Tell us about your background.
I grew up in western Pennsylvania, the daughter of two veterinarians who owned a mixed-animal practice. This meant that as a toddler, I was accustomed to going on farm calls and knew that a down cow likely needed calcium. With this constant veterinary exposure, 4H was a natural progression. I showed sheep, pigs, goats, and horses in 4H, but I was most interested in horses. I started competing at the AQHA national level in western all-around events and eventually hunter and equitation events.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
While I was in pharmacy school I was on the cover of the Quarter Horse Journal and in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd section for equestrian accomplishments.
How did you become interested in pharmacology?
Growing up in a veterinary home, I was too close to the profession to actually want to be a vet. However, I enjoyed the healthcare field and decided to pursue pharmacy school with the intent of having a challenging career that still provided time to show my horses. Halfway through pharmacy school, I found out that veterinary pharmacy existed and decided that was the perfect area of pharmacy for me. I spent the rest of pharmacy school learning as much about veterinary pharmacy as possible. Upon graduation, I was the first veterinary pharmacy resident at Purdue’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The residency solidified my decision that I wanted my career to be spent in a veterinary teaching hospital where I would have the opportunity to practice clinically, compound medications, and teach.
What do you enjoy most about being at a veterinary teaching hospital?
The opportunity to teach the students and to work collaboratively with clinicians and technicians to solve medication problems.
