Page 26 - RxBound Winter 2020

Preeti Kotha continued

Kotha stayed connected to education by serving as an very dynamic profession and (that) pharmacists play a
adjunct faculty member and preceptor for Loma Linda pivotal role,” Kotha said. “Training the next generation of
University. pharmacists to be more clinical and patient-oriented is very
important. Filling and dispensing are gone. It’s old. It’s
“I constantly was looking for feedback from students —
obsolete.”
what do they want to learn? Sometimes you might be
teaching one thing, but that’s not what the student wants to Kotha also wants pharmacy students to be more involved
learn because they might be interested in something with the other doctors and clinics in WesternU Health –
completely different,” Kotha said. “For example, maybe I’m Pomona, which includes a Medical Center, Foot and Ankle
emphasizing clinical training, but maybe he or she wants to Center, Dental Center, Eye Care Institute and other services.
know more about business. They want to start their own Pharmacists can help in developing more holistic care, she
said.
“I’m working with the doctors upstairs where we can have
our patients and students talk together under the supervision
Among her goals is to of the pharmacist,” Kotha said. “I’m super excited.
Collaborative practice was something that really excited me
increase the number of the first time I heard about it, and it’s coming into play after
many years of talking and legislation.”
pharmacy services that are Among her goals is to increase the number of pharmacy

provided, serve the local services that are provided, serve the local population, and be
involved in the growth and development of pharmacy.
population, and be involved “I think there is a lot of potential in this area. There are a lot
of underserved patients,” Kotha said. “I would like to reach
in the growth and out to those patients. We want to do more. I would like to
see pharmacy students participate in medication therapy
development of pharmacy. management, point-of-care testing, and other clinical services
in retail pharmacy. Those are the things I want to eventually
get into in 2020.”
She will also collaborate with the WesternU Medical Center
pharmacy. Those are the things I learned while I was to ensure those patients come to the pharmacy so they can
precepting students. A preceptor needs to know what the receive holistic, comprehensive care from WesternU.
student wants to achieve and be able to facilitate their “Instead of getting some medications here and some at other
growth.” pharmacies, we are trying to make sure patients get all their
She served remote locations such as Blythe, Barstow and medications at the same time from one pharmacy,” Kotha
Yucaipa while working for Rite Aid and Walmart. said. “We are trying to make it like a one-stop. You get
everything done in one place, and that will prevent any
“Those are the places where there is a lapse in care,
medication interactions and duplications as well.”
especially because patients have lesser access to doctors,” she
said. “They are not as health-educated, and I felt like they “We are very fortunate to have integrated and collaborative
need more help because medical help is less accessible to clinical services at WesternU. Dr. Kotha is an excellent
them than for people in metropolitan areas.” addition to our clinical leadership team. She comes with a
track record of success, expertise and passion for patient care
In those remote locations she conducted a lot of outreach
and student teaching,” said Robert Warren, DO ’01,
programs, including clinics for flu, shingles and pneumonia.
Executive Director for WesternU Health. “Pharmacy is a
She emphasized immunizations and adherence to life-saving
central component of our collaborative approach to patient
medications because a lot of patients were non-compliant
care and student teaching. The WesternU Health clinics
with medications and did not understand the importance of
welcome Dr. Kotha to the team.” n
preventative medicine.
“Educating and inspiring even our pharmacists to do more
can be a challenge due to poor reimbursements and
recognition. However, we must recognize that pharmacy is a

24 WesternU, College of Pharmacy