Thinking about my heroes: The 2024 <scp>Paul F. Parker</scp> medal for a lifetime of service to pharmacy

I am overwhelmed to have been awarded the 2024 Paul F Parker Medal—an award created to recognize an icon in clinical pharmacy and hero to many. I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Parker toward the end of his career and he remained a staunch supporter of pharmacist development through residency and other experiences. In fact, I have previously served on the Parker selection committee and reviewed the phenomenal accomplishments of the 22 prior Parker Medalists. I am challenged to consider myself in the same league with that group who are my clinical pharmacy heroes. We will discuss heroes a bit more in a moment. I am very grateful to the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), the Parker Award Selection Committee, and my nominator Sandy Kane-Gill, and also to Amy Dzierba, John Devlin, and Megan Blais for such heartfelt letters of support. I also thank the many others who offered support in this endeavor and for the many fantastic years I have had as a critical care pharmacist and professional association volunteer. I want to acknowledge my most recent employer, Indiana University Health, Director Tate Trujillo, along with the many multiprofessional critical care colleagues who were incredibly flexible with scheduling to ensure a high level of engagement with ACCP and consistent patient care. Most importantly, my husband of 42 years, Dr. Jim Mowry, who is also a clinical pharmacist and an ACCP member, is here today and has been one of my greatest supporters. He kept me grounded when a bit overcommitted and has been a fantastic partner in all aspects of our life together. He is one of my heroes for all his professional accomplishments in clinical toxicology. Thank you, Jim. This is a great moment for you to consider who have been your heroes. There are people in your everyday life and profession who have been pathfinders and builders of new practice models, who displayed persistence and moved ahead in the face of obstacles—and who often, like me, did not ask permission before forging ahead in the name of improving patient care outcomes. Your heroes might have plaques hanging on the wall or may be the person who labored without recognition to accomplish something they believed in. My parents are that kind of hero. My ACCP heroes started early in my undergraduate pharmacy career at Purdue University with faculty, Rod Carter and Bruce Hancock serving as early role models and later as work colleagues. My Doctor of Pharmacy training at the University of Minnesota opened my eyes to the amazing world of critical care. Important heroes include Dave Angaran, Henry Mann, Jim Cloyd, and Darwin Zaske (who was a founding member of ACCP) and many others who shaped my view of clinical pharmacy practice and the as yet, unimagined future. My residency training was at The Ohio State University with Joe Dasta as my program director—many of us think of him as the Father of Critical Care Pharmacy and clearly a hero to many, especially to me. However, informally, I learned how to be a good pharmacist from Karen Shields, my first boss and the pharmacists at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lafayette, IN, where I started my career. Thinking about Ohio State, that is where I was introduced to a young ACCP organization and even helped stuff envelopes for mailing to a few hundred members. I also learned the vision for clinical pharmacy from another founding member, Don McLeod. Any fledgling organization has challenges and it has been rewarding to see ACCP grow progressively- often in the face of significant adversity. The amazing volunteer leaders of ACCP are on my list of heroes for their consistent contributions and dedication to the organization's goals. Mike Maddux and the ACCP staff toil in many unrecognized ways to make things happen for the members. This is a family that may see each other only once a year but pick up as if it was yesterday. Many of the people I have mentioned would clearly be considered excellent role models. I know that serving as a role model was a focus of mine since not many people would set out to be a hero—I certainly did not. I sincerely hope that my daily work as a critical care pharmacist demonstrated positive examples based on the attitudes, behaviors, and values I displayed. The needs of my patients and the support of the care team around us were an absolute priority. For me, a perfect day occurred when I had anticipated the needs of my team, potential patient problems, and treated others with compassion and empathy. I think we realistically set out to be Mr. Rogers and not a superhero. Additionally, the success and development of students and residents impart an amazing sense of satisfaction in a preceptor. I loved seeing the realization that they could identify and address the problems of a critical patient as they gained confidence as clinicians. Coming back to heroes, certainly, most of our heroes have done something exceptional in our eyes. It is useful to consider and emulate the characteristics that we value in our heroes that may be different from our role models. It may be their self-belief, the ability to set goals and execute a clear mission statement, the willingness to take risks, a focus on continuous learning, perseverance, and resilience, or other behaviors that elevated them to superhero status in your eyes. For those who think you could never accomplish great things in your life, trust me, none of the Parker Medal Awardees envisioned that future as a young practitioner or researcher. I certainly did not predict that I could be a leader of two national professional organizations or receive such significant recognition! However, when opportunities arose, I did my best to rise to the occasion and complete the task at hand. Many of you present will have opportunities for significant roles- my wish is that you model the characteristics of heroes and embrace your future fully. I suspect many of you will become a hero in someone's eyes someday if you are not already. David Brooks wrote in the New York Times this week and summed up this overwhelming occasion for me, writing that “heroes aren't only revealed by their quest; they are also changed by it.”1 I certainly was. Thank you again for this recognition. The Parker Award Medalist receives a cash honorarium and free registration to the ACCP Annual Meeting.