May 18, 2018
In this episode, Drake University standouts interview each other on the Pharmacy Leaders Podcast. Michelle Mages, P4 interviews Alexis S. Schrieber another Drake University PharmD Candidate. They'll be talking about their unique pharmacy experiences as they move on from graduation.
Alexis' Bio: From Waterloo, Illinois, Alexis chose pharmacy due to the plethora of opportunities. During her time at Drake University, Alexis explored many facets of pharmacy ranging from ambulatory care on an Indian reservation to pharmacy administration at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Alexis has accepted a post-doctoral fellowship with Wolters Kluwer where she will be working to optimize patient care through data research. Alexis enjoys cooking, playing tennis and hiking in her free time.
Questions
What started your interest in pharmacy?
How has your path during pharmacy school aligned or misaligned
with your initial expectations?
How did you find internship opportunities throughout pharmacy
school?
What steps did you take from finding these internships to showing
up on the first day?
With internships there can be a lot of paperwork or steps to
applying, how do you stay organized and on schedule with
everything?
What have been the biggest takeaways from your different internship
opportunities?
Hy-Vee - pharmacy intern (Iowa)
Johns Hopkins Hospital - Epic (Maryland)
Iowa House of Representatives - legislative intern with John Forbes
(Iowa) / Whiteriver Indian Hospital - ambulatory care (Arizona)
Can you tell us more about what your experience was helping take Epic live? How did you use what you've learned in pharmacy throughout this process?
How do you feel your broad experiences have set you up for you post-doctoral fellowship with Wolters Kluwer?
Now, for those of us who aren't as familiar with the non-traditional pharmacist positions, can you explain what your day-to-day work life may look like in this position?
What interested you in the data side of pharmacy and healthcare?
You are a strong leader both in our class as a class delegate and in different organizations throughout pharmacy school including Kappa Psi, APhA, Phi Lambda Sigma Society, and more. What have been your biggest takeaways while serving in various leadership positions?
What have you seen in strong leaders that you try to adapt to your leadership style?
How do your leadership experiences and internship opportunities build on each other?
For new pharmacy students looking to diversify their experiences during school, what advice do you have?
What advice do you have for pharmacy students taking on new leadership positions/internship positions?
How do you advise pharmacy students (or anyone) to be productive and organized?
Is there anything that I haven't asked that you would like to share with our listeners?
Fun questions:
What is your favorite food to eat?
What is your favorite thing to cook?
Where is the coolest place you have ever hiked?
Full Transcript:
welcome to the pharmacy leaders podcast
with your host Tony Guerra the pharmacy
leaders 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 hi my name is
Michelle Magus a p4 student pharmacist
from Drake University today I'm
interviewing Alexis Schreiber a fellow
p.4 at Drake and a friend from Waterloo
Illinois Alexis chose pharmacy due to
the plethora of opportunities during her
time at Drake University alexis explored
many facets of pharmacy ranging from
ambulatory care on an Indian Reservation
to pharmacy administration at Johns
Hopkins Hospital alexis has accepted a
postdoctoral fellowship with Wolters
Kluwer where she will be working to
optimize patient care through data
research alexis enjoys cooking playing
tennis and hiking in her free time
thanks for being with me today Alexis
well thank you for the introduction yes
alright to get going I am first just
curious what brought you to pharmacy and
started your interest with pharmacy so I
was a bit untraditional with my route to
pharmacy a lot of students you know
really are interested in outpatient care
and have had personal experiences with
that when they're in high school and I
really had it it was a choice that I
made based on the fact that I thought
that I wanted to go to law school out of
all things and I wanted to work with
medical malpractice and I thought a
great way to get in the back would be to
start with a pharmacy degree where I
could really understand medicine so I
went to Drake and I ended up realizing
that I like this pharmacy thing a lot
more than I thought I would and that's
what made me stick with pharmacy was
just how much I enjoyed working at my
retail job and then through some of my
various internships and I decided that
maybe I won't go to law school right
away maybe someday in the future but
right now just working with the patients
actually became a lot more fulfilling
than I had originally anticipated
fantastic so law brought you to pharmacy
then in pharmacies
if I receive that yeah sure no exactly
awesome so one thing that has really I
think colored your path through pharmacy
school is many different internship
experiences that you've had can you tell
