Pharmacists answer the call to serve

No degree from Binghamton University’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SOPPS) looks exactly alike — even for the students who end up in the same field. But there is one thing they all share: a need and desire to help those who need it.

This is perhaps especially true for the alumni who go into the field of veteran healthcare. In 2023, the U.S. Office of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimated that the number of living veterans include over 18 million people. Many of them face unique challenges related to their service that other populations won’t experience. Binghamton SOPPS alumni who work at the 1,380 veteran healthcare facilities in the United States can specialize in these topics, from inpatient care to psychiatry and pain management — to name just a few.

“I feel very honored that I get to serve those who served us,” said Nik Patel, PharmD ’23, a clinical pharmacy specialist in mental health at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center. “The folks that I work with, from 19-year-olds to 99-year-olds, from all walks of life, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, to veterans who are in the current climate and recently left the service — I get to hear all these stories. It puts life into perspective for me. I'm sitting here in a comfy room with four walls. You helped your country, and now it's my turn to take care of you.”

Nik Patel, PharmD ’23 

Although Patel grew up in England and later in Canada, he eventually moved to the U.S. to pursue pharmacy, where he developed into a third-generation pharmacist, following his father and grandfather. Patel found Binghamton an interesting choice because it was a new pharmacy school, somewhere where he “didn't feel like I would just be another number” and “could have and leave an imprint on the school in a positive way.”

While at Binghamton, Patel and his friends started a naloxone overdose training program in The Rural and Underserved Service Track (TRUST), which he sees as relevant in his role now, serving a population where mental health and opioid use are common. This was one of the experiences through Binghamton that helped set him on his path into clinical psychiatric pharmacy.

“Getting that experience in teaching during TRUST, that's when I started to develop a passion for teaching, which is why I'm super happy that I get to be a preceptor now,” he said.

Patel started as a pharmacy technician and eventually took his PGY1 pharmacy residency at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Michigan. From there, his passion for mental health continued as he committed early to the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System in Cleveland, Ohio, to pursue his PGY2 in psychiatry. Upon completion of his PGY2, Patel stayed on as a full-time clinical pharmacy specialist in mental health within an outpatient clinic. He appreciates seeing the change in a patient on a day-to-day basis and the level of influence he has on treatment.

“The VA offers pharmacists the highest scope of practice. I have complete autonomy in what I do and how I do it,” Patel said. “I practice, I prescribe, I have my own DEA license. I have my own clinic, my own patient panel. I am the provider, which for me, was huge in helping push the scope of practice for pharmacists.”

Hearing stories from his patients, along with a strong mentor relationship and his coursework in psychiatry, made mental health feel like the perfect fit for him.

“There's no real black or white with what we do; everything is gray,” he said. “It's not like breaking an arm, putting a cast on, and waiting a couple of months. Mental health every day is different. Every time I see that same patient, it's going to be different. You never know what to expect; you're always on your toes, critically thinking, trying to find the right pieces to the puzzle, and that's why I love this career.”

Patel says one of his main goals as a preceptor, educator, and pharmacist is to challenge the misconception and stigma around the VA. He sees it as a culturally diverse population and a respectful working environment, and he thinks every student should experience it at least once throughout their training. It is not all that different from college or the many other working spaces that pharmacists will inhabit in their lifetime, he added.

“Working with individuals in underserved and/or rural communities where mental health and substance abuse are very prevalent was a big wake-up call in terms of learning empathy as a student,” he said. “You’ve got to treat people holistically. You can't just throw meds at someone and hope that they improve clinically because of what a guideline tells you. You have to get down to their level as a human. Mental healthcare is having that connection with someone and building that therapeutic alliance, because ultimately that plays a huge role in their overall outcome. If you're treating someone like a robot, you're never going to get far with them.”

Danielle Dattler, PharmD ’24 

Dattler, an inpatient clinical pharmacist at the Syracuse VA Medical Center, found herself drawn to math and science during high school. That interest eventually led her to healthcare and pharmacy, a career she chose for the opportunity to use her skills to care for and serve others in a meaningful way.

