FEATURE: Q&A with UAMS College of

Q&A

with UAMS College of Pharmacy Dean Cindy Stowe

How did you decide on pharmacy as 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.

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,

I’ve stayed true to my belief that pharmacists are necessary members of the healthcare team, but I’ve become more focused than ever on those transferable skills that make us all pharmacists.

You joined the staff at UAMS in 1995 and left in 2014 to become dean of Sullivan University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. What made you decide to come back to Arkansas?

What drew me back to Arkansas is the same thing that brought me here in 1995: the people at UAMS, the Arkansas profession of pharmacy, and the people of Arkansas. When I travel around the country and talk to my colleagues at other colleges and schools of pharmacy, it’s clear what has happened and is happening here in Arkansas – it is special. We have a strong working relationship between the Colleges, Board, the Association and profession at-large. There is a visible impact of pharmacists in each community making a difference and a clear focus on advocacy for our profession. There’s a legacy of leadership within the profession that comes out of Arkansas and influences and affects national issues and leadership in national organizations like NCPA, APhA, and NABP. These things make Arkansas incredibly visible in ways that I’m not sure are always obvious when we’re dealing with the day-to-day work around us. Finally, transitions take an incredible amount of energy and commitment. I have always been someone who embraces change as an adventure. I love what I get to do each day and recognize that some days are difficult. I stay focused on learning and being a better person each day. I’ve been on a steep learning curve these past six months, but it’s been enjoyable. I’m happier today about my decision to come back to Arkansas than I was yesterday, and I’m sure it will only get better!

What’s your philosophy for the role of dean?

I feel like the role of a dean is to stay focused on the people, help solve problems, build trusting relationships, and remove barriers and align resources so that students, staff, and faculty can be successful. As dean I have to be clear about the interconnected nature of the profession and the College – we cannot just peacefully co-exist, but we must inform and advance each.

A huge part of what makes UAMS so connected to the profession is that we not only educate the next generation of pharmacists and scientists but we leverage the research mission to help advance the profession and improve the health

What challenges did you face transitioning to the role of UAMS dean?

I think the challenges I’ve faced transitioning to the role of UAMS COP dean is a mix between a leadership transition from within and external. For me, the transition I faced moving to Sullivan University entailed taking on a new role as an outside candidate, so there was a significant amount of time invested in getting to know everyone within Sullivan. Back in Kentucky, I got to reconnect with my roots and enjoyed being back within the state where I was educated.

Coming back to UAMS to be dean at the place that I developed as a pharmacist educator has been easy in some ways – I know my way around the campus, Little Rock, and the State but things have changed. I’ve been meeting with stakeholders of the College within and external to the College and the University. Getting back in time to attend all the APA Regional Meeting this past year was a real benefit. The Regional Meetings allowed me to get out and visit with many people. As I compare the job of dean at UAMS versus Sullivan, the job at UAMS is bigger in many ways than at Sullivan; internally there’s a broader research mission and externally as the flagship public institution there’s a high expectation across the State and Nation.

and wellness of patients. The two departments of the College work to fulfill the research mission. Our Pharmaceutical Sciences Department and Radiation Health Division focus on drug discovery and optimizing radiation and chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients. The Pharmacy Practice Department, with the Center for Implementation Research and the Division of Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy, focuses on helping advance the practice of pharmacy by leveraging population data to inform implementation of new and advanced pharmacist-delivered services with a focus on community-based practice. Additionally, we benefit from the Evidence-Based Prescription Drug Program and Arkansas Poison Control and Drug Information Center as outwardly facing population and public health service units of the College.

What is your vision for “the Stowe years?”

I believe the next 5-10 years will be the ‘tipping point’ years for the profession. What I mean by that is that I think this will be the time when, as a profession, we will turn the corner on payment models that recognize pharmacists-delivered services as well as the product. The College’s role will be to educate the workforce (both pharmacists and scientists) and to help advance the evidence, processes, and tools to accomplish payment for pharmacists delivered services in all healthcare settings. The College will have a new transformed professional curriculum that will set the standard among colleges and schools of pharmacy and allow our graduates to be leaders within the workforce ready to meet the challenges of the next fifty years.

Colleges of pharmacy across the country are reporting smaller class sizes as less students are considering pharmacy as a profession, a result that’s been attributed to the struggles of community pharmacy (underpayments, DIR fees, PBMs, etc.). How do you energize the incoming students when a lot of what they see and hear can be less than optimistic?

I believe the people who want to be pharmacists right now are truly the people who want to be pharmacists. I told the first year students (Class of 2023), that you’re here because you’re passionate about the profession and you are purposeful and intentional about it. It’s not just “Oh, I saw this, and I might be interested.” The students of today are those who have a real, core commitment to the profession of pharmacy. When times are difficult, the people that rise to the surface are the ones invigorated by challenges instead of inhibited by them. These are the people that we want and need to be pharmacists of the future. §

Cindy Stowe and friends at University of Kentucky football game

UAMS College of Pharmacy Dean Cindy Stowe and University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy Dean Kip Guy