White Coat Radio

East Tennessee State University

“White Coat Radio” provides listeners with helpful advice, stories, and insights from the faculty, staff, and student pharmacists at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Hosts Dr. Michele Williams and Stephen Woodward lead this informative and entertaining podcast, with new episodes appearing regularly. This podcast recently landed top spots on multiple national and state charts for pharmacy and education podcasts.

  1. Jun 9

    Episode 31 — Dean Debbie Byrd on new state funding, Gatton's 20th anniversary, and answers to student questions

    On this episode of White Coat Radio, we’re joined by Dr. Debbie Byrd, Dean of East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy. She discusses the latest news regarding state funding and reduced tuition, the college’s 20th anniversary, her philosophy for overcoming challenges, and answers questions from student pharmacists Dean Byrd is celebrating her 10th anniversary as dean of Gatton this year. In March, she was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Pharmacy Academy by the National Academies of Practice (NAP), a prestigious honor that recognizes excellence and leadership in interprofessional health care. TRANSCRIPT: Dean Debbie Byrd I also view challenges as opportunities because I've seen that play out that when we do have those obstacles, many times they have resulted in some of our greatest successes.   Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode, we cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience, from study tips to deep dives with faculty and students pharmacists. I'm one of your hosts, Doctor Michele Williams, assistant professor and director of academic success.   Stephen Woodward And I'm Stephen Woodward, marketing and communications manager. On this episode, we chat with Doctor Debbie Byrd, dean of ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy. This year, Doctor Byrd is celebrating her 10th anniversary, coming to Gatton as Dean in 2016. In March, she was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Pharmacy Academy by the National Academies of Practice (NAP), a prestigious honor recognizing excellence in leadership and interprofessional health care.   Stephen Woodward Learn more about Doctor Byrd on our website e-t-s-u dot e-d-u slash pharmacy. Now let's get to our interview. Well, Dean Byrd, welcome to White Coat Radio.   Dean Debbie Byrd Yeah. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here. It's great to have you here.   Stephen Woodward We'll start by telling us what is a typical day. Being a dean look like.   Dean Debbie Byrd You know, there's not a typical day. But I think that's probably one of the things that I enjoy most is just the variety and, you know, the work that I get to do internal to the college, which you know, most in the college would be, you know, very familiar with and, but there's also a lot of external work at the university and then even beyond the university.   Dean Debbie Byrd So, a lot of my time is spent problem solving. I've described myself as a fire chief sometimes, putting my fire hat on putting out fires. But it's it's usually not to that, that level, but it's, a lot of serving as a, as a soundboard for people. It's been a lot of time in meetings. And that's where a lot of that, you know, problem solving and coaching and, and just, you know, hearing what, what others have in mind to do. I know when I was new to this position, I was very taken aback by all the meetings or how much time I was spending in meetings. And I remember, talking to my boss at the time, Wilsie Bishop. And I said, you know, when I've just. I'm in meetings all the time. I went, when does. When will I do my work, you know, as these, and this is my first job as a dean, and she, you know, paused and smiled and looked at me and said, this is the work that is that is the work which is very different from what I had done previously. But, you know, whether it's meeting with, members of the leadership team or executive committee individually, or, you know, as a group, with the faculty council, we have the dean student advisory Committee today. I was kind of I had to think about it a little bit because there are so many different things. But, just all of the stakeholders within the college, and our alumni here, those, those meetings go on on a, on a pretty regular cadence. But then at Etsu, there are a number of different councils that I serve on the university council, academic council, deans, council meeting, council deans meet on a regular basis. So, you know, all of those things are, you know, trying to make things better, whether it's here at the college or at the university that, you know, even beyond the university, there's opportunities to, you know, work on behalf of the profession or the college in terms of advocacy with legislators. College has been very active with the Johnson City, Washington County Chamber of Commerce. So, yeah, there's just so many, folks to to meet with. And then there's lots of events that we have, at the college. And so I just represent the college in a lot of different, arenas.   Stephen Woodward Great. Thank you for sharing.   Michele Williams So the college's, of course, celebrating its 20th anniversary this academic year. What do you think are some of the biggest challenges the college is facing?   Dean Debbie Byrd You know, that's a great question. And I can say I think that, you know, Gaten is facing any challenges that are unique to us that are really any different than other colleges or schools of pharmacy or, or just higher education, in general. But challenges in general, I do think are accessibility and affordability for our students, is really paramount.   Dean Debbie Byrd The perception of the value of higher education, I don't think that that pharmacy faces, that as much as maybe other, degree programs, because the return on the investment for, a doctor pharmacy degree is pretty clear. You know, it's was life changing for me as a first generation college student. You know, really, generational change can come about, for those students who have those opportunities. And that's why that accessibility and affordability is so, important. Yeah. For us to focus on, I also have a philosophy which I would say is something that has developed, especially since becoming a dean is, I used to have the perspective of, I could prevent problems, you know, if I planned well and and that's true to a degree. But you can't plan away all the potential problems that that pop up. And so that perspective has changed as I've gotten wiser. But I also view challenges as opportunities because I've seen that play out that when we do have those obstacles, many times they have resulted in some of our greatest successes. That's so true as a college. And that's not at all how I used to think about problems. So I think it's important, important to have that mindset of just not that we like problems, but just embracing them. But they inevitably pop up and think of them as opportunities to, you know, make something better for someone. You know, face them with optimism and creativity because you might as well, and just roll up our sleeves and, and get to work.   Michele Williams That's, that's one of the things that I really love about working here and working with you is that when a problem comes up, there have been times when you come to my office and said, what are we going to do about this?   Dean Debbie Byrd Yeah, I, I love that. Yes. Like, oh, okay, let's problem solve us figure it out. So yeah. Yeah. Because it's not an option you know not to address the problem. It's that way. So we might as well. ...Yeah. And and I certainly don't have all the answers. And so, you're not the only person that I, that.... Well, what do you think about this? Yeah. You know, our, thinking about this. What do you think about that? To try to get to the best solution for whatever it may be?   Stephen Woodward Well, kind of along those lines, what are some of the those opportunities that you see for the college?   Dean Debbie Byrd Yeah. You know, I think there's no question that excellence is an important part of our culture here. So, we're always looking for ways to improve things, to make things better, whether that's, you know, for students or faculty or staff, you know, how do we just just make things run smoother in some cases, take something that's that's good and make it great. But we have made the most of some of our challenges here at the college. But I think some of the things, thanks are thanks are, are. My gosh, I probably should not go it, you know, we don't have any major, major things going on right now. We've had some major initiatives that the college is, is, you know, kind of bringing to fruition now a major curricular revision as one example, where I do want to give, you know, faculty and staff major kudos for that work because, you know, not only did they, you know, revise the curriculum, which happens periodically everywhere, but something that our faculty did really combined, you know, that academic excellence piece and, and thinking about student success, but they also really considered well-being in that and well-being in the perspective of, you know, what's the best combination to help our students perform at their very best? And to that end, you know, we looked at a lot of data and found that our curriculum at that time, before we revised it, had more credit hours than most programs in the country. And, and at that time, our students weren't performing where we would like for them to have been. We were thinking about the now flex. We were more, you know, just around the average or maybe just slightly above average. And so part of that we felt like, maybe it's just too much and there's a point of diminishing returns. And I think we can reach that with our students, that we were just overwhelming them in terms of just information and time. And, and so they were very thoughtful. The faculty were in really bringing it back to the essentials of, of what do our students need, to be the best pharmacists and to perform at their very best and to, to really, you know, learn and retain everything. It's not, you know, if you're just you can give them everything. But if they're only going to retain a third of it, what what's the point? And they've really given that a lot of considerat

