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“You never know where these things may go… but you never know unless you try.”
“It really changes you when you’re navigating serious illness for a loved one. It deepens your empathy and your urgency to fix what’s broken in healthcare.”
“Pharmacists are great problem-solvers. We need to be bold in creating the future of care - one where no patient has to choose between their medicine and their basic needs.”
DISRxUPT is a podcast from the Cedarville University Center for Pharmacy Innovation which explores novel advances in the practice of pharmacy. From nanotechnology to unique public health initiatives, DISRxUPT will highlight stories of pharmacists who are changing the paradigm of patient care.
Tune in for new content once a month detailing how the profession of pharmacy continues to change and how the Center for Pharmacy Innovation is playing a key role in this transformation.
Welcome to DISRxUPT, a podcast of the Cedarville University Center for Pharmacy Innovation. Today on the podcast, our guest is doctor Hillary Blackburn. Hillary is a clinical pharmacist, healthcare leader, and advocate for expanding access to medications. She serves as director of medication access and affordability at Ascension Rx where she leads initiatives to improve affordability and remove barriers to care for vulnerable populations. She's also the founder and host of the Talk To Your Pharmacist podcast, which features inspiring stories and innovative practices from pharmacy leaders.
Justin Cole:Hey, DISRxUPT listeners. Thanks for tuning in for episode 52. I wanted to give you a brief update on our guest today, Doctor. Hillary Blackburn. Since our conversation was recorded, she's been appointed to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, better known as ACIP.
Justin Cole:It's rare and remarkable to see a pharmacist serve in this capacity. She's helping to shape national vaccine policy, and she's representing the vital role of pharmacy in public health. We're proud to have captured her insights just before this milestone in her career. We hope you enjoy this podcast episode with doctor Hillary Blackburn. Thanks again for listening to DISRxUPT.
Justin Cole:I am your host, Justin Cole, alongside my new co host, Shannon Yarosz. Shannon, how are you doing today?
Shannon Yarosz:I'm doing well, Justin. I'm really excited to be here.
Justin Cole:Yeah. Well, we're excited to have you co hosting and talking with our guests about various topics related to pharmacy innovation and practice advancement and a whole host of other things. And our guest today, Doctor. Hillary Blackburn is no stranger to all of those topics. Hillary is a pharmacy leader, podcaster, entrepreneur and author who has been shaped by many experiences, including internships on Capitol Hill and spending time as a caregiver even for dear family members.
Justin Cole:I'm certain that you will be inspired and challenged by her story today. Thanks for joining us on the other side of the mic today, Hillary.
Hillary Blackburn:Thank you. It's a pleasure to be a guest and join you both.
Justin Cole:Well, I'm excited to dive right in. So let me just open up like we do with most of our guests and give you an open mic to talk a little bit about yourself and your background.
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. So I grew up in a small town in Mississippi, Greenwood, Mississippi. And, you know, I was an only child, and my parents are really, you know, helped to shape and form. My mom was a teacher. My dad worked for the government.
Hillary Blackburn:And I think being in that smaller town really helped me to kind of give that perspective of helping or my parents were always very focused on helping and serving others in in their professions. And I always had wanted to be a doctor when I grew up and, found my way into pharmacy at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy through their early entry program. And, it has just been a really fun experience, to, and just very rewarding, over the years and all of the different fun things that we'll be able to talk about today. And today, and now, of course, I am in, Nashville, Tennessee, with my husband. We are celebrating our ten years this year, and we have a five and two year old.
Hillary Blackburn:So, it is fun to be both mom and pharmacist and have been here in Nashville for almost the last fifteen years. So it's been fun to, make Nashville home. It's still a great southern city, a little bit bigger, and plenty of things to, get involved with and also be involved in our community. So...
Shannon Yarosz:Congratulations, Hillary. You and your husband.
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. Thank you.
Shannon Yarosz:Congratulations. And I always really enjoy, whenever I get to travel to Nashville, always enjoy it there. But I do have a question for you. So it's it seems like you've worked across hospital, community, specialty, and health plan settings.
