Christine Cadiz, Pharm.D., is an associate professor of clinical pharmacy practice and one of the founding faculty members in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice at the University of California Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. She completed undergraduate education at University of California Santa Barbara, earned a Pharm.D. degree from University of California San Diego School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, and completed a PGY1 residency at University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

In her current role, Cadiz practices as a pharmacist on a multidisciplinary advanced heart failure and mechanical circulatory support team at University of California Irvine Health. She is currently launching a pilot post-discharge clinic for intensive guideline-directed medical therapy optimization that incorporates remote physiologic monitoring. In her role as faculty, Cadiz teaches cardiology pharmacotherapy and has recently developed an advanced cardiology elective course. She precepts introductory and advanced pharmacy practice experience students as well as residents in the advanced heart failure and left ventricular assist device clinic setting. She has a passion for teaching and precepting as well as introducing young persons to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects.

Cadiz’s path to pharmacy was somewhat nontraditional. Although her father was a pharmacist in Vietnam, he did not practice pharmacy when he came to the United States in 1975 but rekindled his pharmacy career in the late 1990s. While in high school, Cadiz recalls the late nights her father spent independently studying after work, often through the night, for 1 year straight. This allowed her father to pass the pharmacy licensure examinations and achieve his dream of opening an independent pharmacy. Although Cadiz was inspired by her father’s grit and determination, she did not initially view pharmacy as her dream career path. After completing degrees in aquatic biology and cultural anthropology, she worked in marine biology research and then earned an M.A. degree in teaching, after which she taught middle school science for several years. Although she loved teaching, she desired to pursue additional education. At this time in Cadiz’s life, she was more mature and open-minded and had a greater awe and understanding of what her father had achieved. After researching the possibilities a career in pharmacy offered, she realized it was a great fit. During her pharmacy education and in subsequent years, she spearheaded programs to introduce K-12 students to careers in STEM and pharmacy. Cadiz always knew she wanted to practice in an area of pharmacy that afforded teaching opportunities and ample direct patient contact. As a clinical pharmacist in academia, with a specialty in transitions of care and cardiology, Cadiz fulfills her two passions, teaching students and serving patients.

Cadiz believes her ACCP membership has added a great deal of value to her career and practice. Through a network of pharmacist colleagues with expertise in her practice area, the PRNs have created a network for sharing clinical pearls on the basis of experience and provide guidance when starting new programs or creating pathways and protocols. She believes there is much to gain from learning about the challenges other practitioners have faced as well as their successes. In the past few years, Cadiz has become more involved with PRN committees, particularly the Education and Training Committee, to provide opportunities to students and trainees and collaborate on educational programming. Cadiz feels it was particularly rewarding to work with a group of passionate individuals within the ACCP Clinical Practice Affairs Task Force to describe best practices for incorporating interprofessional practice in the community setting.

Cadiz has developed a passion for recognizing, evaluating, and addressing social determinants of health when caring for patients. When she was in school, her focus was on learning how to treat diseases with both pharmacotherapy and nonpharmacologic lifestyle changes, and she didn’t fully recognize the importance of evaluating barriers beyond medication cost and adherence or the profound impact of unnoticed barriers on patient outcomes. Cadiz was influenced by the importance of social determinants of health while caring for a patient with resistant hypertension. The degree of polypharmacy was significant; the patient was taking more than 15 medications. The team struggled to identify why she was not meeting her blood pressure goal despite excessive pharmacotherapy, access to medications, frequent follow-ups, and good adherence. All medications were packaged in labeled monthly blister packs. Given the number of medications, the patient had two blister packs for morning medications, one for afternoon medications, and two for nighttime medications, which were labeled “Morning, Afternoon, or Bedtime” in large print in the patient’s native language. One day in the clinic, when the patient had concerns of frequent lightheadedness, Cadiz looked closely at the blister packs and noticed that the medications taken did not correspond to the current day of the month and were not being taken in order. Because she had established good rapport with the patient, Cadiz was able to identify, through gentle questioning, that the patient could not read and did not know which pack to take. The patient had been using a random pack three times a day; consequently, some medications were taken at double or triple the prescribed dose and others were being missed altogether. This barrier was one that was easily missed, given that it was not as readily apparent as others that were more recognizable. It was rewarding for Cadiz to see that with empathy, additional support, and creative labeling, the patient was able to independently manage her medications, minimize adverse effects, and achieve her blood pressure goal. Cadiz believes it crucial that the health care team assess for barriers that are not readily apparent and teach learners the importance of doing so in order to advance health equity.

Cadiz is very involved in advocacy and believes it important to be familiar with constantly changing legislation that affects health care and pharmacy practice. For the past 2 years, Cadiz has served as a member of the Government Affairs Advisory Committee in the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists to review proposed legislation related to the practice of pharmacy, make recommendations on position and level of advocacy, and propose amendments to protect and advance the profession. Cadiz would advise pharmacists, students, and residents to start by getting involved with local and state organizations and attending legislative days. This is a great way to learn about and participate in advocacy efforts.

In her spare time, Cadiz loves to go camping with her husband and two boys, surf, hike, eat, travel, and snuggle up on the couch. Even though Cadiz is clearly very accomplished, she has personal goals she would still like to achieve. She is a very active person who loves adventure and travel and would still like to get barreled on a wave while surfing and summit Kilimanjaro. She has gotten close to achieving these goals by wiping out in a tiny barrel and traveling to Tanzania and seeing Mount Kilimanjaro, but she doesn’t count these as accomplishments checked … yet!