    43 min

  2. May 12

    Episode 30 — Drs. Tabitha Sineath ('24) and Katie Cox on Specialty Pharmacy

    On this episode of White Coat Radio, we’re joined by two specialty pharmacists making an impact in Tennessee. Dr. Tabitha Sineath (’24), an ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy alumna who earned both her PharmD and MBA through the college’s dual degree program, now serves as Lead Pharmacist at Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy in Nashville, where she is the Clinical Lead for Transplant and Chronic Inflammatory Conditions. She is joined by Dr. Katie Cox, who manages Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy in Knoxville. Together, they share insights into careers in specialty pharmacy, their work in women’s health, and the real-world applications of their training.  Full transcript: Tabitha Sineath Because you take back bits and pieces from every experience, whether that be as a student on rotations to your first job or what you ultimately grow into. It's the bits and pieces that you know as part of your experience that truly kind of define you over time. So don't. My advice to students is don't give up on that and continue to kind of seek those out because you know in your heart where your passion lies, you have to make the pathway. Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University. Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode, we cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience, from study tips to deep dives with faculty and student pharmacists. I'm one of your hosts, Doctor Michelle Williams, assistant professor and director of academic success. Stephen Woodward And I'm Stephen Woodward, marketing and communications manager. Today we welcome Doctor Tabitha Sign at the 2024 alumna from Gatton, who, in addition to earning her PharmD, also completed our dual degree program to earn a master of Business Administration while she was here. That prepared her to now serve as leave pharmacist at the Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is a clinical lead for transplant and chronic inflammatory conditions. Stephen Woodward But today, we have not one but two specialty pharmacies joining us. Doctor Katie Cox, who manages Walgreens specialty Pharmacy in Knoxville, also stopped by. Let's hear from them now. Doctor Cox, doctor Sineath welcome to White Coat Radio. Thank you all for coming out today. Katie Cox Thank you for having you. Stephen Woodward Can you start by telling us about your roles at Walgreens and where you work? Katie Cox Yeah. Tabitha Sineath So I am, lead pharmacist at our specialty site in Nashville. And, oversee primarily our transplant in chronic inflammatory condition patients. Stephen Woodward Okay. Katie Cox So I work at Walgreens as well. I manage the, specialty pharmacy structure at Walgreens is a little bit different. I mean, it's the site that's in Knoxville. And, what's called registered manager, local specialty. So I'm over the whole site. I'll own kind of your accreditation and specific accreditation, not just for specialty pharmacies, but it does apply, within the specialty pharmacy field. Katie Cox Then there's an M.O., which is a pharmacy manager, and what we traditionally think of as a pharmacy manager. And then they're all kind of structured differently, which is what I love about specialties. It's like each side is a snowflake. It looks a little bit different. So the Nashville site has care. Teams are a little bit larger site. We are a newer site. Katie Cox I launched our site in 2023. And then we've got five pharmacists now, but we don't have a specific care team, so we kind of all share and own the disease state since we've structured a little bit differently than Nashville. Tabitha Sineath Yeah. And we talk about care teams a little bit. That's just kind of a delineation of what type of disease state we're managing. So in in Nashville, we're a little more bucketed. We have a virology and oncology pharmacist who oversees those patients, neurology, who oversees, like migraine and seizures. And, I oversee chronic inflammatory in our transplant, which includes not only solid organ but stem cell. Tabitha Sineath And we have a unique partnership with Sarah Kane and clinic across the street, as part of the tri star network, to help those patients. And then we have a lot of miscellaneous specialty that kind of filters in, that don't really fit nicely into a bucket. So that's kind of where we all cross-train and help out. Stephen Woodward Okay, cool. Thank you. Michele Williams Yeah, that sounds great. So can can each of you tell us a little bit about what led you to specialty pharmacy? What it is about your your background, your work experiences, those kinds of things. And, Tabitha, if we could start with you, that would be good. Sure. Tabitha Sineath I started out, as a pharmacy technician for Walgreens, many years ago. I'm not going to say save a year, but, a few decades back, and, my path has not been linear in that sense. But I advance kind of to the top of my level as a technician and wanted to go back into pharmacy to get my pharmacy. Tabitha Sineath And always had been that drive in that pull for me. And finally just took the dive. But I think the catalyst for me was more of like a personal experience that led me to specialty. When I was trying to start our family and a lot of family planning, we realized that we would need a lot of additional help. Tabitha Sineath So in terms of, fertility specialty, we had to go through in vitro fertilization. And with that came a lot of specialty medications that, there was not great education around. And these are really expensive medications. And I, I said to myself, you know, there's got to be a better way to handle this for patients. And so that was really my draw to say, you know, this is this is my niche. 00;05;24;09 - 00;05;31;21 Tabitha Sineath This is where my passion lies. And that's really what I want to do. I want to help those patients, and have great outcomes. Michele Williams That's wonderful. Yeah. Katie Cox So, I also have a very nontraditional path towards pharmacy. When I was in undergrad, I studied chemistry and biochemistry, and I did research for the government on, carbon nanotube technology. I went to medical school, and I got, my medical doctorate, and then I had some health issues, and was trying to figure out how to restructure balanced life. Katie Cox For someone who is a high achiever, that can't work less than 120%, and we give you a lot of leeway for the optimal work life balance. I did not know I would have the additional years that I got so thrilled and pharmacy kind of looked like a great career to dovetail my chemistry biochemistry interest, along with what I had learned in medicine. Katie Cox And so, I finished pharmacy school and I went and graduated in 2016, and I started in, management. So I started out as a staff pharmacist, was not there very long and then started managing. I mean, it's 5 or 6 different sites, kind of jokingly say I was like the cleaner where they would send me to a pharmacy that maybe needed to implement better workflow or had some structure issues, or maybe had lost a really good leader and was trying to kind of figure out how to get back to where they were. Katie Cox And so I would kind of get us realigned and going well. And then specialty pharmacy, which I think is a great topic to talk about because I think a lot of times when you think of Walgreens, you don't necessarily think of specialty pharmacy. But it is a huge section of Walgreens. And I even when I started working for Walgreens, I did not know that we had specialty pharmacies. Katie Cox At that time, there was not one in Knoxville on the closest ones were either Nashville or Bristol, Kingsport. And so I took the opportunity to go and shadow at those sites and kind of see what it looked like. And it was a really great niche sort of space and community where you still do a lot of clinical work. Katie Cox And have long term interactions with your patients. I similarly had a fertility journey when my husband, we were trying to have our daughter and so helping patients navigate some of the fertility and understanding how much of the communication gets dropped off between the patient walking out of the physician's office and then coming into the pharmacy or getting the medications, and how probably a lot of the issues with our health care system are kind of this lack of continuity of care or like regular check ins with the same person who knows your history. Katie Cox And so I feel like specialty pharmacy fits so great into that space. And it's kind of under utilized in some capacities for patients both with billing access and then like long term management. And so I always like to include to you, like when I talk to students, they say, well what is specialty pharmacy like? Why is it special? Katie Cox And I kind of always joke, you know, it's it's an interesting and really great question to ask because there's not technically a specific definition of specialty pharmacy. Right. Medicare, Medicaid, our two biggest payers don't actually define specialty pharmacy, which kind of means that it ends up being defined by third party payers in some capacity, by manufacturers and access points and by some capacity, because there's drugs that are limited distribution drug, you can only get certain places. Katie Cox But a really good point like definition would be highly expensive, medications or medications that potentially would have chronic issues or adverse events that could occur because of the conditions that we're managing would make it more difficult to distinguish between like maybe an adverse event versus something that's happening with like multiple comorbidities. So it helps with tracking for data. Katie Cox So we learned in school, you know, about the four phases of studying drugs. And so I'll always talk about specialty pharmacy really fits into that post-marketing

