Michelle Hilaire

Michelle’s Story

Dr. Hilaire received her Pharm.D. degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She then completed two years of residency, the first at The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio and the second specializing in Primary Care at The University of Tennessee in Memphis. Dr. Hilaire is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and a Certified Diabetic Educator. As a clinical pharmacist, her practice site is the Fort Collins Family Medicine Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her other responsibilities are part of her position as an Associate Clinical Professor with the University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy. Dr. Hilaire also coordinates the ambulatory care rotation and teaching component for 2 PGY1 Pharmacy Residents with Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, CO.

Dr. Hilaire is currently a member of the Educational Steering Committee for the Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners, and also serves on the Section of Clinical Specialists and Scientists’ Preceptor Skills Section Advisory Group. She has also had the opportunity to participate as reviewer of Poster Abstracts for Midyear Clinical Meetings as well as reviewing student and resident CVs.

Facility

Dr. Hilaire’s practice site is the Fort Collins Family Medicine Residency Program in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is the only outpatient pharmacist for the clinic which averages approximately 38,000 patient encounters annually. The clinic employs physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and social workers and has community services which bring in a psychiatrist, addiction counselors, private obstetricians and pediatric cardiologists. They are a community family medicine residency program that is under the umbrella system of the University of Colorado Health North Campus. At the family medicine center, Dr. Hilaire provides the medical residents with the pharmacotherapy curriculum as well as offering rotations in leadership, diabetes management and research. Her clinical services at the practice include: anticoagulation management, diabetes management, pharmacotherapy clinics, geriatric and Medicare Annual Wellness visits. She also works in a multidisciplinary pain clinic and handles all medication refills through the EHR system.

Significant Projects

Most recently, Dr. Hilaire has been involved in the transition of care clinics that occur after discharge from the affiliate hospital. This has been a learning curve for her in terms of proper documentation and follow-up in terms of proper billing through insurances.

Due to new milestones in medical resident education, Dr. Hilaire has also been working to improve the scholarship opportunities for her residents. She has paired 4th year pharmacy students with medical residents on research projects (some QI based) so they can work together to learn the IRB and submission process. Dr. Hilaire has enjoyed watching the collaboration and allowing them to get involved in research.

Advice for Someone New to Specialty Area

“Get Involved! Networking is the key to the success of your career. Having mentors outside of your current institutions and former residency and pharmacy schools is so important. Take the time to learn from both the success and failure of others that you consider important leaders in your interest areas. Don’t be afraid to reach out to others and ask for help.”

“In an Ambulatory Care setting, make sure that you know what your practice site is wanting out of a clinical pharmacist. Merging the needs of a clinic and one’s own interest areas will help to build collaborative interests.”

Involvement in ASHP

“I became involved in ASHP as a pharmacy student, and have continued this into my professional career. Looking back, I don’t think I took advantage of the diverse opportunities as a student or resident, because one is so focused on residencies and jobs. Therefore, I now feel a strong desire to seek out students and residents and serve as another voice in their career pathway.”

ASHP’s Value to Members

“One of the greatest values of membership has been networking. The opportunities to collaborate with others outside of your local networks for best practice standards are helping to advance the profession. There is truly an opportunity for all levels of practitioners (students, residents, new practitioners and seasoned pharmacists) within this organization and mentoring opportunities are available for all.”

“ASHP provides opportunities to promote leadership, networking, education, and residency training. Joining ASHP allows connections that span further than formal meetings; this is an organization that wants to move the profession of pharmacy forward.”

“ASHP brings pharmacy professionals together so that we can continue to advance the profession.”