Brenda Denson

Her Story

Brenda Denson received her Pharm.D. from the Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy in 1998 and completed her ASHP accredited residency in 1999 at Children's Health System of Alabama. Dr. Denson joined Children's Health System after completion of her residency and was named the lead stem cell transplant pediatric pharmacist at her institution in 2000. In 2001, Dr. Denson became Clinical Coordinator of the pharmacy department at Children's Hospital until 2006 where she served as interim pharmacy director. In 2007, Dr. Denson became a consultant for Omnicare until returning to Children's of Alabama as the investigational study pharmacist in 2010. Currently, Dr. Denson serves as the pharmacy educator for her department. Dr. Denson has taught at UAB in the School of Medicine in the pharmacology course and in the clinical research department. In addition to her current job position, Dr. Denson has served on the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy since January 2017. She has served on the state board as treasurer and is currently serving as Vice-President.

Overview of Facility/Health System

Children's of Alabama is a private, not-for-profit teaching hospital that is licensed for 332 beds plus 48 NICU bassinets. Children's has a Level 1 trauma center with 2 helipads and a level 4 NICU, a Pediatric Intensive Care, and a Cardiovascular Intensive care unit. Children's of Alabama performs heart, renal, and liver transplants. Outpatient visits to Children's average 677,000 per year.

Significant Projects

Dr. Denson has most recently worked with Children's of Alabama on procedures within the emergency room for COVID patients of interest by incorporating simulation procedures for training hospital members in processes for possible COVID positive patients. Additionally, Dr. Denson has worked on Collaborative Practice legislation and rule making with her state board of pharmacy and the state board of medical examiners.

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

My advice to anyone starting out in pediatric pharmacy is to be flexible. Opportunities in pediatrics keep expanding as more technology and clinical research information is available. Be willing to be flexible as new things are on the horizon!

What is your current involvement with ASHP?

My current involvement on ASHP includes serving on the SCSS's Pediatrics SAG committee for the past three years. It has been an honor to serve with the other members of the committee to help advance pharmacy by emphasizing this special population. While serving on the committee, I have contributed to updating the pediatric resource center on the ASHP website, participated as a round table leader for pediatrics at ASHP Midyear, submitted articles for Section Newslinks, and have presented a clinical pearl at Midyear.

Why did you become involved in ASHP?

Originally, I became involved as a student interested in applying to residencies with a pediatric focus. ASHP provided valuable information to me as a new practitioner and gave me more confidence as a new pharmacist. As I became involved in our state affiliate association as a board member, treasurer, and then president I saw the value of ASHP for me on a professional level for networking, learning new practices and information, and support as an officer in the state affiliate organization. I became more involved in ASHP when I was an officer in our state affiliate organization by serving on ASHP Public Policy Council and ASHP House of Delegates. I am grateful for the professional colleagues and friends that I have made through serving in ASHP

How would you explain the value of ASHP to a friend or colleague?

ASHP provides educational resources that are high quality and timely. There are numerous ways that you can obtain education through ASHP such as on-line resources, webinars, journal articles, and in-person meetings such as Midyear, the Summer meeting, and the leadership meetings. Collaboration within ASHP connect offers members numerous ways to discuss "hot topics" or ideas on medications, clinical application, and legal topics. ASHP connect has been a great resource for some of those topics where answers are hard to find except through experience of other colleagues.

What is the value of ASHP for the profession?

ASHP moves pharmacy forward by representing and advocating for pharmacy by having partnering with other organizations such as APhA, FDA, and ISMP to provide optimal healthcare outcomes for patients.