Dustin Le

My name is Dustin Le, and I am from Los Angeles, CA. I completed my Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from the University of California, Riverside, and my Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Chapman University School of Pharmacy. I am currently a resident pharmacist at St. Joseph Medical Center in Stockton and completing my teaching certificate with the University of Pacific. My clinical interests include Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, and Infectious Disease. I am the biggest fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, and my bucket list includes traveling to more continents.

Career

During pharmacy school, I completed three years of internship with Kaiser Permanente as a student pharmacist in outpatient and inpatient pharmacy. During my medicine APPE block, I grew a stronger interest in acute care. I decided I wanted to pursue a residency in an academic medical center focused on critical care, and I matched with St. Joseph Medical Center which offered an acute care-focused residency program. At the same time, I am also completing my teaching certificate with the University of Pacific. I enjoy the excellent learning experience so far, adjusting pharmacokinetics orders, making interventions during rounds, and anticipating medication needs during codes. My career goal is to become a medication safety officer. I am passionate about medication safety and regulatory affairs.

Goals as CUSP Alumni Advisory Board Member

As a board member of the CUSP alumni advisory, my goal is to create a mentoring relationship between current pharmacy students and alumni. I believe the key to successfully expanding the pharmacy profession is mentoring pharmacy students. There are opportunities to precept by attending health fairs, providing guest lecturers, and being a coach. As practicing pharmacists, we have gained experience and knowledge by learning from our mistakes and, as a result, have crafted our clinical assessments. The textbook answer is far different than what is done in the clinical setting. As a CUSP Alumni Advisory Board member, I hope to bridge the gap for pharmacy students and allow them to foster meaningful and productive relationships with fellow CUSP alumni.

Memories at CUSP

As a pharmacy student, I was very involved in various activities. I kept myself busy juggling internships, doing research, and being a member of student organizations. I enjoyed traveling to different states across the U.S. and presenting my research. I expanded my network and clinical experiences with my Kaiser internship. I enjoyed working as a student executive board member in leading general meetings, planning extracurricular volunteer programs, and hosting networking events. Overall, I gained leadership experience, created friendships with pharmacy students across California, and expanded the pharmacy profession.

Messages to CUSP Alumni and Students

The key to success is hard work, staying humble, always putting your patients first, and admitting your knowledge limitations.

As a pharmacist, you are expected to know anything related to medications. However, you do not have to answer if you are uncertain. I often find students giving incorrect recommendations only because they think they need to, but other healthcare professionals heavily rely on our answers since we are pharmacists. Secondly, provide your evidence-based medicine recommendations to support your thought process. This gives others around you the opportunity to learn, and at the same time, it showcases your diversified knowledge of pharmacy. Additionally, always be open to learning more about topics that you are not familiar with. Remember, as a health care professional, the goal is to keep the patient safe. You are not expected to know everything, but you are expected to use your best judgment and resources to do what is best for the patient.

This interview has been edited for clarity.