Careers in Pharmacy 

Association Management  

Phyliss Moret, B.S.,
Associate Executive Director
American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP)

Phyliss Moret began her career at age 13—as a “soda jerk” in a local pharmacy. After graduating from pharmacy school, she became a hospital pharmacist. She then returned to her hometown in Mississippi where she worked in a community pharmacy and in another hospital pharmacy.

Her next career move was to the Mississippi Pharmacists Association. She served as executive director of this organization for 13 years. She then turned to association work at the national level, working briefly at APhA before joining ASCP.

Phyliss learned a lot from each of her positions. From the community pharmacists in her hometown, she learned about interpersonal relations and how the judicious use of humor can “ease a bad situation or interaction.” She learned about administration, from a director of hospital pharmacy. Both these individuals, she gratefully recalls, were her mentors.

She advises students to “think outside the typical pharmacy career box.” They should focus on basic skills such as writing and speaking, which are helpful in any setting. Computer literacy is essential.

The future of pharmacy is for pharmacists who “forget how to put a pill in a bottle.” Pharmacists’ value is in “having information and knowing how to manipulate that information. It is also caring for people.