What is your role/job title and what do your responsibilities look like?
My position is within the Indiana University School of Medicine in The Division of Clinical Pharmacology, which differs from working in a college of pharmacy. My position is research associate professor, where I spend most of my time doing clinical research and implementation of clinical genomics.
What kind of path did you take to end up in your position?
My undergraduate training was in music performance, where I played the oboe. I then went to pharmacy school at Butler University in Indianapolis. I matched for a residency at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, which is where my initial interest in research began. I stayed on for a 3-year fellowship in clinical nutrition and metabolic support and also got an M.S. degree. At that point, I was only a few years away from a Ph.D. degree, so I stayed on in an adjunct faculty role while I pursued this degree. I spent time as faculty in Tennessee for a few years, but I got burnt out on trying to get research grants to support my salary. So I came back to Indiana, which is home for me, and worked in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health for 4 years as a clinical pharmacy specialist.
I found myself wanting to get involved in research again in Indianapolis and got connected with The Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Indiana University School of Medicine. I didn’t know this role existed, and they weren’t aware of pharmacists like me who wanted to do research. It was a happy accident that we could fill what each other wanted.
I was a pediatric pharmacist doing pediatric critical care, rounding with the team, and performing traditional clinical roles. During my residency and fellowships, I had full pediatric training. And during fellowship, I had months of time writing TPNs for the PICU, NICU, etc. Although I wasn’t trained as a critical care pharmacist per se, several experiences during my training prepared me for this role. I also didn’t have former training in pharmacogenomics, but my Ph.D. was in cell biology and biochemistry.
I think the biggest take-home point from my story is that it is a winding road map. You can get to a final position by a lot of different paths, and a lot of times when you start out, you don’t know where you want to go. Right now, my current position fits everything I want to do, and I am involved in the clinical implementation of my genomics research, which affects clinical care, but am not acting as a clinical specialist. I get to do research and scholarly activities and mentor students, which I have always valued. It isn’t the position I would have imagined myself in years ago.
How do you affect patient care?
When I initially imagined my role in clinical pharmacy, I pictured being a clinician forever. I am often asked if I miss being involved with my patients. I find that, as a researcher, I am affecting several patients I may never get to meet. When I was in the PICU, I affected anywhere from 5 to 30 patients per day by catching potential medication errors, optimizing medication regimens, and ensuring appropriate monitoring was in place. By advancing new practices through research, I feel proud that I am affecting even more than the patients on my floor. I even get contacted by clinicians outside my health system regarding old data that I published with respect to how I affected their practice. I still have a huge impact on patient care even though I’m not at the bedside daily like when I was a clinical specialist.
What advice do you have for students who are interested in getting involved in research?
It’s great to get your feet wet! Find a mentor who is willing to teach you a strong foundation of skills. Be open to research topics or diseases that aren’t necessarily your top interest. Interests can change, but ultimately, the skills you learn are much more transferable than the specific discipline. To find a mentor, identify those with a history of mentoring students/residents/fellows, consider looking into recent publications to identify whether mentees can work on manuscripts with the researcher, and seek those who are willing to meet you where you are according to your research experience and skill level. It is also important that the mentor-mentee relationship be a symbiotic relationship. Not every mentor-mentee pair will fit together. This doesn’t mean that one person is a poor team member. It simply means the fit might not be ideal for the mentor’s and mentee’s needs. Once a relationship is built, it is helpful to discuss expectations. Identifying what each person wants from the experience will help the team shape the roles to fit those goals. Finally, if research is a career goal, be willing to lean into rejections and failures. Research ebbs and flows, so managing expectations for yourself will help prevent burnout. Finding effective ways to remind yourself of your “why” will be crucial.
What advice do you have for new practitioners on staying up to date with the current literature?
Several tools can get you linked to journal watch subscriptions. These will send automatic emails to you regarding topics of interest and new landmark trials. Weekly targeted PubMed searches are also a great way to stay up to date. I’ve found that I learn well by talking to others in my field. By surrounding yourself with a team willing to chat about new literature, you tend to naturally stay up to date. If you can collaborate with fellow clinicians in other specialties, do so! This will keep you up to date with new concepts and data in areas you don’t see anymore, especially if you steer away from a generalist role. Although I no longer have certain clinical guidelines memorized, I have allies who can help provide direction, and I have the skills to learn because of the foundational skills I learned as a trainee! Professional meetings are another great way to hear from experts in the field and build that network of others to reach out to with questions.