Amber Lemons, PharmD, BCPP
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist Psychiatry
Children’s Hospital Colorado
Aurora, CO
Dr. Lemons earned her PharmD from the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2017. She completed her PGY1 pharmacy residency at Denver Health Medical Center in Denver, CO, and her PGY2 psychiatric pharmacy residency at the Center for Behavioral Medicine in Kansas City, MO. After residency, Dr. Lemons practiced as an inpatient psychiatric pharmacist at Denver Health Medical Center for 3 years before transitioning to a Director of Educational Strategy in Neuroscience at Clinical Education Alliance for 2 years. She has recently returned to clinical practice at Children’s Hospital Colorado as a psychiatric pharmacist developing a new clinical pharmacist service in the psychiatric emergency department and outpatient crisis clinic.
What other career paths are available for psychiatric pharmacists?
Many psychiatric pharmacists practice in clinical or pharmaceutical industry settings, but there are other industries that could benefit from their expertise. One such industry is continuing medical education (CME), which is focused on educating healthcare professionals, including physicians, advanced practice providers (NPs and PAs), pharmacists, nurses, social workers, and psychologists on the evolving best practices in medicine, including psychiatry and neurology specialty areas. The major scientific roles that could benefit from psychiatric pharmacist expertise include Directors of Educational Strategy and Scientific Directors. Educational topics might include updates to guidelines, novel medications and how they fit into current treatment algorithms, and pipeline medications for psychiatric conditions. The goal is to address practice gaps and optimize patient care through education which then improves the knowledge, competence, and performance of healthcare professionals in the management of psychiatric disease states.
Directors of Educational Strategy for CME companies are typically responsible for planning CME programming, writing grants to submit to pharmaceutical companies to obtain funding, and fostering relationships with CME grant reviewers within relevant pharmaceutical companies. My role of Director of Educational Strategy benefited greatly from the expertise I already had in psychiatric pharmacy and my BCPP credential. Because of this expertise, I had a strong knowledge base to construct compelling grant submissions for important CME programs and discuss the nuances of clinical practice and current gaps in practice for psychiatric disease states. Those without a BCPP would have spent more time researching the current state of practice rather than experiencing it first-hand. During my time in this role, I was also involved with CME outcomes research and quality improvement projects, and was successful because of my research experience from residency and clinical practice.
Scientific Directors are primarily responsible for the execution of CME programming alongside the expert faculty. This involves developing the content for live and online programs, participating in medical conferences where education may be delivered, and executing activities as outlined in funded grants. Like the Director of Educational Strategy, expertise in the clinical practice of psychiatric conditions that inherently comes with a BCPP can help with the efficient management and execution of the above job responsibilities. In working closely with Scientific Directors, I can appreciate how having BCPP credential would enhance the ability to be successful in this role.
What credentials are required?
Bachelor’s degrees are required for CME positions that have a scientific component to them, but advanced degrees such as PhDs, PharmDs, or other medical degrees are preferred because of the depth of scientific experience that inherently comes with these advanced degrees. Additionally, having a BCPP was extremely helpful for success in the role of a Director of Educational Strategy because of the clinical experience working with patients with psychiatric conditions. Without the clinical experience or knowledge, writing on psychiatric disease states would take more time with a deeper literature search to understand the nuances of practice and the practice gaps. Moreover, the experience that comes with BCPP expertise was exceptionally helpful when discussing novel and pipeline medications and how they fit into current treatment algorithms for psychiatric conditions. Without the knowledge and experience of clinical patient care and a BCPP, it would be more difficult to understand the current state of psychiatric practice and how the field could be enhanced with novel medications.
How do you find these additional career opportunities?
When looking for a unique career opportunity, networking is so important. I found the Director of Educational Strategy position through a former colleague who had been working at the same company in infectious diseases. She was able to connect me with the right people who were conducting interviews for neuroscience. Stay connected to your networks! You never know when a unique opportunity will come around through someone that you already know.
Other strategies would be to look through job opportunities on LinkedIn and set alerts for specific job titles that you are interested in. Recruiters can also be helpful for identifying CME position openings that could be a good fit. I would recommend being very specific when talking to recruiters about the type of work you are open to. For example, one of my specific requirements when I’ve talked to recruiters in the past is that the CME position is focused on psychiatry and neurology areas only.
How would you best set yourself up to be a good candidate for some of these other non-traditional roles?
The best way to ensure you are a good candidate for different types of roles is to get involved in unique activities through national organizations like AAPP. I served on the recertification editorial board during my time in clinical practice and gained experience writing needs assessments, designing educational programs, and working with expert faculty to execute the needed educational programs for BCPP recertification. I believe that this CME position was more accessible to me because of my experience working with AAPP.
It’s also important to leverage your clinical experience and understanding of the current state of psychiatric practice. CME is aimed at addressing practice gaps through education, so understanding where the gaps in practice lie for psychiatry will only enhance the CME programs you may be working to plan or execute. Emanate confidence that your clinical experience and BCPP expertise is a valuable asset to a company
