Pharmacy as I know it…
When asked why pharmacy? Most people may say “I want to help people,” “I worked in a pharmacy,” or “a family member is a pharmacist.”
For me that wasn’t the case.
I saw pharmacy as an avenue to better myself, a way to give my family a better way of life. But if I’m H.O.T. (honest, open, and transparent), pharmacy was my meal ticket out the hood. Just like athletes who use sports to better themselves. I saw education as my meal ticket.
I had no idea of who or what a pharmacist does until my cousin mentioned it to me while we were working at a local fast food restaurant. She said I want to be a pharmacist and my response was “what’s that?” After researching, the field sparked my interest. At the time, pharmacists were making $120k+ annually with $50k sign on bonuses. So I set off to become a pharmacist.
My home state, Mississippi, only had one pharmacy school so I attended the University of Mississippi. As I was approaching graduation, I decided to apply to Hampton University. The first reason is because I always wanted to live in the Hampton Roads area. The second reason was because I wanted to attend an HBCU. So I went.
Best decision ever!!!
Not merely for school purposes but for life!! I needed to see black people radiating in wealth, abundance, and prosperity. I needed to deepen my relationship with God because Hampton was a faith walk like never before.
My last year of pharmacy school, being what people considered a “pharmacist” wasn’t what I wanted to be. I realized the change I wanted to have in the world was beyond medications. It was a better quality of life, a better health system.
As a child, it was common to hear family members refer to their medications as the “water pill,” “sugar pill” or “fluid pill”. Those terms began to bother me as I matriculated in pharmacy school. During my third year of pharmacy school, I realized my mother’s “nerve pill” was a SSRI and that she didn’t know why she was taking it.
No diagnosis… what the doctor tell you this medication was for… nothing
Granted I grew up in a medically underserved area, but no one explained to my mom what she was taking?
You see that situation ignited something in me. It showed me that the world needs to see the value of a pharmacist. We’re so much more than “responding to the doctors’ prescriptions” and “putting pills in bottles.” We are medication experts who spend 3-4 years learning medications not 3-6 months like other professionals. We are clinicians who specialize in medication safety, effectiveness, and adherence. We are healthcare providers.
So let me introduce myself to you…
Hi I am Dr. LaQuita Johnson
But most people call me Dr. LaQuita J
I am a pharmacist, health equity advocate, speaker, and founder of PharmD To RPh®.
It is my mission to help pharmacists boldly show up as the healthcare providers they are. I believe it’s time for pharmacists to become front-line healthcare practitioners, impact the healthcare system, and love doing it.