Shannon Yarosz:So looking back, what pivotal moments really shaped your passion for medication access and pharmacy innovation?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. You know, it, my career path has definitely not been a linear one. I think that it's been really, fun to be involved in so many, different settings of practice. And, not that all of that was planned, I am fortunate to have had those experiences up in DC and turning on the hill and then coming back and asking my Ole Miss professors, how do I go back for pharmacy? And that led me to HRSA's Office of Pharmacy Affairs, which of course oversees the 340B program, and that is one of our safety net programs that people are able to use across the country with nonprofit health systems to serve their vulnerable patients.
Hillary Blackburn:And that's, again, kind of where I am today. And so I think, you know, my background in growing up in a smaller town, seeing, you know, some of the challenges with people being able to afford or access the medications they need, whether it's a patient at discharge, you know, being in the hospital who couldn't pay for their prescription or a mom in a clinic deciding whether she's going to get groceries or insulin really fueled my passion for medication access. Pairing that with my natural interest in innovation, I became committed to finding new and scalable solutions to close those gaps and really led me to volunteering at Dispensary of Hope where I was able to serve for nearly a decade. And, I think being able to you know, that commitment of giving back and, raising your hand, I had no idea that a volunteer position would do this really pivotal moment in my career of taking a risk, being the first pharmacist that was ever at that organization and growing and building that into a, national, solution and being recognized, with the APHA Pinnacle Award this last year. So it's been a really exciting, adventure and, it's been fun to move over and join the Ascension team and be part of their medication access and affordability team and just see how all of that fits from a health system perspective.
Justin Cole:Well, Hillary, as we've already talked about, you've had a lot of different experiences. And and we're going to dive into each one of these a little bit more because they're they're so fascinating. But I want to start all the way back with the first one, and that was your time interning on Capitol Hill. So that's not an experience that most people get in their lives, let alone someone who ends up in pharmacy. So I know, as you mentioned, you also later worked with HRSA's Office of Pharmacy Affairs.
Justin Cole:So I'm just curious, how did those early experiences with policy shape and influence the way you approach pharmacy advocacy today?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah, so, you know, in college, we're, you know, we there are so many different opportunities and things that you could do. And I think, you know, even being involved there with the associated student body representing the School of Pharmacy, and, you know, raising my hand and signing up for things, being involved as a student even in pharmacy associations in which I've carried on today. But, you know, we had some family friends that had all tried out and gone up to DC, and I thought that sounds like a really fun and neat experience. And I really did catch the DC policy bug. I loved you know, I just really enjoy relationships and, networking and making those connections and, seeing how you know, where you can find those win wins, as Stephen Covey shares in his book.
Hillary Blackburn:But looking at, you know, what are some of the priorities and then, you know, how is what, you know, pharmacy currently doing helping to support, you know, what the priorities are? For example, currently, I am working on advancing a CMS proposal for a wellness navigator role for pharmacists with a few colleagues. My, co champion in this work, Brian Isetts, full circle, I actually, as an intern at HRSA, got to read one of his papers. So he had come out, and I'm sure with others, of this 12 to one ROI on MTM. And that came across my desk, and it's like, wow.
Hillary Blackburn:This pharmacy legend. And never had the chance to meet him. And then fast forward early this year, he reached out, on LinkedIn, and we got connected, hit it off. I had some some connections with CMS. He had a a past experience working at CMS, and we thought, gosh, I bet we can kinda put a dream team together and figure out how we can advance what pharmacy is already doing in helping some of these Make America Healthy agenda for prevention, management of chronic disease, all of which pharmacists are so well suited as being an accessible provider and just helping to kind of capture that and position it in a way that we could potentially do a pilot program.
Hillary Blackburn:And we've been talking with, leaders who have really interesting programs with food as medicine across the country. So we're really excited about this. We've had a few conversations with the CMS chief of staff and another new leader, physician leader there. So you never know where these things may go. And, you know, I hope that it might take off, but you never know unless you try.
