“During my second year in pharmacy school, I became interested in working with older adults after following a patient as part of a course. That summer, I was awarded a Schweitzer Fellowship to develop a community service project, and I chose to become involved with a program designed to improve the health literacy of senior citizens."

“As part of my project, I conducted 100 visits to the homes of community-dwelling elders in my county, spending from 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the complexity of the patient. I discovered that over half of the participant population struggles with understanding directions for their health care, and many have difficulty taking their medications as they should. These numbers show us that pharmacists have an opportunity to play a key role in helping patients understand and better manage their medications."

“I plan to pursue residency training in geriatrics to better prepare myself for a career working with older adults, and, specifically, in the hopes of building a clinical pharmacy practice in the community.”