Kayla Shiao is a third-year PharmD candidate at the Northeastern University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
I’ve never heard anyone say that the APhA Institute on Substance Use Disorders is anything less than life-changing, so my expectations were pretty high heading to Utah this past May.
Sharing is the heart of the conference
It’s hard to put into words how much this conference rises above its reputation: I truly believe I am a changed person from it. The week was filled with such engaging, knowledgeable speakers who supported patients with SUDs from different angles: clinical practice, advocacy, peer support, and more. Pharmacists in long-term recovery talked about shame and their journeys with having their licenses revoked and reinstated, which made me reflect on how our profession treats our own.
Absorbing fellow attendees’ lived experiences was such a profound part of this conference. Long-term attendees—affectionately nicknamed “Dinosaurs”—who have seen the APhA Institute through decades and name changes show up year after year for themselves and each other. In the evenings, they led Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Al-Anon meetings, and they made sure everyone had tissues and support.
I intern at a health-care-for-the-homeless facility with a high prevalence of patients with SUDs, and I worked in a research lab focused on addiction and public health. But hearing these stories broke down a wall I didn’t realize I had, reshaping how I truly understood SUDs. In those moments, I understood the “why” of our work so clearly, and I will forever be grateful to everyone who shared a piece of themselves. Hearing stories from pharmacists and fellow student pharmacists about their journey, their friends, and their family is the heart of this conference.
Hope for the future
Each year, there’s a group hike on the Living Room Trail, which has a namesake lookout with flat rocks arranged like sofas. It’s more than 1,000 feet of elevation in less than 1.5 miles, which was much harder than expected and gave me a lot of time for reflection.
When you get to the Living Room, you can look down on Salt Lake City and, this year, a concert at the Red Butte Garden. In the middle of the journey, it can be difficult to remember how far we’ve already come. From supervised consumption sites in the United States to long-acting injectables, I’m so appreciative of everyone whose hard work got us to where we are today.
After a pit stop, you can climb past the Living Room. There’s no trail, and you have to grab onto rocks to pull yourself up, but the view is even better from the top. There will always be room for advancement in how we approach patients with SUDs. I left the APhA Institute with so much hope and aspiration for the future—motivation to continue climbing the mountain. I’ve brought what I’ve learned back to my classmates, professors, and coworkers.
In awe and gratitude
Every heart needs a beat, and the APhA staff is certainly the sinoatrial node of the APhA Institute. I’d like to extend my awe and gratitude for the care and passion they put into every detail of the conference from open to close. I was humbled to have attended as a 2025 recipient of the Ronald L. Williams Memorial Fund Scholarship. I hope to honor him by carrying the message.