Edward Van Matre, Pharm.D., is a critical care fellow at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Aurora, Colorado. He received his B.S. degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 2010 and his Pharm.D. degree from the University of Colorado in 2014. After graduation, Van Matre completed a PGY1 pharmacy practice residency at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, and a PGY2 specialty residency in critical care at the University of Colorado.
After completing his PGY2 residency, he began his critical care fellowship at the University of Colorado. This fellowship is multifaceted with a primary focus on clinical and benchtop research, specifically neurocritical and medical intensive care, as well as direct clinical patient care and didactic teaching. He is also currently enrolled in the M.S. degree program in clinical science at the University of Colorado. His goals on completing this program are to pursue a faculty position at a school of pharmacy and academic medical center and advance the practice of pharmacy and pharmaceutical application in critically ill patients through research.
Van Matre was drawn to clinical pharmacy because of his family’s values of altruism and service to the community. His mother is an emergency medicine nurse, and his father is a police officer. Spending countless meals and holidays with his family in an emergency department break room or a police station bullpen, Van Matre knew it was never a question of if he wanted to serve the community but how he would serve the community. He was originally drawn to the aspects of chemistry and biochemistry in pharmacy, but he took note of the profession’s evolving impact within hospital-based clinical settings. On entering pharmacy school, he recognized his ability to make quick decisions on the basis of partial or imperfect data, which drew him to the inpatient setting. He found this setting very rewarding because he could see the direct effects of clinician decisions when working as part of an interdisciplinary team. He was eventually led to critical care when he observed the immediate impact of pharmacotherapy on patient care. He continues to be driven in this field to use his knowledge and apply it through the scientific method to change practice. He hopes to further clinical pharmacy within the critical care setting through scholarship, clinical practice, and education of the next generation of clinical pharmacists.
Van Matre has been guided by a large group of mentors in his pharmacy school, residencies, and fellowship. Van Matre states:
This group of mentors is as diverse as the membership of ACCP, from junior ambulatory care faculty to fellows of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. They have all invested countless hours providing feedback, providing ideas, being excellent practice role models, and, above all else, listening.
He has particularly appreciated their ability to relate to him on both a personal and a professional level. Through them, he has learned how to lead, offer encouragement to others with a quiet comment, and balance his work and home life. He is very thankful for them, whom he credits as having helped make him a better pharmacist, researcher, educator, and husband.
On a personal note, one of his life goals is to hike all of Colorado’s 53 “fourteeners”—mountains 14,000 feet in elevation or higher. Because he grew up in Oklahoma, he did not have many opportunities to experience mountainous terrain. He particularly enjoys hiking the fourteeners because it provides a significant physical and mental challenge. Van Matre reflects:
Meeting these challenges allows me to step out into nature and helps to provide mental clarity in my everyday life. And who can’t beat the feeling of standing on top of the world!