White Coat Radio

Episode 16 - Get to know Dr. Alex Surbaugh

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In this episode, we talk with Dr. Alex Surbaugh, one of the newest editions to faculty in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy.

 

Transcript:


Stephen Woodward

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, Stephen Woodward, the Marketing and Communications Manager at Gatton. And joining us is Doctor Michele Williams, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Director of Academic Success.

Welcome, Doctor Williams.

Michele Williams

Thanks, Stephen.

Stephen Woodward

In this episode, we'll be talking with Doctor Alex Surbaugh, one of the newest additions to the faculty in the Department of Pharmacy Practice here at Gatton. Doctor Surbaugh, welcome to White Coat Radio.

Alex Surbaugh

Thank you. Good to be here.

Michele Williams

So we're really excited to have you here as our guest. And I understand that your specialty is in psychiatry. Is that right?

Alex Surbaugh

That is, yes. Psychiatry.

Michele Williams

And can you tell us a little bit about your practice?

Alex Surbaugh

Yeah. So I'm just kind of getting started. For anyone that's worked with Doctor Thompson, I'm kind of taking over and doing a lot of what she does, but kind of expanding in terms of—we've added a new clinic. So Kingsport Internal Medicine, and then also I’ll be in Johnson City Internal Medicine. So I split two days in Kingsport, two days in Johnson City.

Day to day, I’m kind of seeing patients and working with them on their psychiatric medication. So really kind of talking with them, getting to know what their symptoms are, working with their diagnoses, and then figuring out with the patient what the best medication plan moving forward is, and then kind of following up with them as needed and making sure that we're really doing our best to get care into all settings, especially for our psychiatric patients that may not be able to get in with a psychiatrist.

And so really excited to kind of get started with that patient population and make a difference, hopefully, here in East Tennessee.

Michele Williams

That sounds great. Good.

Stephen Woodward

So what courses can students expect to see you in so far?

Alex Surbaugh

The neuroscience course—I will be teaching this fall—the bipolar lecture. So that'll be kind of my first big lecture to teach. And then also kind of helping in some of the skills labs, communications, interprofessional education, things like that. But hopefully we'll continue to kind of ramp up as time goes on.

Michele Williams

So what are you most excited about with regard to working at Gatton?

Alex Surbaugh

That's a really great question. I first came up to East Tennessee and Gatton in February for my interview. And so when I was here, the one thing that was really apparent was just how much of a family atmosphere is promoted here among the faculty, but also with the faculty in regards to the students as well.

I love that people know students’ names, because I was a student on a distant campus, so I had a smaller subset of faculty that I really got to know, and that really impacted my journey as a student pharmacist. And so I would say that's one of the things I'm most excited about here at Gatton, is being a part of that family atmosphere and being able to build those connections with students as well.

I know mentorship is so important, and having those people you can ask for advice on next steps. I'm like the first pharmacist on my side of the family, so I had no idea what really to be looking for or what was coming and what to expect. And having those mentors was great, and the faculty that I could reach out to. So really excited to get to know the students and work with them and build those relationships.

Michele Williams

Oh, that sounds great. Yeah.

Stephen Woodward

Well, tell us a little bit about your backstory. Where are you from originally, and where did you work prior to starting at Gatton?

Alex Surbaugh

I am from the Nashville area, so about 30 minutes south—born and raised in Franklin, Tennessee. Lived there all my life, and then went off to undergrad at the University of Mississippi. So I am a diehard Ole Miss fan. Football season is obviously coming up, so for me it’s an exciting time of year. But I spent four years in Oxford, enjoyed it, majored in chemistry, and knew that I wanted to do some sort of medicine.

And so that led me to apply to the College of Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee so that I could start to make my way back home. So I spent a year in Memphis and then three years in Nashville on our distant campus.

Once I finished pharmacy school, I knew I wanted to get out. I think it's really important—and it was really cool to me—to see practice somewhere different. And so I moved out to Kansas City and lived in Missouri but worked in Kansas at the University of Kansas Health System. So I did my general PGY1 training there—just very generalized—and then specialized. So I really committed, stayed, and did my PGY2 year in psychiatry at the University of Kansas as well.