me a little bit about some of those
experiences yeah and to start off I
would just like to say that I think it's
important to always keep your path open
I did a lot of really different
internships all throughout college and
it was just being open to the
opportunities that was so important so I
my first internship I was really lucky
to get was a junior Coast up with an
Indian Reservation so I was commissioned
to work in White River Arizona at a
hospital there and it's a very small
Hospital
out in the mountains of Arizona I didn't
even know Arizona had mountains but it
was a wonderful experience and I got to
work within an ambulatory care setting
where we pharmacist and myself we helped
push patient care and really take on
that needed help since we didn't have as
many doctors as perhaps what a
similar-sized clinic that was not on the
Indian Reservation so here I was able to
work on projects and head up a lot of
different antimicrobial stewardship
issues that were happening and really
had the support of everyone there and it
was the first time that I had the
experience to to see true
interprofessionalism because we had to
work together there wasn't enough people
not to so that was a really great
experience and it was a really small
Hospital so when I was looking to the
future I thought I've seen the really
small Hospital I loved how pharmacists
could really help patients and I then
wanted to see the opposite end so the
next summer I was really lucky I was
inspired by one of my co-workers to
apply to the summer internship at Johns
Hopkins and I was really lucky to get
that position and it's a very different
turn to go from an Indian Reservation
where you might have like eight patients
in your and your unit to go to Johns
Hopkins worry there's like 800 so it was
such a different opportunity and I
really loved it and I got to work in the
administration there during the epic
implementation and learned all about
patient safety and how a strong
leadership is so important when you have
a project such as implementing a brand
new electronic health record so those
that was one of my more
clinical internships and then during
pharmacy school during one of the
semesters where I was a student I worked
as the intern for the legislature one of
the legislators named representative
John Forbes and as his legislative
intern I worked during the legislative
session to help propel pharmacy Pro
legislation some worked on things like a
medication synchronization bill a
medical cannabis bill and then the
naloxone bill to help get naloxone
available to people within the community
not just healthcare providers and it was
really interesting to see how the laws
actually do affect what we do every day
and how grassroot efforts really can
make a difference so it was definitely a
unique variety of internships and then
as many students at Drake I also worked
retail during the school year and had my
high Ovie where I interacted with those
patients one-on-one and helped work on
some of those claims that I worked on at
the Capitol so it was really cool to see
everything come full circle
wonderful so lots of opportunities
Arizona small Hospital more of a rural
interdisciplinary environment when you
went to Maryland right yep Maryland
Maryland heard Johns Hopkins big
institution with a big change with
technology system giant yeah and then
you've worked it with the legislature or
pharmacy bills and at a retail here in
Des Moines yeah fantastic so how did you
find these different internship
opportunities throughout pharmacy school
well I mentioned earlier that I wanted
to go into law so I had always held on
to that and when it came to be my p1
year I had actually applied to law
school so took my LSAT and all those
scary things and I got in but at the
same time one of my advisers dr. Andrea
chose had recommended that I try for
this this Coast step thing she had done
a Coast up when she was a student and
she thought that I'd be a good fit so I
applied for that as well and I ended up
getting both so I had to decide do I
wanted to go to the law school which is
what I plan on doing I do I want to try
out the pharmacy thing a little bit more
and ultimately I decided that I could go
to law school in the future but I was in
pharmacy school now and I really want
focus on pharmacy and take the
opportunities that that were coming so I
really got introduced to the coast up
from dr. Jost
who highly recommended it and then when
I applied and I was lucky enough to get
it that's where I how I ended up with
that one and then when it came around
for Johns Hopkins I didn't think I had a
shot at going to Hopkins miss Hopkins
it's you know it's a really well
renowned program and I one of the girls
who I worked with at the Indian
Reservation who is now resident at
University of Chicago really encouraged
me and was really that cheerleader that
peer mentor that I needed to believe in
myself then enough that I should apply
to Johns Hopkins so I wanted to do
another internship because I really
believed that it was a useful way to
learn and you know I really felt that it
was helpful but I you know I didn't even
really know a lot about the Johns
Hopkins program so it was through that