    28 min

  3. Feb 20

    Episode 29 — Dr. David Stewart on NAPLEX success

    We’re joined in this episode by Dr. David Stewart, Associate Dean of Assessment and Academic Affairs. Dr. Stewart led Gatton’s efforts to improve NAPLEX pass rates, resulting in the college ranking among the top five accredited pharmacy schools nationwide for the Class of 2025, as well as No. 1 in Tennessee and No. 2 in the Southeast. He shares his thoughts on the excellence of our student pharmacists, alumni, faculty, and staff, as well as the collaborative efforts that led to this success.   Transcript Introductory Teaser: David Stewart I think for a student that's either here at the College of Pharmacy or maybe thinking about coming to the Gatton College of Pharmacy. I hope it gives them confidence that when they finish our curriculum, they go through our training program, they're going to have the tools that they need to be successful as a pharmacist. They're going to be able to pass those exams. Main Episode: David Stewart They're going to be able to get a license. Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode, we cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience, from study tips to deep dives with faculty and student pharmacists. I'm one of your hosts, Doctor Michele Williams, assistant professor and director of academic success. Stephen Woodward And I'm Stephen Woodward, marketing and communications manager. Today we welcome Doctor David Stewart, associate dean of assessment and academic affairs, as well as professor of pharmacy practice. He is an inaugural faculty member at Gatton, joining the Department of Pharmacy Practice in 2007. Doctor Stewart led the college's efforts to improve its NAPLEX Pass rates, and today he shares about that process, as well as his thoughts on the excellence of our curriculum, our students and alumni, as well as faculty, staff, and the collaborative efforts that led to the college's success. Stephen Woodward Doctor Stewart, welcome to White Coat Radio. David Stewart Well thank you. Thanks for having me as a guest today. Stephen Woodward So we have some big news that happened at the college a few weeks ago. Demanded just tell us what happened. David Stewart Yeah. So every January we get a report from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy or in NABP and they give us licensing reports on our licensure exams, the NAPLEX, and North American Pharmacy Licensure Exam, as well as the Multi-State Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam, also known as the MPJE. And these are the two exams that students need to take in order to get licensed as a pharmacist. David Stewart And so we're able to compare our results against the results of schools across the nation. And so for the second time in three years, we had a really high pass rate. I'm proud to say that our class of 2025 was the number five, school in the country for first time pass rate on NAPLEX amongst all accredited schools in the United States. David Stewart Also was the number one school in Tennessee and number two in the southeast with a 97.7%, first time pass rate on the network's exam. Michele Williams That's amazing. Stephen Woodward That amazing. David Stewart Yeah. And then, you know, the cherry on top of that is that exam I mentioned the MPJE, our in-state first time attempt, pass rate on that. We were number four in the country, number one in the state and number two in the southeast again. So really strong work from our graduates in the class of 2025 for sure. Michele Williams They really did a great job. David Stewart Yeah. And I think the exciting thing for me is this is a, you know, just one group. It's it's mostly the students. We tend to celebrate a lot around here. But really see, alumni from the class of 2025 that did all the hard work and took the exam. But it does represent a team effort. It's the, you know, the students, the graduates taking the exam are faculty, staff working as a team to set them up for success. David Stewart So really, really proud of everyone's effort. Michele Williams So, you mentioned the people behind the, the, pass rates, including our amazing students and our faculty and staff. But these successes also reflect some recent changes to Gatton’s curriculum. Right? And so, what kinds of changes have taken place that sort of led to this success? David Stewart Yeah. So really, a couple of things. First, you know, we set out on a curricular revision. We've really been planning that revision since before the Covid 19 pandemic. Going back to the 2018, 2019. That did kind of put a damper on things. But in about three years ago, we launched a new curriculum. So our current P3 class is the first class that's, completely going gone through that new curriculum. David Stewart However, I will say that along the way, as we identified things that like foundational things that we needed to do better on a lot of that feedback from students after taking the exam or after going through our curriculum. Our faculty were really good, integrating small changes into our legacy curriculum. So I think that what we're seeing, even though these graduates weren't necessarily graduates of our new curriculum, they're graduating with a new curriculum philosophy in mind from the people that are delivering that curriculum to them. David Stewart So I do expect that things will only get better as we see graduates coming through our our revised curriculum, with our first class graduating in the new curriculum from, in 2027. Stephen Woodward And these recent results, as I've done, in my opinion, it's not just a one off like a few a couple of years ago, the class of 2023, they were ranked number two in the country for accredited pharmacy schools and number one in Tennessee and our region in the southeast. Right. So this is kind of part of continuing on from just incredible national recognition. David Stewart Yeah. And I think if you look back on the history of the Gatton College of Pharmacy, we've always been, you know, kind of at or above average, if you will, when about 4 or 5 years ago, we had, what I would say was a low point for us. I mean, we were right around the national average. David Stewart And, if you ask anyone here, our faculty and staff, no one's happy with average. We want to we want to have excellence in all that we do. And so we really embarked on this journey to improve our student success on those exams. And yeah, I think that class of 2023 that you referenced, there is a direct correlation with with some of those changes that we started 4 to 5 years ago about how to better prepare students for the exams. David Stewart Cool. Michele Williams So, what do you think these successes mean for the college and for students pursuing pharmacy? David Stewart Well, I think for a student that's either here at the College of Pharmacy or maybe thinking about coming to the Gatton College of Pharmacy, I hope it gives them confidence that when they finish our curriculum, they go through our training program, they're going to have the tools that they need to be successful as a pharmacist. They're going to be able to pass those exams. David Stewart They're going to be able to get a license. One of the newest things that we are doing that started last year with this class of 2025, is that we bring them back a month early, so they actually start their fourth year rotations or APPEs or advanced pharmacy practice experiences. In the month of April of their three year and then during the month of April of their four year right before graduation, we spend about four and a half to five weeks preparing them for the exam. David Stewart And that allows us to slow that process down and make sure that they have all the fundamental tools they need to be successful on that exam. I think the initial feedback, and that's been very positive, and of course, the results from this first class going through that model are very encouraging as well. So again, that's just another example of things that we're constantly changing and improving. David Stewart So if you're a student in our program or come into our program, you can rest assured that we're going to prepare you. And my goal, I tell them, in that training program, is that they're ready to walk across the stage and go the next week and take their exams and be licensed as a pharmacist without delay. Michele Williams So, Doctor Stewart, I know that this is a team effort. Certainly. But you were really the architect of this preparation program that you just described. Can you tell us a little bit more about your, your objectives in developing this program and, and how you put that program together? David Stewart Yeah, that's a that's a great question. And, and really speaks to I think it's something that's really important that we had to talk about and work through as a faculty and staff. I mentioned earlier about our our faculty and staff are always focused on excellence. And I think one of the initial, you know, knee jerk reactions when you start talking about exam prep is making sure you're not just teaching an exam, but we want our students to get the necessary skills that they need to go out and be successful. David Stewart Pharmacists in making a positive impact on health care and the profession of pharmacy. And so I feel like we really found a sweet spot where we made sure that what we were teaching in the classroom, was, was sound that we were getting those fundamentals in. But as we talked to students, one of the things I did early on is we started revision to this program was just gathered data. David Stewart What were the barriers that students were facing as they struggled with these exams? And there's just so many factors out there. Things like, for example, many students come to us now without taking the traditional standardized exams. A lot of folks don't know that. You know, SATs and Acts are not n

    18 min

  4. Jan 28

    Episode 28 — Dr. Ralph Lugo on the role of AI, Gatton's culture, and its 20th Anniversary

