Rachel Meyers

Her Story

Dr. Meyers completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Mary Washington and her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Connecticut. She completed a PGY-1 residency at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wisconsin, and a PGY-2 residency in Pediatric Pharmacotherapy at the University of North Carolina Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Overview of Facility/Health System

She is a clinical track faculty with Rutgers and spends the majority of her time at her practice site, Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey. Her time is focused on the PICU and General Pediatrics units which are 10 and 31 beds respectively. Saint Barnabas Medical Center is part of the RWJBarnabas Health system and Dr. Meyers is involved with several system-wide initiatives, including syringe pump libraries, the pediatric sepsis collaborative, and ongoing maintenance and improvements to the EHR system in order to improve safety for pediatric patients. She also precepts APPE pharmacy students, PGY-1 residents, and PGY-2 residents. Her teaching at Rutgers is focused on pediatric lectures in the core curriculum and pediatric elective and she is the coordinator for the Sterile Compounding course.

Significant Projects

Within the RWJBarnabas health system, not every hospital has a pediatric pharmacist. She has worked with other pediatric pharmacists from the system on policies and procedures in order to ensure that a pediatric patient admitted into any of the system hospitals will receive the same level of care and the same level of safe medication practices. A recent focus has been on pediatric sepsis and an ongoing project is syringe pump libraries and standardizing concentrations of IV medications throughout the system. Recent research projects have focused on dosage forms for children and safety risks with dosage form manipulation. 

Initial Involvement in ASHP

I am on the Pediatric SAG, Standardize 4 Safety Pediatric Continuous Infusions Advisory Group, and I am faculty for the ASHP Pediatric Pharmacy Specialty Review and Recertification course. I became involved with ASHP because of the diverse opportunities for pediatric pharmacists and because I was looking for more opportunities to serve my profession. 

Advice for Someone New to Your Specialty Area

I would encourage anyone new to pediatric pharmacy to get involved in a committee with a national organization and to start working on research right away. Through the years I've conducted multiple research projects and with each one I get better at formulating the question and designing a project. Getting involved with pharmacy organizations can lead to excellent mentoring opportunities and challenge you to think beyond the scope of your daily practice.

Value of ASHP

ASHP connects pharmacists beyond their area of specialty and helps pharmacists from multiple areas to have one voice for health system pharmacy.

ASHP is truly interested in advancing the profession of pharmacy. They are a respected leader in advocating for pharmacists and ASHP initiatives help to provide a framework for pharmacists around the country to work together.