networking with the person who I was
working with who knew more about it than
I did that I was able to find out more
about the Johns Hopkins program and also
programs like May I found out more about
that and really doing my research online
to see where I thought would be a great
fit there was also another opportunity
for me where I could have done another
Co step but at a different location like
at a real prison sore so it's really
seemed like where I saw my career going
and then talking to people who had done
those positions to see where I thought I
would fit best and then I was lucky
enough to put in the time and put in all
the effort and then get the offer to go
out to Maryland wow that's awesome
so you mentioned a lot of researching
online and then also that your network
your mentor is helping you get there
where did you start your process was it
hearing about it from other people or
did you just pop in a Google search and
try to find what was out there kind of
what was what was that first step for
those things to pique your interest to
think about applying my first step was
really my advisor telling me about the
opportunity that she did I had debated
doing an internship but I really was
kind of had tunnel vision almost about
law school and then she was like the my
advisor really talked me into looking at
other opportunities which was really
important and then from there after
doing the coasts up it did come a lot
- googling like finding out about places
just from doing the footwork and putting
the time in to find out more so talking
about putting the time in to find out
more from starting your applications to
showing up on the first day I know that
was probably a very detailed process and
different for each internship but can
you kind of walk some of us through that
if we're thinking about internships or
maybe a little intimidated by the
process kind of in general how does that
go how do you stay organized absolutely
so I think that's something that my
predecessors have talked about is the
use of Excel spreadsheets and as I think
I'm going into Excel spreadsheets with
my career I could not say enough about
how much they actually do help so one of
the things that I always look for when I
was researching my internships is what
where is it located
what type of work am I going to do and
then how is it going to be helpful for
my future career so I think the thing
that I think is the most important for
students and that I tell all of the
younger students that I meet they're
probably tired of me telling them this
it's start your CV early a lot of people
from the very first IP PE it goes on
your CV from that leadership position
you held it goes on your CV so instead
of three years down the line trying to
remember what you did freshman year just
start it now and you'll thank yourself
later I know I have friends who put
their CDs in the tables which was
something I never heard of but it was an
awesome idea to make it look pretty and
it was all those things that you pick up
along the way
have people review your CV have your
roommate review it have your friend
review it have your parent review it
he's not even in pharmacy because they
can catch those typos that you make so
that was something that I think is
really important to start early and
that's important for every student the
next thing that I think is really
important is building your network for
every internship that I've had I've had
to have someone write a letter of
recommendation and usually it was three
letters of recommendation that's a lot
of people as a p1 to find out to see if
you know three people who are willing to
recommend you for a position so I made a
good bond with my employer at high V
where I worked and they were willing to
write a letter my adviser who
recommended me for the position
originally wrote a letter and then I had
a chemistry professor an undergrad who I
became really close with and I had been
one of the tutors for his chemistry
classes who wrote me a letter so you
sometimes just really important to keep
in mind that when you start school you
network with the people who are in your
class but it's also important to network
outside of there so when it comes to
time where you need that letter of
recommendation you have someone there
who you not only feel comfortable but
you feel confident in asking that they
will write you a strong letter thank you
for those tips on preparing and applying
for different internships how do you
feel that your broad experiences with
your different internships have set you
up for the post doctoral fellowship that
Wolters Kluwer that's a great question
so I think what one of the things that
you have to keep in mind with the post
doctoral fellowship like this one is
that you never exactly know what you're
getting yourself into
and you can talk to the people before
you but healthcare is so constantly
changing and you never know what
projects are gonna be in your future and
I think that's what my internships set
me up to do they set me up to learn how
to learn quickly and to be flexible when
I got thrown into going live with epic
at Johns Hopkins it was a big change and
