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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, I am joined by Dr. Melissa Turner. Melissa is the founder of Tarheel PGx Consulting and Turnaround Wellness. She specializes in pharmacogenomics and nutrigenomics, helping clients optimize their medication and nutrition based on their genetic profiles. Welcome back to DISRxUPT. We appreciate you tuning in for this episode. Today, it's a unique privilege to have Dr. Melissa Turner on the podcast. Melissa holds a doctor of pharmacy degree from Campbell University and is also a certified mental health coach. Melissa's journey is deeply personal and marked by significant challenges, including tragic losses. However, these experiences have led her to integrate her faith and spirituality into her practice as a pharmacist, offering a holistic approach to health that addresses physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
Justin Cole:Through Turnaround Wellness, Melissa empowers individuals to reclaim their health and deepen their connection with God, providing personalized care and faith based guidance. Her mission is to help others find hope and healing just as she has in her own life. As I mentioned, it is such a privilege to have Melissa on the podcast, so thank you so much for joining us today.
Melissa Turner:Thank you for having me. It's great to be here.
Justin Cole:Alright. Well, there are so many questions that I have for you. gotten to know, your work at Turnaround Wellness primarily through LinkedIn, and read a little bit about it. But I just wanna start by letting you set the stage for where you've come as a pharmacy entrepreneur and how you even got here. So tell us your story.
Justin Cole:How did you get in the pharmacy to begin with?
Melissa Turner:Well, I have to give all the credit to my mom. She said that I should be a pharmacist and I said okay, I think I can do that. There were a lot of things that I thought about doing when I was in college, I as a child always wanted to be a teacher and I would take my stuffed animals and put them on the bed, I would teach them and I just remember at the end of the year teachers would be giving away like worksheets and old books and I would just take all of them home so I could use them. And then my little sister came along and she was my real student for this first time and I would teach her and I just always thought that's what I was going to do. And then as I got older I realized teaching children was not my gift.
Melissa Turner:And so I needed to find something else. And I thought about a lot of other professions. And then finally, with my mom's encouragement, picked pharmacy. I was always good at science and math, and I thought it would be an easy job and they made good money and I was good at that and so you know that sounds like a good fit and so that's what I decided to go into. And I probably should have worked in a pharmacy before I decided that that that may have helped a little bit, but anyways, like you said I graduated from Campbell University here in North Carolina in 2013 and I had worked at an independent for about 2 years while I was in school and I loved it, I thought it was great the hours were not really long it it seemed like an easy job something I could do for the rest of my life, I was really excited.
Melissa Turner:Graduation came and that was my plan, was to work at an independent pharmacy and I began looking around to find somewhere to work and unfortunately there were no places for me to work at it that were an independent setting except one and all they could offer me was part time work and I was like no I really need to do full time, and so I kept looking and ended up applying for a job as a staff pharmacist with CVS. Interviewed, got that job, and started working there in August of 2013 and a few months after that they built a freestanding store. We were originally in a strip mall had been there for about 30 years. It was a really old store very outdated and so they moved us just a few miles down the road and they had also bought out an independent pharmacy in a neighboring town, so we had all of their patients. It was right before Thanksgiving and it was just chaos to say the least, and we went from you know no drive through to having 2 drive through lanes and all these new people and new staff and new patients and new store and nobody knew where anything was and anyways it was a struggle and time went on and we we sort of got our rhythm started figuring things out and as the years went by things unfortunately just continued to get worse, and I did my best and tried as hard as I could.
Melissa Turner:I would go in early. I would stay late to, you know, get the work done, get the prescriptions filled, get the totes of medicines put away so that we're not tripping over them. Just things like that continued and there were times when I had concerns about different things maybe, you know, the demands not having enough help from technicians to be able to do all of these things they expected us to do and it just felt like nothing ever changed, nothing ever got any better, and so I just kept doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing and and did my best and then on Friday, November 30th of 2018 I'd gone into work early like I'd always done, got the queues cleared, and was just waiting for my technicians to get there so we can open the store, and I get a phone call and it's someone from my mom's work calling to tell me that my sister has been shot and killed by my uncle and, you know, can you come home? Your mom needs you. And I said, of course.