    We’re joined in this episode by Dr. Ralph Lugo, Senior Associate Dean and Professor at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy. He has been with the college since its founding, joining in 2006 as the founding Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and serving in that role for 17 years before being promoted to Senior Associate Dean. Dr. Lugo discusses the role of AI in pharmacy education, including both the benefits and risks of the technology. He also reflects on the college’s 20th Anniversary, how Gatton has grown and evolved over the years, and where he believes it is headed in the future. Transcript Teaser Introduction: Ralph Lugo What you're going to get here at Gatton is a great education, where you also have high impact opportunities and a wonderful culture, a community focused culture, a student centric culture with relatively small class sizes compared to many other schools where you're going to know your professors and they're going to know you, and you're going to develop lifelong relationships with your colleagues.   That doesn't always happen in all schools.   Main Episode: Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode, we cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience, from study tips to deep dives with faculty and student pharmacists. I'm one of your hosts, Doctor Michele Williams, assistant professor and director of academic success.   Stephen Woodward And I'm Stephen Woodward, marketing and communications manager. On this episode, we talk with Doctor Ralph Lugo, senior associate dean and professor at ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy. He's been with the college since its founding, joining in 2006 as founding chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and serving in that role for 17 years before being promoted to Senior Associate Dean.   Stephen Woodward During this time, again, Doctor Lugo is primarily focused on administration, program development, and teaching. And before coming to Etsu, he served as vice chair of Pharmacotherapy at the University of Utah. Doctor Lugo‚Äôs practice experience and interest is in pediatrics, specifically in pediatric intensive care. His research interests include lifestyle medicine, pediatrics, neonatology, pediatric intensive care, analgesia, sedation, and his research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health.   Stephen Woodward Well, Doctor Lugo, thanks for coming to Waco Radio today.   Ralph Lugo Yeah. Thank you, Stephen, for having me. Doctor Williams, thank you for having me today. Look forward to our conversation.   Michele Williams We're happy to have you here.   Stephen Woodward So you came again as founding chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice. Can you talk about your long history here and what roles you currently serve in?   Ralph Lugo Sure. I came to Gatton in 2006. I was hired in 2005, so I've been here 20 years now, which is just amazing to think that I've been here that long. And I was hired initially as the founding chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice. As you all know, we have two academic departments Pharmaceutical Sciences and Practice. At the time, at the time, I was at the University of Utah as vice chair of Pharmacy practice and an associate professor in pediatrics.   Ralph Lugo I think most people know that my specialty area had been pediatrics in my up but in the air quotes. Former life as a as a clinician in the pediatric intensive care unit. And I had always wanted to come back to the East coast. Was born on the East Coast. I trained in North Carolina, worked in North Carolina. I really enjoyed the South East a lot.   Ralph Lugo So my wife and I, we started a family out in Utah, and we really had a desire to come back east and specifically the southeast. So I saw this position open up, and it was just a natural move for me to move from a vice chair position to a chair position. And I had been in academia long enough that 13 years at the time to be able to handle such a thing.   Ralph Lugo Of course, it's always very challenging, but really look forward to the opportunity. But there were some things in particular, I think, that really attracted me to Gatton. Number one, we were starting a college of pharmacy from scratch. There's not a lot of opportunities that come up in the country to start a pharmacy school from scratch, to no avail.   Ralph Lugo And and you know, there's as you go around the country and you train in different places, you realize that some things you know, I might do a little differently or the culture may not be as I would want it to be in certain places. And so here was this opportunity to start with a clean sheet of paper.   Ralph Lugo And I thought, what a wonderful professional opportunity that really doesn't come around very often. And and then I interviewed the for the position and was just overwhelmed by the community support for this for this college of pharmacy. Nothing I've really seen before coming from Salt Lake City. City of 1 million plus College of Pharmacy doesn't get much airtime or press.   Ralph Lugo And it seemed like here at the College of Pharmacy was in the newspaper towns, the city press constantly above the fold type of articles, on the news, on the marquees, on the bumper stickers. I mean, it was just all over and I was just amazed that the community support, so that really attracted me here, as well as meeting with Dean Calhoun at the time, really communicated a student centric focus to Gatton, which I really appreciated.   Ralph Lugo So between all of those things, the stars just aligned the right way from a career standpoint for me and Gatton seemed real attractive in a place that I wanted to live. And then, you know, the place sort of got pushed off into the background somewhat in front and center was there's a great opportunity here in Johnson City to establish something really unique, and I want to be a part of it.   Ralph Lugo So that's really what what got me here. And that's what's kept me here for 20 years.   Michele Williams That's great. So what is your favorite part about your job?   Ralph Lugo Well, I love working with students. I'm an administrator at least half my time, but I still teach a lot in the classroom. So depending on the semester, I may be teaching 30 or 40% of my time. In some semesters, I'm teaching 50% of my time. So I teach more than most administrators teach. And that's not something that I wish to give up.   Ralph Lugo I really enjoy being in the classroom. I really enjoy being around the students. That's not unique to being a founding chair of the department, but that's a part that I really wanted to hang on to and have hang on to, you know, because I could have given that up in various ways over the years, but I intentionally retain that, especially since I, I no longer practice, and I love practicing, too.   Ralph Lugo So I gave that up because there just wasn't enough time in the day to do all those things. So I gave that up, but did not want to give up teaching. So love teaching, love working with students, love working with the faculty. And that's the that was the hook for me about being a department chair is you really have an opportunity to work closely with the faculty and trying to create opportunities for faculty members, trying to promote them.   Ralph Lugo I don't mean promote the necessarily from assistant to associate, but promote them in their career development, to promote them in their daily practice and just just helping them come along as faculty members. That was something that was very attractive to me, and I've enjoyed that ever since. And that's the one thing I actually miss, in being in my current position right now, is I don't work as closely with the faculty members, but I still do work with them.   Ralph Lugo So, because I'm no longer department chair, I'm sure we'll get to that, soon, but, but those are the things I think that I really enjoy about my position.   Stephen Woodward Can you talk about your transition from department chair to senior associate dean now?   Ralph Lugo Right. So, so several years ago, after serving in that as a department chair for, for 17 years, Dean Byrd was, was provided with a wonderful opportunity to serve as interim dean of the College of nursing. And, in order to make that happen, we really needed to have somebody here that could assist, her to continue that leadership role.   Ralph Lugo And so she asked me to serve as it was at that point, it was called executive associate dean, which has since transitioned, entitled Who's Senior Associate dean. But essentially it functions in the same way. So, a few years ago, that transition occurred when she took over that, that interim role in the College of Nursing. And then she served in that role for a period of time and is now back full time here in the College of Pharmacy.   Ralph Lugo And I'm still in that position of senior associate dean. So that's how that transition occurred. That's what prompted that transition. I moved into the senior associate dean role, and then Sarah Thomas and moved into the department chair role. And it's been a wonderful transition, a wonderful new challenge for me as well. And I still do many of the same things I did before, even as a department chair, with the exception of working as closely with the faculty, as I mentioned earlier, earlier.   Michele Williams So, what is something that people at Gatton might not know about you?   Ralph Lugo I think.   Michele Williams Ralph Lugo I think many people, some people might know about my recent interests from a professional standpoint. As you all know, I trained in pediatrics, served in that capacity for a number of years, and still have an interest in that. But professionally, a

