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Amanda Seddon and Sean Chantarapanont Trade Insight for Insight For Drs. Amanda Seddon, PharmD ’12, and Sean Chantarapanont, PharmD ’11, married life means, in part, trading oncology insights for management wisdom. ARAPANON CHANT T
The UIC College of Pharmacy alumni met on campus and now work in different but complementary areas of the field: oncology-hematology pharmacy and pharmacy management.
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“When I have questions, frustrations, things management-related, I sometimes ask my husband how to handle those interpersonal situations,” Amanda said. “And he usually provides pretty sound advice.” For his part, Sean appreciates having an expert back home who can illuminate complicated oncology treatments, the couple said.
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“Since he’s in a management position, he has to sometimes approve some of our very expensive medications. A lot of times, he’ll text me or ask me questions” about patient scenarios and inpatient treatments. DR. AMANDA SEDDON
After a PGY1 at UIC, Amanda got her oncology start in a PGY2 residency at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. After returning to Chicago, she worked at Rush University Medical Center as a clinical pharmacist in hematology, oncology and stem-cell transplant. She transitioned to an assistant-professor position at Midwestern University in 2016, while still practicing at Rush and directing its PGY2 oncology residency. Some of Amanda’s proudest moments, she said, trace back to that New York residency. Experiencing family issues back home while in an unfamiliar city hundreds of miles away, she still managed to finish and get the most out of a challenging residency, she said. 22 | pharmacy.uic.edu
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“Completing my PGY2 at a high-caliber institution [in a city] where I didn’t know anyone” was a big accomplishment, she said. Since then, she’s found new successes, publishing her original research on typhlitis in leukemia patients in Leukemia Research, among other publications, and speaking at pharmacy meetings. That includes the upcoming 2019 Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association meeting. Sean now manages clinical pharmacy at Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana, where he also directs the residency program. His working life post-UIC started in a PGY1 pharmacy-practice residency at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, followed by a PGY2 residency there in health-system pharmacy administration. Launching and leading the residency program in Munster gave Sean the chance to prove his leadership, he said. “Starting a PGY1 residency program from scratch and growing it from the initial class of two residents to the four residents we have today” gave him his proudest professional accomplishment, he said. As their careers progress, Amanda and Sean continue to gain new perspectives from one another. One big lesson: People come to the pharmacy profession with very different backgrounds and perspectives — even a married couple who share an alma mater. “The thing I learn most on a day-today basis is everyone has a different background,” depending on residencies and other experiences, Sean said. “Every pharmacist, even though you came from the same school, will be different.” Attending the same university, though, does make a difference. Sean and Amanda still look back to UIC with fondness, they said. “I think UIC provided us with a really good foundation in education but [also in] forming lasting friendships,” Amanda said.
