Third-year pharmacy student assists with COVID-19 testing

Brian Kam is entering his third year as a pharmacy student in Binghamton University’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, but he ended his summer 2020 in a clinical setting he never expected to be in — helping with COVID-19 testing.

His job was in sample management and analysis — and it provided him with much more than needed clinical rotation hours. It provided him what he termed “a unique experience.”

In August, Kam was a one of about 100 volunteers needed each day from Aug. 19 to Aug. 25, to test on-campus students for COVID-19 before they were allowed to move into their residence halls. Kam worked from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on four of those days, helping to test about 1,000 students each day.

In one of his roles, Kam “received the swab from the clinical ‘runner,’ mixed the swab with a reagent, per instruction, prepared the testing cassettes and monitored the samples for the 15-minute wait period,” he said.

At times he also ran the sample analyzer, placing the testing cassette into a small analyzing machine that quickly read the results and printed out a “receipt” noting whether the test was negative or positive.

“It was a tough and rewarding experience,” he said. “Wearing all the PPE (N95 mask, face shield, garb and two sets of gloves) throughout the day was tough. I had never worn an N95 mask and face shield up until that point. I now empathize with all the healthcare workers who are required to wear all that PPE.”

The work flow went smoothly, he added. “I never felt overwhelmed. The COVID testing site was well-staffed and organized. I got to work alongside my classmates, my professors, nursing students and registered nurses.”

The days were long, Kam said, but “it’s awesome to be part of a historical moment at our University.”

Kam hadn’t needed to return to Binghamton to help with COVID-19 testing. He had remained in Binghamton when the University went to online learning in March, allowing him to continue working at a local pharmacy.

He’s also continuing to build his leadership résumé. He was student dean during his second year, and will serve as president of the Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SSHP) this academic year, in addition to serving on a national committee for Phi Lambda Sigma, also known as the national Pharmacy Leadership Society.

Being student dean was a good learning opportunity and a unique opportunity to not only engage with students but also the faculty,” he said.

“The student dean position is very unique because everyone has a different take on the role,” he noted. “Everyone has different initiatives they want to start, so every year things will be improving.”

Under his deanship, the Apothecary Curators completed the first full display case in the pharmacy building. Kam also attended Pharmacy Leadership Team meetings with the dean and members of her senior staff, providing reports on student life, and attended the Dean’s Hours. He also focused on developing the Big Sib Little Sib program and creating more events for students to participate in, including Deans and Donuts, trivia on Zoom, ice cream floats and board games — noting that everything involved food.

“What a surprise! Mostly people are going to come for food, but even with the trivia the incentive was the top three winners would win an Amazon gift card,” he added.

Kam, who entered the School of Pharmacy after three years as an undergraduate at Binghamton, helped found the undergraduate Pre Pharmacy Association. (In fact, Founding Dean Gloria Meredith believes he was the first student to contact her before the pharmacy school opened — in 2016 and his first year as an undergraduate — to tell her he wanted to be a PharmD student at Binghamton.) When he started his pharmacy program, there were only four student organizations up and running at the school (now there are 17). He was drawn to SSHP “because they’re focused on residency and that’s something I knew I was definitely interested in,” he said. “It’s been a pretty good learning experience and we’re doing bigger things this year.”

One of those bigger things is bringing in a powerhouse speaker to start the semester — the current Miss America, Camille Schrier. A student at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, Schrier will Zoom in to speak on Sept. 2. SSHP is charging a small fee for non-members to attend the talk, with the money going to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Kam also joins other leaders on the Phi Lambda Sigma Communications Committee, where he will assist with branding, social media, the website and things of that realm, he said. “It’s the first time I’m working with students from other pharmacy schools and it’s not just students; it’s also people who are residents or already established pharmacists on the committee.

“I like making flyers and posters and engaging with students on social media so I thought this committee was a good fit for me,” he said. “We have a monthly committee meeting. I’ve only had one so far and we discussed the basics. I know that I’m going to be co-in charge of two other students on that committee for social media, but there’s also website, branding, preparing for the annual meeting and things like that. I still have a lot to learn!”

As his third year of pharmacy studies begins, Kam has a lot on his plate, and is looking forward to being fully engaged after the unusual end to the spring semester.

“I didn’t mind waking up 10 minutes before lecture and just opening up my laptop, but I do miss the in-class experience,” he said. “I’m going to be happy to go back in the classroom even though it’s going to be more of a hybrid situation, but it will be an improvement from last semester. I didn’t mind online learning for that time, but now I do miss not being in person. You also miss a lot of the social components without in-class learning.”