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Pharmacy Residency Podcast


Dec 23, 2017

Now Brandon Gerleman is a Clinical Pharmacist at Montross Pharmacy in Winterset, Earlham and St. Charles, recently elected to the Madison County Board of Health and on the Iowa Pharmacy Association Legislative Committee. He was a prior guest as a 4th year University of Iowa pharmacy student who was president of the NCPA student chapter which recently won the national NCPA most improved chapter of the year. He was also vice president of the graduate and professional student government. Winterset is in Madison County made popular through the novel and film The Bridges of Madison County and Winterset is the birthplace of John Wayne. Before entering pharmacy school he earned his bachelor’s in health science and a minor in economics from the University of Iowa. Enjoy this Pharmacy Leaders Podcast update and rewind. 

Also, Legislative Day in Iowa is January 24th, make sure to mark your calendars!

http://www.iarx.org/ipalegday


Email: blgerleman@gmail.com


Twitter: @BGerleman

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Facebook: Brandon Gerleman (https://www.facebook.com/blgerleman)

LinkedIn: Brandon Gerleman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/blgerleman)

Full transcript:

Ep_12._Rural_Clinical_Pharmacist_Spotlight_Brandon_Gerleman_Montross_Pharmacy_Winterset_Iowa

Welcome to the Pharmacy Leader's Podcast with your host Tony Guerra. The Pharmacy Leader's Podcast is a member of the Pharmacy Podcast Network with interviews and advice on building your professional network, brand and a purposeful second income from students, residents and innovative professionals.

We're going to do something a little different today. We're going to have Brandon Gerleman who was on the Pharmacy Future Leader's podcast and I'm going to update you on how he's doing. He's actually now the director of clinical services at Montross Pharmacy at Winterset [indecipherable 00:00:39] in St. Charles, Iowa. He's recently appointed to the Madison County Board of Health and he's now active with the Iowa Pharmacy Association and is on the legislative committee while he's always been active with them as a student. And we've got a really important date coming up and that is legislative day, so January 24th 2018, that's the legislative day in capital screenings. That's the day that we as pharmacist go downtown to Des Moines and meet with our legislators. I went last year and I highly encourage it. I met with my state senator who is now senate president Jack Whitford and we talked just briefly about some of the priorities for pharmacist. Those priorities, three of the big ones are including the expanded role of pharmacist, delegating to technicians and of course helping with the opioid epidemic which is something that we are definitely able to do but what I want you to do is listen to this, when I interview with Brandon Gerleman see where he was as a P-4 and so quickly he's come now to become a clinical pharmacist and honestly I know there is that expression that, you know, students now are digital natives. Well I think pharmacy students graduating now at least from Iowa and Drake are clinical natives and clinical pharmacy is just part of who they are and so I hope I'll one day be able to catch up with them but I hope you enjoy this episode.

This is Brandon Gerleman fourth year doctor of pharmacy student at the University Of Iowa College Of Pharmacy and you're listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.

Today's guest is a fourth year University of Iowa pharmacy student who is president of the NCPA student chapter which recently won the national NCPA most improved chapter of the year. He's also the vice president of the graduate and professional student government and comes from Winterset, Iowa. If you don’t know Winterset it's in Madison County which was made very popular to the novel and film, The Bridges of Madison County. Winterset's also the birthplace of John Wayne, before entering pharmacy school he earned his bachelor's in health science with a minor in economics from the University of Iowa. Brandon, welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast, are you ready to tell us about Winterset?

Hey, hey, Tony thanks for having me. I'm always ready to brag about Winterset.

Awesome, well everyone's leadership road is a little bit different. Tell us what you're doing now and how you got there.

You bet, apparently I'm on the fourth year of pharmacy school at Iowa. I'm utilizing this clinical portion to put to use that therapeutic knowledge I gained the past three years and to really gain experiences on these rotation sites that can help me build clinical initiatives in my future pharmacy practice. I'm a little under seven months out from proudly serving as a local pharmacist at Montross Pharmacy in Winterset and then actually six months and 19 days from graduation we're still counting.

That's very exciting.

I've been actually working at Montross for the past six years. During my time there I've developed in a men's passion for independent community pharmacy practice. I've been blessed with the opportunity to work with four tremendous pharmacist expanding across three generations and I honestly see how to go above and beyond every single day to take care of that patient. Montross pharmacy, we've actually been serving the population in the community of Winterset since 1921. We also have the fine little niche of having old fashioned fountain that provides that kind of nostalgic dynamic experience.

Tell us a little bit about your current APPE rotation. We have an elective non-clinical APPE rotation here at DMAC. You don’t really see patients rather you see students so you get to practice teaching in a couple classes and other classes your own rather than being a teaching assistant but what's your current rotation like right now?

It's going well and I only have about two weeks left on this rotation, I'm down into Washington County at Washington County Hospitals and Clinics. It's about a half hour of South Iowa City on highway one. And really the reason I chose this one, it's that general hospital requirement for fourth year and it's very similar sized to Winterset.

Ok, well let's talk about the business of pharmacy. The Pharmacy Podcast is about the business of pharmacy and you are a millennial and you in the pharmacy workforce have embraced social media as part of that business. I talked with you earlier about what people respond to in a smaller town of 5000. Can you speak to what events, your specific populations looking for from your social media content?

Yeah, great question Tony. For us social media is really about the community. The most interactions that we have come from promoting community events specifically those that are in kind of involved in, you know, health. The other part of that is connecting with local businesses and celebrating store employees. We also utilize RX wiki to post kind of daily or every other day health information for our patients. As far as my role in marketing it revolves around showcasing all that we offer at Montross which I believe Happy Pharmacy Week.

Oh, yeah, Happy Pharmacy Week and Happy Pharmacy Technicians Day just a couple of days ago so very exciting week for pharmacy. Well tell us a little bit about your local political aspirations. I found that really interesting, when you return home.

Yeah, well, I have the ambitions to become mayor of Winterset sometime in the future having parents and a twin sister that are super involved in the community efforts. Naturally I've become inclined to really want to step up and help out. I want to be that individual that helps bridge the gap of where we are and where we want to be as a community. I believe this mayor role will allow me that opportunity to put into action my passion for my own town.

Well a couple of days ago we listened to the third of the debates and that moderator was really good. Asked some very very tough questions to both candidates so I will ask you a first tough question.

Oh yeah.

To you as a candidate for mayor. Ok, so as mayor you decide to tweak the shop small campaign and shop small means that you're investing in your local community to shop small sell big. This means that you're not only going to buy in town but you're also, as area business is going to start working together through social media letting those outside of town know what Winterset offers. So I'm going to read businesses from www.madisoncounty.com/full-day-itinerary and I just want you to tell me a little bit about each business so we can get to know a little bit more about what they do. So we'll start with the Madison County Chamber of Commerce's Welcome Center.