Melissa Turner:And so I called the pharmacy manager tell her what has happened she gets there as soon as she can and I leave the store manager actually ends up driving me back home which was about an hour away. And so 5 days later on what should have been my sister Katie's 26th birthday is the day that we had her funeral, and then that Friday so a week later I'm right back at work. And so again you know this is the holidays, Christmas, flu, cold season, it's just again chaos and I'm just pushing through the grief and and all of that that I was experiencing just continued to try and do my work. And so about 2 years later, so December 4, 2020, my husband comes in again on a Friday and to tell me that my dad has died. And so yet again, I'm back in this same place and getting tragic news again, and so I leave and probably a week later I was right back at work, but and then COVID hit and and all of that, and so it was just too much for me.
Melissa Turner:And I had gotten to a point where I didn't want to be a pharmacist anymore and I regretted my decision to go to pharmacy school and I was like this is not what I thought it was going to be and if this is what it's going to be like then I don't want to do this anymore, but I didn't know what to do. I did not know where to turn. I didn't know how I was gonna get out of this. And through a series of events and LinkedIn and God working in my life, I was finally able to find a new path and to learn how to start my own business and to be able to get out of that place that had all of that history and everything that had happened and you know be able to finally help people in a way that to me felt like it was actually meaningful and not just pushing pills out as fast as humanly possible and and trying to meet all these these metrics and and do all these things. So it was just too much, but now I'm in a place where I'm able to help people.
Justin Cole:Well, it's hard to know exactly what to say, Melissa. You've definitely dealt with a lot of adversity, but, it's clear that often out of ashes, beauty can arise. And there are some really neat things that have happened that we're gonna talk about a bit more as we go forward. But, it's clear these experiences have shaped your professional path and even your approach to wellness. So maybe let's start with that.
Justin Cole:Like, how have you seen your understanding of wellness change through these experiences and now some of the work you get to do today?
Melissa Turner:Yeah. So wellness for me now is taking care of my physical health with the foods that I eat, with, you know getting enough water, getting time outside, making time for myself as well because I was for so many years putting everyone else first. I was putting my, you know, my work, my customers first. They certainly did need me, but when I gave everything to them and everyone else I didn't have anything left for myself, and so it's also my mental health and my spiritual health as well. And so when I was in that go do more better faster mode you know I didn't have that time to sit down and really have time along with God to be able to pray, to be able to read my Bible, to be able to hear him when he was trying to speak to me.
Melissa Turner:And so wellness for me is it's so many different things. It's, it's definitely changed a lot since, you know, a few years ago.
Justin Cole:And it seems like that learning process or maybe relearning some of those things are things you already knew. Right? But they took a different path to help remind you of them have have shaped some of what you've been working on recently. So now, take us to the idea that was sparked for open or starting your first company. What was the, impetus for that, and how did Tarheel PGx Consulting come about?
Melissa Turner:Yes. So I mentioned LinkedIn and I tell anyone and I precept pharmacy students now and one of the things I make sure that if they're not already doing that they start while they're on rotation with me is get their LinkedIn profile up and going, because I would not be here without it. It was a late night and scrolling on LinkedIn trying to find a new job that I saw a podcast about pharmacist burnout and I was like what what's that and I listened to it and I'm just crying and it's in that moment I'm like other pharmacists feel this way? It's not just me? Because for so long, I felt alone.
Melissa Turner:I felt like I'm not a good enough pharmacist. I'm not working hard enough. If I was doing what I was supposed to, we wouldn't always, you know, be in the red and be behind. But it wasn't me. And so I reached out to the person who did that podcast and she connected me with a coach and so she helped me to figure out you know why my current environment was so bad for me and why it wasn't working for me.
