Allison N. Boyd is a PGY2 critical care pharmacy resident at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, Indiana, and completed her residency in June 2018. She earned her Pharm.D. degree at Butler University in May 2016 and completed an institutional/residency track program during pharmacy school. She then completed her PGY1 pharmacy practice residency at Eskenazi Health. Boyd has maintained an active involvement in ACCP by serving as the Indiana College of Clinical Pharmacy Butler University student representative and, most recently, serving as the vice chair of the National Resident Advisory Committee. She is also an active member of both the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the American Burn Association and is involved with several pharmacy-related initiatives in both organizations, as well as attending these organizations’ annual meetings.

In August 2018, Boyd will become the trauma/burn clinical pharmacy specialist at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. She plans to pursue board certification in critical care pharmacy in her first year after residency completion. Her professional interests include pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic alterations in the critically ill population, nutrition, and analgesia and sedation in the intensive care unit. She will play an active role in precepting and teaching pharmacy students and residents in her new position.

As a pharmacy student, Boyd was undecided in which area she wanted to pursue in clinical practice. She states she found her passion for clinical pharmacy when she obtained firsthand experience with providing patient care and having teaching responsibilities and administrative roles. Boyd discovered her interest for critical care, and specifically trauma/burn, during an experience on her internal medicine rotation as a pharmacy student. She was given the opportunity by the burn pharmacist to work with a burn patient and, the following week, started her critical care rotation in the SICU and burn ICU. These experiences solidified her interest in the fast-paced environment of critical care.

Boyd’s research projects during her PGY1 and PGY2 residency years have focused on the trauma/burn patient populations. She enjoys the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic challenges in these patients because of their hypermetabolic states and doing research in an area without specific guidelines. This interest has also provided her with the opportunity to assist with policy and protocol development in this patient population.

Although Boyd states many people have influenced her during her career, she says that one mentor has gone above and beyond to help her achieve her goals and that she hopes to model her future practice after this clinician. Boyd states:

I would like to specifically thank Todd Walroth, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCCCP, for his mentorship since I was a student and through my residency years. Through his role as clinical manager for pharmacy services and the burn/critical care clinical pharmacy specialist, he has taught me to have confidence in my abilities, to always strive to be successful, and to find a learning opportunity in every experience.

On a personal note, Boyd has a particular interest in all things Disney. She has been to Disney World about a dozen times. She enjoys learning more about the history of Walt Disney and the creation of the parks. One day, Boyd hopes to visit all six Disney theme parks across the world. She states that everyone should have an outlet for fun and that, for her, she loves being a kid at heart through her Disney hobby.