White Coat Radio

Episode 18 - Interview with Dr. Shelby Brooks

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Hear from Dr. Shelby Brooks, one of the newest editions to faculty in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy, and learn about her clinical interests as well as her obsession with Harry Potter!

 

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 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, and I'm joined today by one of my co-hosts, Stephen Woodward, our Marketing and Communications Manager.

Hi, Stephen.

Stephen Woodward:

Hey, Michele.

Michele Williams:

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

Shelby Brooks:

Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here this morning.

Stephen Woodward:

Doctor Brooks, can you start by telling us what brought you to Gatton and a little bit about your background?

Shelby Brooks:

Absolutely, yes. So before I moved to Johnson City, I lived in Shreveport, Louisiana, and I was also an Assistant Professor at University of Louisiana Monroe on their Shreveport campus. So I've been in academia for about three years now. Really enjoy it. Teaching is definitely one of my passions. And then moving to Johnson City, I really wanted to get back closer to family.

So my family is from the Asheville, North Carolina area, and they live in Marshall, North Carolina now, so it's only about 45 minutes away. So I had been thinking about wanting to move closer to the area, and I saw this job posted, and so it seemed to be a really good fit with working with family medicine and getting back to an area that I really loved.

I also lived in Knoxville for six years to finish up pharmacy school and to do residency. So I was really excited to get back to the area. Once I had my interview here, it really solidified it for me. Everybody was so welcoming, and I felt pretty much part of the faculty even on my interview day. So it worked out really well, and I'm excited to be here and to get started again.

Stephen Woodward:

That's good to hear. Thank you.

Michele Williams:

So in what courses can students expect to see you?

Shelby Brooks:

Yeah, we are still working that out a little bit, but as of right now I will be in the new pharmacotherapy series. So I'll be in Pharmacotherapy One with the P2s this fall, and I'll be teaching coronary artery disease. So they'll get to have me for about two weeks in the classroom. And then in the spring I'm also teaching Pharmacotherapy Two, and I'll teach ischemic stroke in that series as well.

So again, with the P2s. I get to interact with the P1s a little bit. I'll be an IPPE One facilitator for that. And then I will also be a facilitator for the communications course that's starting in a couple of weeks.

Michele Williams:

Oh that's great. Yeah.

Stephen Woodward:

So you're also a practicing pharmacist. Can you tell us about that side of your working life?

Shelby Brooks:

Absolutely. Since residency, I have practiced with inpatient family medicine. That is absolutely my passion. I love working with the family medicine team. So when I was in Shreveport at my previous academic position, I also worked with an inpatient family medicine team. And then now that I'm here at Gatton, I'll also be working with inpatient family medicine, both at Johnson City Medical Center and at Holston Valley Medical Center.

So working in the hospital, working with my team is definitely a huge passion of mine. I love being able to show that with the students and show them the type of pharmacy that I practice, and showing them that you can practice at the top of your license. We see any and all disease states. So family medicine patients tend to be some of the sicker patients in the hospital, besides critical care type of patients. They just have a lot of disease states, and they tend to be a bit of an underserved population, so not as much access to healthcare as maybe a traditional type of patient.

So we really get to dive into all different kinds of disease states with a family medicine team, and that's what I love about it. It keeps me busy. I don't get bored. There's always something new going on.

Stephen Woodward:

If I can ask a follow-up question to that, to speak maybe to the prospective student to Gatton who's weighing different career paths in health sciences, what would you tell them about the importance of pharmacy and the different career paths available to them?

Shelby Brooks:

Yeah, I think pharmacy in general as a career, just as a career path, and the different things that you can go into in pharmacy, really the basis of that is being the medication expert. And so I'm sure that the new students and students that are enrolled here hear that all the time, and prospective students will too.

But that's a really important thing when you look at other professions. So like physicians that you're working with, nurses, any kind of other health profession, they really only get a semester or two of pharmacology. It's not even like pharmacotherapy. So it's really important for us to be able to come into an interdisciplinary team and use that medication expertise to provide the best care possible to our patients.

It seems like a small thing when you're talking about it, but it's really not. And when you get into an interprofessional team and they've not worked with a pharmacist before, it tends to be a bit of a mind-blowing thing for them to have access to us. So it's really important, and I would say definitely take pride in what you do as a pharmacist, because a lot of other health professions really appreciate what we do.

Michele Williams:

Cool. Thank you. Yeah. Sounds like they rely on the pharmacists.

Shelby Brooks:

Absolutely. Yes. There are definitely things like when they are working with a pharmacist, a lot of the times they don't think about what the blood sugars are looking like. They don't think about what the blood pressures are looking like either. A lot of that stuff can kind of fall on us as the pharmacist, and we can make those recommendations to the team, and they really appreciate it.

Michele Williams:

It's great. So during our Getting Ready transition weeks, which we just finished at this point in the year, you gave a great piece of advice to our incoming P1s, which was to not be afraid to say hello to someone. And you emphasized the importance of networking. Can you talk a little bit more about networking when you were in pharmacy school and beyond, and how that can benefit you when you're a student pharmacist or a newly minted pharmacist?

