PharmacyNow: Why did you pursue a PhD, and would you recommend this to others?

That’s correct. I am the first woman to serve in this capacity at AACP, and the first person to be hired for this position from outside the current staff.. As I was flying down to the finalist interview, I started thinking about questions they would ask. What makes me qualified for this position? I realized that everything I had done for the past 25 years was relevant for my work here at AACP. And, a light bulb went off that I was moving in the right direction. Well, wouldn’t you know – that was exactly the first question they asked me! I think, personally, you would never find in my career planning that I want to be a CEO – I don’t think that way. I don’t think about it as a position, but rather what is it that I might be able to accomplish here that relates to my career objective. And my career objective is really simple. Regardless of what I’m doing, I want to know that it contributes to improving medication use in society. I think this is an ideal opportunity in terms of helping schools equip the next generation of pharmacists and create the next generation of scientists.

My class at Auburn University in 1976 was one of the first to hit the 50-50 threshold … and then it quickly moved to 60-40. This was a wakeup call to the profession of Pharmacy. Not everyone thought that was a good thing, and there was concern about it. I think – and I’m very willing to say this – the leaders in Pharmacy at the time knew how important it was going to be for women to be successful, and leaders, in Pharmacy. So I got some help from some of those people, and it spirited my career along. The combination of my willingness and interest and the profession, however you want to define that, knowing how essential it was for this new dynamic of large numbers of women entering practice to work for the profession was a very synergistic turn of events.

Mary Munson Runge, the first woman president of APhA, who appointed me to my first post-graduate APhA committee. Jack Schlegal. John Gans, President at APhA, who encouraged me. I had a couple of people at Auburn who were extremely supportive. My major professor in graduate Al Wertheimer is a network par-excellence. Larry Weaver, who helped me create my first post-PhD position. I omit more than I mention. So many people. And back in the good old days, if you will, there were two unofficial groups. One was the Young Pharmacists Caucus, a group that was just determined not to fall off the face of the earth and they reached out to the younger pharmacists. Then there was a "good old girls" network that got together for dinner for one night during the APhA meeting to celebrate each other’s accomplishments. Both the formal and informal networks have really lifted me up.

Loving what you do every day. I have finally come to terms with my career objective. And clearly success is being in the position to move toward, if not achieve, your objective every day. Life is just way too short to not love what you do every day. So to feel like you are making progress toward your objective, in an environment that you enjoy – surrounded by supportive colleagues – is the ultimate of success.

Unless they are geographically constrained, which I acknowledge that some people are, in today’s marketplace I personally believe there is no excuse. You should not stay in an environment you can’t stand. Because you are not doing anyone – you, your employer, your patients, your family, any good.

Balance has always been an issue, pre and post-kids. I’ve always been a pretty linear person. I was single when I went to school. I got married when I was 30, and I was pretty well established in my career by that time. We were married 10 years before we had children -- and we did it through adoption and added two children to the family at one time. People go "whoah" when they hear that but I had never done it before, so I thought why not just jump right in? And, I couldn’t do it without my husband -without that partnership. Therein lies the key to balance. We work hard to share things evenly. He does about 52% of the parenting, and I do about 52% of the other things. We both mow the lawn, we both cook. I have found an equal partnership and I can’t imagine it working without that. But I also say that in adding multiple increments to life: work, then marriage, then family, then other organizations … if those are right for you then it sorts itself out.

The profession suffers for an adequate number of leaders. We can be proud of the changes that have been made – essentially reversing course twice: going from primary care providers to people who are mostly concerned about drug distribution, and back to primary care providers again. But there are people who are frustrated we haven’t moved farther faster. Leadership is essential to us doing that. Often we think of leadership as taking on a state or national role. But to me the most important leader is the person who creates an innovative new role and markets it effectively within their community.

They will be a key player. Both in helping pharmacists increase the efficiency of drug distribution, and in other administrative areas. I see their role, and numbers, needing to expand.

I see three dimensions. We provide communications and networking to stay informed. We provide programs and services for professional development like CE, leadership development, and skill development. We provide outreach to the public, and this needs to be funded by pharmacist membership in AACP and the other associations -- to reach out and address the public’s keen interest in appropriate medication use and safety.

There have been a lot of people who have been strikingly influential in my life. On a personal level, undoubtedly it’s my Mom. She was a special education schoolteacher, but she was singularly my biggest fan. I lost her 20 years ago, but she always said you can be and do anything, and was just a wonderfully honest, loving person. And there are just so many people who have enabled me in Pharmacy.

I was going to grow up to be a teacher, but my step-father – who built submarines – asked me if I ever thought about Pharmacy, because I was interested in science. And I really never looked back from that point. I learned very early on that Pharmacy had this wide array of different options, with no single track. But there’s nothing that I didn’t learn naturally along that course.

If they still have the opportunity, either as a student or professional without a lot of encumbrances, I encourage them to experiment with their career choices. I’m convinced there is a really good fit for everybody to use his or her Pharmacy knowledge and expertise. Be extraordinarily optimistic about our profession! I believe that my optimism is my key to my personal success: it makes people want to work with you; it helps you see the good side of things rather the dark side – and the possibilities that come along the way. The opportunities for pharmacists are unprecedented because society understands now that drugs have to be managed and pharmacists are the professionals that can help with that.

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