Q&A with UAMS College of Pharmacy Dean
Cindy Stowe
Pharmacist Immunization Expansion Wilson, Pharm.D. How did you decide on pharmacy By as Emily a career?
I’m a first-generation college student, and my parents made it clear that I was going to college, but they didn't push me in one direction or another. No one in my family is in pharmacy so I didn’t really have it on my radar specifically. I knew that I wanted to do something in the healthcare field. I enjoyed math and science, and pharmacy seemed to be the right fit. When I was younger, I worked for the city park and each Saturday we would meet our supervisor at the local pharmacy which was a gathering point in my community, so I was frequently in the pharmacy. It still serves as a reminder to me of how integral pharmacies are to communities.
What drew you to the academic side of pharmacy?
As a kid I always thought I would be a teacher, and as I got older, I had additional interests that came into focus. I remember when I was writing my application letter to pharmacy school, I wrote about how I envisioned providing pharmacy services in front of the counter or outside the physical pharmacy. When I got to pharmacy school, I recognized I could match my teaching interest and my pharmacy interest.
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What area(s) of pharmacy are you most passionate about? The simple answer to that question is that I’m most passionate about being a pharmacist in any and all settings – I believe more than ever that no matter where we each practice, we are more alike than different – we are pharmacists. I think it’s the beauty of the profession – we are problem solvers and stay focused on improving the health and wellness of our patients.
Early on I chose the residency pathway that allowed me to provide pharmacy service in institutional practice, specifically pediatric pharmacy practice. In this role I found myself more energized by working with other healthcare providers on interprofessional teams and envisioning new roles for pharmacists that served to get pharmacists out of the physical pharmacy to provide direct patient care services. With students in the practice site, I always wanted to know what area of practice they wanted to pursue, and I worked to figure out how could I provide learning experiences that would translate to their desired practice site. As I moved out of the practice setting into the dean’s office,
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THE ARKANSAS PHARMACIST
3/27/20 12:43 PM