Yeah the chamber and the Heather Riley as executive director. They really do a great job of promoting Winterset as that destination. That weekend destination, shopping destination and really trying to track that tourism spot because we are a tourist's attraction South West of Des Moines here.

What about the Bakerium Limited?

Oh man Marshall Sparts does a great job on those donuts.

Ok, well donuts are for breakfast and unfortunately sometimes for me for a lunch.

Yeah.

Yeah, what about the Pine Creek Limited?

Pine Creek, well, Bill Moody does a fantastic job with that store and my mom probably spends a little too much on there.

What about Madison County Mercantile?

Madison County Mercantile great spot to pick up that last minute Christmas present.

And I said, Angel Wings and Collectible Treasures and you corrected me with.

Yeah, it's Angel Wings and Country Things, you know, we're a small town in USA over here but.

Ok.

Angel Wing is right next door to Montross and Nicole does a great job to stand out that store.

Ok and the First Avenue Collective?

First Avenue Collective, that's actually where that old county jail used to be, really really need experience to go on there sometime.

Sounds good, what about Red Ell Smokehouse?

Red Ell smokehouse, right across the street from the brand new John Wayne birth place museum, great spot for that beef brisket sandwich and that barbeque fix.

Alright and Winterset Cidery looks like it’s a little bit outside of town on highway 169.

Yeah well the Winterset Cidery, it's relatively new Gary and Debby Heck did a really good job and, you know, that fall weather apple cider, hard apple cider, even better so great spot.

Ok, The North Side Café.

North Side Café, well, Walter Janky does a really good job of diversifying that menu and that café's really known for its role for in the Bridge of Madison County, the film.

Ok, what about the White Lion's Bed & Breakfast?

The White Lion's Bed & Breakfast owned by really good family friends Mart and Kela Hawkins. They took an old gorgeous dictorian home and really turned it into that comfortable homey bed & breakfast feel.

Ok, and the Cobble Stonium.

Cobble Stonium just got built the, relatively recent here and that adds one more spot to not only make Winterset that being health care destination but not only the shopping destination but also that the weekend destination.

Awesome, well, you're involved in an initiative that helps bring in key professionals moving towards real underserved areas. This sounds like really when you're talking about other stores, you're not talking about stores you're talking about people. So tell me a little bit more about that initiative that you're working on because I think some of the millennials would like to maybe go to smaller towns. What are you doing to move that initiative forward?

You bet, well, the initiative's all about the staying local and keeping that local talent back home. So it's an initiative from GPSG that would be the Graduate & Professional Student Government of Iowa and we're really trying to gain traction and we are gaining traction at the state capital in Des Moines. This is a tax incentive that we're trying to keep these graduates from graduating professional programs at state institutions to remain in Iowa after graduation. Currently the GPSG president who is really taking the bull by the horns on this one and running with it, he has support from both democrats and republicans and we have a language being crafted with LSA at the capital. You know, this initiative is really important because it keeps all those that have been trained at Iowa institutions. It keeps them in Iowa to practice and remain in the state and really plant those roots. This one's a really easy argument with health care professionals as we have so many provider deserts as we are, you know, at the end of the day a mostly royal state. So hopefully cross my fingers a next couple of years, we got legislation out there that I really support and really try to [indecipherable 00:11:41] these young professionals to stay in small town USA.

Yeah provider desert is a very visual graphic but that sounds like exactly what it is. What do you feel is your area of expertise? What are two things we can really learn from what you do?

Well in addition to becoming a medication expert I'm also a fitness and nutrition enthusiast. I'm a real big proponent of the value of lifestyle interventions and the role of preventing disease progression. And I try to take every opportunity that I can to include my role as a health and lifestyle coach whenever I'm talking about a medication with the patient.

Well tell us how you became a leader and how your perception changed when that happened?

Honestly I cannot emphasize enough the amount of opportunities that the University Of Iowa College Of Pharmacy has provided me. On top of the new forward thinking curriculum that has just been implemented that unfortunately I don’t have a chance to be a part of. But on top of that there are pharmacy organizations for every single interest. The students, graduates and faculty at Iowa maintain a legacy of leadership in health care at state national and international levels providing excellent examples to follow. My faculty mentor Dr. Jeff Rees really became a father figure for me at the college and challenged me to get involved. The chips fell into place and I was fortunate enough to have the ability to help bring an NCPA student chapter to Iowa. This led me down the path of becoming a vice president at my second year and president during my third year. I can't talk enough about Iowa without talking about Dee Matender, Dee Matender really encourages involvement from day one. He sponsors the IPA Iowa Pharmacy Association member of care for every single student during the entire four years of pharmacy school. That's powerful; it really sets a tone for students as IPA does a tremendous job for the profession. You know, Dee Matender really walks the talk. As far as my perception in attitude, they've really gone from that sense of appreciation for what leader such as Bob Greenwood, Randy Madonna [indecipherable 00:13:50] what they've done for the state and for this profession. It's a mindset where I want to roll my sleeves up jump in and kind of help further advance our profession right next to them.

Yeah I'd heard about them. They were actively involved in the University of Iowa Community Pharmacy Residency Program and I know they were regionally awarded and now I just recently, I know Randy Madonna certainly and also I've seen them in the national scene, national awards. So fantastic mentors you have there and then I did want to talk about dean Lasiandra for just a minute because I met him in 2009 and I've had two chances to sit down one on one with him and what really impressed me about him is that when you're talking one on one to him. I can only count a handful of people that can do this, he absolutely looks to you in a way to make clear that he is 100% tuned into what you're saying, part sincerity, part generally wanting to understand and I can only believe that the transformation and progress there at Iowa, the new building, the new curriculum, all the things that are going well to make it a national leader, have come from that leadership. And it seems like a lot of that listening; the seeing the need of your local community is part of your social mission that you're on to move yourself, your pharmacy and your talent forward. But let's take a minute and maybe look at one of the biggest challenges you might have had, what's the worst thing that happened to you as a leader and how did you get yourself through it?

That probably has to be the tendency that I have to say yes to everything. I really want to jump at every opportunity presented in front of me. Especially through my third year I was very very involved to a point where I was probably maybe spread myself real too soon not quite giving that 100% to every organization in committee I belonged to. I was fortunate enough to have great individuals around me that I can delegate cast out to. You know, I would really say, surround yourself with light minded folks and only good things can happen. This was definitely the case with the national NCPA chapter of the year designation, well that'll be great exact team that I had around me, the passionate group of members that we had, we would not have had that success that we had this past year. Additionally I need to give a good shout out to, you need to have a great sport system. My girlfriend was very supportive this past year and continued to support all these endeavors I have.

