PHARMACY

Graduated in 2010
President, Michigan Pharmacists Association
Pharmacist, Ascension Retail Pharmacy

Q: Why did you choose Wayne State? 

A: I applied to all three universities in Michigan that have pharmacy programs. I was accepted into all three schools but after visiting each campus, the decision for me was clear — Wayne State was where I belonged! I was very impressed with the Honors College, which gave me my tour, and WSU offered me an excellent scholarship. My grandfather had attended pharmacy school at Wayne State nearly 50 years before, so it also felt great to follow in his footsteps at his alma mater!

Q: What inspired you to pursue this career?

A: I credit my decision to pursue pharmacy to my two grandfathers. My paternal grandfather was an independent pharmacist who owned his own pharmacy in Detroit. He passed away before I was born so I never had the chance to know him, but the neon sign for Kirk’s Pharmacy hung in my basement as a child. I used to love turning it on and watching its soft glow fill the room. I had never known anyone else who worked in a pharmacy. However, that quiet legacy of my grandpa’s community pharmacy planted the seed in my mind. 

Junior year of high school, it was time to start deciding what we wanted to study in college. I was an academically strong student and loved the sciences, but outside of that I was not sure what I wanted to do as a career. Around that time, my maternal grandfather’s health took a turn and when we visited him, I was amazed to see the number of medications that he was taking. I wondered how his doctors could possibly know how all those different medications interacted with each other, and if the combination was actually helping him or making him worse. Our high school had us take some standardized tests to see what occupations we might have aptitude for and among my list, one stood out to me: pharmacist. I did a little more research and found that it sounded like a career that would balance my love of science with my desire to help people, and would work well with the family life that I hoped to one day have.

Q: Who was your most memorable instructor?

A: I had many excellent professors over my time at WSU. The professor that has had the biggest impact on my life was Geri Smith. During our P2 year, one of the requirements of her class was that we needed to attend an offsite professional association meeting. I chose to attend a Wayne County Pharmacists Association meeting. At the time, I was motivated to simply check off the box for credit in the class but it ended up being a lifechanging event. I stepped into a tiny conference room at the Dearborn Hampton Inn, packed to the brim with pharmacists who seemed rather surprised to see me there, but they eagerly made a spot for me at the table. During the next two hours, I witnessed lively and excited discussion. It was so clear that despite any day-to-day challenges of the job, they truly loved what they were doing. They were so welcoming and frequently asked me to weigh in on the discussion, listening attentively to my responses. At the end, they asked me to come back to the next meeting because they wanted to hear more from the student pharmacist perspective. Even though I was not required to come the next month, I happily did, and I could probably count on one hand the number of meetings that I have missed in the last 15 years. 

Being an active member of the WCPA executive board eventually lead to my decision to run for the board of the Michigan Society of Community Pharmacists, and my experience there lead to my desire to serve the pharmacists of this great state on the board of the Michigan Pharmacists Association. At the end of my first term on the MPA executive board, I ran for the office of President Elect and was elected to serve as the 140th President of the Michigan Pharmacists Association. It is my privilege to work with pharmacists from all over the state to advance and protect our profession!

Q: Tell us more about your Wayne State experience.

A: I'm very grateful for my time at WSU! In some ways it feels like it was a million years ago, and in other ways like it was yesterday. I spent six very formative years of my life on the campus of WSU, and I look back at that time fondly. My years of undergrad studies taught me a lot about myself as I adjusted to living away from home for the first time. It was so much fun supporting the Warrior football and basketball teams as a WSU cheerleader. My years in pharmacy school were the most academically challenging of my life. Looking back, I remember the vast hours of studying but I also remember the joy of learning things that I was passionate about and forging wonderful friendships with my classmates. EACPHS gave me a firm foundation to build my professional career upon and prepared me for a life of serving my patients in the community.

Q: In your opinion, what is one of the biggest changes that has occurred in your profession since graduating?

A: In my last year of pharmacy school, H1N1 hit and pharmacy really stepped up for the first time to help with mass immunizing of the public. During one of my six-week APPE rotations, I was at University Pharmacy with Maria Young. Together we provided many vaccination clinics, both on and off campus, where we administered over 2,000 immunizations. This was an innovative practice at the time but now it is commonplace — even expected — for patients to receive their vaccinations at a pharmacy. 

 Q: Share a career highlight.

A: One of the things I am most proud of in my professional career is starting a pharmacy from the ground up. My employer got a contract for a new pharmacy and we needed to immediately take over for the outgoing contracted pharmacy, which meant hitting the ground running on day one. With a small but mighty staff, we worked long hours in an unconventional work environment to make sure that our patients' needs were met, all while building relationships with the nurses and doctors on the health care team. From counting medications on DIY counters made from folding tables elevated on McKesson totes to expanding into a thriving pharmacy with three times the staff 12 years later, it has been a wild ride. It was such a special experience to be able to design the layout of the pharmacy, establish workflow procedures, and make a thousand little decisions that add up to what a pharmacy will become. None of it would have been possible without my outstanding team. We worked to build something impressive together.

In terms of professional association accomplishments, I am most proud of creating a legacy of student pharmacists with WCPA. When I first joined the local chapter, there were only a few female members and no students or new practitioners on the board. In the years that followed, I helped recruit many student pharmacists, and we created a designated seat on the board for a WSU student. It has become common for new practitioners to serve on the board and to hold officer positions.

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The Doctor of Pharmacy program at Wayne State University is a four-year curriculum in the heart of Detroit. Approximately 100 students are enrolled in each year of the program. WSU Applebaum information meetings for prospective students take place at 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month. The application process or the Doctor of Pharmacy program begins each July.

An anchor in urban health care

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is built on more than 100 years of tradition and innovation in the heart of Detroit. We have grown deep roots in our city, harnessing its powerhouse hospital systems and community service organizations as vibrant, real-world training grounds for students, with an ongoing focus on social justice in health care. And our research at all levels – from undergraduates to veteran faculty members – translates into creative solutions for healthier communities.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering approximately 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 24,000 students.