Hillary Blackburn:And again, it all comes down to relationships, building trust. Also, I'm very grateful for all of the years, in pharmacy and doing podcasting and just being present, building, you know, my network and knowing who those experts are across the country, who we could draw from, and, like, we're like, oh, yeah. We need to know who is who's doing this, who where are the different pockets, and how can we pull people together really quickly. And so Brian, same way. He's a real connector.
Hillary Blackburn:And, so it's been really fun to work with someone. We're, you know, very different, and he's definitely you know, has kind of more of an academia and much more seasoned, but kinda together, it's been a really fun partnership, and we've learned a lot from leaders over the last few months.
Shannon Yarosz:Hillary, that was great. And I was thinking back to something you said earlier about your time as chief pharmacy officer at Dispensary of Hope and being involved in leading a national nonprofit medication distributor. And through that experience, what did you learn about bridging access gaps in underserved communities?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. So, you know, a lot of those big barriers that are out there are of course cost and complexity and fragmentation. And, you know, even insured patients often face high out of pocket costs and confusing formularies and disconnected systems. And some of the work that I'm currently doing with AscensionRx is that we're really trying to tackle those challenges through affordability initiatives, charitable medication access, and better integration between pharmacy and the care teams to ensure that patients don't just get those prescriptions written, but we're filling all of them. And no patient is leaving our health system without their prescriptions.
Hillary Blackburn:And that is really helping to fulfill our mission of serving the poor and vulnerable that is so near and dear to ascension. Some of the things that I learned from Dispensary of Hope being on the leadership team and overseeing the pharmacy work really taught me the power of partnerships. So Dispensary Hope has been this really great convener of connecting pharmaceutical industry, all of the manufacturers, and, you know, finding those that surplus medication or even working with some manufacturers who were donating straight off of their, manufacturing lines. So they are all being very generous in donating these medications. So they can't be caught without, their supply and demand, contracts in place with all of these distributors.
Hillary Blackburn:And so, you know, as great as we can get with forecasting, there can be sometimes some additional inventory. And so it's a really unique solution to be able to donate that to a nonprofit. The nonprofit Dispensary of Hope is able to partner with health systems, FQHCs, free clinics, charitable pharmacies across the country who are then dispensing that to patients who are uninsured and low income. So it's really that power of connection to help create a true safety net. And, of course, Dispensary Hope is not a one size fits all.
Hillary Blackburn:There are plenty of other programs that have got to be plugged in and put in place to really help support and wrap around all of those patients. But the other really important thing is the importance of data showing outcomes and the impact of your program. Because, you know, even as much as we know that giving patients access to medication who would otherwise go without is great, it's very noble. The pharmacies are, technically losing, or they've got an operating expense to all of that. And so being able to show the impact of giving patients access to medicine can help reduce ER visits, hospitalizations, really help make that case for sustainability and policy support.
Hillary Blackburn:We have been able to publish some of those results. Jenny MCP, we we published there, a few years ago. And then also in, JAPhA, a smaller study looking at the impact of specifically insulin donations. So, yeah, it's exciting to continue to look forward to showing how to demonstrate the impact of the great work these pharmacy leaders, pharmacists across the country are getting to do something that is so rewarding and be able to help serve those patients with this novel solution of just connecting abundance with need. And, it's just a really, exciting and fun place to be.
Justin Cole:Well, Hillary, as as you reflect on on your time there at Dispensary of Hope, I can't help but step back and think about all the guests we've had on this podcast where this is a theme. Innovation is happening in the care of underserved communities, right? We've talked with Lydia Bailey in Cincinnati, who's doing some great work at St. Vincent de Paul. We've talked with a number of pharmacists who work in FQHCs or free medical clinics.
Justin Cole:We talked about people who are serving in full time medical missions. And innovation is so needed. And quite honestly, the opportunity is so great in that area. So I'm excited to connect with yet another person who is innovating in that space throughout your career. keep up the great work.