Well I've got three kids, three five year olds and I couldn’t do it without my wife and I know what it is to have the support of family. It sounds like, everyone around you really supporting and excited for the things that you're going to be doing but tell us about a time maybe when you had an epiphany that changed how you thought about something.

Honestly this one's an easy one for anyone who knows me. It was the minute I learned what a PBM was.

Oh boy.

As I continued to educate myself as to what a PBM was, what their roles in health care, I discussed only grill from underwater max to DIR feast to PBM claw bags. These unethical PBM tactics are directly straightening my future and the future and the health of my patients. I haven't even begun to practice pharmacy yet and I'm already tired of it. I'm already tired of the practices that are restricting pharmacist from providing that optimal care. I currently serve on the IPA legislative community and I plan to stay involved on these legislative issues surrounding pharmacy for the rest of my career. I'm really hopefully that we're gaining the tension on the federal level with HR5951 and HR244, these are both kind of addressing retroactive DR fees and kind of the mac transparency. So hopefully we're having traction and we'll continue to have traction there.

You're talking very eloquently about some very difficult problems in pharmacy so your education not only clinically but with what's going on and the challenges that y'all have eventually as business owner pretty clear. But let's talk a little bit about the job market. So you personally have this place that you're going to go to Montross Pharmacy, you made that commitment but there's been some negatives, some positives but you said that it's a positive outlook that you really have on the current pharmacy job market.

Absolutely, you know, well the pharmacy job market isn’t really where it was ten years ago. There are still many fantastic opportunities out there as there are so many avenues in this profession. As that baby broomer generation continues to age and the position shortage gap continues to widen pharmacist will have the opportunity to step up and be recognized as providers. My advice to everyone is to network, you know, go out there, talk to other pharmacist, see what they're doing, see what's going good for them, what's going bad for them. That networking with NCPA and IPA has really allowed me to bounce ideas off each other successful independent community pharmacist and they really see what they're doing in those job opportunities. You know, Tony, it's all about who you know.

No, I have to agree with you there. Well what's one thing you're most excited about now?

As we're jumping off that last question, I am beyond excited for the future of this profession. I'm counting down the days until I join Montross Pharmacy as pharmacist fueled by a couple of performance initiatives in the state we are confident that we're building a fantastic value based, focused model at Montross. We're using clinical assessments on every patient, every time they are at the pharmacy calendar. I have that desire to commit these clinical programs to increase that collaboration with local docs and ultimately improve the health of our patients. Eventually I want to pursue BCPS certification and then thinking about that certified diabetic educator certification kind of down the line, you know, at Montross we're not in the business of merely distributing medications we are in the business of improving health outcomes. That being said I still throw out the question there, when will our profession get to the point we are paid for our worth and not just supplemented for reimbursement losses, you know, at the end of the day community pharmacy is not a call center. We are absolutely an investment center.

You have just tremendous joy, tremendous happiness and going towards graduation right now. What blankets of advice would you have for someone that wants to get to that place where you are right now?

Great question, Tony. It has to be finding those great mentors out there that you want to model yourself after. I was privileged with having some excellent examples to follow. The pharmacist at Montross Pharmacy, Jeff Wilson and Jason Stouten, they ignite my passion for the profession on a daily basis. I cannot wait to serve beside them in community pharmacy, work next to them every single day, I mean, their passion, if you think I'm passionate, you got to talk to those two guys. Additionally my dad actually played football in Iowa on the offensive line have the ability to start and the rose bull on pitch ball and having him as a father figure really helped and still my work ethic at a young age, you know, I grew up knowing the meaning of hard work.

I also had a, my father was a little bit different that he was an immigrant and he really wanted me to have a better life than he did and it sounds like we're both very lucky to have excellent role models. And that sounds like the best way to go and something I've heard from other successful NCPA leaders like yourself. So, how do you prefer someone contact with you? I'm sure with all this excitement they would definitely want to find out a little bit more about how to have this kind of life, this kind of success?

Absolutely, well I invite everyone to contact me and connect with me on Linkedin, twitter, facebook and email. My twitter hand was BGERLEMAN.

Sounds good, well, we like to finish with a couple of just quick hit questions. What's your best daily ritual?

It has to be, you know, I'm really highly routine driven and I try to automate every part of my life and as many parts of my life as I can with habit loops. You know, I wake up the same time everyday at 4:47, I work out at same time everyday at 5:32 in the morning and I really plan and track everything I eat every day.

What's the best career advice you've ever received?

I asked me for my boss, the owner of Montross Pharmacy. He always says, the most dangerous phrase in the English language is we've always done it this way. You know, he always challenges us to be sharper than the blade and improvement.

What inspires you?

The strong desire to be like my dad. He is the most impactful driving force in my life, he's my best friend, he's the biggest devil's advocate in my life as well. He's always encouraging me and challenging me to improve, slack that out, I would not be the person I am today without him.

Well Brandon, thanks for being on the Pharmacy Podcast, Pharmacy Future Leaders.

Awesome, thanks Tony.

Support for this episode comes from the audio book Memorizing Pharmacology, a relaxed approach with over 9000 sales in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. It's the go to resource to ease the pharmacology challenge. Available on Audible, iTunes and Amazon.com in print, eBook and Audio book.

Thank you for listening to the Pharmacy Leader's Podcast with your host Tony Guerra. Be sure to share the show with a hashtag #pharmacyleaders.

 

Ep_12._Rural_Clinical_Pharmacist_Spotlight_Brandon_Gerleman_Montross_Pharmacy_Winterset_Iowa

Welcome to the Pharmacy Leader's Podcast with your host Tony Guerra. The Pharmacy Leader's Podcast is a member of the Pharmacy Podcast Network with interviews and advice on building your professional network, brand and a purposeful second income from students, residents and innovative professionals.

We're going to do something a little different today. We're going to have Brandon Gerleman who was on the Pharmacy Future Leader's podcast and I'm going to update you on how he's doing. He's actually now the director of clinical services at Montross Pharmacy at Winterset [indecipherable 00:00:39] in St. Charles, Iowa. He's recently appointed to the Madison County Board of Health and he's now active with the Iowa Pharmacy Association and is on the legislative committee while he's always been active with them as a student. And we've got a really important date coming up and that is legislative day, so January 24th 2018, that's the legislative day in capital screenings. That's the day that we as pharmacist go downtown to Des Moines and meet with our legislators. I went last year and I highly encourage it. I met with my state senator who is now senate president Jack Whitford and we talked just briefly about some of the priorities for pharmacist. Those priorities, three of the big ones are including the expanded role of pharmacist, delegating to technicians and of course helping with the opioid epidemic which is something that we are definitely able to do but what I want you to do is listen to this, when I interview with Brandon Gerleman see where he was as a P-4 and so quickly he's come now to become a clinical pharmacist and honestly I know there is that expression that, you know, students now are digital natives. Well I think pharmacy students graduating now at least from Iowa and Drake are clinical natives and clinical pharmacy is just part of who they are and so I hope I'll one day be able to catch up with them but I hope you enjoy this episode.

