Introduction

Dr. Beth Cady is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and an infectious diseases pharmacy specialist at HSHS St. John’s Hospital. She collaborates with SIU’s Division of Infectious Diseases and focuses on gram-negative resistance and rapid diagnostics. Dr. Cady transitioned to pharmacy after teaching high school chemistry, earning her PharmD from Drake University, and completing PGY1 and PGY2 residencies in infectious diseases at the University of Kentucky. Learn more here.

Why Pharmacy

I grew up in a healthcare household. My brother and dad are both family practice physicians. When I was in college, I thought I was going to go on a similar path until I started noticing that I was pretty good at teaching/tutoring my classmates in Chemistry. I thought I had to decide between a career in healthcare and a career in teaching (how silly I was to think that I had to choose). So I pursued a degree in education and was certified to teach Chemistry and Physics. I taught high school Chemistry for 3 years, but deep down I knew I wanted to pursue something in the medical field, where education was involved. I hardly had any idea what pharmacists even did, but I figured with my love of Chemistry and a strong interest (and slight knowledge of) healthcare, why not pursue a pharmacy degree? I quit my teaching job, moved back to the state where I obtained my bachelor's degree, and immediately sought out a faculty member at Drake University to inquire about this "dream job" I had thought up in my head-one where I would work alongside physicians/healthcare providers in a hospital setting while simultaneously teaching in a classroom to learners in some sort of professional program. As luck would have it, the random faculty member I had a lunch chat with at Drake held that EXACT position. It was then and there that I realized my dream job was actually a "thing." I applied to pharmacy school on a (calculated) whim and matriculated that fall at Drake University. I told everyone who would listen that it was my goal to work on faculty at a school of pharmacy and my mentors encouraged me to pursue a residency, likely with a PGY2 in a specialized area. My mother's degree was in microbiology and she worked in a lab while my dad was in medical school, so my love of infectious diseases came naturally, quite honestly. It was easy to pursue a PGY1 and PGY2 in ID and after that training was completed, I obtained a job on faculty and I haven't looked back since!

Career Journey

I am on faculty at a school of pharmacy, so I teach in the classroom, but as a clinical practice faculty, I also work as a pharmacist in a hospital. I practice in infectious diseases at a 450-bed community teaching hospital. I work on an infectious diseases consult service daily alongside ID physicians, an ID nurse practitioner, medical residents, and ID fellows. My job is to focus only on patients' complex infections and I provide recommendations to the providers on the best antimicrobial therapy options for our patients' infections.

Current Role and Responsibilities

One thing that's so great about my job is that my workday never looks the same. I balance my time between working at the hospital, (rounding with physicians, NPs, other learners), and teaching 50+ students in the classroom. My day to day split is never equal, some months are spent more frequently in the hospital, while others are focused in the classroom when my "heavy" teaching content occurs during the semester. In the fall, my biggest teaching load involves one class that meets on Fridays for 2 hours and that's about it. In the spring, I heavily manage a course that's basically taught for a concentrated "half" of the semester, where I'm teaching almost every day, at least 2 hours a day. Even when I'm at the hospital, I often teach students, only these times, I have a more focused number of students, 2-3 at a time, where they work with me daily for ~5 week periods. It's on these hospital rotation experiences where they learn the ins and outs of what I do on a daily basis as an actual practicing pharmacist (and when I'm not in the classroom).

Challenges

The most obvious challenge would probably have to be two-fold: one which occurs in the classroom and one which occurs in the hospital setting. I take pride in my ability to teach/assess students and meet them where they are in their learning journey. Sometimes, I come across students who either decide pharmacy is not for them, or they generally have a harder time learning the material than others, despite my attempts at teaching the material in different ways. In the hospital setting, it's tough when we have patients who have infections or illness that ultimately are not cured or have extremely unfortunate outcomes, despite our best efforts with the best drug therapy options.

Rewards

At the risk of sounding cheesy, the most rewarding part of my job is watching those light bulb moments occur in my students. Of course, I love when I can help provide the best drug therapy recommendations for a patient to help cure their infection. But I'm only one person. By teaching many students year in and year out, I get to literally watch that ripple effect, and my individual impact can positively affect not only many future students, but also future patients. It's the best way to make the most exponentially positive impact in my profession. I love to instill the passion/love of ID in all my students-they may not all go into the same specialty profession as I'm in, but everybody is going to be affected by ID/antibiotics, so I work my hardest to ensure future pharmacists have a solid understanding of it, or a passion to find the right answers.

Advice for Students and Aspiring Professionals

Talk to anyone and everyone who will listen about your future career goals (especially faculty members who are invested in your future and your success). Even if it's discussing a career that you are not sure exists. Don't be afraid to dream big and discuss your dreams with mentors. You never know where the conversation may lead you (or who it may introduce you to). You also may learn about a new avenue of pharmacy, or a career you've never even heard of-which is quite common for our profession; the possibilities are almost endless!