it was hard and it was difficult but by
learning how to work with people and to
catch yourself up on what's already been
happening you can really immerse
yourself in the new process to start a
new job and start a job that's so
different than what you've been working
on in the past I've had my past couple
rotations have all been patient care
based well at my fellowship there won't
be any patients there won't be
they'll just be a larger picture so I
think that my internships really taught
me through projects how to look at that
larger picture and how to really set
yourself up for success later on I know
my very first internship at the Indian
Reservation I did this giant data
collection and halfway through I
realized that we missed things and I
went back and I had to redo it all and
while that took a lot of my time it was
a great learning experience because it
taught me the importance of planning and
not just jumping straight into things
for me it's always the temptation that I
just want to get in and get going but
it's really important in what my
internship spot me is it's really
important to lay that groundwork before
you just jump into a new job and I think
we can all take that in pharmacy school
and that's why
I always feel it's so important to know
the basics of pharmacology so that you
can jump into knowing the drugs later on
and learn new things that's your a
teaching assistant in yes that's how I
with the TA for for pharmacology for for
neuropharmacology so maybe I have a
sweet spot for that y'all have to go to
the zoo for all my questions it is my
favorite epic all right so you kind of
talked about how your internships
prepared you for a post doctoral
fellowship for those of us who maybe are
less familiar with that pathway we know
we can go into a job right after
pharmacy school or there is the
residency option which is pretty well
known what is this whole fellowship
thing about what is what does that look
like what does that even mean this is a
great question because it's a question
that I keep getting all the time and
people are like a fellowship so what
does that mean and it's a great it's a
great area so I always tell people who
ask me who are not even pharmacy related
that there's there's different ways you
can go on pharmacy there's the residency
where you work with patients who are
sick in hospitals there's retail where
you work with patients who are out in
the community and mean medications
filled and have questions and then
there's a fellowship where you give the
medications to people but not directly
or there's a fellowship where if you
provide information so that the people
in the field can see their job to the
best of their ability and that's what I
hope to do so a fellowship you can go
multiple different ways mine isn't
health information and clinical outcomes
so what I'm really looking at as part of
Wolters Kluwer is finding if the things
that we're doing in the hospital keep
our patients safe and keep our patients
healthy and what can we do to maximize
patient care there's other felt
fellowships like some of my peers are
doing where they're going to work for a
drug company either in marketing as one
of my one of my peers is doing or if
they're going to work in clinical
development and those are all awesome
opportunities to really get into how
products that get to the market are made
how they're manufactured and how we can
give patients the options for treatment
that they need and then of course
there's other fellowships that there's
executive fellowships which is when you
work for a pharmacy organization so I
have a peer who's going into an
executive fellowship and she's going to
really work to promote pharmacy
and then there is of course just more
non-traditional routes that people find
within pharmacy so I think it's really a
fellowship is a great option for people
if they're not a hundred percent sold on
the patient care route but would love to
be a part of a pharmacy kind of on that
higher level and to work with more data
and clinical outcomes alright that's a
great explanation because I know that
can be very confusing sometimes but it's
just kind of a route that opens up the
doors to a lot of maybe more
non-traditional pharmacist positions
that really are leading healthcare and
doing a lot of that big-picture work so
that we can all continue to move forward
with improving the care we provide and I
think that's completely fair it's one of
those things we have to so in order to
provide the best care we can to patients
we have to have good data we have to
have good information and we have to
have good decisions on a federal level
so it's not just you wake up in the
morning and you go to work and you fix
one patient's drug problem it's the what
what resource did you look up to see
they had a drug interaction how did you
realize they had a drug interaction did
the computer alert you will who supplied
the computer who made the electronic
health record who made the law that said
that you could have access to that
information so there's all these tiers
in health care that oftentimes get
overlooked and that's why I think that's
one of the reasons I went into
