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Leadership Profile
Meet Milena McLaughlin, PharmD, MSc, BCPS-AQ ID, AAHIVP

What is your current leadership position in ICHP?

Ø  I am the Secretary of NISHP and the Assistant Editor of KeePosted™.

What benefits do you see in being active in a professional association such as ICHP?

Ø  I am sure that most people answer this with the importance of giving back to the profession. One of the other important benefits is self-development. By being engaged in ICHP, I am able to call upon my strengths to lead others and seek mentorship from others when I identify an area for improvement that is creating a barrier for me. I am then able to identify other members to provide opportunities and become a mentor. This cycle of mentor/mentee becomes a way of giving back to the profession.

What initially motivated you to get involved in ICHP?

Ø  During my training at MWU/NMH, I was encouraged to become engaged in pharmacy service. I was previously very involved in pharmacy organizations in both Pennsylvania and New York. ICHP seemed to be a natural extension of these organizations. The existence of the New Practitioner’s Network and the “openness” with which ICHP mentors welcome new members and encourage leadership opportunities provided a large amount of intrinsic motivation.

Where did you go to pharmacy school?

Ø  University of the Sciences in Philadelphia

Where have you trained or worked?

Ø  I completed my PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency in New York City and my ID Fellowship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital through Midwestern University. I have been on faculty at MWU with my clinical practice site at the Northwestern ID Center since 2013.

What special accomplishments have you achieved?

Ø  When other kids wanted to be ballerinas and astronauts, I wanted to be a math teacher. But then I could not decide between math and science. The pharmacy profession is wonderful because it marries math and science. I am a pharmacist; however, I am technically also a math teacher since I teach pharmacokinetics. I think that is pretty special.

Describe your current area of practice and practice setting:

Ø  I am an outpatient HIV/ID clinical pharmacist at a multidisciplinary hospital-based clinic. Pharmacists are very well integrated into the patient care model and we have a collaborative practice agreement as well as our own patient message line. We have multiple students that greatly extend our reach to see patients prior to their appointments and identify medication related issues.

What advice would you give to student pharmacists?

Ø  It’s not what you know, it’s knowing what you don’t know and knowing where to look to find information about what you don’t know. It’s also who you know and cultivating those relationships.

Do you have any special interests or hobbies outside of work?

Ø  I love to bake and craft, anything creative after being “science-y” all day! I was recently asked to make a birthday cake out of soda cans.

Do you have a favorite restaurant or food?

Ø  Sushi!

What is your favorite place to vacation?

Ø  This is a very hard question! I have been trying to get to all 50 states and I have about 7 left.

What is the most interesting/unique fact about yourself that few people know?

Ø  I know how to fly a plane.

What 3 adjectives would people use to best describe you?

Ø  Rare, tenacious, droll