Justin Cole:I want to transition, though, to something else that we share as a passion, and that's podcasting. So I know that you've built your own platform with the Talk To Your Pharmacist podcast and you started well before our podcast did. And I know you've also written a book. So I'm curious, what advice would you have for a pharmacist who's looking to take an entrepreneurial leap beyond traditional practice to do something new, whether it's a podcast, a book, or something different?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. The biggest advice would be to don't wait until you feel ready. I remember thinking or, you know, listening to podcasts with my husband, entrepreneurial ones, how I built this and others, entrepreneurs on fire, and and just thinking, gosh. I wish there was something like this for pharmacy. And in 2017, there really weren't that many podcasts out there as there are obviously today.
Hillary Blackburn:And I remember hitting send to, like, publish these things to the universe, on Apple Podcasts and just thinking, gosh. Like, what a crazy idea this is. I hope anybody will listen. And, yeah, you it's definitely a risk. You've gotta start small.
Hillary Blackburn:Stay consistent. You know, I was putting this out every week for the first four years, and then I had my first baby and went to every other week. Well, and then, I have you know, we have a second child, and I've had some other just other personal things that are going on and still consistent. It's a great way to continue to stay on top of industry trends and share, you know, this kind of the tagline for Talk to Your Pharmacist is dispensing stories of success. And so I love having a platform to be able to highlight all of the good work that's happening in pharmacy and across health care and, again, some of the innovation that is happening.
Hillary Blackburn:So just really exciting to have platforms and to really kind of make it available to anyone. I mean, you've I don't know if you've looked at kind of all of your stats and things, and you can't drill down too much into the details on those, but you can see where people have listened, you know, all of the different countries or where, you know, putting my book out and seeing that people in Japan had ordered my book and just thinking like, wow. You know, there are people from, like, Africa that have, like, listened in on this podcast. And and a couple of years ago, I had had the invitation to speak for a Middle Eastern, I can't remember exactly the university now, but some a Middle East pharmacy school. And I thought, wow, how did they find me?
Hillary Blackburn:This is just so exciting. And yeah, so I've just loved being able to have this and it's definitely been a passion.
Shannon Yarosz:It really is exciting to hear. And I've heard about your book and so your book, How Pharmacists Lead Spotlights Women Leaders in Pharmacy, and what common threads or leadership lessons stood out to you from those conversations that you had?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. You know, I really went down this route, when, after going down my own leadership journey and I had just read tons and tons of books on leadership and kind of that mindset and went back and got my MBA. And so I, at first, was really wanting to highlight kind of the need for more female leaders. They're you know, 3% of the Forbes top 500 companies have a female CEO and the importance of having, you know, female perspective on boards and kind of painted that picture of, like, why we need female leaders. And, then, you know, we've got to have those role models of who to look for and to, like, think about, like, alright.
Hillary Blackburn:Well, who are our female leaders? So, you know, we have no shortage of females in pharmacy, and we have, several who have, you know, gone on to leadership roles and, some that have earned that C suite position within health systems, leading pharmacy associations, starting their own companies. There's just been so many fun examples. But some of the common threads that I saw through that were the creativity, the service, the resilience. You know, some face setbacks, and I think that women really are natural collaborators.
Hillary Blackburn:And, you know, a lot of it is through influence and lifting others up. So I did a few series specifically on women leaders, especially after leading through a crisis like COVID-19 and talked with LeeAnn Miller and Helen McKnight and others and just to kind of speak on that because what an interesting time to have to lead through. And so I think that empathy and being able to kinda connect with their teams and lead with empathy, which is really you know, there's a lot of different leadership styles. I think people are probably most familiar with servant leadership, but, you know, there's kind of that direct leadership and can't recall all of the different titles now. But now with kind of that twenty first century leader is more of that transformational leader, I think that, you know, empathy, having a strong emotional intelligence, being able to connect, and we've got this, you know, multigenerational workforce.
Hillary Blackburn:And so being able to relate well with others is an important quality and theme as well.