This is Brandon Gerleman fourth year doctor of pharmacy student at the University Of Iowa College Of Pharmacy and you're listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.

Today's guest is a fourth year University of Iowa pharmacy student who is president of the NCPA student chapter which recently won the national NCPA most improved chapter of the year. He's also the vice president of the graduate and professional student government and comes from Winterset, Iowa. If you don’t know Winterset it's in Madison County which was made very popular to the novel and film, The Bridges of Madison County. Winterset's also the birthplace of John Wayne, before entering pharmacy school he earned his bachelor's in health science with a minor in economics from the University of Iowa. Brandon, welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast, are you ready to tell us about Winterset?

Hey, hey, Tony thanks for having me. I'm always ready to brag about Winterset.

Awesome, well everyone's leadership road is a little bit different. Tell us what you're doing now and how you got there.

You bet, apparently I'm on the fourth year of pharmacy school at Iowa. I'm utilizing this clinical portion to put to use that therapeutic knowledge I gained the past three years and to really gain experiences on these rotation sites that can help me build clinical initiatives in my future pharmacy practice. I'm a little under seven months out from proudly serving as a local pharmacist at Montross Pharmacy in Winterset and then actually six months and 19 days from graduation we're still counting.

That's very exciting.

I've been actually working at Montross for the past six years. During my time there I've developed in a men's passion for independent community pharmacy practice. I've been blessed with the opportunity to work with four tremendous pharmacist expanding across three generations and I honestly see how to go above and beyond every single day to take care of that patient. Montross pharmacy, we've actually been serving the population in the community of Winterset since 1921. We also have the fine little niche of having old fashioned fountain that provides that kind of nostalgic dynamic experience.

Tell us a little bit about your current APPE rotation. We have an elective non-clinical APPE rotation here at DMAC. You don’t really see patients rather you see students so you get to practice teaching in a couple classes and other classes your own rather than being a teaching assistant but what's your current rotation like right now?

It's going well and I only have about two weeks left on this rotation, I'm down into Washington County at Washington County Hospitals and Clinics. It's about a half hour of South Iowa City on highway one. And really the reason I chose this one, it's that general hospital requirement for fourth year and it's very similar sized to Winterset.

Ok, well let's talk about the business of pharmacy. The Pharmacy Podcast is about the business of pharmacy and you are a millennial and you in the pharmacy workforce have embraced social media as part of that business. I talked with you earlier about what people respond to in a smaller town of 5000. Can you speak to what events, your specific populations looking for from your social media content?

Yeah, great question Tony. For us social media is really about the community. The most interactions that we have come from promoting community events specifically those that are in kind of involved in, you know, health. The other part of that is connecting with local businesses and celebrating store employees. We also utilize RX wiki to post kind of daily or every other day health information for our patients. As far as my role in marketing it revolves around showcasing all that we offer at Montross which I believe Happy Pharmacy Week.

Oh, yeah, Happy Pharmacy Week and Happy Pharmacy Technicians Day just a couple of days ago so very exciting week for pharmacy. Well tell us a little bit about your local political aspirations. I found that really interesting, when you return home.

Yeah, well, I have the ambitions to become mayor of Winterset sometime in the future having parents and a twin sister that are super involved in the community efforts. Naturally I've become inclined to really want to step up and help out. I want to be that individual that helps bridge the gap of where we are and where we want to be as a community. I believe this mayor role will allow me that opportunity to put into action my passion for my own town.

Well a couple of days ago we listened to the third of the debates and that moderator was really good. Asked some very very tough questions to both candidates so I will ask you a first tough question.

Oh yeah.

To you as a candidate for mayor. Ok, so as mayor you decide to tweak the shop small campaign and shop small means that you're investing in your local community to shop small sell big. This means that you're not only going to buy in town but you're also, as area business is going to start working together through social media letting those outside of town know what Winterset offers. So I'm going to read businesses from www.madisoncounty.com/full-day-itinerary and I just want you to tell me a little bit about each business so we can get to know a little bit more about what they do. So we'll start with the Madison County Chamber of Commerce's Welcome Center.

Yeah the chamber and the Heather Riley as executive director. They really do a great job of promoting Winterset as that destination. That weekend destination, shopping destination and really trying to track that tourism spot because we are a tourist's attraction South West of Des Moines here.

What about the Bakerium Limited?

Oh man Marshall Sparts does a great job on those donuts.

Ok, well donuts are for breakfast and unfortunately sometimes for me for a lunch.

Yeah.

Yeah, what about the Pine Creek Limited?

Pine Creek, well, Bill Moody does a fantastic job with that store and my mom probably spends a little too much on there.

What about Madison County Mercantile?

Madison County Mercantile great spot to pick up that last minute Christmas present.

And I said, Angel Wings and Collectible Treasures and you corrected me with.

Yeah, it's Angel Wings and Country Things, you know, we're a small town in USA over here but.

Ok.

Angel Wing is right next door to Montross and Nicole does a great job to stand out that store.

Ok and the First Avenue Collective?

First Avenue Collective, that's actually where that old county jail used to be, really really need experience to go on there sometime.

Sounds good, what about Red Ell Smokehouse?

Red Ell smokehouse, right across the street from the brand new John Wayne birth place museum, great spot for that beef brisket sandwich and that barbeque fix.

Alright and Winterset Cidery looks like it’s a little bit outside of town on highway 169.

Yeah well the Winterset Cidery, it's relatively new Gary and Debby Heck did a really good job and, you know, that fall weather apple cider, hard apple cider, even better so great spot.

Ok, The North Side Café.

North Side Café, well, Walter Janky does a really good job of diversifying that menu and that café's really known for its role for in the Bridge of Madison County, the film.

Ok, what about the White Lion's Bed & Breakfast?

The White Lion's Bed & Breakfast owned by really good family friends Mart and Kela Hawkins. They took an old gorgeous dictorian home and really turned it into that comfortable homey bed & breakfast feel.

Ok, and the Cobble Stonium.

Cobble Stonium just got built the, relatively recent here and that adds one more spot to not only make Winterset that being health care destination but not only the shopping destination but also that the weekend destination.

Awesome, well, you're involved in an initiative that helps bring in key professionals moving towards real underserved areas. This sounds like really when you're talking about other stores, you're not talking about stores you're talking about people. So tell me a little bit more about that initiative that you're working on because I think some of the millennials would like to maybe go to smaller towns. What are you doing to move that initiative forward?