Melissa Turner:It may work for other people but it didn't work for me, and then that coach connected me with another pharmacist who was in a similar situation who had worked retail for years, wanted to do something different help people in a different way and she had left and started her own business and then through that pharmacist I was able to take her course to learn how to start Tarheel PGx consulting and when I was in pharmacy school I had not heard of PGx. I didn't know anything about it and it was new to me at the time where you're testing a patient's DNA to see what medications they maybe should stay away from because they may be harmful or may not even work and I was like why are we doing this for everyone? Why would we want to give somebody a medicine and it not work or be harmful? And so I was like I don't see anyone in my area doing this I want to to lead the way in this and so I you know took courses, bought books, learned as much as I could, and so I started my business doing that.
Melissa Turner:But over the years it it has evolved. I still do the genetic testing for medications, but it has definitely grown and changed since then, and that was back in 2021.
Justin Cole:So, well, let's keep walking that story forward. So now I think a lot of what you do is through the umbrella of Turnaround Wellness. Right? So tell us about that transition from starting Tarheel PGx Consulting to now having Turnaround Wellness.
Melissa Turner:Right. So as I continue to learn, continue to grow my network with other pharmacists, I got introduced to Nutrigenomics, which is the same concept except instead of looking at DNA and medications, you're looking at DNA and nutrition and wellness. And I was like, wow. This is so cool too. I I want to help patients with this as well.
Melissa Turner:I want them to see where they have changes in their DNA that makes them more vulnerable to maybe certain conditions or maybe they should stay away from certain foods or should have more of these foods or they're more prone to injury with exercise those are things I think people would want to know and you know how can we help them with diet, lifestyle, or supplements. And then for a long time, I had felt God calling me to bring my faith into my business and unfortunately, I listened to the enemy which said don't do that. Nobody wants to hear about your faith in your business, you need to keep those two things separate, you'll never be successful, and so I'd resisted for so long, but then at some point I realized I can't not talk about my faith because I would not be where I am today if it were not for my relationship with God, my church community, and my faith. And so I just feel that God has made us we are a whole person, and yes we need to take care of our physical health, our mental health, and our spiritual health, but we can't look at them in isolation.
Melissa Turner:We have to take care of all of those pieces and so that's why I changed my name at the beginning of this year, 2024, to something that more accurately reflected everything that I was doing because I want to help women to be able to turn their life around through all of those different pieces.
Justin Cole:Melissa, get this sense that Turnaround Wellness has a little bit more meaning to you in terms of the name than just just that. So tell me more about how you picked the name.
Melissa Turner:Yeah. So my last name is Turner, and it's actually I have to give my husband credit. So he is a minister of the pastor of our church and so he had this was many many years ago. He had mentioned, maybe starting something called Turnaround Ministries and so a play on our last name. And so that's really where I got it, the Turnaround Wellness and it's the wellness piece it's the whole person care and so helping women to be able to turn their life around.
Melissa Turner:He may be headed in one direction. I was headed in to to darkness. There were times after Katie died where I didn't want to live anymore and I thought about how can I end my life? I don't want to do this anymore. I don't see the point, But through small changes, through community support, through my friends, my family, I was able to turn my life around.
Justin Cole:Yeah. I love it. So kudos to you and your husband for the name. I think it just represents so much that's integral to what you're doing and also to your story. So, I love it.
Justin Cole:So you've already talked about some of the challenges that you faced when starting your businesses. What were some other ones maybe you faced, and and how did you overcome those?
Melissa Turner:Well, I think the biggest hurdle was and part of the reason, again, why I changed my name is nobody knew what PGx was. And so that that made it hard. So a lot of it was the education piece and helping people understand even what this technology is and so getting out there and telling other people about it and how it can help them, and I'm still working on the other piece which is you know going to different doctors or different medical providers, wellness providers, and helping to educate them as well, so not just people in the community but other providers as well because if I graduated in 2013 and we weren't taught it then, they are now, but you know how many other pharmacists out there don't know about it and if we're supposed to be the champions for this and we don't even know about it or how to use it then you know how can we do that? And so I've done a lot of guest lecturing at different pharmacy schools being on other podcasts as well to help get the word out about what PGx is, what other genetic tests, and just really other ways that pharmacists can help people because at least for me I felt in school your 3 options were hospital retail or residency that was really it, but I've seen that there's more out there and if you don't see the exact way out there then just start it and you you can do it. You're a smart, educated person. You want to help people. You can do it.