Justin Cole:Yeah, that's true, particularly of women leaders, but I think leaders in general, we absolutely need to lean into relationships. Such an important lesson. So you had mentioned adversity. And so I want to transition if you'd be willing to talk about something that may be a bit more personal, and that's that you shared the caregiving for your mom during her cancer journey. And I know that shaped your perspective quite a bit.
Justin Cole:So I'm curious, would you be able to share and willing, how has that personal experience deepened your commitment to advancing patient access and affordability?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. Gosh. It really, changes when you are having to navigate such a serious illness for a loved one. And, my parents were actually with me when we got the the call from the pulmonologist that the biopsy was, in fact, cancer and, you know, kinda figured it was gonna come back then. And I'm like, what is stage is it?
Hillary Blackburn:And he you know, the doctor says stage four. And just the, like I mean, I had not been you know, when we're out in practice as pharmacists, you really niche down. And so I had not been focused on oncology for several years, and I'm thinking, oh my goodness. I've got a three to six month, like, time. And and we had more.
Hillary Blackburn:We had about fifteen months, and I was just, you know, tenacious on researching and finding, you know, the best doctors that we could. Thankfully, they had moved from Mississippi and actually and I still want to be a little Erin Brockovich here at some point when I have free time. But there she was like the fourth third or fourth person from our hometown at this age in their sixties that had been diagnosed with this genetic EGFR lung cancer in a population of less than 15,000, which is just odd. And so a lot of them were having to go to Houston, to MD Anderson. Here in Nashville, you know, we've got several different like, you know, we're in a great health care hub.
Hillary Blackburn:And so we went in and had three different opinions and, you know, working for, I was using every connection that I had. I think, again, comes about to relationships and connections, persistence. You know, you have to be an advocate. And so I you know, my parents are, you know, educated. They're not in health care, but, you know, we were, like, recording our visits and things and just, like, you seeing how challenging it is to navigate the health care system And then thinking about how patients that, you know, I'm trying to help more specifically, in my area of practice underserved populations, you're thinking, goodness, like, we have got so much to go.
Hillary Blackburn:But, you know, really that complexity having to navigate that, really having to push, because, you know, you can fall through the cracks. I'm so grateful that we were able to get in with three different, providers so quickly because I was talking with the NCI director. I had a lead to talk with her, and she she made the comment because she was a Nashvillian, and she made the comment that the field moves fast. And I thought, I wonder what she means by that. And, like, now, oh, I get it.
Hillary Blackburn:So, you know, if you have if you're symptomatic with brain mets, then it is whole brain radiation. However, if you're looking at tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which are kind of the frontline treatment for this EGFR cancer and some of the other cancers, don't quote me, our oncologist pharmacist, because anyway, and so one was like, yep, whole brain. Another one said, oh, nope, this Tagrisso, you're going get that this weekend, and it's going to penetrate the blood brain barrier. Everything's going to clear up. And then we had a kind of a third middle of the road.
Hillary Blackburn:Oh, we'll do SRS, the stereostatic radiation on the big spots. We had three different opinions. And I mean, that was life that could have been life changing if she had had to undergo that whole brain radiation immediately and her quality of life. But because the guidelines said that, that was what if you're not seeing EGFR lung cancer and seeing the case, I was like, please write us up as a case report. I don't know if that actually happened, but she had 21 brain mets at diagnosis and, you know, six months before had had an MRI for headaches, and it was completely clear.
Hillary Blackburn:So I would just, you know, one, our healthcare system is very complex. Being able to empathize with our patients, is so important. And then, you know, how can we be an advocate for our patients and, you know, just for others? That's just why I feel such an urgency in this work of access, affordability. And then, you know, finally, I'm just so grateful for our, my pharmacist peers and network.
Hillary Blackburn:So a colleague and I, had started doing these networking dinners. She is very outgoing and social and we just have hit it out. We, you know, we don't see each other all the time, but we were we both had seen this kind of happen in, some other cities. And I'm like, we can do this here in Nashville. We have you know, it's a fun city.
