- From helping to care for her grandmother, to becoming a pharmacist and owning her own pharmacy, Dr. Lisa Faast brings her well-rounded perspective to propel pharmacies in her current role as the Vice President of Business Development and New Services at Pharmacy Development Services. Through creative strategies, she helps pharmacies develop businesses that thrive while continuing to provide excellent patient care. Learn more in her interview:
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Why did you enter the field of pharmacy?
- "When I was a child my grandmother had diabetes. My mom and I used to go over to her home each week to set her medications up and then a couple of times a week to help her inject her insulin. That really sparked my interest in medications and how they work in addition to the impact on patient’s lives when a medication regimen is confusing and not well understood. As I grew older the chemistry of pharmacy and how medications worked, fascinated me and I wanted to know all I could about it. Helping people has always been in my blood and I felt as a pharmacist I could satisfy my scientific curiosity while being a useful resource for patients."
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What unique qualities or perspectives do you bring to your job?
"I think everyone has a unique perspective as we all have a unique history and life experience to bring to our work. For me, this translates to really understanding the business side of health care. The business aspect can be troublesome for health care providers, not because it is difficult, but because the business of healthcare can often feel at odds with the delivering of healthcare. I truly believe that these have to be one in the same as much as possible. A pharmacy owner’s duty is to provide excellent patient care and to be fiscally savvy to develop a thriving business that will continue to exist so that they can continue to provide excellent patient care. If you go out of business then the entire community suffers because they no longer have access to a great healthcare provider. This perspective has driven me to create strategies and services for pharmacies to implement that had never existed before."
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Who has been inspirational to you in your career?
- "I went through my schooling years and early career without ever having much of a mentor in my professional life. All of that changed when I met Dan Benamoz, founder of Pharmacy Development Services. He taught me that being financially successful and professionally successful weren’t mutually exclusive. I could be a Rockstar community pharmacist while also being a Rockstar pharmacy owner. I didn’t have to choose a side, which was groundbreaking for me. Eventually when I sold my pharmacy I transitioned from being a member of PDS to working for Dan at PDS. He has continually helped me to broaden my view and to set exceedingly high expectations that has enabled me to grow significantly."
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How does the industry of pharmacy benefit from female leadership?
- "I believe that diversity is key for the success of any business and any industry. It takes a village should be applied to this industry. With ever increasing pressures and constant changes, our industry needs fresh new perspectives from as many sources as possible. I strongly believe that women think differently than men, not better just different. This has been proven through science time and time again. For the battles that are up ahead for pharmacy, we need creative, out of the box thinking if we are going to survive. If we could get more diversity in the leadership within the pharmacy industry, I think we can successfully navigate through the troubling waters that are sure to come in the future."
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What challenges do you think women healthcare leaders face in their career? What challenges, if any, have you faced in your career and how have you overcome them?
- "The challenges that women face in becoming leaders in healthcare are the same challenges in other industries. Overcoming unspoken biases I think is a big one. Intellectually I think most people would agree that a woman can fill the top role(s) at any company. However, it is overcoming the subconscious biases that exist in the selection committees and board rooms that often prevent this from happening. In addition I think there can be significant communication gaps between men and women, whether personal or professional. This gap in communication can lead to misalignment and misunderstandings in the workplace that often put women at a disadvantage. Also as women we often shoot ourselves in the foot as we carry around our own self-limiting beliefs, our own biases and our own fears that often influence our actions that prevents us from reaching the apex of our own potential."
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What advice do you have for women who are just entering the field of pharmacy?
- "I recommend that they get into a leadership training as soon as they can and as often as they can. It doesn’t matter if they have plans on becoming a leader, at some point they will be and probably sooner than they realize. Even if just being the pharmacist and having to manage technicians and clerks, that automatically makes them a leader. Commit to self-development. Take seminars, read books, and watch webinars that make you more aware of your own emotional intelligence and natural styles that will then help you when communicating with others. Continuing education isn't just for your clinical knowledge, make it also about your personal development."
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What has been your proudest accomplishment?
- "Opening my pharmacy from scratch has to be the professional accomplishment I am most proud of. I often say if I would have known how hard it was going to be I might have never have done it. Ignorance was bliss. I know I am not the first person to open a start-up, but I really felt like I was at the time. I didn’t have any colleagues or friends that had done it before that I could lean into and at the time I hadn’t met people like Dan or his company PDS. Doing the hard work just to get it open was only the beginning. After opening day the real work began. I was able to grow it into a very successful pharmacy, and I was able to help many patients along the way. It was a gratifying experience."
Know any awesome women in Pharmacy? Tell us about them in the comments below
