RESIDENT PROFILE

Christopher Medlin

Culturally Competent

BY ELIZABETH HEUBECK

Christopher Medlin, PharmD, BCPS, admits to experiencing culture shock when he first moved from his hometown of El Paso, Texas, to Baltimore in 2018 to complete his two-year, postgraduate pharmacotherapy residency at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP). “I grew up and live in a bi-national, border community. I walk down the street and people speak Spanish,” Medlin says. “Coming to Baltimore opened my eyes to how different things are here.”

The School’s supportive environment helped him not only get over his culture shock, but to harness it for the benefit of students at the School of Pharmacy, those in related health care disciplines, and in his hometown.

Medlin, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) School of Pharmacy, says his supportive journey at UMSOP began with a very welcoming interview. “It was definitely my most fun interview,” recalls Medlin. Despite the renowned reputation of the faculty members on his interview panel, he found them to be “down-to-earth, incredible people.”

This openness helped temper Medlin’s surprise when he discovered he was one of if not the only health care provider able to converse with Spanish-speaking patients during his clinical rotations.

Seeing the inequities suffered by this patient population largely because of a language barrier, Medlin was gripped by a desire to do what he could to eliminate them. UMSOP, he says, encouraged him to pursue what would grow into a selfproclaimed passion project.

During his time at the School of Pharmacy, Medlin received a Faculty Award in Support of Interprofessional Education from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) for his role in developing a Spanish Language and Culture Seminar, whose start has been postponed due to the pandemic. This co-curricular training is aimed at addressing the health care needs of Hispanic patients and was developed as an interdisciplinary offering for pharmacy, medical, and nursing students at UMB.

Also during his residency, Medlin engaged in less formal but perhaps equally significant efforts to serve as a mentor to students and patients who identify with historically marginalized groups.

“So many of our students looked to Chris as an inspiration of what they could become, and patients identified with him as someone they could relate to,” says Mojdeh Heavner, PharmD ’08, BCPS, BCCCP, FCCM, associate professor and vice chair for clinical services in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at UMSOP. “As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a Latino, he represents populations that are under-represented as health care providers.”

After completing his residency, Medlin moved back to El Paso. In his role as a clinical assistant professor at UTEP, Medlin practices pharmacy for about half of the year. The other half he dedicates to teaching, scholarship, and research.

“I try to use the skills I honed at UMSOP to build up the communities here,” he says.

Medlin’s research recently has expanded from a focus primarily on health disparities experienced by Hispanic patients to those among patients who identify as LGBTQ+. He’s been digging into health inequities experienced by this demographic and asking questions about how to create safe and inclusive spaces.

“As the only LGBTQ+-identifying faculty member, I feel like I have to do this work,” Medlin says. “But it’s also extremely rewarding to be able to provide education through lived experience.” b