Spotlight: Dr. Eugenio Fernandez Jr. – Asthenis

What is Asthenis’ origin story? What inspired you to start a pharmacy in your hometown of Providence? 

My name is Eugenio Fernandez Jr., PharmD, MBA, MPH. I grew up nearby on Hanover Street in Providence and attended Asa Messer Annex and Elementary, Bridgham Middle School, Classical High School, University of RI for undergraduate and Harvard University for graduate school.

The name Asthenis originates from the word Astheneis – which is greek for the word “patients”. The name Asthenis is a constant reminder to our organization to not become inundated by administrative tasks and to instead emphasize the people (patients). We are a new type of pharmacy – without candy, junk food, and other unhealthy temptations- that focuses solely on the patient – “Asthenis”.

What inspired me to start Asthenis in Providence is that I wanted to use health education to help close health equity gaps between social classes in our community. During my graduate studies I had the opportunity to study health care systems at a high level. That experience made me feel that if I didn’t become an entrepreneur, then I would become part of the problem. After graduate school, I deferred my opportunity to work for the FDA and returned to Providence.  I found the Social Enterprise Greenhouse online and signed up as a co-hub member. This allowed me to work on Asthenis in between my work breaks.

How is Asthenis helping to democratize health care? How is education central to your work? 

Asthenis helps mitigate gaps in health equity by providing access to health information and pharmacy pickup services to a community where there is currently a vacuum for such services.  Additionally, Asthenis teams up with local non-profit organizations to help organize activities centered on providing the community access to health education.

What is your larger vision for Asthenis? What is one thing you wish you knew before founding Asthenis? 

Asthenis’ vision is to be the community’s source for reliable health information. We believe people like to take care of themselves; they just need access to reliable health information so they can make the right decisions for themselves.

An ongoing issue among health care organizations is an unintended propensity to emphasize administration over the people. For example, the average length of a doctor’s office visit is 15 minutes. Both doctors and patients would tell you that that is not enough time to diagnose, treat, and address all questions and concerns appropriately.  Yet the doctor’s office remains our only source of reliable health information. Consequently, I created Asthenis to be our community’s accessible resource for reliable health information.

Interested in getting more involved? Have an idea for a collaboration? Check out our FB page:  https://www.facebook.com/asthenisusa/

While pursuing four majors at the University of Rhode Island, Dr. Eugenio Fernandez Jr., PharmD, MBA, MPH got an idea. Why not take an integrative approach to bringing health care to his home community on the west side by creating a new kind of pharmacy, one without the candy and junk food aisles, that focuses solely on the patient. And why not take health care out of the bounds and control of prescriptions and medical diagnoses and into the community by educating some of our most vulnerable populations. That’s how Asthenis, a pharmacy built on the values of health equity was born.

Dr. Fernandez was honored by his Alma mater  the University of Rhode Island as the first and only quadruple graduate from the school. He graduated with a Doctorate in Pharmacy, Masters in Business Administration, Bachelors in Biology, and a Bachelors in Psychology. He and later pursued a degree from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Eugenio says that the mission of Asthenis is to help keep people healthy and build a health-conscious community by promoting health education. He also notes Asthenis is being a source for self-care tips, medication advice, and convenient pharmacy pickup right in Providence.