Shelby Brooks:

Yeah, absolutely. I know that networking can be a scary word, so please don't be afraid of it. Really, all that networking is, and it's why I put this piece of advice, it's just saying hello to someone. It is the easiest way to learn about different people in your profession, learn about different people that you're working with that maybe aren't a pharmacist, but they're still going to be in your work circle.

And so that's really important. When I was a student, I started networking by getting involved in my student organizations. So I was in a pharmaceutical fraternity, and then I also was heavily involved in APhA when I was a student. I pursued leadership positions within those organizations. I wouldn't say that you have to pursue those types of positions, but go to the meetings. Go to the annual meetings. Go to the Grand Councils, all kinds of different things. For APhA, go to those meetings.

And be willing to just go and say hi to someone, whether it's another student in a different chapter, whether it's another professor, it really doesn't matter.

And the cool thing about professional meetings, if you are able to go as a student, is that people want you to talk to them. Professors want to talk to you about what they're doing in their pharmacy practice. Other students want to tell you what's going on with their chapter, with whatever particular organization's meeting that you're at. They want to tell you these things.

And the more that you're willing to just go and talk to someone, the more connections that you can make, and you absolutely never know what those connections are going to help you do later in your career.

So as an example, I got involved with ACCP when I was a student. I was involved with ACCP as a resident as well, and I joined some of the committees and different divisions. Within one of the committees that I was in, I actually got a job offer initially when I was coming out of residency. I had worked with her on a couple of projects for the committee. She knew how I practiced, and she knew the type of residency that I was in. And when the position at her institution became available, she emailed me personally and was like, I think this would be a good fit for you. Please consider applying.

So you never know what's going to happen. Definitely say hi to someone. Network, and then stay in touch with them as well.

Stephen Woodward:

It's great advice.

Michele Williams:

Yeah, that does sound like really good advice. And something that you're clearly good at. So just as a side note, you and I met when you came for your interview, and I can remember thinking that you're so easy to talk to and very engaging. And that has an impact when you're looking for a job, that sort of ability to connect with people and talk with them. And I get the feeling that maybe because you put yourself out there and you've practiced a little bit over the years, kind of figured out what feels comfortable for you.

And I think that's probably true of anybody, that you have to find what your style is and what you're comfortable with, and then just like you said, say hello.

Shelby Brooks:

So yeah. And like I, I'm definitely, I consider myself an extroverted person. So I love being around people. I get very energized being around people. But you don't have to be an extrovert to network well. And that is definitely a point that I want to emphasize. You don't have to be extroverted. And I did practice when I was a student. I had my little elevator speech for the different residency showcases that I went to and all that stuff.

So if you put a little time into it, a little bit of practice, practice within your friend group, you're going to become really good at networking and being able to go up and talk to those people and make connections.

Michele Williams:

Awesome.

Stephen Woodward:

So what are you most excited about in teaching again?

Shelby Brooks:

I am really excited to get into the pharmacotherapy series. Pharmacotherapy in general and teaching that type of stuff is really what I'm passionate about. I did a pharmacotherapy residency for two years, so anytime I can get into the therapy and all those things, I really enjoy that.

I also eventually want to develop an elective. That's something that's kind of on the page over the next few years, kind of determining that. I'll be very honest, I have no idea what it's going to look like right now. Probably something inpatient-focused, but just not really sure the direction. But it definitely is part of my goals here in the next few years while I'm here at Gatton.

Michele Williams:

Yeah. Are there any other things that you would like for our listeners, and especially our Gatton students, to know about you or to share with them before we finish up today that we haven't talked about yet?

Shelby Brooks:

Absolutely. I'll get a little nerdy here so you can learn about me as a person and not just a pharmacist for a minute. I'm a huge animal lover. I'm also a huge Harry Potter fan. Since I was a child, I used to go to the midnight book premieres. So I'm aging myself a little bit, but it was the best thing when I was growing up.

So my pet names. I have two dogs. One of them is named Neville, like Neville Longbottom. One is Rowena, like Rowena Ravenclaw. And then I have my cat. Her name is Minerva, like Minerva McGonagall. So obviously very obsessed with Harry Potter. Huge animal lover. So if you ever want to talk about those things, please feel free to stop by my office. I'm always happy to nerd out and to geek out, really, about books in general. So anybody who's a reader, please come and talk about it.

Stephen Woodward:

Or if you're into Harry Potter, did you know about the House program? The in the wellbeing program?

Shelby Brooks:

I did. I found out about that. I am not shy about my Harry Potter fanaticism. And so when I was interviewing, I heard about the Harry Potter — like the Potter houses and the sorting and stuff like that. So I'm very excited to learn more about it. And I know there's a sorting ceremony this week, right? It's Friday.

Yeah, very excited to hear about it.

Michele Williams:

You really fit right in here. Absolutely. Well, Doctor Brooks, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a great conversation.

Shelby Brooks:

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.

Stephen Woodward:

It's great chat. Yeah.

 

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White Coat RadioBy East Tennessee State University