    40 min

  5. 12/05/2025

    Episode 27 — Maddie Stacey, Early Admission Pathway student

    In this episode we chat with first-year student pharmacist Maddie Stacey, who found confidence — and a community — through ETSU Gatton College of Pharmacy’s Early Admission Pathway. A native of Kingsport, Stacey learned about the college’s EAP program while in high school. For her, the program has made the adjustment to pharmacy school much easier.  Open to high school seniors and first-year ETSU students, the Early Admission Pathway enables students to earn both a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree in just six years. EAP students also join the college’s Pre-Pharmacy Student Organization, designed to introduce them to different specialties in pharmacy and to foster connections with their classmates. Learn more at www.etsu.edu/RxEarlyAdmit.   Transcript Teaser Introduction Maddie Stacey I think some of the things that the early admissions pathway has made me as a student as confident. I would say that the transition pathway is very smooth. They again, they put everything in line for you. I mean, they give you your schedule, they tell you what you need to do. And so I think that it makes everything much more cohesive. Main Episode: Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode, we cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience, from study tips to deep dives with faculty and student pharmacists. I'm one of your hosts, Doctor Michele Williams, assistant professor and director of academic success. Stephen Woodward And I'm Stephen Woodward, marketing and communications manager. First year student pharmacist Maddie Stacey from Kingsport, Tennessee, sat down for us to talk about her experience going through Gatton's early admission pathway opened high school seniors and first year ETSU students. The early admission pathway enables students to earn both a Bachelor of Science and the Doctor Pharmacy degree in just six years. Stephen Woodward The pathway offers students the assurance of a seat, mentoring, scholarships, research opportunities, and flexible start options for the pharmacy curriculum. For Stacey, the early admission pathway has made the adjustment to pharmacy school much easier and helped her to find confidence and a community. The deadline to apply is March 31st, 2026. Learn more at Etsu Edu slash. Early admit. Stephen Woodward Let's hear more about her experience now. Well, hi, Maddie, welcome to White Coat Radio. Start by telling us what got you interested in pursuing pharmacy. Maddie Stacey I'm interested in pursuing pharmacy because when I was younger, I realized how much one medication could do for one person. Right? And if it can just do so much to change a person's life, to make it more accessible, I want to know everything about how that drug was able to do that for that person. And what else can it do for another person? Maddie Stacey So I'm really interested in pursuing pharmacy because I want to know how all the drugs can help people be better and function in their lives and be able to enjoy their lives. And so I really love that about pharmacy. Stephen Woodward Well, what was it like going through our early admission pathway, which is for high school seniors attending ETSU and ETSU freshmen? Maddie Stacey I got really interested in pharmacy when I was in high school. And in high school they start to tell you about college options. And when you look at ETSU, you figure out that there are a lot of opportunities. So I was invited to a event for the Honors College and at the Honors College, they have a lot of the other colleges come and set up like Quillen and Gatton. Maddie Stacey And at that event, Becky Dunkelberger was there and she was there representing Gatton. And that's when I first got to figure out that there was a place here in Johnson City, really close to my hometown, Kingsport, that was offering a pharmacy program, which was very exciting. I was excited about that. And she told me there were a lot of opportunities. Maddie Stacey So the Early Admissions Pathway isn't just, you get here as soon as you can. It's a you create what you want to do. So there was a two years of undergraduate, and then you go in and you can start getting those requirements for your PharmD. Or if you want to get chemistry, biology, health sciences, any of those, you can do three years of undergraduate and then go in. Maddie Stacey And Becky explains all this very well. For me, I chose to go ahead and do the two years, and I also chose to get a Bachelors of Pharmacy studies, which is an option, and I chose to do that. It's just a few more requirements. But again, I never had to worry the school was with me along the way. Maddie Stacey So when you choose to be an Early Admissions Pathway student, you meet once a semester with either Steve Ellis or Becky, and they're like, okay, here's where you're at. Here's what you need to do. How does that sound? And you either are like, yeah, I can do that. Or, you know, this class is full. I don't think I can take this. Maddie Stacey And they help you every step of the way. If you can't do it, if you can do it. So, it sounds like a lot. Being like, oh, I need to do everything before I come to pharmacy school. But you do it one step at a time. And I love that. About the early admissions pathway. And I would do it again if I, if I was asked, I would definitely do it again. Maddie Stacey It's very smooth transition. Stephen Woodward Talk about your experience in the pre pharmacy student organization at Etsu. Also known as. So what was that like. Maddie Stacey So when you decide to become an early admissions pathway student Becky invites you to join pre pharmacy student organization which is so and so this organization works to invite pharmacists from the surrounding areas, from the faculty to come and speak about their specialties, their advice or their disciplines. And pharmacy. And it gives students like a wide range of options to see, oh wait, pharmacy is not just something that happens behind the counter at a Walgreens or a CVS. Maddie Stacey There's so much more to pharmacy and that's something I really loved about pre pharmacy student organization. So once you start going it's like once every other Wednesday night. And something great about pre pharmacy student organization is that as an early admissions pathway student it's a requirement. So obviously everybody there is also going to be in your program or a year behind you maybe a year ahead of you. Maddie Stacey But you're connected with all of these students that go to Etsu and are going to go with you to that program. So my class is 63 people, and of that 63 going in, I knew about 30 people, which is pretty incredible considering that, you know, they're students from out of state that didn't have that same opportunity. And that's just something that the early admission pathway offers. Maddie Stacey If you go to Etsu as well. And I loved getting to do that. And in addition to doing that, our faculty advisor is Doctor Thigpen. He's one of the pediatric pharmacists, and he's a faculty member. So, as president of the club, I got to talk to him a lot and make a relationship with him. And that was really great, because coming here, whenever they matched me up with an advisor, he actually ended up being my advisor to sorry, already had that relationship. Maddie Stacey And that's just like something that just falls into place. Something really great I can say about him is that when I was first starting with the requirements, you have the option of an elective, but my class was one of the first where physiology was a requirement, but, physics wasn't. And so I had a question. I was like, you know, is this still an option for an elective? Maddie Stacey Like. And it was like getting close to deadline. I was nervous, I was like, what if they just don't let me in because I didn't know there is an elective? And he was really fast to get back to me within, you know, a day he was like, yeah, that's all good. Get inside. That's okay. And it's like, I had that relationship with him. Maddie Stacey I was able to ask me that question, and I got my answer within a day because I knew him. And I think that connection was really great to have from that club to. Stephen Woodward So what advice would you give someone interested in applying for the early admission pathway? Again? Maddie Stacey Something that I think is a really big deal. Gatton is not just about having good grades or, you know, making the best grades. I think it's really important that you're going to be somebody that cares about your patients. And I think they care about seeing that in your essays. So I would say the essay portion is a big part of the admissions. Maddie Stacey And I would I would challenge, people who are interested in joining the program to ask themselves, what impact are you making right now, whether that be in an area and shared, say you help with child care. You do volunteering at a certain place. What impact are you making now? And, you know, I would ask, you know, how can you connect that in your essay to say, how does being a pharmacist help you make more of an impact in that area? Maddie Stacey What is being a pharmacist do to make an impact for you? And I think that's important because when you're connecting that, you're really showing how, you're not just interested in it for, you know, maybe the life, but you're interested in it for the way that you're going to impact patients. And getting is very patient centered. And I love that. Maddie Stacey That's why I chose, again, they love their patients and they love making people, the best they can be in that area. Stephen Woodward So as you know, getting offers a unique two week bridge program to help students transition into pharmacy school ... What was that experience like? Maddie Stacey Getting Ready

