Erin McCreary, Pharm.D., BCPS, is the education and development coordinator and an infectious diseases (ID) clinical pharmacist at the University of Wisconsin (UW) Health. She is also a clinical instructor at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy and teaches ID lectures at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. She earned her Pharm.D. degree from Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy (War Eagle!) and completed her PGY1 and PGY2 ID residencies at UW Health. McCreary is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist. She has served the pharmacy profession in numerous roles, including as executive board member of the ACCP ID Practice and Research Network (PRN), chair of the ACCP National Resident Advisory Committee, member of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Section of Inpatient Care Practitioners’ Advisory Group on Pharmacy Practice Experiences, and lead mentor for the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin Adherence Competence Collaborative. She also is actively involved with the Vizient University HealthSystem Consortium research committee.

In her position, McCreary is responsible for student pharmacist, pharmacy resident, and clinical pharmacist education and development within UW Health. This includes onboarding and training, experiential education, residency training, continuing professional development, career advancement, and recognition, board certification, scholarship, and interprofessional practice within the pharmacy department. She also engages in antimicrobial stewardship and rounds with several inpatient ID consult teams for both adult and pediatric patients. Finally, she serves as a preceptor for students and residents. McCreary believes that the two best things about the pharmacy profession are serving patients and engaging in lifelong learning and that her first job is the perfect blend of the two. Her specific practice interests include preceptor development, medication adherence, interprofessional education, antimicrobial resistance, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, vaccination advocacy, and penicillin-allergy determination. Her dream is to have patient-pharmacist interaction at every phase of care for all patients in the future landscape of health care.

McCreary has always been fascinated by science and passionate about people. She first became interested in pharmacy as a junior in high school. At that time, someone very close to her was placed on an intricate medication regimen that involved a narrow therapeutic index drug. This experience exposed her to the complexity of pharmacy practice, the variety of pharmacist specialties and roles in care, and the incredible impact of pharmacists on the lives of patients. She applied to college by sorting the top 25 pharmacy schools and the top 25 football teams and only applying to institutions on both lists. She hasn’t looked back since and finds yet another aspect of her work every single day that supports her belief that pharmacy is the greatest profession in the world.

McCreary states that listing all the individuals who have influenced her life and career would exceed the word limit of this spotlight. Many teachers, preceptors, colleagues, friends, and, most importantly, patients have made her the person and pharmacist she is today. She would like to extend a special thank-you to Chris Bland, Kayla Stover, Katie Lusardi, and Sarah Tennant for believing in her as a student, affording her the opportunity to serve on the ACCP ID PRN Executive Committee, and continuing to foster her professional and personal growth as a new practitioner. She would also like to thank Dave Hager and Lucas Schulz for selecting her to complete residency training within their respective programs and investing time and resources to develop her into the clinician she is today. McCreary’s mentors have taught her the meaning of selflessness, commitment, perseverance, integrity, effective communication, kindness, scholarship, and humility. As a result, she believes in hard work, treating people how they would like to be treated rather than how she would like to be treated, and doing the right thing even when no one is watching.

McCreary joined ACCP in pharmacy school after a friend and mentor recommended that she apply for the National Student Network Advisory Committee. This was one of the best experiences of her pre-residency career and sparked her passion to continue to serve the organization and its members. She then met Tamara Malm at the “Emerge from the Crowd” programming during her fourth year of pharmacy school, who encouraged her to be heavily involved with ACCP throughout residency training and beyond. McCreary is grateful that ACCP is the type of organization that fosters instantaneous connections with some of the best and brightest in the profession and believes the ACCP Annual Meeting is one of the best conferences of the year. She credits the relationships she has formed through ACCP with teaching her something every single day, engaging her in several research and scholarship opportunities, and overall making her a better pharmacist.

McCreary encourages pharmacy students, residents, and fellows to ask a million questions. Travel to attend local, state, and national meetings and meet as many people in the profession as possible. Save money for residency applications and the awkward month after residency/fellowship, when you have to eat and pay rent without a paycheck. Make time for the people and activities in your life outside pharmacy. Say yes to as many things as possible early in your career to discover what drives you, and then home in and say yes only to the things that move you in the direction of your goals. Throw kindness around like confetti. Spend 5 extra minutes with your patients. Recognize that it is an awesome privilege to be a pharmacist and to serve others. Teach everything you learn to someone else. Surround yourself with people who make you better, and be a go-to person for others. Be brave and honest. Smile. Show your passion. Remember that dreams don’t work unless you do and that no dream is too big or too small.