So now I'm kind of making my way back to Tennessee, and that was always the plan. So here we are, back in East Tennessee now.

Stephen Woodward

Thank you.

Michele Williams

That's great.

So it sounds like you considered Tennessee home. And what drew you to Gatton in particular?

Alex Surbaugh

Well, I will say, like I said, we knew we wanted to come to Tennessee. We knew we wanted to get back home. And then I would say the family atmosphere and how apparent it was on interview day. I feel like I didn't meet a stranger, which is really hard to do when you're coming in completely blind to someplace and you've never met anyone there in person.

But from my first interaction with Doctor Thomas over Zoom as a pre-interview to my actual time here, Johnson City and East Tennessee just really felt like home—somewhere I could see us putting down roots and building our own family and getting connected in the community, but then also within the college and with the students.

And I love the atmosphere and the culture that's promoted here. And so that's really what drew me in. And so far, I've been really pleasantly surprised with just how true that picture that is always portrayed really is, and just how reflective that is of my time here so far. Everyone's been great.

Michele Williams

That's terrific. Good to hear, too.

Alex Surbaugh

Yeah.

Stephen Woodward

Well, for the prospective students out there considering a career in health sciences, what do you think is special about pharmacy? And why did you want to become a pharmacist?

Alex Surbaugh

Pharmacy is one of those fields that I think is continuing to grow. When I first started pharmacy school—it sounds really silly because I obviously was going into pharmacy and committing my life to it—I just knew about the pharmacists that worked in the retail setting. I didn't realize that there were pharmacists in the hospital. I know it sounds silly to say now, but I remember the first day when we talked about residencies and specialty pharmacists that can specialize in different areas—psychiatry, cardiology, family medicine, any of that. I mean, it's just so expansive.

Now we're also seeing people in industry that are doing pharmaceutical sales, that are working on the research side of things. So I think that's what makes pharmacy so unique, is that we are such an expansive field that continues to grow, continues to expand.

And I think the second part of that is how accessible we can be to our patients. Medications are, I think to a lot of people, very scary. You read one warning label—someone always told me if you read the warning label, you'd never take the med. But I think we are in a great position to really work with patients on why these medications can be beneficial to them, what they should be watching for risk-wise, what the realistic risk-benefit is, and helping them to make educated decisions and being that kind of frontline person that has that conversation.

So I do think we bridge a lot of gaps for patients when it comes to their medical team care as well. And so that's something I love about my job as a pharmacist, is being that person that advocates for the patient and kind of making sure that their questions are answered and that they feel comfortable with what they're doing, while also advocating for them with the team.

Stephen Woodward

Great. Thank you.

Michele Williams

And what do you like to do in your spare time?

Alex Surbaugh

I am just now getting back some spare time post-residency. I think everyone always says residency is a busy time in your life, but especially when you uproot and move to a completely new city and then you're doing two years, it is a big time commitment. Very well worth it.

But I'm a big reader, so that's something—especially in the evenings—I love to just pick up a good book. I'm not really super specific on my genre, so historical fiction, thriller, mystery, anything like that—that's kind of how I unwind.

I do have a dog, so she is a Maltipoo, and we've really enjoyed taking her for walks.

Michele Williams

I bet she's cute.

Alex Surbaugh

She is. She's really little. She's about eight pounds, and I think she's a lot more ferocious than she really is. So we've enjoyed exploring the area, going for walks in the evenings, cooking. And then, like I said, college football season is coming up, so my Saturdays will be spent on the couch watching Ole Miss play. And my husband-to-be is a Bama grad, so unfortunately the Tide too. But—well.

Stephen Woodward

Is there anything else you'd like to mention?

Alex Surbaugh

Everything's been great so far up here. I'm really looking forward to getting started and really getting to know the students and working with all of the students here at Gatton. If I can ever be a resource or help to anyone, I hope they know that my door is always open. So there’s my email—feel free to email me or stop by my office and just say hello so that I can get to know everyone.

But thank you all for having me. It's been wonderful.

Michele Williams

Well, thank you so much for joining us. This has been terrific. And thanks for giving us a chance to get to know you a little better.

Stephen Woodward

Yes. Great. Thank you very much.

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White Coat RadioBy East Tennessee State University