You bet, well, the initiative's all about the staying local and keeping that local talent back home. So it's an initiative from GPSG that would be the Graduate & Professional Student Government of Iowa and we're really trying to gain traction and we are gaining traction at the state capital in Des Moines. This is a tax incentive that we're trying to keep these graduates from graduating professional programs at state institutions to remain in Iowa after graduation. Currently the GPSG president who is really taking the bull by the horns on this one and running with it, he has support from both democrats and republicans and we have a language being crafted with LSA at the capital. You know, this initiative is really important because it keeps all those that have been trained at Iowa institutions. It keeps them in Iowa to practice and remain in the state and really plant those roots. This one's a really easy argument with health care professionals as we have so many provider deserts as we are, you know, at the end of the day a mostly royal state. So hopefully cross my fingers a next couple of years, we got legislation out there that I really support and really try to [indecipherable 00:11:41] these young professionals to stay in small town USA.

Yeah provider desert is a very visual graphic but that sounds like exactly what it is. What do you feel is your area of expertise? What are two things we can really learn from what you do?

Well in addition to becoming a medication expert I'm also a fitness and nutrition enthusiast. I'm a real big proponent of the value of lifestyle interventions and the role of preventing disease progression. And I try to take every opportunity that I can to include my role as a health and lifestyle coach whenever I'm talking about a medication with the patient.

Well tell us how you became a leader and how your perception changed when that happened?

Honestly I cannot emphasize enough the amount of opportunities that the University Of Iowa College Of Pharmacy has provided me. On top of the new forward thinking curriculum that has just been implemented that unfortunately I don’t have a chance to be a part of. But on top of that there are pharmacy organizations for every single interest. The students, graduates and faculty at Iowa maintain a legacy of leadership in health care at state national and international levels providing excellent examples to follow. My faculty mentor Dr. Jeff Rees really became a father figure for me at the college and challenged me to get involved. The chips fell into place and I was fortunate enough to have the ability to help bring an NCPA student chapter to Iowa. This led me down the path of becoming a vice president at my second year and president during my third year. I can't talk enough about Iowa without talking about Dee Matender, Dee Matender really encourages involvement from day one. He sponsors the IPA Iowa Pharmacy Association member of care for every single student during the entire four years of pharmacy school. That's powerful; it really sets a tone for students as IPA does a tremendous job for the profession. You know, Dee Matender really walks the talk. As far as my perception in attitude, they've really gone from that sense of appreciation for what leader such as Bob Greenwood, Randy Madonna [indecipherable 00:13:50] what they've done for the state and for this profession. It's a mindset where I want to roll my sleeves up jump in and kind of help further advance our profession right next to them.

Yeah I'd heard about them. They were actively involved in the University of Iowa Community Pharmacy Residency Program and I know they were regionally awarded and now I just recently, I know Randy Madonna certainly and also I've seen them in the national scene, national awards. So fantastic mentors you have there and then I did want to talk about dean Lasiandra for just a minute because I met him in 2009 and I've had two chances to sit down one on one with him and what really impressed me about him is that when you're talking one on one to him. I can only count a handful of people that can do this, he absolutely looks to you in a way to make clear that he is 100% tuned into what you're saying, part sincerity, part generally wanting to understand and I can only believe that the transformation and progress there at Iowa, the new building, the new curriculum, all the things that are going well to make it a national leader, have come from that leadership. And it seems like a lot of that listening; the seeing the need of your local community is part of your social mission that you're on to move yourself, your pharmacy and your talent forward. But let's take a minute and maybe look at one of the biggest challenges you might have had, what's the worst thing that happened to you as a leader and how did you get yourself through it?

That probably has to be the tendency that I have to say yes to everything. I really want to jump at every opportunity presented in front of me. Especially through my third year I was very very involved to a point where I was probably maybe spread myself real too soon not quite giving that 100% to every organization in committee I belonged to. I was fortunate enough to have great individuals around me that I can delegate cast out to. You know, I would really say, surround yourself with light minded folks and only good things can happen. This was definitely the case with the national NCPA chapter of the year designation, well that'll be great exact team that I had around me, the passionate group of members that we had, we would not have had that success that we had this past year. Additionally I need to give a good shout out to, you need to have a great sport system. My girlfriend was very supportive this past year and continued to support all these endeavors I have.

Well I've got three kids, three five year olds and I couldn’t do it without my wife and I know what it is to have the support of family. It sounds like, everyone around you really supporting and excited for the things that you're going to be doing but tell us about a time maybe when you had an epiphany that changed how you thought about something.

Honestly this one's an easy one for anyone who knows me. It was the minute I learned what a PBM was.

Oh boy.

As I continued to educate myself as to what a PBM was, what their roles in health care, I discussed only grill from underwater max to DIR feast to PBM claw bags. These unethical PBM tactics are directly straightening my future and the future and the health of my patients. I haven't even begun to practice pharmacy yet and I'm already tired of it. I'm already tired of the practices that are restricting pharmacist from providing that optimal care. I currently serve on the IPA legislative community and I plan to stay involved on these legislative issues surrounding pharmacy for the rest of my career. I'm really hopefully that we're gaining the tension on the federal level with HR5951 and HR244, these are both kind of addressing retroactive DR fees and kind of the mac transparency. So hopefully we're having traction and we'll continue to have traction there.

You're talking very eloquently about some very difficult problems in pharmacy so your education not only clinically but with what's going on and the challenges that y'all have eventually as business owner pretty clear. But let's talk a little bit about the job market. So you personally have this place that you're going to go to Montross Pharmacy, you made that commitment but there's been some negatives, some positives but you said that it's a positive outlook that you really have on the current pharmacy job market.

Absolutely, you know, well the pharmacy job market isn’t really where it was ten years ago. There are still many fantastic opportunities out there as there are so many avenues in this profession. As that baby broomer generation continues to age and the position shortage gap continues to widen pharmacist will have the opportunity to step up and be recognized as providers. My advice to everyone is to network, you know, go out there, talk to other pharmacist, see what they're doing, see what's going good for them, what's going bad for them. That networking with NCPA and IPA has really allowed me to bounce ideas off each other successful independent community pharmacist and they really see what they're doing in those job opportunities. You know, Tony, it's all about who you know.

No, I have to agree with you there. Well what's one thing you're most excited about now?

As we're jumping off that last question, I am beyond excited for the future of this profession. I'm counting down the days until I join Montross Pharmacy as pharmacist fueled by a couple of performance initiatives in the state we are confident that we're building a fantastic value based, focused model at Montross. We're using clinical assessments on every patient, every time they are at the pharmacy calendar. I have that desire to commit these clinical programs to increase that collaboration with local docs and ultimately improve the health of our patients. Eventually I want to pursue BCPS certification and then thinking about that certified diabetic educator certification kind of down the line, you know, at Montross we're not in the business of merely distributing medications we are in the business of improving health outcomes. That being said I still throw out the question there, when will our profession get to the point we are paid for our worth and not just supplemented for reimbursement losses, you know, at the end of the day community pharmacy is not a call center. We are absolutely an investment center.