Justin Cole:Yeah. I couldn't agree more. I feel like COVID kind of spurred this wave of innovation entrepreneurship among pharmacists. Now I know too many times we still fall into this bucket of being type a thinkers and wanting to have the recipe solved for us. Right? Yes. But I love how you are showing that we can break that mold. Right? And we can create the path that we need to follow, to better serve the people that are around us.
Melissa Turner:Mhmm.
Justin Cole:So I wanna let you paint us a bit of a picture about how you work with those people you connect with. So can you explain, what a typical interaction looks like and how do you go through the pharmacogenomics, nutrigenomics information with someone? So what does that look like?
Melissa Turner:So it varies from person to person just depending on what their needs are, what are they struggling with, what do they need help with, and so I've had some people who take no medications and just think this is really cool and and they want to get this testing done so that if they ever need medications they have a better game plan, And I've had people who take 20 plus medications, and so I'm really helping them. Are you on the right drug, the right dose for your body? Do you need more? Do you need less? Do we need to stop something altogether?
Melissa Turner:And so, you know, starting out everyone with that initial consultation to really dive deep into their health history and see where where they need that help and then you know doing the testing, for the nutrigenomics testing I usually start out with the top three pathways on the patient's results because that report no matter which lab you use has lots of information and there's no way that you can go through all of that in even 1 hour. So we'll usually pick 1 or 2 you know what is the patient struggling with it, is it anxiety, is it sleep, is it fatigue, is it weight loss, and and where do they have those vulnerabilities that might sort of explain the things that they're dealing with and then now what can we do to to help the patient.
Melissa Turner:And then as far as the faith based piece again that's going to depend on what they're struggling with and I have several different courses where the client will go through different Bible verses. Is it based for anxiety or depression? I also have one for your past present future and that really sets the foundation to have that understanding of, you know, how do you see God? How does God see you? And so, you know, you're really able to create those changes through all of that information and to be able to to really know what to do next. So I hope patients do that.
Justin Cole:Yeah. I love the holistic approach you take to everything that you do. You're incorporating some of the newest science as it's being developed and grown while also appealing to some of the oldest truths that we as humans, have in the Bible. Right? And so right, you're showing, how, like, we have so many good gifts from god that we can use to help people, and you're pulling them all together, which is really, really cool. For those listeners who have been around with us for a while, you may have remembered these terms aren't too new to you, hopefully, pharmacogenomics and nutrigenomics. We've talked to Sue Paul on the podcast back in the day, and you can go back and listen and and hear more about that. But what I wanna do with you, Melissa, is dive a bit more into this idea of your faith in your work.
Melissa Turner:Mhmm.
Justin Cole:There's no question, even in the the 20 minutes we've been talking, that faith is a crucial part of your life and work. So can you maybe talk a bit more about how has your faith influenced your career and also the services that you offer?
Melissa Turner:Mhmm. Yeah. So my theme verse for my business is 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 through 4 and it really talks about how God has comforted us through all of our afflictions so we are called to comfort others. And so that just really shows me, I of course I would give anything to have my sister back. Yeah, I want her here right with me right now, but I know that's not going to happen.
Melissa Turner:And so what am I going to do to make sure that her death is not in vain? That something good comes out of it. And I'm, you know, everything is, you know, how am I reflecting God's light? Because God is, the light and how am I reflecting it? And so no matter what I've been through and what I will go through in the future you know following God does not mean things are always going to be easy and perfect.
