Board of Directors Profile: Ann Jankiewicz, President
by Nora Flint, Pharm.D., BCPS, FASHP Director Marketing Affairs
June 5, 2008
This is the
first in a series of articles that will describe the path by which
selected members of the ICHP Board of Directors found their way to
membership on the Board. It seems fitting to start with the current
President, Ann Jankiewicz.
Ann
started working at Rush University Medical Center as a student, prior
to graduating from UIC College of Pharmacy. It was through a chance
meeting with Paul Pierpaoli (former Rush Director of Pharmacy) at a
pharmacy student function that led to her start at Rush. After
graduating with her BS in Pharmacy, Ann continued as a staff pharmacist
at Rush. During Ann’s initial years of working at Rush, she sought out
special projects and opportunities to grow professionally, and was
fortunate to be mentored by some of the Clinical Specialists working at
Rush at that time. This led to a project that resulted in a poster
presented at an ASHP Annual meeting. She also obtained her Doctor of
Pharmacy degree through UIC’s nontraditional program.
Eventually,
Ann applied for and was given a Clinical Specialist position in
Internal Medicine at Rush. For many years, she rounded with Internal
Medicine and gained expertise in HIV therapy. Over the years, she
precepted students and residents, became more and more involved in
solving problems on the nursing unit with patient care activities and
in the pharmacy satellite that she worked with. Before long, Ann was
taking on management duties of the satellite, which led to her current
position at Rush, a satellite manager for two adult medicine/surgery
satellites.
Ann has been a member of ICHP for at least 20 years,
initially only attending local meetings. But again, mentoring came into
play when someone she respected (Andy Donnelly) suggested that she join
the Educational Affairs Committee and run for a delegate position in
NISHP. Ann admits that learning more about the House of Delegates and
seeing other pharmacists with so much passion for pharmacy enticed her
to want to be more involved in ICHP.
Ann’s next step within ICHP
was to become Secretary for 3 years. Following this, she was approached
to run for President of both ICHP and NISHP, but declined. Life was
busy, both at work and at home, and she didn’t feel she had the time.
Yet after a while, Ann missed being on the Board and hearing the issues
discussed. She knew there was never going to be a time that was not
busy for her, so it was then that she decided to run for President.
Some of the duties that Ann has as President are:
• Attending the ASHP state chapter president retreat
• Running the ICHP Board of Directors meeting
• Writing an article for each KeePosted
• Participating in monthly conference calls with the ICHP Executive Board and as needed conference calls with Scott Meyers
• Attending the Presidents’ dinner at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting
When
I asked Ann what benefits she feels she gets from being so involved in
ICHP, she told me the following: professional networking, personal
friendships, the development of leadership skills, being able to mentor
others, and feeling as though she is making an impact on the profession
of pharmacy in the state of Illinois. If you want any of these fabulous
opportunities in your life, then get more involved in ICHP now!
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