You have just tremendous joy, tremendous happiness and going towards graduation right now. What blankets of advice would you have for someone that wants to get to that place where you are right now?

Great question, Tony. It has to be finding those great mentors out there that you want to model yourself after. I was privileged with having some excellent examples to follow. The pharmacist at Montross Pharmacy, Jeff Wilson and Jason Stouten, they ignite my passion for the profession on a daily basis. I cannot wait to serve beside them in community pharmacy, work next to them every single day, I mean, their passion, if you think I'm passionate, you got to talk to those two guys. Additionally my dad actually played football in Iowa on the offensive line have the ability to start and the rose bull on pitch ball and having him as a father figure really helped and still my work ethic at a young age, you know, I grew up knowing the meaning of hard work.

I also had a, my father was a little bit different that he was an immigrant and he really wanted me to have a better life than he did and it sounds like we're both very lucky to have excellent role models. And that sounds like the best way to go and something I've heard from other successful NCPA leaders like yourself. So, how do you prefer someone contact with you? I'm sure with all this excitement they would definitely want to find out a little bit more about how to have this kind of life, this kind of success?

Absolutely, well I invite everyone to contact me and connect with me on Linkedin, twitter, facebook and email. My twitter hand was BGERLEMAN.

Sounds good, well, we like to finish with a couple of just quick hit questions. What's your best daily ritual?

It has to be, you know, I'm really highly routine driven and I try to automate every part of my life and as many parts of my life as I can with habit loops. You know, I wake up the same time everyday at 4:47, I work out at same time everyday at 5:32 in the morning and I really plan and track everything I eat every day.

What's the best career advice you've ever received?

I asked me for my boss, the owner of Montross Pharmacy. He always says, the most dangerous phrase in the English language is we've always done it this way. You know, he always challenges us to be sharper than the blade and improvement.

What inspires you?

The strong desire to be like my dad. He is the most impactful driving force in my life, he's my best friend, he's the biggest devil's advocate in my life as well. He's always encouraging me and challenging me to improve, slack that out, I would not be the person I am today without him.

Well Brandon, thanks for being on the Pharmacy Podcast, Pharmacy Future Leaders.

Awesome, thanks Tony.

Support for this episode comes from the audio book Memorizing Pharmacology, a relaxed approach with over 9000 sales in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. It's the go to resource to ease the pharmacology challenge. Available on Audible, iTunes and Amazon.com in print, eBook and Audio book.

Thank you for listening to the Pharmacy Leader's Podcast with your host Tony Guerra. Be sure to share the show with a hashtag #pharmacyleaders.

 

 

Ep_12._Rural_Clinical_Pharmacist_Spotlight_Brandon_Gerleman_Montross_Pharmacy_Winterset_Iowa

Welcome to the Pharmacy Leader's Podcast with your host Tony Guerra. The Pharmacy Leader's Podcast is a member of the Pharmacy Podcast Network with interviews and advice on building your professional network, brand and a purposeful second income from students, residents and innovative professionals.

We're going to do something a little different today. We're going to have Brandon Gerleman who was on the Pharmacy Future Leader's podcast and I'm going to update you on how he's doing. He's actually now the director of clinical services at Montross Pharmacy at Winterset [indecipherable 00:00:39] in St. Charles, Iowa. He's recently appointed to the Madison County Board of Health and he's now active with the Iowa Pharmacy Association and is on the legislative committee while he's always been active with them as a student. And we've got a really important date coming up and that is legislative day, so January 24th 2018, that's the legislative day in capital screenings. That's the day that we as pharmacist go downtown to Des Moines and meet with our legislators. I went last year and I highly encourage it. I met with my state senator who is now senate president Jack Whitford and we talked just briefly about some of the priorities for pharmacist. Those priorities, three of the big ones are including the expanded role of pharmacist, delegating to technicians and of course helping with the opioid epidemic which is something that we are definitely able to do but what I want you to do is listen to this, when I interview with Brandon Gerleman see where he was as a P-4 and so quickly he's come now to become a clinical pharmacist and honestly I know there is that expression that, you know, students now are digital natives. Well I think pharmacy students graduating now at least from Iowa and Drake are clinical natives and clinical pharmacy is just part of who they are and so I hope I'll one day be able to catch up with them but I hope you enjoy this episode.

This is Brandon Gerleman fourth year doctor of pharmacy student at the University Of Iowa College Of Pharmacy and you're listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.

Today's guest is a fourth year University of Iowa pharmacy student who is president of the NCPA student chapter which recently won the national NCPA most improved chapter of the year. He's also the vice president of the graduate and professional student government and comes from Winterset, Iowa. If you don’t know Winterset it's in Madison County which was made very popular to the novel and film, The Bridges of Madison County. Winterset's also the birthplace of John Wayne, before entering pharmacy school he earned his bachelor's in health science with a minor in economics from the University of Iowa. Brandon, welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast, are you ready to tell us about Winterset?

Hey, hey, Tony thanks for having me. I'm always ready to brag about Winterset.

Awesome, well everyone's leadership road is a little bit different. Tell us what you're doing now and how you got there.

You bet, apparently I'm on the fourth year of pharmacy school at Iowa. I'm utilizing this clinical portion to put to use that therapeutic knowledge I gained the past three years and to really gain experiences on these rotation sites that can help me build clinical initiatives in my future pharmacy practice. I'm a little under seven months out from proudly serving as a local pharmacist at Montross Pharmacy in Winterset and then actually six months and 19 days from graduation we're still counting.

That's very exciting.

I've been actually working at Montross for the past six years. During my time there I've developed in a men's passion for independent community pharmacy practice. I've been blessed with the opportunity to work with four tremendous pharmacist expanding across three generations and I honestly see how to go above and beyond every single day to take care of that patient. Montross pharmacy, we've actually been serving the population in the community of Winterset since 1921. We also have the fine little niche of having old fashioned fountain that provides that kind of nostalgic dynamic experience.

Tell us a little bit about your current APPE rotation. We have an elective non-clinical APPE rotation here at DMAC. You don’t really see patients rather you see students so you get to practice teaching in a couple classes and other classes your own rather than being a teaching assistant but what's your current rotation like right now?

It's going well and I only have about two weeks left on this rotation, I'm down into Washington County at Washington County Hospitals and Clinics. It's about a half hour of South Iowa City on highway one. And really the reason I chose this one, it's that general hospital requirement for fourth year and it's very similar sized to Winterset.

Ok, well let's talk about the business of pharmacy. The Pharmacy Podcast is about the business of pharmacy and you are a millennial and you in the pharmacy workforce have embraced social media as part of that business. I talked with you earlier about what people respond to in a smaller town of 5000. Can you speak to what events, your specific populations looking for from your social media content?