Melissa Turner:I'm not going to experience difficult times, but now my outlook is different and so I can bring my hope to my patients because I've been where they are, I've been in that that pit that darkness of alone, and you don't feel like there's any way out. But God is faithful, and there is hope on the other side, and you you can get through this, and I stand for your transformation.
Justin Cole:That's great. So I'd love to hear, are there any particular moments when you think about your story when your faith provided you with strength or guidance even in your professional journey? Like, are there moments that stick out to you?
Melissa Turner:Oh, I think just the whole experience because when I was in pharmacy school, I never envisioned that I would own my own business. That that was not for me. I didn't get an MBA. I'm not going to do that, I'm just going to work for someone else for 30 years and then I'll retire. But this whole process you know I started out thinking I was going to be doing one thing and now 3 plus years later it's completely changed, And so there's no way that I could have gotten to this point without my faith and my dependence on God and him showing me, hey, I'm in control, and, you know, you are safe, I'm holding you, but I'm trying to grow you here and and take you to that next level in your faith. And so this whole process, you know, there have been months where I had you know several new customers, there's also been months where I've had none and and I've been in that that desert and so it's just shown me that that I can do this, I am stronger than I ever thought that I was and and god is always with me, and god always provides in his time.
Justin Cole:Yeah. Great words of wisdom. So one question I wanted to ask you was how do you balance, or maybe a better word is integrate, the scientific aspects of your work with the spiritual and emotional support you provide to your clients? You've already kind of mentioned, that both are are there, but how do you see those kind of integrating together in what you do?
Melissa Turner:Yeah. So definitely for me, you know, God gave people these abilities and to to create to do the science to do the research so you know if you need those medications I want you to be on the right drug at the right dose for your body so that you can can find that healing. And then for thinking about the nutrigenomics I'm also thinking you know are there things you know vitamin deficiencies or you know something else going on at a deeper level to maybe why you're experiencing the high blood pressure or the cholesterol or the inflammation and how can we nourish your body with the things that God wanted you to have, and God created you for. And you know just bringing in the faith piece it's it's they're not separate. We have to to use all of that together to to bring that wholeness to back to people.
Justin Cole:Well, I've not been a client of Dr. Turner's here, but I would guess to say that the people you work with probably notice a difference even in the way you talk. Right? You're using words that, encourage them to dive deeper into whether they have a relationship with God or not. And why might that be so important to their overall well-being, considering that they're not just physical beings. They're spiritual people too with souls.
Justin Cole:And so, I, again, I've not been on the receiving end of your services, but I could see where just in our conversation again, we wanna maintain privacy and confidentiality here, but are there any particular rewarding experiences that you've had in working with clients through turnaround wellness that just bring you back to this is why I do this?
Melissa Turner:Yeah. Well, there's 3 that stick out to me. The first one is the first customer/ client/ patient that I ever worked with in doing the PGx testing and I did an interview with him so you can check that out on my YouTube channel. So he was actually one of my professors in pharmacy school and through his testing we found that he had a change in his DNA that if he were to take a certain medication it would be deadly for him. You know he might die if he were to take this very common medication and he never would have known that had he not had this testing done.
Melissa Turner:And then another patient that sticks out to me, we also did the PGx testing, but once we went over her results I remember her saying now I have peace of mind about my medicines and I was like, oh thank you that means so much.
Justin Cole:That's great.
Melissa Turner:Yeah, because I never got that at CVS. Usually it was you know people yelling at me or you know why is this not ready yet or why is my insurance charging, you know, pharmacists we we tend to get the brunt of of that and I know people are sick and they're hurting so they may not always mean it, but there were very few times in the pharmacy where someone said thank you. And now that's very nice to hear. And then the last one that really sticks out to me is a woman I worked with earlier this year and the transformation that she went through. And her interview is on my YouTube channel as well, but just seeing her her perspective change and shift over the just the few months that we worked together.