    22 min

  6. 11/13/2025

    Episode 13 - Meet your Student Success Coordinators

    The Student Success Coordinators at ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy are dedicated to supporting pharmacy students throughout their academic journey. Whether through connecting students with tutoring, setting up labs, or offering general support to students and faculty, the coordinators play a crucial role in fostering a positive and successful experience for all of pharmacy students. Hear from Justin White (P1 Coordinator), Kerstin Kromker (P2 Coordinator), and Lindsey Feltman (P3 Coordinator) in this episode.   Transcript: Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode will cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience and study tips to deep dives with faculty and student pharmacists. We're your hosts. I'm Doctor Michele Williams, director of academic success. Dan Vanzant And I'm Dan Vanzant, instructional design and IT manager. In this episode, we'll be talking with our new Student Success Coordinators at Gatton. These are brand new positions that the college has added to support faculty and students in the P1, P2, and P3 years. Michele Williams Yeah, we're really happy that you're here. And because this is such a new position again, we've gotten a lot of questions from faculty and staff, students. I'm sure you've heard some of these questions about what the student success coordinators do. So I'd like to take a minute just to kind of give a general overview of the job. And if you want to know more, there's going to be more information on Gatton’s Pharmacy Student Success page. You can find pictures of Justin, Kirsten, and Lindsey and list their responsibilities. Student Success Coordinators help faculty with things like grading and skills labs and the SIM lab experiences. They help with the space. They also help with things related to exams, and you may see them proctoring occasionally. They also can help students with information and resources. And beginning next year, they're going to start maintaining the class calendar of important events, which will be really helpful. And you'll be seeing them during that. And really, they help identify needs of students. So if you're a student and there's something that you have a question about or that you would like the administration to know a little bit about, you can let your student leadership know or talk directly to the student success coordinators, and that'll make its way up to the decision makers. Dan Vanzant So let's take a few minutes for each of you to introduce yourselves and tell us what professional year you are working with. And tell us a little bit about your backgrounds and what interested you in working with pharmacy students. Justin White Well, he's looking at you, Kirsten, so I feel like you should. Michele Williams Thank you. That's what we were going to go by. Yeah. Justin White Well, that would make sense. Well, my name is Justin White, and I am the Student Success Coordinator for the P1 students for the first year. And yeah, I've been on—what—since October. I guess it's been about six months now. And yeah, what was the question? Dan Vanzant Oh, just an introduction, which you just did, and then a little bit about your background and what interested you in working with pharmacy students. Justin White Yeah. Well, my background is a lot different than this. My background is actually more in public history. I majored in history as an undergrad and worked in several museums and historic sites in the area. I worked at the Reece Museum over on ETSU main campus. I most notably worked for Rocky Mount State Historic Site in Piney Flats for several years before COVID, and then moved over to the College of Nursing at ETSU. And then moved over here about six months ago. So yeah, I just—I really—I'm working on my master's right now. My passion is working with students. I want to work with students. And this job I feel like is a great opportunity to not only do that, but to make the role what I want it to be, because these are brand new positions that we're kind of—Doctor Williams used the term one time that I really like—building the road as we're walking it, and I like that. I like that we are—because we can ask, “What are student success coordinators doing? What is your day‑to‑day?” And the answer is: we're figuring that out really every day. So it's helping faculty, it's being there for students. And you know, that's what I really wanted was more of a one‑on‑one role where I would get to work directly with students, which is not something I was getting in my previous positions. Obviously not something I was doing a lot working in the public history sector. So awesome. Dan Vanzant Right? But we—the—our P2 Student Success Coordinator. Kirsten So I'm Kirsten. I work with the P2s. Background‑wise, my degrees are in translation. So I have a double major in German and Spanish translation. And I used to do a lot of interpreting. So I used to work a lot in hospitals and courthouses. And then, as a translator, most of my stuff actually used to be medical translating as well as military translating. So kind of familiar with that a little bit more. What drew me to work with the students is probably just because I have a wide range of interests, and I just like to learn more all the time. So I enjoy how much they kind of like—you focus on what they do. Lindsey So I'm Lindsey Feldman. I’m the P3 Student Success Coordinator. I’m the most recent addition, having just been hired in February of ’24. However, I do have a little bit of history with Gatton, starting in 2018 as a secretary in Bishop Hall, and then I transitioned into an Educational Coordinator role, which has some overlap with this new Student Success Coordinator role. I helped in the IDEAL Labs and facilitating all the moving parts with those and just other courses in the curriculum. So I stepped away to be a new mom in 2021, and when I found out that there was a new position that was more student‑focused, I was very excited to see that. And because my background is working with students—I was a high school English teacher—this role is actually a really good fit because I still get to work with students, do the things that I love to do in working with students and helping them succeed. Without the constantly‑in‑front‑of‑people component. You know—downtime. Yeah, yeah, it helps a lot. So yeah. Dan Vanzant Yeah, that's good. Well, now that we have that out of the way, we have some pressing questions and we have a speed round of questions. So I'm going to go around the room, I'm going to call your name, and ask you a question. And I expect you to respond as quickly as possible. So I'm going to start—let’s start with P3—with Lindsey. So first question: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Lindsey No, it's not. Dan Vanzant Oh, that was quick. Lindsey The bun—oh, next slide please. Dan Vanzant No, no, please go on about why it's not a sandwich. Lindsey The buns are on top and bottom, but on a hot dog it's the opposite—it’s on the sides. Dan Vanzant Would anybody else like to weigh in? Justin White I mean, I agree. I agree. I mean yes, it's meat between two pieces of bread, but that's where the similarities end. A hot dog’s a hot dog and a sandwich is a sandwich. Dan Vanzant It's meat with toppings sandwiched between two pieces of bread. Kirsten See, I'm going to agree with them. I don't think it is. I think it's a hot dog. I think that it has condiments. I don't think there’s anything else too much more involved. Justin White I can't imagine putting ketchup, mustard, chili on a sandwich. What kind of sandwich has—oh—I mean, a hamburger is a burger. Kirsten Right? And I can't imagine adding like cheese and tomatoes and—I don't know what else—to my hot dog. It's just weird. Dan Vanzant You ever had a barbecue sandwich with coleslaw on it? Justin White I don’t like coleslaw. Michele Williams I think it's the hinge. There's a— Justin White I agree. It's the hinge. The bun is one piece of bread that swings like a door. Michele Williams Yes. Justin White It's not two pieces of bread. Michele Williams Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Dan Vanzant Has anybody had a Five Guys hot dog? Michele Williams No. Dan Vanzant Okay. So they slice it down—okay, okay. Got it. I wasn't sure. They slice the hot dog down the middle. Justin White Yeah, I was—it was not that long ago. And if I had asked for, like, a Chicago‑style sandwich, I wouldn't have gotten a hot dog. I would have gotten an Italian beef sandwich. Dan Vanzant That's true. They might not have served you. Justin White Yeah, they probably would have. Dan Vanzant That's a good point. Chicago dogs are their own thing. Anyway—moving on. Again, going in reverse order. Kirsten: name five uses of a stapler without staples. Kirsten I can use it as a hammer—that’s one. I can use it to break your window. Dan Vanzant Okay… Kirsten Life‑saving measures… a doorstop… okay, let’s see… weapon? Justin White I guess I'm going to say weapon. Kirsten Yeah, I'm trying to keep it— Justin White I mean, if you're desperate enough. Kirsten That's true. I feel like I can use it to reach something—like the last one I need. Dan Vanzant As an extension. Okay. All right. That’s fine. Justin White Where the little staples go in—yeah. Kirsten Yes, right. Dan Vanzant Other acceptable answers… Michele Williams Supportive object. Justin White A paperweight. Dan Vanzant Or if it's a red stapler—a conversation piece. Michele Williams Yes. Movie memorabilia. Justin White That’s right. Movie memorabilia. If it's a red Swingline. Dan Vanzant All right. Excellent. Question three. Justin: What is the most recent song that you listened to on repeat? Justin White Oh gosh. Well actually, I've had a song

