Caitlin Prather

Her Story
Dr. Prather received her PharmD from Auburn University in 2018. She stayed at Auburn for her PGY1 Pharmacy Residency then moved to Northern Virginia to complete her PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency at Inova Health System. Dr. Prather stayed on at Inova post-residency as an ambulatory Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. She later became the Residency Program Director (RPD) for the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency. Dr. Prather has achieved several professional certifications including BCACP, AAHIVP (HIV Pharmacist), and TTS (Tobacco Treatment Specialist).

From 2019 to 2023, Dr. Prather solely focused on the Inova Juniper Program, a Ryan White funded HIV Clinic. In 2023, she expanded her clinical services to a total of four primary care and transitions of care clinics, all of which focus on helping underserved populations. She provides a variety of primary care and specialized services including chronic disease state management, gender affirming hormone therapy, HIV PrEP and PEP, smoking cessation, and weight management counseling. In addition to clinical practice, Dr. Prather is the RPD for the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency at Inova and also precepts several pharmacy students each year.

Describe the facility where you work (eg. Is it a teaching hospital? Health Center?
Dr. Prather supports four different clinics at Inova Health System:

1. Inova Cares Clinic for Families, which provides comprehensive primary care services to patients who reflect the culturally diverse community we serve. Our clinics serve as medical homes for patients of all ages, regardless of immigration status, who qualify for Medicaid, FAMIS, Inova’s Financial Assistance Program, or are uninsured.
2. Inova Cares Clinic for Community Bridging, which was developed to bridge gaps in care that patients experience as they transfer across care delivery settings between illness and recovery. The service focuses on transitional medical care and community collaboration in order to improve health outcomes of patients at the highest risk who lack access to needed resources.
3. Inova Juniper Program, which is Northern Virginia's largest provider of HIV/AIDS care. We are proud to offer all aspects of primary medical care and mental health, substance abuse and case management services to HIV positive individuals along with a history of delivering compassionate HIV/AIDS clinical and education services. Juniper is a Ryan-White funded clinic.
4. Inova PRIDE Clinic, which offers a safe and comfortable space committed to providing medical expertise with cultural humility, tailored to the unique needs of LGBTQ+ people.

Recent Significant Projects
Recently, Dr. Prather has been involved in preparing for an upcoming residency reaccreditation survey and expanding her clinical services. She recently began supporting the Inova Pride Clinic and has a collaborative practice agreement with the medical director of the clinic to provide gender affirming hormone therapy services, smoking cessation counseling, and medication education.

Initial Involvement in ASHP
Dr. Prather is currently serving as a member with the ASHP Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners Section Advisory Group (SAG) for Medication Management Services.

Why did you become involved in ASHP?
I initially became involved with ASHP during pharmacy school via my school's student chapter. I joined because I was interested in pursuing residency and knew that there were a lot of resources provided with being a member. As I learned more about ASHP as an organization, I realized how many opportunities there were to get involved so I joined one of the student national advisory groups. I later was in a New Practitioner Forum advisory group for four years then moved into the Section of Ambulatory Care Practitioners.

Advice for Someone New to Specialty Area
Maintain a growth mindset! You can learn something from every experience - positive or negative, interesting or boring. Take time to reflect to learn from both your mistakes and your successes. It is also important to network with others in your field. You can learn from your colleagues experiences and share what insights you've learned along your professional journey too.

How would you explain the value of ASHP to a friend or colleague?
ASHP provides an incredible amount of resources for every pharmacy specialty. There are detailed and specific resources to help with nearly every aspect of your job: continuing education, professional development, clinical practice, precepting, etc.

What is the value of ASHP for the profession?
ASHP advocates for the profession of pharmacy at such a higher level than any of us could do on our own individually. ASHP is a powerful player in the advancement of pharmacy practice!