital as their first critical care pharmacist for 5 years. Dr. Alfonso was then selected to participate in the Leadership mentor program within the Memorial Health System and transitioned to pharmacy administration. He held the position of Director of Pharmacy at Memorial Hospital West, Northwest Medical Center, and Miami Children's Hospital. In 2017, Dr. Alfonso relocated to the West Coast of Florida to enjoy the sunsets and refocus on mentoring future pharmacy leaders.

Dr. Alfonso is an active member of ASHP, FSHP, and Southwest Regional Society where he has engaged in various roles, such as Regional Secretary, Treasurer, President of the South Florida Society of Health-system pharmacy, FSHP house of Delegates member, and FSHP regulatory committee. Dr. Alfonso also serves as a preceptor for a number of Colleges of Pharmacy including LECOM, Nova-Southeastern, UF, and FAMU.

Derek Vuong, PharmD, BCPS, CPh

Residency Program Director and Pharmacy Clinical Coordinator

Derek Vuong is the preceptor for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Medication Safety

Derek Vuong, PharmD, BCPS, CPh is the pharmacy clinical coordinator at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. A non-native Floridian, he was born in Vietnam and raised in Sarasota. Derek earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from LECOM School of Pharmacy and completed a PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency at Bayfront Medical Center in Saint Petersburg, Florida. After several years as a critical care pharmacist, he transitioned into leadership as Clinical Manager at Medical Center of Trinity and Northside Hospital prior to joining Blake. Derek is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and is passionate about critical care medicine, infectious diseases, and parenteral nutrition therapy. He enjoys clinical research and teaching pharmacy residents/students to advance the practice of pharmacy.

Jenna Sorgenfrei, PharmD, MSPS, BCCCP

Residency Program Coordinator, Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Emergency Medicine

Jenna Sorgenfrei, PharmD, MSPS, BCCCP is the emergency medicine pharmacy clinical specialist at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. Originally from Rome, NY, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Elmira College. She moved to NC to attend Campbell University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, where she earned her Doctorate of Pharmacy and Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Following pharmacy school, she completed a PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC. Dr. Sorgenfrei then completed a PGY-2 Critical Care Pharmacy Residency at Prisma Health-Upstate in Greenville, SC. She started her career at HCA Florida Blake Hospital in 2021 as a Pharmacy Clinical Specialist, where she is developing pharmacy services in the Emergency Department.

Gary J. Algozzine, PharmD, CPh

Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Internal Medicine

Gary is the staff pharmacist at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. He was born in Catskill, NY, and received his BS in Pharmacy with Honors from Albany College of Pharmacy in 1979; and his Pharm D from the University of Florida in 1981. He moved to Bradenton and was the Clinical Coordinator at Blake from 1981 to 2003 when he became the Director of Pharmacy for about 8 years from 2003 to 2011. After stepping down from the Directors position, he was a part time remote order entry pharmacist for the West Florida Division of HCA from 2013 to 2019, serving Fawcett, Sarasota Doctors, Blake, Pasadena and Engelwood Hospital Pharmacies while maintaining a part-time staff position at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. He also has worked retail pharmacy at Publix Pharmacies part time from 2009 – 2013 for locations in the Manatee County area. In addition he serves a Consultant Pharmacist for 4 area ambulatory surgery centers. He was Board Certified in Nutrition Support Pharmacy in 1992 and recertified in 1999. He has precepted pharmacy students from UF and other pharmacy schools for many years and was Preceptor of the Year for UF multiple times. He has authored multiple publications and has published a handbook on critical care drugs, titled “Critical Care Intravenous Infusion Drug Handbook”, Mosby.

Donald Bogar, PharmD, BCPS

Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Internal Medicine

Don Bogar, PharmD, BCPS, has been at HCA Florida Blake Hospital since February 2017. He initially obtained a BS degree in Pharmacy from the University of Oklahoma in 1982 then went on to complete a residency in hospital pharmacy administration. After moving to Florida, Don worked as a staff pharmacist and then as a director of pharmacy for several years. He went back to the University of Oklahoma and obtained his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 1996 followed by a PGY2 residency in critical care. Don worked as a clinical pharmacist in critical care in Florida and Virginia until 2015 when he became an assistant director of pharmacy at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. In 2017 he moved with his wife to Bradenton and joined the staff at BMC.

Shameema Challa, PharmD, BCPS

Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Infectious Disease

Shameema Challa, PharmD, BCPS went to pharmacy school at the prestigious NAAC accredited Kakatiya University, Warangal, India and completed PharmD in University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Denver, CO. She is a Board Certified pharmacist 2013 and got re-certified in 2020.She has more than 20 years of experience in administration, acute care hospital critical care, ID and in Clinical pharmacy de-centralized model pharmacy services. She served as a Chair, Anti-Microbial Stewardship Committee at AdventHealth Lake Wales, Glycemic Management Committee AdventHealth Sebring and in Fall Prevention Committee, Highlands Regional Medical Center. She enjoys spending time with the family, reading books and traveling.