Melissa Turner:And so she did one of the Bible courses on the past, present, and future, and she also did the nutrigenomics testing and again finding things out about herself that she never knew that her regular doctor provider never thought to look at, never asked her the questions that I was asking to get to that root cause of why she's experiencing what she was going through. And so that is why I do what I do to help people have that transformation, to have those insights about themselves so that you know if someone's struggling to lose weight it's not because they're lazy or they don't care, but they may have changes in their DNA that affects the hormones that tell them when they're full and when they're hungry. And so that just empowers them to be able to make those changes and and have that motivation to do what they need to do to to help their health.
Justin Cole:Well, I think those are 3 very poignant stories that, yeah, clearly demonstrate the effect of what you're trying to do through Turnaround Wellness. Going back to the the spirituality side of this, you mentioned that it was difficult for you to actually make the jump to saying, yes, I wanna integrate science and spirituality. So what advice would you give to other health care professionals who wanna integrate their faith into their practice but maybe are fearful about it?
Melissa Turner:I would definitely say continue to pray about it, see how God wants you to bring that in. It may look different for each person, and then also reaching out to someone like myself and saying how did you do it? How what you know what are you doing? And just sort of like the logistics of it, and so I don't think that God is going to be mad at you for bringing in your faith to your business. I think he's only going to bless you, and I would say to do it and don't let the enemy continue to have that hold and to keep you from doing what God has called you to do.
Justin Cole:Yeah. Great advice. Great advice. So looking ahead, what are some of the goals that you have for the future of Turnaround Wellness? Are there new endeavors that you want to see happen or maybe some goals that you're trying to reach for?
Melissa Turner:Yeah. So I'm starting a new membership program in 2025 called the Radiance Inner Circle. And so this is an opportunity for women to have that community support to dive deep into what they're struggling with each month. I have, topic discussions each month that we'll be focusing on. I had my first live event this fall, and that was a really great experience.
Melissa Turner:So I want to have more in person events for women as well for their health and their wellness. And then I've also learned a lot in the last few months about functional medicine and really how how much, I love pharmacy but I feel like medicines just help with the symptoms, but is there a better way to to get to that root cause? Can we you know help people in a better way? So I I don't really know what that looks like, I've only taken one little mini course on the gut and my mind was blown. I'm like oh my gosh this is so cool I want to learn more, so I don't really know you know maybe a year from now what Turnaround Wellness will look like. You know I'll continue to help people with their medications, with their nutrition, with their faith. And so, those are just some of the things that are on the horizon.
Justin Cole:Well, as you look forward to expanding what you're doing and even, reinforcing and strengthening what you're already doing, I'm excited to see where Turnaround Health or Turnaround Wellness goes. So, keep up the great work. So, Melissa, I had one more question for you, and this is more allowing you to to give some of your life wisdom to our listeners here. So what message would you like to share with our listeners who might be struggling with their own health or their own faith journeys?
Melissa Turner:Oh, I would say that there are a lot of great pharmacists and practitioners out there available to help you. I would say, you know, do your research and find one that connects with you and that you connect with them and have that relationship where you trust them that you know that they're going to be able to help you in the right way and someone who their faith aligns with with yours. And so, I something I had to learn very early on in my business is that I can't help everyone, and that's okay. We're not called to help everyone with everything, when you try to do that you end up helping no one, and so just just reach out, continue to ask, and don't give up. There there are people out there who want to help you as well.
Justin Cole:I think that's great wisdom. We are entrusted with people who are in our sphere of influence, but we can't solve the world's problems on our own. Only God will do that in the future. Right? But yes, while while we're here in this brief moment of our lives, we just need to be faithful with influencing those that that God puts in our path. So great wisdom. I love it.
Justin Cole:Well, Melissa, it has been an absolute privilege talking with you. I'm invigorated even myself to ask, how can I, even more than I do now, integrate who I am as a believer in Christ with the things that I do, even the innovative things that, are before me? So thanks for that inspiration. Thanks for sharing your story as well, and keep up the great work with Turnaround Wellness.
Melissa Turner:Thank you so much.
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.