pharmacies because as you mentioned
earlier that plethora of opportunities
to integrate what we know as pharmacists
into the bigger picture of healthcare
awesome and so with technology that you
kind of mentioned for pharmacy students
the one place that I know is very
familiar to see Wolters Kluwer is on
lexicomp as well some other drug
information resources so you might not
be specifically working with that
website but kind of that information
source it could be Wolters Kluwer as
long as well as other organizations
absolutely so there's micromedex and
there's all these types of pharmacy
information and while it's important
with all of them is that they're
reputable sources that have been
endorsed by pharmacy organizations so
it's all really helpful and all helps us
form that big clinical picture for our
patients
well thank you for sharing both bought
your internships and now your fellowship
with us congratulations on that what
advice do you have for pharmacy students
looking to diversify their experiences
during school to prepare perfect to
prepare for after school opportunities
so I'm going to steal the advice that I
was actually given from the current Dean
of Drake University Dean chestnut and
early on she said that a lot of students
will try to obtain a job and I think
that's one of the unique things that
Drake is that a lot of our students are
employed while they're in pharmacy
school and I think that's super helpful
for understanding real-world pharmacy
what she said was sometimes a downfall
of Drake students is that we start one
job and we love it so much that we never
leave which is definitely my case I
started working in Des Moines and Ivy
and I worked there some sophomore year
and I'm still working there but she said
and what I really thought was a great
great suggestion is don't be afraid to
work in different areas within the same
community don't be afraid to work at a
retail job for two or three years and
then work at a hospital job so there's
some people who think oh I have to have
an internship too in order to diversify
my skill set but wherever you are
there's really the opportunities
available to you to find those different
skill sets just within a job that you
might work eight or twelve hours a week
at so I think that's really important
obviously I'm a big proponent of
internships we've probably already
talked about that enough but that is
important for just seeing what's all
available and then also making sure
you're aware of the world outside of
pharmacy I know I have a lot of friends
who have worked in different areas that
are unrelated but those are the things
that make candidates unique and I think
that's really important we're not just
diversify in your pharmacy skill set but
for diversifying your life skills up
alright and then for students that are
showing up day one at their new
internship whether it's within the
community as switch in roles
what type of pharmacy they're working in
or flying halfway across the country
what would be some advice you'd give
them on day one of how to get the most
out of that internship experience
whether it's five weeks 10 weeks 12
weeks or however long it is
my philosophy is be early and look
prepared so I never an exactly know
where you're going even if you think you
know where you're going I feel like you
never do and then look the part you know
look excited dress appropriately
I always carry around my padfolio
instead of just having a notebook
because it looks more professional if
you people talk about all the time how
it's that first encounter that can set
the tone and I've actually seen that to
be very true throughout my experiences
so on that first day do your homework
ahead of time for example my first my
first internship they told me that I was
going to be working with this data on
Rocephin
and I thought oh yeah I told them I was
like oh that sounds great
and then I googled what is first up and
I had no idea it was a it was a
cephalosporin but I didn't recognize the
brand name they kept going on about how
I be working with that so when I got
there the first day I knew everything
that you would need to know about
ceftriaxone or Rocephin and that's just
one example but it's the importance of
being prepared and that's what people
will take the notice that you showed up
on time or early that you look like
you're ready for the job and that you
were ready for the job and I think
that's really important and it might
sound cliche but having that positive
attitude coming and smiling on day one
just that's you off to a better tone and
being willing to help I remember one
time when I was at Hopkins that he we
went we're having a night where I was
there very very late into the night
because we were transitioning health
records and I wasn't a pharmacist I
wasn't allowed to actually help with the
actual management of moving information
from one system to the next so I was
just getting people coffee getting
people drinks getting snacks you know it
wasn't a job that I necessarily thought
I would be doing at Hopkins but that's
what was needed at that time and I think
as an intern that's what people will
carry from it be like oh yeah she was
