Interview With Michele Evink: President Of The Iowa Pharmacy Association

Our interview with Michele Evink, the 2013-2014 president of the Iowa Pharmacy Association (IPA), was very insightful. Dr. Evink received her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree at the University of Kansas before moving back to her home state of Iowa. Dr. Evink is very passionate about Iowa pharmacy, but also has been an influential leader in many different pharmacy organizations. Throughout her years as a pharmacy leader, Dr. Evink has served as a co-creator of the Young Pharmacist Leadership Association, as a committee member of the Department of Health and Human Services, as the Director of Pharmacy Services at the Clarke County Hospital in Osceola, Iowa, and as Speaker of the House for the IPA. At a time in her life when her commitments and focus

Evink had run to be the president of the IPA previously in her career and was not elected and her focuses shifted to family and other organizations. In 2013, the IPA was in the process of getting a new CEO and was also electing a new president. The association was looking for someone with some historical perspective, experience on an executive committee, and a commanding personality that could handle the transition period. Due to her positive relationship with the Iowa Board of Pharmacy and her extensive network of pharmacists, the committee nominated Dr. Evink to be the new president of the IPA. Although Dr. Evink was not looking for a leadership position within the IPA at the time, she decided it was an opportunity that she could not pass up. Dr. Evink chose to become leader of the IPA because of her incredible appreciation for pharmacy in Iowa and the network it had provided her with. Dr. Evink gives IPA credit for many of her professional opportunities and the motivation she has to be a more progressive practitioner. Ultimately, she wanted to give back to an association that had given her so much experience and insight as a professional by giving others similar opportunities. A leadership role in the IPA enabled her to practice to the best of her abilities through collaboration with colleagues to further advance pharmacy in

Dr. Evink feels strongly in the fact that her leadership position has positively the profession of pharmacy in Iowa. G2. In her interview she stated that she had a very important position to play when shaping the role of telepharmacy in Iowa as well as multiple other projects that affected her state such as reworking how rabies labs were performed. H1. Additionally, she believes that she has impacted healthcare positively in general. H2. One example she shared with us was how during her presidency she participated in drug naming surveys. Collaborating with other pharmacists she participated in multiple naming surveys which resulted in a few drug names with similar spellings being changed to avoid and reduce