Scotty Reams: 'Take risks and think outside the box.'

When I was a kid, the same ice cream truck would visit my house each summer. It wasn’t an ordinary ice cream truck, though. What made this ice cream truck so special? Well, the ice cream was always free and the operator of the truck just happened to be my state representative. Over the years, that ice cream truck-driving state representative taught me that government and advocacy could be fun. He sparked a fire within me that led me to become the 2020 APhA Good Government Student Pharmacist-of-the-Year.

During high school and throughout my undergraduate experience, I volunteered on a number of political campaigns. That involvement led to an internship in Rep. Hal Rogers’s (R–KY) Washington, DC, office. From there, the congressman and Kentucky’s governor appointed me to a task force challenged with revitalizing eastern Kentucky’s economy. These experiences only fueled the flame that the state representative once ignited.

With the assistance of student pharmacists like Alexsandra Nilges, the University of Kentucky plans to distribute 500 gallons of sanitizer every 2 weeks throughout the fall to support area health care providers and patients.

“All of the hand sanitizer was cleared out of the grocery store …”, I overheard from a nurse on the team as I left a patient’s room. That was at the earliest stages of COVID–19, when we, the inpatient pharmacy interns, were still onsite conducting medication histories in person. 

This was also right around the time the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitizer for our front-line workers was becoming a nationally recognized issue. Leaving work that evening, I imagined different ways student pharmacists could get more involved. In March, FDA issued regulatory guidance for the temporary compounding of alcohol-based hand sanitizer products. Remembering this and the conversation I overheard at work, I e-mailed Clark Kebodeaux, PharmD, BCACP, our APhA–ASP Chapter Advisor at the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Pharmacy, to see if we could come up with a plan to compound hand sanitizer for University of Kentucky HealthCare (UKHC) and surrounding communities. 

Engaging in research has taught Katie Vollmer the value of searching for answers in unknown territories.

“We are set to land” echoed in the plane corridor as I awaited my arrival. It was the first time I had lived in a different country and I was filled with butterflies as I wondered what was in store ahead. Over the next 8 months—from January to August 2017—I would journey across Europe while connecting with others from around the world, igniting my desire to innovate and be a global individual.

During my time at Cardiff University, I lived with Welsh and British flat mates, delved into chemistry courses at a world-class research facility, and traveled throughout 30 countries in Europe and northern Africa. Through these experiences, I gained perspectives from newfound friends who had experienced world events I had never previously encountered. I came to understand that innovation is, in essence, keeping an open mind in the face of the unknown. Some of the most rewarding periods of my life, those moments when I have felt most alive, were when I was beyond the boundaries of my comfort zone, researching the unknown beauty of the world while discovering new territories within myself.   

After my world travels, I returned to Drake University with a fresh bounce in my step. Strengthening my communication skills while solo backpacking across Europe and performing experiments at a world-class research institution made me realize that I could be the liaison between foundational scientific discoveries and clinical impact. I wanted to inspire hope among patients by sharing research findings on a global scale.