One of our most unique students yet…

From the spotlight of performing to the pharmacy, Adam Baillio balances work and time with his (large) family.

Name: Adam Baillio

Position: Pharmacy Student at Roseman University

Interview Summary

Matt [00:00:04] Matt Paterini here with The Nontraditional Pharmacist, part of the Pharmacy Podcast Network here with Adam Baillio of Roseman University today on The Nontraditional Pharmacist Student Series. The Nontraditional Pharmacist Student Series is all about helping students discover all of the opportunities in pharmacy, while helping them achieve their personal and professional goals. So Adam, thank you so much for taking the time of day. Welcome to The Nontraditional Pharmacist.

 

Adam [00:00:31] It’s my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me on.

 

Matt [00:00:34] Absolutely. Now I know we were talking a little bit before the show and you have a nontraditional path, as well as nontraditional pharmacy career interests so let’s start with where your primary interests lie within the field of pharmacy and why?

 

Adam [00:00:50] Well I’m actually really interested in seeing the individual for who they are. So the path that I’ve sort of chosen in pharmacy has to do with that is compounding pharmacy, pharmacogenomics, and really just making sure that the patient is getting what they actually need and not the fast food package that everybody gets.

 

Matt [00:01:14] Yeah. That’s excellent. And you know that’s kind of a career interest in pharmacy and as you know Adam, things change all the time. What about personally? Why are you interested in the field of pharmacy? I know that you have a large family, what is it about the field in general that you’re attracted to.

 

Adam [00:01:34] Well, the truth is my grandfather was a pharmacist and his father before him. They owned a little store in the small town Victoria, Texas. So as my family grew, the position I’m in now, and I’m in the theater industry, and I just couldn’t support my family in this path. So when I was looking for something new, I just look back to my family history and that it was staring me in the face, so I picked that up and ran with it.

 

Matt [00:02:12] Family history is important and it helps to show what you like and what you don’t like. I mean you’ve probably seen things personally from your family that that you know you like about the field and the profession and things that you know maybe you want to steer away from. But as you’re looking through and going through formal pharmacy education, knowing what you know now, what would you say is kind of missing from that traditional education? Not necessarily a pharmacy topic specifically, but what’s missing and in helping you decide on a pharmacy career path?

 

Adam [00:02:43] You know it’s it’s really difficult to grasp what are all the roles we can take as a pharmacist. You know, it’s briefly brought up but it’s really emphasized the two sort of main routes of the pharmacist is you can work in retail or you can work at hospital, and they really don’t even describe how different those two markets are. And there’s so many other things people are doing today that go outside of that box. Those things aren’t described well enough for me to know, you know, how am I supposed to choose when I don’t know what my options are?

 

Matt [00:03:26] I’m glad you brought that up because as you know that’s a lot of what we try to do at The Nontraditional Pharmacist is expose a lot of those roles and opportunities available to pharmacists, learn about all of them in their entirety, and then help students and pharmacists achieve roles in those career paths because you know it’s one thing to know what’s out there, but then it’s a whole nother thing to actually put plans in motion to obtain a role in one of those paths. So you know going through pharmacy school, what are your plans for graduation? What’s your approach in planning for your pharmacy career after the pharmacy school program?

 

Adam [00:04:08] Well I am aimed at doing a residency. And really one of the main purposes I’m doing a residency is to allow myself the opportunity to network. I know that networking is going to be huge when it comes to actually landing a job that I’m going to like. And on top of that I started a blog, I’m actually I’m talking with a couple other podcasters in the pharmacy community who are kind of coaching me through all of this. But I’ve started a blog and I’m aiming at getting my own podcast off the ground, really just to build my own brand and develop that network. I was talking with Mike Corvino at CorConsult Rx (www.corconsultrx.com). And you know back 20 years ago, it was really important to go to a lot of the big meetings and try to find those people who were doing the research and writing the papers. I think today a lot of that connection needs to be made online. And if you really want to make those connections you have to get yourself out there.

 

Matt [00:05:29] So you’ve touched on two of the biggest, core fundamental principles of The Nontraditional Pharmacist already now with Exposure and seeing all the different roles that are out there and also Networking because to find all of these different roles is one thing. Again, you have to know people in the right positions and make those connections to not only learn about the field itself, but have that either champion through the path to that role or help you you know get the skill set that you’ll need moving forward in that career path. So it’s great to hear you mentioned some of those things. How do you see your pharmacy career helping you achieve what you want to from a from a personal side of things?

 

Adam [00:06:14] Well, like I said I’m very family focused and what my goal is with my career is to be able to have a stable career, with an environment that I can actually enjoy. When I’m out there helping patients and knowing that I’m doing some good, it means that I’m not taking stress home. So many people, they pick up stress either at their work or other things that they’re doing, and it’s not fair to their families to have that stress unloaded on them. That’s not where it got accrued and it shouldn’t be spent there either. It’s very important to me to make sure that I can not only provide financially but emotionally for my family.

 

Matt [00:07:02] Yeah. That’s fantastic. You might have a different perspective than a lot of students, with the larger family, but it’s so great to hear that you think about the personal side of things. You cannot take stress home, it affects the family life, and I think a lot of people don’t think about that to be honest with you, until maybe they get farther down along in a career that may not have been right for them in the first place. Until they’ve learned a little bit after the fact. So where do you see the pharmacy profession moving in the future? This is kind of big level question, pharmacy profession in general where do you see it heading in the future?

 

Adam [00:07:38] Oh that’s a that’s a great question and I think it’s going to be even more diverse in the future. I don’t think that retail as it is, is going to go away, but it’s certainly going to get smaller. And I see oharmacists becoming more of a collaborator with physicians and doctors and nurse practitioners. We’re going to be a stronger member of the health team. That’s the direction that I see us going. We’re also going to be filling in new niches things that even aren’t being talked about today. I think people are going to find those nooks and crannies ofthis service arena that aren’t being filled yet. And I think pharmacy is a perfect career to develop some of those things.

 

Matt [00:08:38] Well said it’s going to continue to evolve. Who knows what the true future has in store for everyone. But Adam Baillio thank you so much for taking the time today on The Nontraditional Pharmacist. We certainly appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule. Everyone please like, comment, and share this post with your pharmacy network. We look forward to seeing everyone next time on The Nontraditional Pharmacist. Adam thanks again for your time. We’ll talk to everyone soon.

 

Adam [00:09:03] My pleasure. Thank you so much.