Christi Jen

Christi Jen received her PharmD degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy and completed a post graduate year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy practice residency training at Maricopa Medical Center (now Valleywise Health). Jen is a board certified in pharmacotherapy and emergency medicine. She also has a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Facility:
Mayo Clinic Arizona is one of three destination medical centers within the Mayo Clinic enterprise, with two campuses in Scottsdale and Phoenix that offer specialty services for serious and complex patients, particularly in solid organ transplant and in hematology-oncology. In the last two years, it ranked as the No. 1 solid organ transplant center in the country in total annual volume. It also ranked as the No. 1 hospital in the state of Arizona by Leapfrog. Its department of pharmacy supports more than 200 personnel including pharmacists and technicians. It also has two ASHP-accredited programs: a PGY1 pharmacy residency and post graduate year 2 (PGY2) specialty residency in hematology-oncology, while its PGY2 transplant residency program is pending ASHP accreditation.

Current Responsibilities:
Jen is the clinical pharmacy manager at Mayo Clinic Arizona, supporting the clinical specialist pharmacists (CSPs) across the Arizona region. She also serves as preceptor to the PGY1 pharmacy residents on their longitudinal administrative/practice management learning experience.

Recent Significant Projects:
I currently serve as secretary of the Mayo Clinic Arizona opioid stewardship program, supporting the larger enterprise opioid stewardship program committee. I have participated in local and state efforts in increasing naloxone prescribing and availability. Additionally, I have participated in an enterprise workgroup supporting to improve pharmacist workload and efficiency in clinical monitoring list alerts as well as enhance medication safety through my leadership of the enterprise auto verification workgroup. As a member of the Pharmacy Convergence Group Clinical Practice Committee, I serve to represent the interests of the Arizona pharmacists and supports enterprise efforts in improving the medication use process through policy, procedure, guideline, and protocol development. Lastly, I have worked to support the development of various collaborative practice agreements within the Arizona pharmacy practice.

Advice for Someone New to a specialty Area:
I would advise you to keep an open mind and heart and always think of every situation as an opportunity for learning. It may seem that the topics are far above your head, but one day you will realize that those were also just as noteworthy as the ones you have been involved in as a practitioner. Leadership opportunities may come your way, and I would suggest developing one's skills through informal leadership in small workgroups. Find time to pursue stretch assignments to continually challenge you in your skills and knowledge. Lastly, always think of ways to improve and attain skills in quality improvement, as these will come a long way when developing measures of success for yourself and your organization.

Involvement with ASHP:
I am currently a member of the ASHP Section of Clinical Specialists and Scientists (SCSS) Section Advisory Group (SAG) on Clinical Leadership. Previously, I have served on the executive committee as chair of the SCSS and a SCSS SAG member in pediatrics, emergency care, and year-round education. Additionally, I also served as chair of the Council on Therapeutics, which develops ASHP policies pertaining to drug therapies. Lastly, I also serve in the ASHP House of Delegate, representing Arizona, and as the director-at-large of the Arizona ASHP state affiliate, Arizona Pharmacy Association Health-Systems Special Interest Group.

Reason for ASHP Involvement:
I became involved with ASHP due to the mentorship of one of my residency preceptors and now colleague, Mindy Burnworth. While I had already been an ASHP member since I was a student and an Arizona affiliate member since I was a resident in 2007, Mindy encouraged me to become even more involved in 2012, serving as an alternate delegate representing Arizona at the ASHP House of Delegates. With her continued mentorship, I became involved with the emergency medicine SAG, which had just begun at the time. With the emergency medicine SAG, I helped to develop the Emergency Medicine Resource Center, participated in emergency medicine networking Sessions at Midyear, and presented at ASHP events on emergency medicine-related topics.

Value of ASHP for Peers or Colleagues:
Being involved with ASHP has opened so many doors and have allowed me to even participate in other endeavors, and I am grateful for ASHP for giving me the venue and opportunities to give back to the profession. I would definitely recommend ASHP to a friend or colleague and help them realize that you only get what you put into the experience. ASHP has been my pharmacy home and forever will be, as I saw the organization help to support the growth of emergency medicine pharmacy services to where it is now.

Value of ASHP for the Profession:
ASHP has given many of us a platform to growth in the profession, such as that seen among the emergency medicine pharmacists. ASHP gave the venue for us to come together, network, and develop programming. Additionally, it supported the growth of emergency medicine programs across the country through its support of emergency medicine pharmacy residency programs. ASHP has been a strong voice and advocate for the pharmacy profession at Capitol Hill. Having been involved with the House of Delegates and the policy writing process through the Council on Therapeutics, I have seen ASHP advocacy directly. Lastly and most importantly, I have seen the value of ASHP during the COVID pandemic, where it provided several resources for many hospitals and health systems pertaining ASHP made it easy for me to reach through ASHP Connect, and they immediately responded to our needs through the creation of the COVID Resource Center. ASHP listens to its members. We only need to give our voice to show that we care about the profession!