Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FHOPA, Highlights Key Reasons to Attend OPC 2025

This year’s Oncology Pharmacists Connect (OPC) meeting, hosted by Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ (PTCE), is taking place in Austin, Texas, from June 19 to 20, 2025. Designed specifically for oncology and hematology pharmacists, this 2-day live event offers an immersive educational experience with a focus on timely, practice-changing insights from the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. With expert-led sessions, dynamic panel discussions, and poster presentations, OPC aims to foster collaborative learning and professional networking in an intimate, interactive setting.

In this interview, Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FHOPA—co-chair of the 2025 OPC meeting—shares what makes this event standout for oncology pharmacists. She highlights the value of hearing ASCO updates in a panel-style format, the excitement around hands-on workshops and emerging topics such as pharmacogenomics and cell therapy, and her enthusiasm for reconnecting with colleagues while enjoying all Austin has to offer.

Pharmacy Times: What makes the OPC meeting unique?

Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FHOPA, is a clinical pharmacy manager in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics at the University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City. Mahmoudjafari is a board-certified oncology pharmacist involved in several oncology-pharmacy organizations such as the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA), currently serving as secretary on the HOPA board of directors. She has also been the chair or co-chair of conferences such as Advanced Topics for Oncology Pharmacy Professionals Summit and Oncology Pharmacists Connect. In 2022, she was the recipient of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Pharmacy Special Interest Group Lifetime Achievement Award and received the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 40 Under 40 in Cancer Award.
Mahmoudjafari has presented nationally on her experience with managing high-cost therapies and on clinical topics such as cell and gene therapies, acute and chronic graft-vs-host disease, and the management of fungal infections in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Mahmoudjafari completed her pharmacy training at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) and her PGY-1 pharmacy practice residency at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. She completed her PGY-2 oncology residency at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah and most recently received her master of business administration degree from Henry W. Bloch School of Management, which is affiliated with UMKC.

Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FHOPA: I really appreciate that this meeting focuses on recent updates from ASCO. There is always so much to catch up on and it’s nice to hear it in a panel style format! We also have some workshops that allow for audience participation that is always very informative!

Pharmacy Times: As a co-chair of the OPC meeting, what are you most looking forward to for this year’s event?

Mahmoudjafari: I always look forward to seeing colleagues and meeting new individuals!

Pharmacy Times: What are key “cannot miss” sessions or presentations at this year’s meeting?

Mahmoudjafari: I’m really looking forward to all of the sessions so it’s tricky to just choose one! I know there is a session on pharmacogenomics called “Precision Medicine in Oncology Pharmacy: Bridging Knowledge to Practice.” During this session, Mya Tran, PharmD, BCOP, a thoracic clinical pharmacist at Indiana University Health – Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, is giving a short lecture at the start of this workshop.

Another session called “Collaborative Strategies for Cellular Therapy Implementation: An Interactive Workshop” I think will be very interactive. I will be leading this workshop, and I think there will be so much we can learn from each other during the discussion.

Pharmacy Times: Are there any events (eg, networking, etc) that you are particularly looking forward to attending?

Mahmoudjafari: New this year is the poster presentations, which will be published on Pharmacy Times online before the OPC meeting and have been published in the June issue of Pharmacy Practice in Focus: Oncology. I always like learning from others and their work in their respective centers!

Pharmacy Times: What is your favorite thing to do/place to eat at while in Austin, Texas, and what would you recommend for first time visitors to Austin for this year’s meeting?

Mahmoudjafari: I’ve been to Austin a couple of times now and I have to say that I see a different side of it each time. I’m a big fan of ice cream so I’m always trying to find the newest greatest spot. My favorite, however, continues to be Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.