My UMSOP Story: Julie Caler, PharmD ’06, BCGP, BCPS, CPSO, clinical pharmacist
Written By: Randolph Fillmore
Julie Caler, PharmD ’06, BCGP, BCPS, CPSO, a clinical pharmacist at the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center (WMRMC) in Cumberland, Md., has a philosophy on precepting fourth-year pharmacy students.
“I love teaching and giving students the chance to get out of the ‘academic bubble,’” says Caler, who has been at WMRMC since 2007. “I like to be brutally honest, providing them with real-world experience by showing them the realities of clinical pharmacy and helping them find out if clinical pharmacy is a good fit for them.”
Alex Le, a fourth-year student completing the clinical track at WMRMC, agrees that being face-to-face with patients is quite different from his classroom and textbook work.
“This is a unique and challenging experience,” says Le. “Dr. Caler integrates me into her workflow and challenges me to find my own answers to patient problems. She takes time to discuss each patient, and we figure out how we might modify their medications. She treats me like a colleague.”
As a clinical pharmacist, Caler works closely with patients, many of whom are elderly and rehabbing after fractures or strokes. Medication reconciliation is a priority to ensure medication safety and efficacy as patients transition on and off the unit, she says. Caler also is an instructor for diabetes self-management and assists with antibiotic stewardship.
In her youth, Caler spent a lot of time volunteering in nursing homes in her native Pennsylvania. Eventually, her family relocated to Towson, Md. After several years, Caler returned to Pennsylvania to attend Lehigh University in Bethlehem, where she was a biology major. She entered the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 2002 and received her PharmD in 2006.
Who were her important mentors at the School?
Nicole Brandt, PharmD ’97, MBA, BCPP, CGP, FASCP, professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science (PPS) and executive director of the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging, was a key mentor during her training as a student and resident, explains Caler. She also gained critical skills both from the late Fred Abramson, BSP ’56, an assistant professor in PPS who oversaw the pharmacy practice lab, and the late Robert Michocki, PharmD ’75, BCPS, a professor emeritus in PPS.
According to Agnes Ann Feemster, PharmD, the School’s assistant dean of experiential learning and an associate professor in PPS, Caler and Western Maryland offer a very different learning environment than urban hospitals in Baltimore, exposing students to pharmacy practice in a rural setting and the unique challenges of the patients who live there.
“As one of the School’s Preceptors of the Year in 2017, Dr. Caler demonstrates a passion for teaching and is vested in developing our students into being independent practitioners,” Feemster says. “Because of her varied practice background, she precepts students for a variety of patient care and non-patient care elective rotations, and many of our required rotation experiences. She invests in each student, tailors each rotation to the needs of the student, and maximizes every learning opportunity.”
When Caler is not working, she enjoys supporting local rescue efforts for animals in the community, through advocacy, fostering, and transporting.