Hillary Blackburn:We have got plenty of pharmacists here. We have three schools of pharmacy, seven in the state of Tennessee. And so that group, one, she is in oncology on the pharma side. And so I'm like, Allie, what do I do? Allie, what you know?
Hillary Blackburn:And so she was like kind of my go to, like what like just checking in from a clinical perspective. And then just as a friend perspective, you know, I had plenty of other people that were you know, like, I was calling in, like, favors on how to get the prior auth approved so we could get that Tagrisso started ASAP and help with getting all of those brain mets solved. I mean, when it's your loved one, I mean, you're I am I am pretty perseverant as is growing up playing all kinds of sports, very competitive. And you better believe whenever it was my mama, I was like, I'm gonna pull out all the stops and do everything that I could. And so, yeah, I'm just grateful for, you know, some of my colleagues who really were, gosh, so, like, life giving, such a good resource of I'm, like, getting teary eyed just thinking about that journey.
Hillary Blackburn:It was just about three months ago that we lost my mom. And so definitely still a little emotional thinking about the whole experience. But, yeah, it's it definitely shapes you. And, you know, you go back to work and you you've got, you know, this grief and kids and husband and life and it's just a lot until you start talking about it again. So
Shannon Yarosz:Wow. Thank you for sharing that. I know it's funny when you said, you know, when it's your loved one, you know, you really start thinking about things differently. So thank you for sharing. And speaking of relationships and connections, you were talking about just how important that is to you and you continue to mentor student pharmacists through precepting advisory roles.
Shannon Yarosz:What do you think the next generation of pharmacists need most to succeed in a changing healthcare landscape?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah, I do love precepting and, you know, I've had so many wonderful mentors along the way. And I think just the building others that cope. My dad was always a coach for me in all my sports, and then I actually had my mom as a teacher. And so I think those are just innate traits in me. And so I love working with the schools of pharmacy and have been asked to serve on advisory committees for, you know, some of the deans of two different colleges of pharmacy.
Hillary Blackburn:But yeah, this next generation of pharmacists really needs adaptability, and entrepreneurial thinking. So the profession is evolving really quickly and students need to be ready for the roles that may not yet exist. So I really encourage them to, you know, seek mentors, get involved in professional organizations, and really develop skills outside of traditional pharmacy training, whether it's in informatics, business. And, you know, we need people in policy that are able to tell the story and communicate that story to other stakeholders so that we can have a seat at the table.
Justin Cole:Yeah, I couldn't agree more with your list, Hillary. I think you're right on and on those fronts. And it makes me think of where we are going with innovation in pharmacy. Again, we've talked about that being a passion for you. But I'm curious, what are your thoughts from your vantage point?
Justin Cole:What are those innovations in pharmacy or healthcare delivery that are most exciting and going to be the game changers we talk about in five years from now?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. Well, I think bringing care closer to patients and whether that pharmacist embedded in clinics for that chronic disease prevention or not just clinics, it could really be agnostic location, but the prevention, food as medicine programs, digital therapeutics, wearables have just really blown up. And then any kind of platforms and technology that can help make affordability more transparent, whether it's at the point of prescribing or that the patient can see. So over the next five years, I really think that AI enabled care navigation and pharmacist led value based care could be transformative for patients and providers alike. I'm really excited about the emphasis on patient empowerment and the focus on health and wellness.
Hillary Blackburn:Personally, I have always been into fitness growing up playing sports, but have really had to learn more about nutrition and prioritizing pork protein as I've gotten older, limiting sugar to help manage my blood sugar even as I started showing up as pre diabetic with a 5.7 A1C during my second pregnancy. So again, I'm like, gosh, like I'm lean, I'm fit. I don't know, maybe something else is going on. I'm really having to it's really interesting whether you're a caregiver or whether you're thinking about it from your own perspective as a patient. Was using a CGM to dial in and kind of gamify food choices and really have enjoyed learning more about functional medicine and looking at the body as a whole versus more siloed systems and having specialists for every different problem.