    16 min

  7. 11/10/2025

    Episode 26 - Interview with Steve Ellis

    In this episode we chat with Steve Ellis, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy. After Gatton was founded in 2005, Ellis played a key role in the college’s early development, officially joining in 2008 to lead the Office of Student Affairs. This office supports students throughout their entire journey—from recruitment efforts starting as early as high school, to current student services, and even alumni engagement after graduation. Ellis also serves on the college’s Executive Committee and has held leadership roles at the university level. Steve recently celebrated his 30th anniversary working at ETSU and was honored with a special scholarship in his name to support students. You can support this scholarship by visiting our Gatton donor page: Under Designation, select "Write In Your Choice," and type in "Steve Ellis Scholarship."   Transcript Introduction Teaser: Steve Ellis There's nothing that brings me greater joy than than watching them grow and be successful and know that they're going to go out in the world and and make such a difference, you know, in people's lives. Full Episode: Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode, we cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience, from study tips to deep dives with faculty and student pharmacists. I'm one of your hosts, Doctor Michele Williams, assistant professor and director of academic success. Stephen Woodward And I'm Stephen Woodward, marketing and communications manager. In this episode, we chat with Steve Ellis, assistant dean of student affairs at ETSU Gatton College of Pharmacy. Steve recently celebrated his 30th anniversary working at ETSU and he was honored with a special scholarship in his name to support students. You can learn more about that in the show notes for this episode. Stephen Woodward Steve has extensive experience serving students, starting his career at Texas A&M University, his alma mater, and Louisiana State University before coming to ETSU Quillen College of Medicine, where he served as assistant dean for student affairs and director of student support services and outreach programs. After Gatton was founded in 2005, Steve played a key role in the college's early development. Stephen Woodward Officially joining in 2008 to lead the Office of Student Affairs, this office supports students throughout their entire journey, from recruitment efforts starting as early as high school to current student services and even alumni engagement after graduation. Steve also serves on the college's executive committee and has held leadership roles at the university level. Well, Steve, thank you for coming to White Coat Radio. Stephen Woodward It's good to have you. Steve Ellis Well you're welcome. Thank you for the invitation. Stephen Woodward So you recently celebrated 30 years of service at ETSU. So how many years of those have been at Gatton? Steve Ellis Well, I guess it depends exactly how you want to count that. Gatton is celebrating, you know, as many people know, 20 years from its founding in 2005, and I've seen all 20 of those years. However, from an absolutely official capacity, it's 16 that I became the assistant dean for student affairs in 2009. Steve Ellis During the years prior to that, I had been at first unofficially involved helping the founding dean, Larry Calhoun, with some things. He, you know, we shared some office space, if you will. So I would help him with some stuff related to student affairs. And then that morphed a little bit into a formal relationship where I was splitting time 50/50, if you will, between the College of Medicine and the College of Pharmacy. Steve Ellis And for anybody who thinks that sounds great, 50/50 really is 100/100. Steve Ellis Okay. Steve Ellis So don’t ever be misled. Steve Ellis With that… Steve Ellis Idea there. We got about 50% of your time. Michele Williams Don't agree to that. Yeah. Steve Ellis Absolutely. So, and of course, I've enjoyed all my time here at ETSU, but in particular, I've enjoyed my time here with the College of Pharmacy. Yeah. Michele Williams So how did you wind up coming to Gatton full time? Not 50/50. Can you tell us a story about that? Steve Ellis Sure, sure. You know, I can tell lots of stories, but I'm actually reminded of this story a little bit in terms of how I came to Gatton. Every week on interview days, we interview applicants for pharmacy school on Mondays, and we show them a brief video of our history so they can have some understanding of how we got founded and that sort of thing. Steve Ellis And in the video, of course, the founding dean is speaking. And in his little blurb where he talks about the beginning of the college, he says, “Well, the first thing that Ron Franks asked me on that very first day—besides ‘Larry, I hope you can find an office’—is ‘I hope you can do this. Good luck.’” And it always reminds me of how I came to Gatton because that is how Larry and I met. Steve Ellis At the time, I was the acting student affairs dean for the College of Medicine. And the weekend before Larry Calhoun was to start as the founding dean, Ron Franks and I—Ron was the dean of medicine at the time—were coming back from a meeting and were on the same flight. While we were waiting for our connecting flight, he said, “Hey, Steve. Larry’s going to be starting on Monday, and he doesn’t have an office. You think you can help him?” And it just so happened we had an extra office within student affairs in the College of Medicine at the time. Steve Ellis So I volunteered that space. And as they say, that was the beginning of a relationship. That’s how I became initially involved with pharmacy, and I continued, as I said a moment ago, in a part-time relationship helping to run admissions in particular at that time because staffing was somewhat limited. Steve Ellis And I had a lot of experience with medicine, you know, in the admissions processes. And then when the student affairs dean position opened here in the College of Pharmacy, Larry asked if I would take it on an interim basis. That was in 2008. And then of course that morphed finally in 2009 to be officially the student affairs dean in the College of Pharmacy. Steve Ellis So, a little bit of a serendipitous type of initial meeting between he and I that has led to what’s become, I guess, a lifelong kind of love affair—in terms of me and the College of Pharmacy. Yeah. Stephen Woodward I feel like now, you know, 20 years—we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary now—and, you know, the college has raked in all these awards, we’re nationally recognized and have a great reputation across the country. But there had to be a lot of fear coming in to a brand new school then. I imagine things were a lot different. Can you kind of talk about that and maybe some of the apprehension you might have felt or challenges that were there in the early times? Steve Ellis Yeah, absolutely. As you can imagine, there was a lot of fear. I mean, you’re doing things on faith and hope and all of those sorts of things. And I think in particular about our inaugural class of students, but even the first few years of students, because unless you understand the accreditation process, the program does not become fully accredited until you graduate your first class of students. Steve Ellis So there’s a four-year period of time that in theory everybody’s taking a chance—and especially your students. So I oftentimes thought about what type of apprehension the applicants and those who signed on as students were feeling because we actually had them sign a disclaimer at the time they were being accepted that in effect said, “I understand where the college is in terms of accreditation,” and essentially, “we’re going to do everything we’re supposed to do and fully expect to gain accreditation—but at the same time, this could go south, and you can’t really blame us.” Steve Ellis Not too long ago I came across some of those signed forms, so it brought back memories. And in a way you can think the same thing with all the faculty and staff, you know, many of whom truly uprooted. For me, my uprooting was to cross the sidewalk, but at the same time you were stepping out on faith. Steve Ellis But it was such an exciting endeavor. The people of this region—those familiar with the history of the college’s founding—were just so, so supportive of the college getting started, not only with money but really with whatever it took. Pharmacists came forward to serve as preceptors, and people volunteered in whatever capacity they could. Steve Ellis So while you were taking a chance, deep down you knew this was going to work. But when you think about the awards and recognitions, as you mentioned a few moments ago, obviously none of that was in our minds. Our mind was: “Hey, let’s get this college off the ground, make it a quality thing, and produce pharmacists,” because at that time there was a huge shortage nationally and in the region. Basically, we wanted to serve this region and overcome that shortage. Steve Ellis Right. And obviously we did a good job with that over the years. But I think, to your question of what's changed over the years—in many ways nothing has changed in terms of that culture. We've always emphasized the importance of culture here in terms of the workplace. Steve Ellis You know, that it's a good place to work and a good place for students to learn and have an overall quality experience. But what you were not prepared for—as you grow over the years—is growth. In the early years, we used to comment, “We’re like a rowboat. If you're going in one direction and you realize it isn’t working, you just turn and go in a different direction.” You could

