LKS spotlights student and alumni members that are making a difference in their chapters, in their communities, and in the field of pharmacy.
Tell us about yourself: (school, chapter, work, hobbies, LKS activities, meetings attended)
My name is Kalyn Lazar and I am a current P3 at the University of Rhode Island. I made the choice to join LKS as a freshman after my orientation leader, who happened to be a LKS sister, recommended it to me! I have loved the friendships LKS has brought me, including living with LKS sisters since sophomore year! My past positions include Social Media committee chair, Professional committee chair, and this year I am serving as a Fundraising committee chair! This past summer, I attended my first convention in Milwaukee, WI!
Currently, I work for a supermarket pharmacy, Wegmans Food Markets, where I have been able to intern as well over the last 3 years. At Wegmans, I have worked on numerous projects with my most recent being a project to grow Specialty Pharmacy sales and an acquisition of Nascobal prescriptions for Specialty Pharmacy as well! This summer, I was able to run a booth at multiple stores to teach our customers how our new app could help them plan their grocery shopping for their specific health needs! With my love for patient interaction, I plan to further my education after graduation by pursuing an Ambulatory Care residency at a Veteran’s Affairs hospital.
At URI, I am also involved in the American Pharmacist’s Association, the Student Society of Healthsystems Pharmacy, and the American College of Veterinary Pharmacy. Outside of school, I enjoy weight lifting, craft projects, reading, and spending time with my 3 year old pup, Lily (Lab, Pitbull, Great Pyranese mix).
Which of our core values (sisterhood, leadership, service, scholarship and integrity) do you feel you most strongly represent and how?
I feel that the core value of service most represents me. As a future pharmacist and current student, I am able to serve people of my community every single day. I decided to pursue a career in pharmacy after I saw the beneficial effects of Namenda on my grandfather who was diagnosed with Dementia when I was in middle school. For the first time in years since his diagnosis, I was able to have a full conversation with my grandfather. Namenda stopped his hallucinations and allowed him to feel like he was part of the family again. I associated this medication with the pharmacist taking the time out of their busy day to counsel my grandmother and mom on this medication. After many hospital visits and doctors appointments, my mom had a lot of questions and the pharmacist refused to let her leave the pharmacy until they were all answered. I practice pharmacy every day in hopes of making a difference in a family’s life like that pharmacist did in mine.
This year I am looking forward to our Gala event! Last year, I was in charge of planning the event and we chose to benefit The Providence Center, a nonprofit that works with people in our community to provide mental health and substance use services. We were fortunate enough to have an alumni sister from our UConn chapter, Melissa Wright, present to us on her learnings about this disorder from the VA hospital where she was completing her residency. This year we are planning to benefit Endometriosis and I am excited to see what the current professional chairs do with the event!
Every year our chapter holds a brunch for our P3 and P4 students followed by a banquet where we celebrate our chapters achievements for the last year. This year, I am especially looking forward to the event because I will get to see and learn about all of our P4’s experiences on rotations, from Midyear, and about applying for residencies. I have learned from all of these girls the past (almost) 5 years and I am excited to have them as mentor lambs for life!
Who do you see as your role model in LKS and why?
Through my big, I was able to meet my great grandbig, Grace Mortrude. Although we were 4 years apart, I was always able to connect with Grace, even from freshman year. From friendship to career advice, I’ve always known I could go to Grace about anything. She has forever been someone that chases after her dreams of becoming an infectious disease clinical pharmacist and she has been pursuing this dream as long as I’ve known her. Grace embodies everything that LKS stands for and has always been an exemplary role model to me. I was so excited when she got placed this year in Milwaukee, WI because I got to see her while I was there for convention! This was the first time I had seen her in almost 2 years and we picked up right where we left off. If you’re reading this, thank you Grace for your life long mentoring, you’ve been such a driving force in me becoming the student pharmacist I am today!
Being a lamb for life makes me excited for all of the future relationships I know I am going to form! After joining LKS in the fall of my freshman year, I went home to work and immediately found out the pharmacist I had known for the last year was also an LKS sister. Throughout my pharmacy school career, I have made numerous new relationships solely by starting the conversation with my membership in LKS. Every person I have met that is a member of LKS has been incredibly welcoming and filled with words of wisdom for my future. It gives me hope that I will one day be able to mentor a sister the way I have been!