In the course of a pharmacy education, some of the most meaningful experiences come when students are out in the ‘real world’ where they learn the ins and outs of their chosen vocation through first-hand experience working alongside seasoned professionals.

Five of those professionals who have demonstrated particular success in mentoring current students have been honored as 2017 Dennis J. Chapron Preceptors of the Year by the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy.

The award winners include a community pharmacist working on the outskirts of the Storrs campus and a musically inclined faculty member who has forged meaningful relationships with medical and dental colleagues from his office at UConn Health.  Also, an individual who works in correctional managed healthcare who implemented a repurposing program which has saved the State of Connecticut over $500,000 to date, as well as an adjunct faculty member who is an ambulatory care pharmacist at a busy clinic in Hartford. And, a pharmacist who is described as being ‘amazing’ by students who nominated her for the POY award.

Thomas Baran’11 (Pharm.D.) was named the Community Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) Preceptor of the Year. He is the Pharmacy Manager at the CVS located at the corner of routes 44 and 195 in Storrs that is frequented by many members of the UConn community.

Included in the student nomination forms were comments such as, “He went above and beyond to be flexible and available; he was extremely understanding.” Another student wrote, “I would like to be as great as he is at his job. He is fast, efficient, but [also] extremely careful. He is a true role model and embodies what it means to be an alumni of the UConn School of Pharmacy.”

Baran is a native of New Britain, Conn. and he went to high school in Berlin. He loved chemistry – ‘It’s kind of cool to see what you can do in a chemistry lab, mixing things in a beaker’ – and he had relatives with experience in pharmacy practice, so it was a natural choice to decide on pharmacy as a career when he came to UConn.

As to why he agreed to become a preceptor he says, “It’s a way to make an impact, if only on a small level. I love teaching new skills and helping students figure out what they want to do with their careers.”

Baran adds that one of the reasons he loves pharmacy as a profession is the “potential to do good” whether that’s giving patients information about the medication they are taking or helping care-takers decipher co-pays and other insurance regulations. “It’s working with people who genuinely need you,” he says, “and it’s a good feeling to go to bed at night knowing that you have made an impact.”

For Kevin Chamberlin ’03 (Pharm.D.), recipient of the Advanced Practice Pharmacy Experience (APPE) Faculty Preceptor of the Year, music was his first interest. In fact, while growing up in Maine he had visions of becoming a professional trumpet player. A heart-to-heart conversation with his music teacher gave him pause and he started thinking about careers that would offer a bit more stability. That’s what led him to shadow a local pharmacist and to subsequently apply to the UConn School of Pharmacy.

Since graduating with a Pharm.D. in 2003 Chamberlin has devoted his career to teaching. He is currently the Pharmacy Residency Program Director at John Dempsey Hospital at UConn Health, as well as Assistant Department Head and Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice.

Chamberlin’s nomination included the comment, “Dr. Chamberlin was hands down the best preceptor I had throughout the year on rotations. His month was a lot of work, very clinically stimulating, but at the same time so enjoyable. Without a doubt, I learned the most information from him. Every day we learned about something different….”

For Chamberlin, the joy of working with students as a preceptor comes from the satisfaction he gets out of establishing ongoing collaborative relationships.

He says, “I love teaching and helping our students develop lifelong skill sets. It’s not so much what we teach but understanding how different people learn that’s important. I try to help students – whether they are pharmacy students, post grads doing residencies, medical student, and others learn how to use information – I like to help them take a step back and get a global view.”

Amanda Williams was named Adjunct Faculty Preceptor of the Year for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE). She is an ambulatory care pharmacist at the Gengras Ambulatory Clinic at St.Francis Hospital.

Students nominating her for POY said, “Throughout my rotation with Mandi, she demonstrated a dedication to developing students into exceptional pharmacists.”

And, “Mandi created an extremely friendly learning environment. From the first day, I felt welcomed as part of the team and was encouraged to ask any questions that came up … I was able to learn a tremendous amount [from her] due to the progression of the rotation, her constructive feedback, and her encouragement of student autonomy.”

Williams says that once she started precepting, she stopped questioning whether she should be a teacher and realized she was a teacher.

She says, “I am invested in [student’s] learning and I want to set them up for success. Everything I ask I follow up on. I think it’s important that students know it is OK to make mistakes as long as they learn from the experience. It’s OK to ask questions. Most importantly, I want anyone working with me to know they have a safe space in which to work and learn.

The Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) Institutional Preceptor of the Year, Suegi Hwang, would have never earned this accolade had she followed her original career plan. She initially intended to get an MBA to go with her Pharm.D. so that she could enter the corporate world. In fact, she started a CVS management program in California but, as she says, ‘life intervened.’

She returned to the East coast and began working at St. Raphael’s Hospital in Bridgeport and, subsequently, joined Bristol Hospital. There, by her own description, she is ‘jack of all trades.’

Student nominations were enthusiastic with one writing, “Suegi was an amazing preceptor; she was always helpful … she made me excited to come to the hospital each day.” Also, “She is kind and always wants her students to succeed. Her dedication to teaching and having a young, energetic attitude makes her the perfect preceptor in my eyes.”

In retrospect, it makes sense for Hwang to be at home in her position as a hospital pharmacist. As a child in Rhode Island, she was introduced to the world of medicine when her parents were severely injured in an automobile accident and she helped them negotiate the medical system. She eventually volunteered in her local hospital where she developed an affinity with the pharmacists working there and she changed her plans for becoming a physician to that of pharmacist.

Of her role as preceptor she says, “These students will become our colleagues one day and whenever I put one of them in a particular situation I have a plan in mind. I want to introduce them to every department in the hospital, to teach them to work with doctors and nurses as part of the team. I want to expose them to the unconventional as well as the routine.

Adam Jankowski ‘10 (Pharm.D.) was named Preceptor of the Year for the Service Learning Introductory Pharmacy Practice (IPPE) rotation at UConn Correctional Managed Healthcare.

A native of New Britain, Conn., his interest in Pharmacy initially stemmed from his love of chemistry and biology while in high school. He also credits his mother for instilling in him a work ethic that encouraged self-motivation and hard work to achieve his goals.

Students completing their IPPE rotations with Jankowski are uniformly appreciative of his diligence and support while they are working under his direction.

An added bonus for them last year included an opportunity to participate in a project Jankowski recently implemented which saved the state of Conn. over $500,000 in its first year of implementation. This  involves re-purposing unused medications from correctional facilities that are still within their expiration dates by completing a waste separation and recovery process.  Students participating in this effort received the type of ‘real world’ experience that can’t be duplicated in a textbook or a lab.

For his part, Jankowski says, “I became a preceptor to help mold the minds of the future. That sounds like a simple reason, but I feel that real world experience helps quantify the importance of what we learn in school. Opening up opportunities for students to see, touch, and understand how they can impact the world of pharmacy is a blessing.”

The person for whom the POY is named, Dennis J. Chapron, served as an associate professor of Pharmacy Practice in the School of Pharmacy for 34 years prior to his retirement. Jill Fitzgerald, Director of Experiential Learning and Continuing Professional Development said of him, “As a teacher, practitioner, mentor, and friend to students and colleagues, Dennis left an immeasurable legacy. Known for his excellence in teaching, he twice received the School of Pharmacy’s ‘Teacher of the Year Award’ and he was named Preceptor of the Year in 2001.

At the awards banquet, Chapron spoke briefly about his years at UConn and indicated that, based on the commitment to experiential learning demonstrated by the 2017 Preceptors of the Year, and the intellectual curiosity of the current band of students in the UConn School of Pharmacy, the profession is in good hands, indeed.