You never know when or where you will find your passion. For Charlie Broussard, BSPharm, MEd, FAPhA, it was in a sociology class at Memphis State University, back in 1970. “We were discussing the fact that we as a nation had become a ‘throwaway society.’ Basically, we were talking about the people who were referred to as addicts and how they were being ignored by society,” Broussard remembered. “I don’t know what it was, but something inside of me just lit up to start looking into this and start learning about where our throwaway society was in my area.”

His passion ignited, Broussard embarked on a prestigious career in the field of chemical dependency as an educator and counselor. Honored on the state, national, and international levels for his significant contributions to pharmacists in recovery, Broussard has become a beloved faculty member and co-host of the APhA Institute on Alcohol & Drug Dependencies. I had the privilege of watching him in action at the APhA Institute this past June, and it is an honor to include Charlie in our discussions as part of my “Embrace Your Calling” series.

Growing up, I was terrible at sports. After a decade of bench-warming for church-league soccer and basketball games and feeling a little like a misfit, this nerd found her niche: musical theater. I started doing plays with a group called the Pilgrim Players when I was in sixth grade. I played Flower #3 and Milkmaid #6 in Beauty and the Beast, and from there, I was hooked, acting and singing my way through middle school and high school in every music- and/or theater-related afterschool activity possible.

In spite of my love for storytelling through both choir and acting, the curtain call on my acting career came with my senior year of high school. This is because, at the end of the day, my one true passion is and always will be pharmacy. This was evident all throughout high school. For example, during one night of tech week for Into the Woods, I sprinted multiple times over the course of 4 hours—in full costume and character shoes—from the theater down two hallways to the computer lab to write a paper in between my scenes. I may have twisted my ankle, but I got an A on the paper and never missed my chance to play Jack’s Mom. During most other rehearsals throughout the years, I would sit in the pitch-black audience’s seats with a book light to finish homework, to the loving teasing of my castmates and directors alike.

Wow, “Ami,” it sounds like you had quite a humbling experience, and just at the start of rotations. I know it can be terrifying to be on a new rotation as a student pharmacist, especially in an unfamiliar setting. Often you are given very little guidance as you begin patient care in a new setting. Some preceptors are more apt to give you detailed instructions while others hope you will pick up the day-to-day expectations on your own.

As a student, it is very easy to observe the actions of your preceptor and mimic them, but if every student pharmacist only mimicked their preceptors, innovation in pharmacy practice would be limited. The pharmacist’s role on the health care team has expanded tremendously in recent years not due to imitated behavior, but rather to pharmacy innovators. I wish I had been in the room during the first conversation where a pharmacist provided an antibiotic recommendation or when a pharmacist noticed a high serum creatinine on a patient and suggested a dose adjustment to the team.