willing to pitch in she was willing to
fill the hole that needed to be filled
and that's what people will take from
you it's not just showing up from your
9:00 to 5:00 but it's making sure that
you're willing to do the work to show
that you really do want to be there and
that's really important for employers
absolutely and you not only fill that
hole but you also probably found it
there probably weren't people always
telling you what to do but you figure it
out when you're just sitting there
figuring out what and before you ever in
had a chance to sit down you kind of
figured out where you could pitch in and
help out and make the process go a
little more smoothly for everyone
involved that's completely true and I
think that that's an excellent point
that's super important is you can't just
always do exactly what you're told but
look beyond that and look to see how can
I help fill this void that maybe
somebody doesn't even know exists yet
and that's how you really make yourself
valuable and you get integrated as a
part of the team quicker I think one of
the struggles with internships is that
you're only there for a short period of
time so sometimes it's hard to like get
in get integrated make a difference and
get out right away but by filling those
holes and be willing to step up to the
plate it's really easier to help form
those bonds with the people around you
so that they trust you with products and
they trust you with handling things and
that you really do become a necessary
and important part of that team well
done hopefully that'll help someone
continue on our path and make a big
impact well I hope so
all right is there anything else that
you'd like to share with us today that I
haven't asked you about yet I think in
general the thing to take with you is to
really get to know the people around you
people who are in pharmacy school have
this unique position where they always
told me pharmacy was a small world and I
never really believed it but I can
honestly say after my year of rotations
pharmacy is an extremely small world the
girl who is that my one rotation showed
up at my next one who would have thought
like you never you never knew these
types of things going into it so it's
just so important to make networking of
like a priority and I know sometimes I'm
one of those people who I like to get
down I like to work I like to get things
done sometimes I forget that how
important networking is but I cannot say
enough how really important that is for
future pharmacist thank you all right a
couple last fun question okay we heard
in your bio that you like to cook play
tennis and hiking your free time so what
is your favorite food to eat and the
second question what's your favorite
food to cook and are they the same or
different they are not the same my
favorite food is terrible I just love
popcorn
I just love popcorn there's no way
around it are you talking we're going
off caps and mufflers yes a movie
theater popcorn it's the best popcorn
but yes I love all popcorn but chunky
popcorns not really thing it's like a
microwave thing sometimes I put it on
the stove get a little fancy right very
fancy popcorn yeah probably to cook I
really love cooking just cookies which I
guess is more like baking I suppose but
I really enjoy baking cookies and that
might be my demise in the end but I love
baking cookies and then of course eating
cookies is great too all right and now
when you're baking cookies is a
chocolate chip is it a specific kind
you're moving Louis we have gooey butter
cookies oh yeah there are these
wonderful things I don't know if I
should share it with the world but it's
a Saint Louis it's a st. Louis style
cookie that's made out of a yellow
cookie it's a yellow cake mix yeah and
it's with cream cheese and powdered
sugar you really can't go wrong
well you have to make those sometimes
I'm really interested yeah they are
super good we don't have those up under
this soda you should try them they look
like lemon cookies but they're better
okay um and then where is the coolest
place you've ever taken a hike so I down
in Illinois where I'm from there's
actually this like really not known
place called the little Grand Canyon it
is not like the big Grand Canyon it is a
little Grand Canyon and it is like this
cool hike where you like hike down this
Canyon basically into like this valley
and then you walk the valley and then of
course you have to hike back up it which
is sometimes a struggle but it's a
beautiful hike down in southern Illinois
and you can almost guarantee that there
will never be anyone else there so it's
a really great place to go and kind of
clear your mind and it's a two-hour hike
so it's a pretty I think it's like high
intensity or however they score the
hiking system I don't remember but it's
a pretty intense hike down this canyon
but it's pretty cool
all right mini Grand Canyon there's some
water and where was it southern Illinois
I don't actually know why I was like in
the middle of nowhere I don't know we
can tactical thank you so much for being
on talking with you yes thank you so
much for having me support for this
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