Editor's note: ACCP's Member Spotlight is a new, bimonthly ACCP Report series that serves to highlight and provide visibility to ACCP members with respect to their career paths, contributions, and experiences with ACCP. If you would like to nominate someone to be featured, visit the Web site at http://www.accp.com/membership/spotlight.aspx. Nominations are accepted on a continuous basis. Members who are selected will be asked to complete a biographical sketch and brief questionnaire for use in developing their member spotlight summary.
Dr. Eric Tichy is a clinical pharmacy specialist at Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center (YNHTC), where he is a member of the heart, kidney, and liver transplant teams. In 2009, he established YNHTC’s PGY2 Transplant Pharmacy Residency, and currently, he serves as the program’s director. He holds adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy and Duquesne University Mylan School of Pharmacy. Dr. Tichy received his Pharm.D. degree from the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy and completed his pharmacy practice residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is a board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist.
During his career, Dr. Tichy has established himself as a leader in clinical pharmacy with a focus in transplantation. His involvement in several projects has helped advance pharmacy practice in the field of transplantation, including his service as the coauthor of a white paper describing the role of the transplant pharmacist and as a founding member of the American Society of Transplantation’s (AST) Transplant Pharmacist Community of Practice (CoP). His present practice focuses on the education and training of new practitioners from many health science disciplines. He is currently chair-elect of the AST’s Transplant Pharmacist CoP.
Dr. Tichy chose transplant pharmacy because it gave him the opportunity to use all of his clinical training and skills. He enjoys the opportunity to interact with and contribute directly toward the care of patients with multiple disease states. Moreover, in transplant pharmacy, an expert knowledge of pharmacotherapy is essential because of the many potential drug interactions and adverse effects that are encountered on a daily basis. He summarized his passion for his chosen specialty by saying,
Transplant pharmacy is simply nirvana for the ambitious clinical pharmacist, and I have found transplant a perfect fit for my skill sets and interests. There are a large number of myths and misconceptions in the community regarding organ and tissue donation and transplantation. As a transplant clinician, I see firsthand the profoundly positive impact transplantation has on the lives of individual patients and their families. To help face these myths and misconceptions, I get involved with efforts to provide education in the community regarding these issues, and I see myself as a witness spreading the good news about transplantation. I have presented at schools, churches, and within my local pharmacist society. In addition to raising awareness about the need for organ and tissue donors, I love to encourage talented young people to consider careers in transplantation because we need to continually recruit the best and brightest to advance the profession.
Dr. Tichy believes that ACCP membership has provided him an invaluable opportunity to network with colleagues from around the country. The relationships he has formed have led to significant career benefits, and he considers his fellow Immunology/Transplantation PRN members to be part of his extended family. He has developed many great friendships through the PRN and enjoys reconnecting with many of them on the PRN’s e-mail list and at ACCP meetings.
Outside work, Dr. Tichy enjoys being outdoors. An avid hunter and fisherman, he commented, “I love getting outdoors. Depending on the season, you might find me in the woods with a bow or on a boat with a pole on my day off.”