On Thursday, I had the honor of visiting the pharmacy team—both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians—at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in celebration of American Pharmacists Month. COL Stephen Ford, Chief of Pharmacy, leads this group of committed individuals—Army and Navy uniformed and civilian staff—as they provide medication therapy management services to service members, military retirees, and their families. 

I am always humbled when I visit our military hospitals. And I'm so grateful for our service personnel’s willingness to serve our country and impressed with the multidisciplinary approach and their significant contributions to achieve positive medication outcomes for those warriors with devastating injuries and often complicated medication regimens. Pharmacists like Dr. Julie Liss, a pharmacist who specializes in pain management, and Dr. Lisa Oh serve as valued members of the care team—which includes the nurse case manager, the primary care physician, behavioral medicine, and the service member’s family—to ensure oversight and management of complicated drug regimens, pain management, monitoring medication adherence, and coordination of care.

COL Ford’s philosophy and message to his staff in working with patients is “Personalize, Humanize, and Demystify” to make patients a partner in their care, provide services valuable to patients, and achieve positive health outcomes. The Walter Reed pharmacy staff truly epitomizes the American Pharmacists Month mantra: “Know your Pharmacist—Know your Medicine.”

As a side note, my first visit to a military pharmacy was at our Annual Meeting in San Antonio in 2009. At that time, I met Julie Liss, who was the personal pharmacist of the wounded warriors being treated at Brooke Army Medical Center’s Center for the Intrepid. She told me then that her job was so unique that she just didn’t know anyone else she could network with. Later that year, during American Pharmacists Month, I visited her counterpart at the Walter Reed Army facility, after which I connected the two. It was really fun to see Julie yesterday at WRNMMC, 5 years later. Small world!