Melody L. Berg, Pharm.D., MPH, BCPS-AQ ID, AAHIVP, is a senior clinical content specialist for Wolters Kluwer Clinical Drug Information, where she is primarily responsible for developing and maintaining drug-drug interaction and drug-allergy content for embedded clinical decision support systems. Before serving in her current role, Berg was a clinical pharmacy specialist in internal medicine and infectious diseases (ID), with a focus in virology. She received her B.S. degree in pharmacy in 2003 and her Pharm.D. degree in 2004 from Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy, followed by a master’s degree in public health from University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2015. She completed PGY1 residency training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the PGY2 pharmacotherapy residency at Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy. Throughout her career, Berg has engaged in educating students and residents, including serving as a PGY2 residency program director in ID. In addition, she conducts research and gives presentations on medication adherence, drug interactions, and HIV prevention strategies. She holds BPS board certification in pharmacotherapy with added qualifications in ID as well as specialty certification in HIV.

Berg was motivated to pursue clinical pharmacy as a career by an early IPPE preceptor, Professor Lynn Patton, whom she admired greatly during pharmacy school. She became interested in the ID specialty during her P2 pharmacotherapy classes and an APPE rotation in ID with another mentor, Dr. Christopher Crank. In the latter experience, Berg’s observation of clinical pharmacists functioning as integrated members of the interdisciplinary team defined her professional mission. Throughout her career, she has chosen roles that afford her the opportunity to gather data and use evidence-based medicine to solve therapeutic dilemmas, directly advocate for the patient, and promote the pharmacist’s role in pharmacotherapy research. Her current role as a clinical content specialist allows her to continue using her investigative skills to solve therapeutic problems more globally.

Berg notes that her career path has not gone the way she envisioned when she first entered practice. However, she acknowledges that taking the winding road has allowed her to meet people from a variety of walks of life and helped expose her to a wide array of paths in pharmacy. She has turned this experience into advice for other pharmacists: “Don’t be afraid to take opportunities and risks as they arise and are intriguing and interesting to you.”

Berg enjoys a busy life outside pharmacy practice as well, which includes raising three children with her husband of almost 15 years, coaching several softball teams, and taking on a leadership role as director of player development for softball on the local Little League board. She enjoys volunteering at her children’s elementary school and serving as a precinct chair for a local political group. Berg credits her early passion for athletics for her current work ethic and time-management skills and appreciates using these skills to encourage children to be physically active and involved. She enjoys the opportunity to inspire others to be active in their communities and help make positive changes. Berg concludes that “being flexible in your career, while maintaining motivation, will allow you to find that work-life balance you need to meet both your professional and personal goals.”