Ali McBride, PharmD
Alumnus, Class of 2007
Ali McBride traveled to the magical land of the Lord of the Rings in 2007. He floated on a frothing river, walked in the clouds, explored the Dead Marsh and Mordor’s dreaded Mt. Doom…and it was all during his clinical pharmacy rotations.
McBride, a Class of 2007 PharmD graduate, spent six weeks on New Zealand’s South Island working in community and hospital pharmacy settings.
“The retail setting of many of these pharmacies focused on drug dispensing and front-end sales, similar to the United States,” McBride says. “However, the pharmacies still maintained compounding and drug delivery packets for nursing homes and patients. The hospital setting mimicked the U.S. pharmacist’s role in health care.”
McBride and Adrienne Goeller, another COP student who went on the rotation, worked some of their time at a family-owned pharmacy in Alexandra that encompassed front-end sales and retail pharmacy, and also supplied hospitals and nursing homes with pharmacy stock. Budges Pharmacy is owned by a husband and wife who worked in pharmacy in both New Zealand and England.
“Their input was invaluable as they both explained the New Zealand healthcare system and the business aspects of retail pharmacy in the community, and debated the positive and negative aspects of socialized medicine,” McBride says.
When they weren’t participating in pharmacy work, McBride and Goeller traveled both of New Zealand’s islands. Some of the highlights included Franz Josef glacier, the Fjordlands and Milford Sound, the infamous Mount Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings movies), the capitol at Wellington and a tour of Parliament. They also climbed the “Devil’s Staircase” at Tongariro crossing, which was 17 kilometers (about 10.6 miles) across and took five hours to cross.
“The trek takes you up two steep inclines across a Mars-like volcanic surface,” McBride says. “On the way down you are treated to the emerald pool volcano lakes embedded in the mountain with a picturesque landscape of Lake Taupo as a backdrop. Whereas the way up was filled with barren land and volcanic igneous rock, the way down follows you through a rainforest with rich, running streams and dense plant life.”
McBride said the clinical rotation in New Zealand was “the experience of a lifetime.”
He also participated in rotations at Tucson Medical Center, Community Medication Therapy Management, the Southern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care Center, and University Medical Center’s bone marrow transplant unit.
In 2005, McBride had the privilege of taking a summer internship with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas while they were working on the new Medicare Part D benefits program.
“It was a great time to take part in this internship at BCBSTX,” he enthuses. “This was new territory for every health plan in America, and I got to be part of it. BCBSTX and its pharmacy benefits manager, Prime Therapeutics LLC, worked together to develop formularies for the upcoming new Medicare members. In an instant, I was immersed in Medicare jargon and regulations. My preceptors answered all my questions and shared an amazing wealth of knowledge.”
McBride, who recently finished a pharmacy practice residency with an acute care focus at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, is continuing his postgraduate education with an oncology residency at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla.
Ali McBride was one of 12 pharmacy students nationwide to receive the ASHP Student Leadership Award in 2007. The award recognizes students for their achievements in health-system pharmacy.