Of all the personal traits that have followed Avita Pharmacist-in-Charge Henry Delu Jr. into adulthood, two stand out in his daily work caring for underserved patients: He has a zest for life, and he simply doesn’t give up.
Born and raised on the south side of Los Angeles, “I was always full of energy,” Henry says. “As a child, you’d find me jumping, hopping, and backflipping.” While he was a curious and intelligent child, his focus was initially on a future in sports, including baseball, basketball, and football.
“None of that really worked out for me,” Henry says. When he was 12 years old, he was hit by a motorcycle, thrown 40 feet, and sustained serious injuries to his leg and back. For the next seven months, family members shuttled him back and forth from the hospital in a cast. “It was a transformative moment in my life,” Henry recalls. “I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t play sports. From that point on, all I could do was sit at home and study.”
Henry, who now holds a doctorate in pharmacy, an MBA, and is an advanced practice pharmacist, a board-certified oncology pharmacist, a board-certified ambulatory care pharmacist, and an HIV-certified pharmacist through the American Academy of HIV Medicine, grins. “I found out I was pretty good at it.”
Growing up in South L.A., I saw firsthand how difficult it was for patients to access quality providers. I realized that if patients didn’t have money, their care would be delayed by the system.
"I’m going back to help.”
After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, and University of Southern California, as well as teaching at University of Southern California and University of California at Berkeley Extension (he learned oncology and ambulatory pharmacy via a voracious reading habit along the way), Henry knew it was time to return to his roots in South Los Angeles to settle into his pharmacy career.
“Growing up in South L.A., I saw firsthand how difficult it was for patients to access quality providers,” he said. “I realized that if patients didn’t have money, their care would be delayed by the system. It happened to my family and me after my childhood accident — I waited eight hours in the county hospital to get a cast, which then had to be reset due to provider error, and went months without physical therapy. I know not everyone has the same access to the best doctors, care, and medications. Not everyone has providers who help them follow through with their healthcare. I said, ‘If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. I’m going back to help.’”
As he leads the pharmacy team at Avita’s Lynwood, California location, “I’m still like a kid with all of that energy, but I channel it,” Henry says. “Now I use it to help patients, whether it’s teaching them about their medications, creating new programs, or finding ways to get patients on HIV preventive care.”
I’m still like a kid with all of that energy, but I channel it to help patients, whether it's teaching them about their medications, creating new programs, or finding ways to get patients on HIV preventive care.
Helping prevent patients from falling through the cracks
Henry is dedicated to going the extra mile for patients in his community and speaks fondly of one who was struggling when they first met. “At the beginning of 2025, this patient told me, ‘I hated 2024! I was in the hospital three times,’” he says. Upon investigating, Henry discovered that although the patient would be discharged from the hospital with a prescription, the prescribing provider failed to obtain the necessary prior authorization for the medication. As a result, the patient, who has diabetes and heart failure, wouldn’t fill the prescription. Fluid would back up into his lungs, he couldn’t breathe, and he was back in the hospital within a few months.
Henry collaborated with the patient’s primary care provider to resolve the prior authorization issue. He also advocated for the patient to begin weight-loss medication to get his blood sugar under control. “Today, the patient told me, ‘I’ve lost 30 pounds! I’m not in the hospital anymore! I’m looking forward to 2026,’” Henry says. “Pharmacists play a vital role in helping patients not fall through the cracks. I see someone struggling like that, and I know we can do better.”
Pharmacists play a vital role in helping patients not fall through the cracks. I see someone struggling like that, and I know we can do better.
Mentoring the next generation of pharmacists
Henry’s energy translates to excitement when he discusses recent advancements in pharmacy and his role in mentoring future pharmacy professionals. As an Advanced Practice Pharmacist in California, he uses collaborative practice agreements with providers to help patients get the medications they need. He leverages this training to prescribe HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for eligible patients. And he’s committed to utilizing data to help covered entity partner clinics identify which patients may be at higher risk for certain health conditions.
In his roles as a preceptor at Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy and a member of the admissions committee at Harvard University, he offers students some key advice for navigating their education and careers. “Number one, find a mentor,” he says. “You need mentors to help navigate a career in pharmacy because pharmacy is changing every year, whether it’s new medications, new laws, or other changes in healthcare.”
He also encourages students to broaden their horizons through interdisciplinary learning. “Focus on your field, but learn as much as possible in other areas,” he says. “A lot of it is transferable, but if you just stay in one silo, you won’t see the overlap and can miss opportunities.”
Finally, he tells people to follow their dreams. Henry didn’t get accepted to Harvard for his undergraduate studies, but he reapplied for graduate school and made the cut. “Now I’m on the admissions committee, talking to other students from South Los Angeles who want to go to Harvard,” he muses. “It’s come full circle.”
Find a mentor. You need mentors to help navigate a career in pharmacy because pharmacy is changing every year, whether it's new medications, new laws, or other changes in healthcare.
TEAM MEMBER SNAPSHOT
Name: Henry Delu Jr., PharmD, MBA, AAHIVP, M.MSc., APh, BCOP, BCACP, MTM
Title: Pharmacist-in-Charge, Avita Pharmacy
Location: Lynwood, California
Favorites:
- Hobbies: Playing football with my daughter and son, and spending time with family
- Food: Spaghetti and meatballs, and steak. (Fun fact: Henry’s mom once FedExed him an entire Thanksgiving turkey from Los Angeles when he was homesick during his first semester at Berkeley.)
- Music: Gospel music
- Book: The Bible
- App: I Google everything. And I just used Chat GPT to figure out that my new couch was too close to the heater.
- Travel destination: I’m really a homebody. I’m old school. I just want to hang out with the family and maybe go to Chuck E. Cheese.