Hillary Blackburn:So, yeah, I'm a big proponent of giving patients, individuals more information, empowering them. These tools like function health. You know, I've loved signing up for that, getting more of like that picture of what is your lab, what are all of your different labs look like. I remember, you know, years ago, I'm like, I just don't wanna know. And now I'm like, no.
Hillary Blackburn:I everything. And so there's so much to learn. And, yeah, I just think it's really exciting. We're gonna see a lot of change with health care over the next few years.
Justin Cole:Well, I couldn't agree with you more. And to me, it just makes me more excited to be in health care at this time of history. The amount of resources we have to change the paradigm of care is just exponential. And you've talked about many of those things that could really change the dynamic for the patients that we serve. So, couldn't agree with you more.
Justin Cole:You've given me a couple more podcast ideas as well, which I appreciate.
Hillary Blackburn:Great.
Shannon Yarosz:Yes. In between your leadership role, podcasting, writing, advocacy, family life, I'm a mom too as well. And so, I wanted to see how do you manage to balance it all? And what advice do you give to others trying to, you know, do it all?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. Well, it it, it is hard to, quote, unquote, do it all. I think that, you know, it's about seasons. We did not have you know, we are celebrating our ten years. We waited five years to start having babies.
Hillary Blackburn:And, you know, as an early entry pharmacy student, I was kind of out of I had my PharmD before I think I was even 25. So, you know, I had a good long chunk to, like, hard charge first out of the gates. But even, you know, that first year off of residency, I kinda stepped back a little bit. I had moved. You've just kinda got to lean in.
Hillary Blackburn:That's, You probably hear that term a lot, lean in, lean out. But having great support systems, family has been super supportive. Having a great nanny is also key to helping manage all of that and letting go of some other responsibilities. I have not adding on children, I am not volunteering for every, you know, national ballet or, some of the other, you know, different things that that I may have done in years, particularly things that I've done in years past, and I'm just having to be pick and choose. And I was able to serve on APHA's executive committee kind of in between or no.
Hillary Blackburn:I think I was running in 2020, so when I was pregnant. So one baby versus adding more, and I just think, you know, those mamas are super moms once you, you know, one you are and then those with, like, three, four, and more. I'm like, man. So I think just, you know, giving yourself grace, prioritizing what matters most in that season, and only saying yes to opportunities that align with your purpose.
Justin Cole:Yeah, that's great advice. Well, Hillary, as we wind down, I have one more question for you. And that's simply, what kind of impact do you hope that your work has, whether it's an advocacy, entrepreneurship, innovation, some other space has on the pharmacy profession and health care at large?
Hillary Blackburn:Yeah. I love that question. You know, I hope that, you know, I love advocating for our profession. And I think that pharmacists play such a big role, and it's really all comes down to my love and care for helping and serving others and taking care of people and taking care of our patients. And there are so many amazing ways that as a pharmacist, can do that.
Hillary Blackburn:I think that we've got an important opportunity in prevention, in helping with educate and manage people. We've got, you know, ninety plus million individuals with prediabetes, with, you know, other types of, like, you know, potential metabolic disease. And, you know, we've got a big role that we could play to help kind of stop that trend from growing. Access, you know, access to care and making it more affordable. Pharmacists are great problem solvers.
Hillary Blackburn:And so I really think that we could be more bold and that, you know, we do have some really great opportunities for innovation in pharmacy. So, you know, love to see a future where we're fully recognized as providers and seamlessly integrated into the health care team. No challenges with interoperability and where no patient is having to choose between their medication and other basic needs.
Justin Cole:Well, Hillary, I hope that vision comes to reality. And by all the work you've done up to this point and what you're doing now, I'm confident it will. So we are so thankful that you, took a little bit of time out of your busy podcasting and family life and professional life to talk with us today. Thank you again so much, Hilary.
Hillary Blackburn:Well, thank you. It was a pleasure to join both of you.
Justin Cole:You have been listening to DISRxUPT, a podcast from the Cedarville University Center for Pharmacy Innovation. If you enjoyed listening today, please subscribe and share this podcast with others. Thanks for listening.