Meet the School of Pharmacy’s new director of experiential education
As a ³ÉÈËAVÊÓƵ native, Samantha Kunkel is bringing her passion for pharmacy back to the area she knows and loves
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
I’m a ³ÉÈËAVÊÓƵ native. I went to Chenango Valley High School. I then went to Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for my PharmD. Once I graduated from there, I worked at CVS as a manager or pharmacist in charge right out of school. I did that for about a year, and then I went to Geisinger Health System in their ambulatory care sector with pain management. Since then, I’ve kind of floated around into chronic disease management and, most recently, rheumatology.
I obtained my board certification in ambulatory care (BCACP), which helped me practice at the top of my license within ambulatory care. Most recently, I obtained my MBA from Western Governors University. That was a personal interest of mine.
Q: What is something that people should know about you?
So, I think one thing that everyone should know is my passion for pharmacy and what pharmacists can do. That’s something I didn’t know before I went to pharmacy school. I thought they were just the people working in the basement of the hospital or working at your local drugstore, filling prescriptions.
What I’ve become passionate about is advocating for pharmacists across the healthcare spectrum. Not only are pharmacists doing those things I mentioned, but they are also behind the lines of PBMs and managed care organizations — creating formularies and bargaining drug costs. They’re in medication safety departments of hospitals, making sure medications are being used appropriately and effectively. We have pharmacists in the industry doing great things with drug development and the implementation from the package insert to marketing.
Pharmacists use different skills and talents, and I was fortunate to have a really great role as an ambulatory care provider, working directly with patients as part of a healthcare team alongside the physician.
Q: Why do you believe experiential education is important for pharmacy students?
I think the experiential education component of the curriculum is probably my favorite and the most important, because it exposes students to these unique roles that pharmacists can have within the healthcare spectrum. It’s the chance to take what you learned in the books and translate it into real patients or real cases. It closes the circle on your learning, and you can reflect on what you might have done differently or how you’d approach something next time.
It also allows students to interact not only with other medical professionals but also with great preceptors. That was huge for me — I had a mentor who let me look over her shoulder, explained what she was doing while verifying, and gave me insight that many students don’t get. Too often students are treated just as technicians, but when they’re given more authority or an active role in business management or pharmacist responsibilities, their learning is elevated. That’s something I hope to inspire with our students and encourage our preceptors to provide.
Q: What drew you to SOPPS?
Being a ³ÉÈËAVÊÓƵ native, I am partial to this area. My family is still here, and I have always stayed close by living just south of the NY border. Coming back was really about giving back to the community and helping expand pharmacy services here.
In areas that have pharmacy schools, you often see an expanded presence of pharmacists doing incredible things, whether it’s free clinics, increasing access to physicians or community health programs. By coming to ³ÉÈËAVÊÓƵ, I’m hoping to expand that same presence in the Southern Tier.