MPhA Welcomes Zach Merk!

Hello all!  My name is Zach Merk, the next of Julie Johnson’s fourth year pharmacy student bloggers. One of the first things that I noticed when I started this rotation was the list of names of Julie’s white board. What an illustrious list of names. I was surprised at both how many names I recognized, and how many of those names that I viewed as leaders of our profession. I hope that I am able to someday further this tradition. 

Since we will be spending a few weeks together, allow me to share a little bit of my background with you.  I grew up in rural southwest Iowa, and moved to Wisconsin when I was 15. I finished high school there and went to UW- Stout for undergrad.  I served in the Army National Guard for nine years, and deployed to Iraq for 18 months with the Infantry half-way through my BS in Applied Science. Upon completion of undergrad, I chose to take a year off and move to San Diego; the beach had been calling my name for a number of years already. Having soaked up enough sun, for now at least, I traveled back to the frozen tundra and prepared for pharmacy school at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I now find myself pursuing the Leadership Emphasis Area, which has lent me the opportunity to choose this rotation as my leadership APPE.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect on this rotation. I suspected that I would spend some time at the capitol, attend a number of meetings, and take some time to learn about how to advocate for my profession. Already this week, I have made minor contributions towards the MPhA journal coming out in September, updated presentations for AWARxE, participated in meetings and phone conferences, and learned a lot about MPhA and what it means to advocate for the profession full time. I am looking forward to the opportunities with MPhA that already checker my upcoming calendar. Plus, I’ve got my own desk and work space, which is pretty luxurious for an APPE student!