Yeah, great question Tony. For us social media is really about the community. The most interactions that we have come from promoting community events specifically those that are in kind of involved in, you know, health. The other part of that is connecting with local businesses and celebrating store employees. We also utilize RX wiki to post kind of daily or every other day health information for our patients. As far as my role in marketing it revolves around showcasing all that we offer at Montross which I believe Happy Pharmacy Week.

Oh, yeah, Happy Pharmacy Week and Happy Pharmacy Technicians Day just a couple of days ago so very exciting week for pharmacy. Well tell us a little bit about your local political aspirations. I found that really interesting, when you return home.

Yeah, well, I have the ambitions to become mayor of Winterset sometime in the future having parents and a twin sister that are super involved in the community efforts. Naturally I've become inclined to really want to step up and help out. I want to be that individual that helps bridge the gap of where we are and where we want to be as a community. I believe this mayor role will allow me that opportunity to put into action my passion for my own town.

Well a couple of days ago we listened to the third of the debates and that moderator was really good. Asked some very very tough questions to both candidates so I will ask you a first tough question.

Oh yeah.

To you as a candidate for mayor. Ok, so as mayor you decide to tweak the shop small campaign and shop small means that you're investing in your local community to shop small sell big. This means that you're not only going to buy in town but you're also, as area business is going to start working together through social media letting those outside of town know what Winterset offers. So I'm going to read businesses from www.madisoncounty.com/full-day-itinerary and I just want you to tell me a little bit about each business so we can get to know a little bit more about what they do. So we'll start with the Madison County Chamber of Commerce's Welcome Center.

Yeah the chamber and the Heather Riley as executive director. They really do a great job of promoting Winterset as that destination. That weekend destination, shopping destination and really trying to track that tourism spot because we are a tourist's attraction South West of Des Moines here.

What about the Bakerium Limited?

Oh man Marshall Sparts does a great job on those donuts.

Ok, well donuts are for breakfast and unfortunately sometimes for me for a lunch.

Yeah.

Yeah, what about the Pine Creek Limited?

Pine Creek, well, Bill Moody does a fantastic job with that store and my mom probably spends a little too much on there.

What about Madison County Mercantile?

Madison County Mercantile great spot to pick up that last minute Christmas present.

And I said, Angel Wings and Collectible Treasures and you corrected me with.

Yeah, it's Angel Wings and Country Things, you know, we're a small town in USA over here but.

Ok.

Angel Wing is right next door to Montross and Nicole does a great job to stand out that store.

Ok and the First Avenue Collective?

First Avenue Collective, that's actually where that old county jail used to be, really really need experience to go on there sometime.

Sounds good, what about Red Ell Smokehouse?

Red Ell smokehouse, right across the street from the brand new John Wayne birth place museum, great spot for that beef brisket sandwich and that barbeque fix.

Alright and Winterset Cidery looks like it’s a little bit outside of town on highway 169.

Yeah well the Winterset Cidery, it's relatively new Gary and Debby Heck did a really good job and, you know, that fall weather apple cider, hard apple cider, even better so great spot.

Ok, The North Side Café.

North Side Café, well, Walter Janky does a really good job of diversifying that menu and that café's really known for its role for in the Bridge of Madison County, the film.

Ok, what about the White Lion's Bed & Breakfast?

The White Lion's Bed & Breakfast owned by really good family friends Mart and Kela Hawkins. They took an old gorgeous dictorian home and really turned it into that comfortable homey bed & breakfast feel.

Ok, and the Cobble Stonium.

Cobble Stonium just got built the, relatively recent here and that adds one more spot to not only make Winterset that being health care destination but not only the shopping destination but also that the weekend destination.

Awesome, well, you're involved in an initiative that helps bring in key professionals moving towards real underserved areas. This sounds like really when you're talking about other stores, you're not talking about stores you're talking about people. So tell me a little bit more about that initiative that you're working on because I think some of the millennials would like to maybe go to smaller towns. What are you doing to move that initiative forward?

You bet, well, the initiative's all about the staying local and keeping that local talent back home. So it's an initiative from GPSG that would be the Graduate & Professional Student Government of Iowa and we're really trying to gain traction and we are gaining traction at the state capital in Des Moines. This is a tax incentive that we're trying to keep these graduates from graduating professional programs at state institutions to remain in Iowa after graduation. Currently the GPSG president who is really taking the bull by the horns on this one and running with it, he has support from both democrats and republicans and we have a language being crafted with LSA at the capital. You know, this initiative is really important because it keeps all those that have been trained at Iowa institutions. It keeps them in Iowa to practice and remain in the state and really plant those roots. This one's a really easy argument with health care professionals as we have so many provider deserts as we are, you know, at the end of the day a mostly royal state. So hopefully cross my fingers a next couple of years, we got legislation out there that I really support and really try to [indecipherable 00:11:41] these young professionals to stay in small town USA.

Yeah provider desert is a very visual graphic but that sounds like exactly what it is. What do you feel is your area of expertise? What are two things we can really learn from what you do?

Well in addition to becoming a medication expert I'm also a fitness and nutrition enthusiast. I'm a real big proponent of the value of lifestyle interventions and the role of preventing disease progression. And I try to take every opportunity that I can to include my role as a health and lifestyle coach whenever I'm talking about a medication with the patient.

Well tell us how you became a leader and how your perception changed when that happened?

Honestly I cannot emphasize enough the amount of opportunities that the University Of Iowa College Of Pharmacy has provided me. On top of the new forward thinking curriculum that has just been implemented that unfortunately I don’t have a chance to be a part of. But on top of that there are pharmacy organizations for every single interest. The students, graduates and faculty at Iowa maintain a legacy of leadership in health care at state national and international levels providing excellent examples to follow. My faculty mentor Dr. Jeff Rees really became a father figure for me at the college and challenged me to get involved. The chips fell into place and I was fortunate enough to have the ability to help bring an NCPA student chapter to Iowa. This led me down the path of becoming a vice president at my second year and president during my third year. I can't talk enough about Iowa without talking about Dee Matender, Dee Matender really encourages involvement from day one. He sponsors the IPA Iowa Pharmacy Association member of care for every single student during the entire four years of pharmacy school. That's powerful; it really sets a tone for students as IPA does a tremendous job for the profession. You know, Dee Matender really walks the talk. As far as my perception in attitude, they've really gone from that sense of appreciation for what leader such as Bob Greenwood, Randy Madonna [indecipherable 00:13:50] what they've done for the state and for this profession. It's a mindset where I want to roll my sleeves up jump in and kind of help further advance our profession right next to them.

