Two of the WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences’ (CPPS) post-graduate pharmacy fellows will join the college as faculty this August.
Taylor Bertsch and Jennifer (Czapinski) Miller move from fellows to clinical assistant professors, and will teach in the college’s Doctor of Pharmacy program. Both completed two-year fellowship programs this summer.
Bertsch is from Auburn, Washington. He chose WSU because he believes it promotes a progressive mindset. Bertsch completed his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2016 at WSU before going into the Academic Fellowship Program under faculty advisor Kim McKeirnan.
“I have grown more confident in changing environments and comfortable with promoting a paradigm shift towards current pharmacy practices,” Bertsch said in describing his fellowship experience.
His area of expertise is focused on qualitative and quantitative research in community pharmacy practice, including technician immunization training, tuberculin skin test training, point-of-care training, physical assessment, and team-based learning. At WSU, Bertsch will teach the physical assessment portion of the curriculum in the Applied Patient Care Lab.
“Washington State University has an excellent group of faculty and students who are positive and progressive thinkers. I believe this great group of minds has boundless potential,” he said.
Miller is originally from Pleasanton, California, and grew up in Woodinville, Washington. She completed a Doctor of Pharmacy degree at WSU in 2015 and then completed a one-year pharmacy research residency. Following her residency she completed a two-year research fellowship under faculty advisor Julie Akers. Community pharmacy is Miller’s area of expertise as well, with an interest in interprofessional collaboration. Her previous work involved training student pharmacists to provide clinical patient care services using collaborative drug therapy agreements.
“My research focus will be on advancing pharmacy practice through innovative pharmacist-provided patient care services in the community pharmacy setting,” she said.
Miller will teach the Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPE) courses three through five. IPPE are a series of five courses that give student pharmacists hands-on learning in clinical settings and run through the first three years of the Doctor of Pharmacy program. Bertsch will teach the first two.
“These courses are designed to prepare our students for their clinical rotations during the summer and their fourth year in the program,” Miller said. “I think the best part of this job will be facilitating the growth and development of our pharmacy students.”
The College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences mission to advance human health through excellence in collaborative research, scholarship, and clinical education, and develop outstanding health care professionals and scientists.