Next-generation pharmacy education with next-generation technology

“I do my best. I give maximum effort. I wear a necklace each day that says Sic Parvis Magna (Latin for “greatness from small beginnings”). We all start small to end up being great.”

That’s Devon Lash’s everyday philosophy. As information technology (IT) administrator for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, he knows he lives in a customer-service world.

“The way I look at it is, technology can be a bang-your-head-against-the-wall kind of thing,” he said. “If I’m the most positive thing that you see all day (even when your tech is going awry), at least you’ve gotten one good thing if all else is not!”

A Binghamton native, Lash graduated from Susquehanna Valley High School and earned his associate degree in business administration from SUNY Broome, then his four-year degree from Binghamton University in business administration with a concentration in management information systems.

“When I was still a senior in high school, I worked for Lockheed Martin as an engineering student as part of the BOCES New Visions Horizons Engineering Academy, so I got a liking for the business/technology side of things,” Lash said.

He also interned with Ernst & Young in New York City while a student in Binghamton’s School of Management, as a consultant looking at information security and accounting. “It was really interesting and I learned a lot about the financial work, but I didn’t really get to interact with people and I tend to be a people person,” he said.

For a good portion of his time as a Binghamton University student, Lash also worked at the Computer Center (now the Tech Hub), in desktop support, starting as an intern. “I was fortunate enough, and consider myself very lucky, to have been able to get a position when it opened up. I went from being an intern, to being a temp, to a full-time line and have been here ever since,” he said.

Then, the opportunity to work in a brand-new school that focused on one of his interests — healthcare — popped up. He moved from the main IT operation to a position that combined work for the now-Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences and the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. “I wanted to start a brand-new school off right,” he said. “I thought: ‘We can really build a special program and one that’s not only unique in what it offers educationally, but also unique in what we could come up with technologically; Technological innovations that people haven’t seen before,’” he said. “I think we’ve accomplished that on a very positive level.”

Shortly after, his responsibilities moved to solely supporting the pharmacy school. His passion, he said, is working with students.

The ability he has to provide students different technological options that they may not have had access to before is still a thrill, he said. “I constantly get a vast amount of positive feedback, especially from the P1s (first-year students) coming in and those coming in from other colleges, and they’re just amazed at all the technology we have, from in the classroom to the recording of lectures to the myBinghamton portal to anything of that nature. To me that’s what makes it all worth it,” Lash said. “I know that I’m not the one training them to be a pharmacist of tomorrow, but I know that I played a very crucial part in getting them to that point and I gave the faculty and the students the best opportunity they could have to get their degree or get the job done.”

One way Lash shows his upbeat attitude is through electronic communication. “I try to think if I was going to get this message in a text or an email, how would I read it? Even if it’s: ‘Hey, the server is going to crash!’ I still want to try to say: ‘I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure it’s working. Don’t worry about it. I’ve got this!’

“It’s very similar to what our pharmacists would do if a patient came in worried about their medication or a medical condition,” he added. “You would want them to have a positive, upbeat attitude. It can be fixed to the best of our ability; we’ll try to come up with something.”

The biggest challenge Lash has faced in his role was moving from the main campus to the Health Sciences Campus in Johnson City. (He puts dealing with COVID-19 changes in a separate bucket!) “It took a lot of coordination making sure the building was all set, and it was in two parts,” he said. “We moved faculty and staff first, and six months later we moved the researchers in the middle of winter. It was a complex yet uniquely fun challenge.”

And keeping up with the rapid pace of technological change is a challenge in itself. Lash learned long ago from his grandfather — who cuts out articles from tech magazines for him — that you never know when you’ll need that information. He also relies on colleagues within the University’s Information Technology Services, Educational Communications, and the Center for Learning and Teaching departments. “I can always ping an idea off them or say: ‘Hey, am I thinking the right way on this, or am I far off?’ We have quite a team across the board at Binghamton.”

Lash also enjoys working across divisions within the University. “It’s not just one area we’re focused in. I don’t know what we don’t touch at this point,” he said. “We have a whole R&D operation, so I work with the Research Foundation and I work with the Binghamton University Foundation for events,” he said.

And with the PharmD program, a PhD program under development and future growth, he feels he’s in a unique position.

“I understand our curriculum inside and out. I haven’t designed the courses or the course content, but I have helped with setting up some of the technology that supports it (myCourses, Examsoft, Panopto, etc.) and making sure we can deliver it how our faculty envision,” he said. “So, I have to understand what it means to take an IPT, integrated pharmacotherapy, or a co-curricular and what IPPEs and APPEs are all about.

“I enjoy constantly learning new things and then when our students have a question that involves a part of our curriculum and tech, I know what it means,” he added. “Jokingly, I say if it involves a battery or electric, it somehow comes back to me!”

That includes work helping to build the Simulation Lab in the pharmacy building, spending hours researching different devices and how to mount them on walls. The calendar system (JOAN) stands out as something he’s particularly proud of.

“It seems so simple; it’s just a touch screen calendar with your name coming up, but it really helps the students know that they’re up and who is the next one up, instead of having to print out a paper copy every day — and we can change it on the fly.”

He’s also helped devise how to record what’s happening in the Compounding Lab and 797 Sterile Compounding Room, and worked with Northwell Health to set up what is needed to teach our students from there. “They have a laptop cart system that I worked with their people on,” he said. “We tested it and we can talk to them inside their USP 800 sterile room and they can talk to us right out of the classroom. It’s unbelievable what we’ve been able to accomplish so far.”

As he goes about his days, students always come first, Lash said. “That’s why I put in all the hours and I’ll answer an email or text at any time for them and they’ll be surprised that I’ve answered back sometimes even late at night. I tell them, ‘You needed something so I wanted to be able to provide this to you.’”

It’s just one of the ways he hopes to break the mold of what IT looks like, and the COVID-19 pandemic has helped. “IT is more than just pushing some buttons, sitting behind a monitor and never talking to somebody. I try to break that mold that IT workers tend to get. I love talking to people. I love being outgoing. I just also happen to be good at pushing buttons to make systems work!

“But we’ve been able to show what we can accomplish while dealing with this,” Lash said. “Delivering a curriculum remotely, being able to coordinate and work with people when you don’t get to see them in person anymore and being able to do things. I’ve been trying for years to get a portal for the school and, because of this, I’ve been able to do it. I’ve been really happy to be able to do things like that and provide what everybody needs to the best of my ability.”

Outside of the pharmacy school, Lash is an avid gamer, hiker and athlete. He spends a lot of time playing soccer (in the local leagues around the area) and spending time with friends and family. “I try to be the best me every day,” he said. “I hope to make a lasting impression and difference to this community my family, and all of the future pharmacists I help within our school”.