Cale Courtney, PharmD, BCPS

Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Hospital Orientation

Cale Courtney, PharmD, BCPS is an overnight clinical pharmacist at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. Originally from Buffalo, NY, he moved to Florida to attend the University of South Florida where he earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Biomedical Science with minors in Public Health and Biophysics. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2014 from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy- St. Petersburg campus. Following pharmacy school, he completed his PGY-1 Residency at Bayfront Health-St. Petersburg where he developed a strong interest in critical care and infectious disease. In 2015, Dr. Courtney started his career at HCA Florida Blake Hospital as a clinical pharmacist. It was also during this year that he received his Board Certification in Pharmacotherapy. In addition to working the overnight shift at HCA Florida Blake Hospital, Dr. Courtney continues to work PRN at Bayfront Health- St Petersburg.

Nicholas Hodgin, PharmD

Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Pharmacokinetics & PN Therapy

Nicholas Hodgin, PharmD is a clinical pharmacist and previous resident at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2020 from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy- Bradenton Campus. Upon finishing pharmacy school, he completed his PGY-1 residency at HCA Florida Blake Hospital . His interests include critical care, burn and infectious disease. Nicholas continues with HCA Florida Blake Hospital since completing his residency.

Patricia Marian, PharmD

Medication Reconciliation Supervisor, Clinical Pharmacist

Patricia Marian, PharmD, is the Medication Reconciliation Supervisor at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. She was born and raised here in Florida and attended the University of South Florida for her Bachelors of Science degree in Biomedical Science. She then moved on to become a Gator at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy (St. Petersburg Campus) for her PharmD. Upon completion of pharmacy school, she completed her PGY-1 Residency with an ambulatory care focus at Bay Pines Healthcare system and spent the majority of her time at the VA outpatient clinic in Sarasota, FL. Her interests include ambulatory care and transitions of care and since residency, Dr. Marian had been piloting the new Medication Reconciliation Program at HCA Florida Blake Hospital.

Lily Reyes, PharmD

Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Cardiology

Lily Reyes, PharmD is a clinical pharmacist and recent inaugural residency program graduate at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. Originally from Cuba, has lived in Florida for 26 years; graduated from the University of South Florida with a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences and subsequently attended and graduated from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (Bradenton Campus) in 2019. Upon completion of PGY1 at BMC, Lily stayed on board as a clinical pharmacist with a special interest in Cardiology. Dr. Reyes plans on building a Cardiology program that will form a solid foundation for our future residents.

Torry Schilling, PharmD, BCCCP

Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Critical Care, Burn and Trauma

Torry Schilling, PharmD, BCCCP is the Critical Care Clinical Pharmacist at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. A native of Florida, she received her Doctorate of Pharmacy from Mercer University in 2003 and completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville in 2004. Dr. Schilling moved to West Palm Beach and practiced as an Oncology Clinical Pharmacist while teaching oncology pharmacy to Palm Beach Atlantic University pharmacy students as an adjunct professor. She then moved back to her hometown of Orlando to work as a Clinical Specialist in Bone Marrow Transplant at Florida Hospital Orlando. After spending ten years specializing in Hematology/Oncology, Dr. Schilling moved to the west coast of Florida, where her exposure to trauma and critical care inspired her to change her specialty. Dr. Schilling has worked for HCA Florida Blake Hospital for seven years, and achieved her board certification in Critical Care Pharmacy in 2017.

Dr. Schilling is certified in ACLS, PALS and ABLS. She is an active member of FSHP and SCCM.

Thao Stromgren, PharmD

Clinical Pharmacist

Preceptor: Pharmacokinetics & PN Therapy

Thao Stromgren, PharmD is a clinical pharmacist at HCA Florida Blake Hospital. She attended Florida State University for undergraduate studies, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences in 2016. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2020 from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine - School of Pharmacy. Dr. Stromgren completed her Post-Graduate Year 1 (PGY-1) Pharmacy Residency at HCA Florida Blake Hospital in 2021, and then stayed on as a clinical pharmacist. She also obtained her Residency Teaching Certificate through the University of South Florida - Taneja College of Pharmacy in 2021. Her professional interests include pediatrics, critical care, cardiology and internal medicine. She has authored a publication in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics in 2020. Her professional goals are to become a board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist (BCPS) and a board-certified critical care pharmacist (BCCCP) in the coming years.