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I am a 2011 Pharm D. graduate from Oregon State University and also hold a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Virginia.  I am very "young" in my journey as a new practitioner.  Unlike many of my classmates and friends, I did not know that I would become a pharmacist until a bit later in life.  My plans for myself from childhood were quite different. 

Where I come from

I was born in a small town just outside Pittsburgh, PA into a family of artists, writers, and musicians.  I am a first-generation American (my mother is German).  My original plan was to become a singer in the style of Jenny Lind (she was a soprano discovered and made famous by a passerby who heard her singing from her window.  I gave up on Jenny Lind and chose to pursue a chemistry major in college because 1) I wanted to challenge myself and chemistry was the most difficult subject I could think of, and 2) I had some incredible chemistry professors who didn't seem to mind that I was always prodding them with questions in and out of class.  This curiosity led me to abandon a career on the stage and vocal performance scholarships to get a Ph.D. in organic chemistry.  My goal was to create the medicines that make people well.  After the Ph.D. in chemistry, I thought, "Finally!  I am done with school.  Time to start my life!"  But life, it seems, had other plans.

Ph.D. to Pharm.D.

Finding a job in the same geographic vicinity of my husband's job (also a chemist!) proved challenging.  The economy had changed in the four years it took me to obtain my doctorate.  Big pharma wasn't the golden ticket it used to be: they were firing more people than they were hiring, which is never a good sign. There was little job security and much anxiety for chemists, so I started to think about other ways I might leverage my degree.  Several people suggested pharmacy, thinking my medicinal chemistry background would be a "good fit" with a pharmacy degree.  I wondered, Might I be able to make a different in people's lives, not by making the drugs, but by educating patients about their use?  At about this same time, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I went with her to her first treatments and peppered the doctors with questions about her medicines and her care.  When she developed side effects from one of her medicines, I learned everything I could about her medication regimen.  It was my first real experience with pharmacology and hospital pharmacy.  I began to understand that there was an important role I could play as a researcher and communicator:  I could provide the information the doctors did not to help my mother understand her treatment, to help ease her fears, to tell her what to expect.  The convergence of these things combined with my desire to make a difference led me back to graduate school a second time to pursue a career in pharmacy.

Professional Involvement

If I was going to go back to school a second time, I decided I would miss nothing to develop myself into the best practitioner possible.  I didn't just "sign up" for outreach events, I organized them.  I didn't volunteer once or twice, I became a regular at at the free clinic in my neighborhood.  I didn't wait for opportunities to come my way to build my clinical skills with patients, I actively pursued them:  I worked as a pharmacy intern at my local hospital, worked with faculty who saw patients as part of their practice, and shadowed pharmacists during my time off who worked in clinical practice areas in which I was interested.  I was the president of my student health-system chapter, but I didn't confine my involvement to my university alone:  I sat on the board of my state ASHP affiliate as a student which ignited my interest in being involved even more.  I became involved on a national level with the ASHP Student Forum on both the Meetings and Programming Advisory Group and the Policy and Legislative Advocacy Advisory Group.  The more I became involved, the more I wanted be involved.  The opportunities for impacting the profession seemed endless, and I felt encouraged at every step:  Yes, you can write that grant. Yes, you can do research at my clinic. Yes, you can work on this committee to help pass pharmacy-friendly legislation in Oregon. Yes, you can blog, absolutely, have at it!  I can't imagine that my experiences are that unique, but I have never been turned away from anything in pharmacy that I wanted to do.  The limits of what I have been able to accomplish thus far seem to only be set by how big I allow myself to think.  In other words, I believe anything is possible, if I am open to the possibility of it happening. I think this is encouraging news for students as well as new practitioners, especially in a tight economy. You can still make a difference in this profession, although sometimes you have to open the doors yourself.

What I am doing now

I am a PGY1 pharmacy practice resident with Providence Health and Services in Portland, Oregon.  As a new practitioner, I continue to blog about my adventures as a featured blogger on ASHP Connect.  I have continued my involvement with ASHP post-graduation with the ASHP New Practitioners Forum on the Membership and Outreach Advisory Group.  In terms of my future practice, I have practice interests in infectious disease, critical care, and teaching.  I do not know what the future holds for me post-residency, but my ultimate goal, no matter where my practice setting, is to move the profession forward. 

I look forward to hearing your story.