    35 min

  8. 10/03/2025

    Episode 25 - Interview with Dr. Anthony Pudlo, CEO of TPA

    In honor of American Pharmacists Month, we sat down with Dr. Anthony Pudlo, Chief Executive Officer of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association (TPA). Dr. Pudlo leads an organization that advances, protects, and promotes high-quality, pharmacist-provided patient care in the state of Tennessee. In this interview he talks about the importance of TPA, the state of the profession, and advice for students. Learn more about TPA on their website, tnpharm.org, or on social media. Transcript Introduction Teaser: Anthony Pudlo Happy American Pharmacists Month or whatever day you might be listening. It could be Pharmacy Technician Day, Women in Pharmacy Day. There's a lot of great points that we try to celebrate the profession this month. So, thank you to everybody out there listening for what you do each and every day for the profession and the patients you serve. Full Episode: Michele Williams Welcome to White Coat Radio, a podcast from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Each episode, we cover a wide range of topics about the pharmacy school experience, from study tips to deep dives with faculty and student pharmacists. I'm one of your hosts, Doctor Michele Williams, assistant professor and director of academic success. Stephen Woodward And I'm Stephen Woodward, marketing and communications manager. Today we're joined by Doctor Anthony Pudlo, chief executive officer of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association. In this role, he leads an organization that advances, protects and promotes high‑quality pharmacist‑provided patient care in the state of Tennessee. You can learn more about TPA on their website, TNPharm.org or on social media. Stephen Woodward We'll put links in the description. Doctor Pudlo, we appreciate you coming today. Welcome to White Coat Radio. Anthony Pudlo Thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate being here. Stephen Woodward So talk about what brings you to Gatton this week. Anthony Pudlo Oh, goodness. When am I not at Gatton, right? No. A lot of the visit this week has really stemmed from an outbound effort from the association to meet and collaborate with our local district pharmacy associations around the state. So actually, later this evening we'll be hosting a great dinner program with our colleagues at the First District Pharmacists Association. Anthony Pudlo And yeah, anytime you come out to Johnson City, you’ve got to make sure you visit some pharmacies and visit some members, talk to the students. So it has been a jam‑packed week already. I've been enjoying it. Michele Williams It's really great to have you here. And for some of our students who may not have gotten the message yet, can you talk a little bit about the role of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association? Anthony Pudlo Yeah, it's a great question. And I do think students should know a few different things. First and foremost, there are a whole lot of different organizations out there, and we encourage people to get involved in as many of them as they want to. But at the state level, the Tennessee Pharmacists Association—plain and simple—we are a membership‑based professional society that represents the practice of pharmacy. Anthony Pudlo Our members are pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and students of the profession. Wherever you see them practice—large health‑system practices, small critical‑access hospitals, large national chains, regional chains, independently owned community pharmacies, long‑term care, home infusion, nuclear pharmacy, managed care, academia. And so we bring those voices together. Very uniquely in Tennessee, we're able to be one voice for all those pharmacists and technicians and students to advocate for the profession and help make sure we're promoting the profession in the right way to policymakers and other stakeholders—educating the profession, whether it's formal continuing education or just helping people stay up with the times on what's going on in practice. Anthony Pudlo And I would also say helping advance the profession as well. So we do that through a lot of different mechanisms. Some of that is really wielded through the work of our foundation. But in the end, our members tell us—tell me—what to do. Anthony Pudlo We're a membership‑based organization, and we stay focused on the state of Tennessee. But as I was saying earlier, we work very closely with all those national pharmacy associations too. We are either direct or indirect affiliates with our colleagues at the American Pharmacists Association, American Society of Health‑System Pharmacists, National Community Pharmacists Association, AMCP, AACP—you go down the list. Anthony Pudlo We work very closely. As many people can imagine, there’s a lot going on in the world of pharmacy, and we try to collaborate and coordinate as best we can across all facets of the industry. Michele Williams That's wonderful. And what are some of the member benefits for students? Anthony Pudlo For students, for sure—there's a whole lot. And I even think back to my days as a student and what professional involvement means. But plain and simple, I always tell students that depending on what year you're in school, there's different things that TPA probably means to you. Maybe as a first‑year student, you're just trying to learn the acronyms, learn what's going on in the world of pharmacy—and that's fine. That's perfect; you should be. Anthony Pudlo So I tell people we have a weekly communication called our “10 for 10” newsletter that comes out, and we try to spotlight the ten most important things that happened in the world of pharmacy in the last week—some national‑level issues, some state practice issues, whatever it might be. Anthony Pudlo And plain and simple, as a P1 that’s probably perfect, right? They just want to learn and understand, and these things help augment what they're learning in the classroom. But as they get older in the curriculum—as a P2, P3—I think we offer a whole host of engagement opportunities, whether through our conferences, networking events, or opportunities to meet pharmacists doing unique, cool things in practice. Anthony Pudlo We also have an executive summer internship program. We offer a practice site for fourth‑year students. We offer scholarships through our foundation. And then probably the biggest thing I encourage students on is helping them hone and find their voice for the patients out there—through advocacy. Anthony Pudlo We want to make sure students are attending our Pharmacy Day on the Hill every year at the end of February. Later today I’ll be meeting with some student groups to talk about advocacy efforts and how you find that voice. Anthony Pudlo This week on Friday we host a big residency showcase where residency programs from across the region come to Nashville and students interested in post‑graduate training can meet them—making it easier than having to travel to wherever ASHP Midyear is that year. Anthony Pudlo There’s a little bit of everything. But plain and simple, we are a network—a network of pharmacy professionals to help a student learn the profession and how we operate. Anthony Pudlo Even if students don’t plan to practice in Tennessee, I think we're doing some cool, great things in our state. Take that knowledge and apply it wherever you go. And yes—the college would probably love to see alumni come back someday and apply that knowledge here, because it makes us all stronger together. Michele Williams That's awesome. It sounds like there's something for everybody. Anthony Pudlo Yeah, very much so. Stephen Woodward Can you tell us what the CEO does and give us a day in the life of what you do? Anthony Pudlo Well, let's throw this week out the door because it's a little bit unique—but maybe not. In a nutshell, it's important to realize how we operate to know what I do. Like I said earlier, TPA is run by the members. But even more specifically, TPA is still organized in a way—probably one of about 15 or 20 states—that still has a House of Delegates. Anthony Pudlo They are our policymaking body. They meet at our winter and summer conferences. Students can observe or speak. That’s our legislative branch. They decide our stance on medical cannabis, artificial intelligence, telepharmacy—you name it. Anthony Pudlo Those statements drive decisions of our board of directors and committees. Our board is essentially our executive branch. They approve our budget and strategic plan. Anthony Pudlo They also employ me. So they hand me the strategic plan and budget, and I figure out how we get the work done. Anthony Pudlo I manage our small but mighty team—five full‑time staff, a few part‑time. I manage committees. And I make sure we accomplish what the profession needs from us within budget constraints. Anthony Pudlo A big part of my role is legislative work. During session I’d be running around the Capitol a couple days a week working with our contract lobbyists, advocating for the profession, helping legislators understand our pain points. Anthony Pudlo Even outside session, I meet with legislative leadership to prepare for the next year. Anthony Pudlo Yesterday was the end of the month, so I worked with our finance team and auditors on closing the audit. There's a little bit of everything. Anthony Pudlo I also spend a lot of time coordinating with counterparts in other states and national organizations—learning from each other, identifying strategies, amplifying messages, troubleshooting issues. Anthony Pudlo Any bigger‑level strategic issues—those are on my plate. Stephen Woodward Okay. Thank you. So I know today is October 1st—we're recording at the beginning of American Pharmacists Month. We want to ask you: what's the state of the profession of pharmacy, and what is the importance of pharmacists in today's day and age

    26 min
See All (33)

About

“White Coat Radio” provides listeners with helpful advice, stories, and insights from the faculty, staff, and student pharmacists at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy in Johnson City, Tennessee. Hosts Dr. Michele Williams and Stephen Woodward lead this informative and entertaining podcast, with new episodes appearing regularly. This podcast recently landed top spots on multiple national and state charts for pharmacy and education podcasts.

Information

  • Creator
    East Tennessee State University
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © East Tennessee State University — All Rights Reserved.
  • Show Website
    White Coat Radio