Yeah I'd heard about them. They were actively involved in the University of Iowa Community Pharmacy Residency Program and I know they were regionally awarded and now I just recently, I know Randy Madonna certainly and also I've seen them in the national scene, national awards. So fantastic mentors you have there and then I did want to talk about dean Lasiandra for just a minute because I met him in 2009 and I've had two chances to sit down one on one with him and what really impressed me about him is that when you're talking one on one to him. I can only count a handful of people that can do this, he absolutely looks to you in a way to make clear that he is 100% tuned into what you're saying, part sincerity, part generally wanting to understand and I can only believe that the transformation and progress there at Iowa, the new building, the new curriculum, all the things that are going well to make it a national leader, have come from that leadership. And it seems like a lot of that listening; the seeing the need of your local community is part of your social mission that you're on to move yourself, your pharmacy and your talent forward. But let's take a minute and maybe look at one of the biggest challenges you might have had, what's the worst thing that happened to you as a leader and how did you get yourself through it?

That probably has to be the tendency that I have to say yes to everything. I really want to jump at every opportunity presented in front of me. Especially through my third year I was very very involved to a point where I was probably maybe spread myself real too soon not quite giving that 100% to every organization in committee I belonged to. I was fortunate enough to have great individuals around me that I can delegate cast out to. You know, I would really say, surround yourself with light minded folks and only good things can happen. This was definitely the case with the national NCPA chapter of the year designation, well that'll be great exact team that I had around me, the passionate group of members that we had, we would not have had that success that we had this past year. Additionally I need to give a good shout out to, you need to have a great sport system. My girlfriend was very supportive this past year and continued to support all these endeavors I have.

Well I've got three kids, three five year olds and I couldn’t do it without my wife and I know what it is to have the support of family. It sounds like, everyone around you really supporting and excited for the things that you're going to be doing but tell us about a time maybe when you had an epiphany that changed how you thought about something.

Honestly this one's an easy one for anyone who knows me. It was the minute I learned what a PBM was.

Oh boy.

As I continued to educate myself as to what a PBM was, what their roles in health care, I discussed only grill from underwater max to DIR feast to PBM claw bags. These unethical PBM tactics are directly straightening my future and the future and the health of my patients. I haven't even begun to practice pharmacy yet and I'm already tired of it. I'm already tired of the practices that are restricting pharmacist from providing that optimal care. I currently serve on the IPA legislative community and I plan to stay involved on these legislative issues surrounding pharmacy for the rest of my career. I'm really hopefully that we're gaining the tension on the federal level with HR5951 and HR244, these are both kind of addressing retroactive DR fees and kind of the mac transparency. So hopefully we're having traction and we'll continue to have traction there.

You're talking very eloquently about some very difficult problems in pharmacy so your education not only clinically but with what's going on and the challenges that y'all have eventually as business owner pretty clear. But let's talk a little bit about the job market. So you personally have this place that you're going to go to Montross Pharmacy, you made that commitment but there's been some negatives, some positives but you said that it's a positive outlook that you really have on the current pharmacy job market.

Absolutely, you know, well the pharmacy job market isn’t really where it was ten years ago. There are still many fantastic opportunities out there as there are so many avenues in this profession. As that baby broomer generation continues to age and the position shortage gap continues to widen pharmacist will have the opportunity to step up and be recognized as providers. My advice to everyone is to network, you know, go out there, talk to other pharmacist, see what they're doing, see what's going good for them, what's going bad for them. That networking with NCPA and IPA has really allowed me to bounce ideas off each other successful independent community pharmacist and they really see what they're doing in those job opportunities. You know, Tony, it's all about who you know.

No, I have to agree with you there. Well what's one thing you're most excited about now?

As we're jumping off that last question, I am beyond excited for the future of this profession. I'm counting down the days until I join Montross Pharmacy as pharmacist fueled by a couple of performance initiatives in the state we are confident that we're building a fantastic value based, focused model at Montross. We're using clinical assessments on every patient, every time they are at the pharmacy calendar. I have that desire to commit these clinical programs to increase that collaboration with local docs and ultimately improve the health of our patients. Eventually I want to pursue BCPS certification and then thinking about that certified diabetic educator certification kind of down the line, you know, at Montross we're not in the business of merely distributing medications we are in the business of improving health outcomes. That being said I still throw out the question there, when will our profession get to the point we are paid for our worth and not just supplemented for reimbursement losses, you know, at the end of the day community pharmacy is not a call center. We are absolutely an investment center.

You have just tremendous joy, tremendous happiness and going towards graduation right now. What blankets of advice would you have for someone that wants to get to that place where you are right now?

Great question, Tony. It has to be finding those great mentors out there that you want to model yourself after. I was privileged with having some excellent examples to follow. The pharmacist at Montross Pharmacy, Jeff Wilson and Jason Stouten, they ignite my passion for the profession on a daily basis. I cannot wait to serve beside them in community pharmacy, work next to them every single day, I mean, their passion, if you think I'm passionate, you got to talk to those two guys. Additionally my dad actually played football in Iowa on the offensive line have the ability to start and the rose bull on pitch ball and having him as a father figure really helped and still my work ethic at a young age, you know, I grew up knowing the meaning of hard work.

I also had a, my father was a little bit different that he was an immigrant and he really wanted me to have a better life than he did and it sounds like we're both very lucky to have excellent role models. And that sounds like the best way to go and something I've heard from other successful NCPA leaders like yourself. So, how do you prefer someone contact with you? I'm sure with all this excitement they would definitely want to find out a little bit more about how to have this kind of life, this kind of success?

Absolutely, well I invite everyone to contact me and connect with me on Linkedin, twitter, facebook and email. My twitter hand was BGERLEMAN.

Sounds good, well, we like to finish with a couple of just quick hit questions. What's your best daily ritual?

It has to be, you know, I'm really highly routine driven and I try to automate every part of my life and as many parts of my life as I can with habit loops. You know, I wake up the same time everyday at 4:47, I work out at same time everyday at 5:32 in the morning and I really plan and track everything I eat every day.

What's the best career advice you've ever received?

I asked me for my boss, the owner of Montross Pharmacy. He always says, the most dangerous phrase in the English language is we've always done it this way. You know, he always challenges us to be sharper than the blade and improvement.

What inspires you?

The strong desire to be like my dad. He is the most impactful driving force in my life, he's my best friend, he's the biggest devil's advocate in my life as well. He's always encouraging me and challenging me to improve, slack that out, I would not be the person I am today without him.

Well Brandon, thanks for being on the Pharmacy Podcast, Pharmacy Future Leaders.

Awesome, thanks Tony.

Support for this episode comes from the audio book Memorizing Pharmacology, a relaxed approach with over 9000 sales in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. It's the go to resource to ease the pharmacology challenge. Available on Audible, iTunes and Amazon.com in print, eBook and Audio book.

Thank you for listening to the Pharmacy Leader's Podcast with your host Tony Guerra. Be sure to share the show with a hashtag #pharmacyleaders.