She chose Binghamton University for its small class sizes, proximity to home, and variety of academic programs, giving her the flexibility to explore her interests. She joined the Pharmacy Early Assurance Program (PEAP), recognizing that Binghamton SOPPS offered the perfect combination of opportunities and support.

“Binghamton felt like the Goldilocks choice — the one that was just right for me,” she said.

Over time, she realized just how true that feeling was. At SOPPS, she worked as a tutor and student ambassador while becoming involved in several organizations. Through her introductory and advanced pharmacy practice experiences, she gained a clearer sense of the career she wanted to pursue. She was drawn to the hospital setting, where she could contribute to patient care by optimizing medication regimens and supporting nurses and providers with clinical questions.

Her path to the VA began with an unexpected connection through Ultimate Frisbee. While playing on a local club team, she met a pharmacist who introduced her to a student position at the Syracuse VA. The experience solidified her interest in hospital pharmacy, and during her final year at SOPPS, she applied for a pharmacy residency at the VA. Instead, she was offered a position on the inpatient pharmacy team — a welcome and unexpected opportunity to begin her career. But the day after graduation, a government shutdown put the position on hold. With residency applications already closed, she transitioned to community pharmacy while keeping her sights set on returning to the VA.

When the position became available a year later, she accepted immediately. Returning to the VA felt like coming back to a place where she already knew she belonged.

“Everyone there was amazing, and I really loved the hospital itself,” she said. “There’s a shared sense that everything we do is ultimately for the veterans. It doesn’t feel like a for-profit system where the focus is on cutting costs. You feel like the priority is truly providing the best care you can for the people who served.”

As a provider, Dattler feels it is important to let students interested in pharmacy know that general practice can be both fulfilling and rewarding. She was never particularly drawn to one specialty, instead valuing the opportunity to see a little of everything. The VA offered her that freedom, while Binghamton prepared her for it through numerous hands-on learning opportunities.

“I think there’s a misconception that you have to specialize to have a fulfilling career in pharmacy. For me, the variety is what makes it so rewarding — I get to see a little bit of everything, work with different medications and conditions, and there’s always something new to learn.”

For students hoping to pursue a career at the VA, Dattler’s advice is simple: get there early, make connections, and make the most of every opportunity. Her own experience showed her that those relationships can open doors, but so can the impression a student makes through hard work and genuine enthusiasm.

“People remember you,” she said. “I used to get frustrated when people would tell me how important connections were without really explaining how to make them. I’ve realized that your rotations are a great way to build those relationships. Even just showing up, being eager, and putting yourself out there can make such a difference.”

Zachary Abe, PharmD ’24 

For Abe, the decision to join the VA workforce was partially a personal one.

“During my pharmacy school career, I knew there was a potential avenue to go into the VA. I was set on hospital settings by then, but that year, my grandfather passed away,” said Abe, a clinical pharmacist in pain management at the VA Central Texas Health Care System. “He served in the Marines in Vietnam, and I saw the care that he received at the VA. I really wanted to give back to veterans and try to improve the care that people like my grandfather didn't receive by improving access and quality of life.”

Today, he often reflects on these lessons and his grandfather’s story. His first pharmacy interest was in mental health, and the effect that Vietnam had on his grandfather inspired him to help veterans who go through similar issues. When a pain management opportunity opened, he realized how much overlap there was between mental health and pain. He was excited to take the opportunity to expand his skill set and expertise in another clinical area.

His story is also unique for beginning in Bakersfield, California, where he always knew he was interested in pharmacy. He remembers noticing early on “the respect that pharmacists got within the community” and so pursued a technician role (which he credits for his success during the pharmacy practice degree pathway).

“Being a technician prepared me for pharmacy school because it got me around the medications, learning brand names,” Abe said. “You're always around the medicine and seeing the way your pharmacist counsels patients on them. It’s a great opportunity to learn more, and it gives you a good booster to start feeling more familiar in the field.”

As he grew in the position — interacting with customers, learning pharmacists’ workflow, and more — he applied to pharmacy schools to extend his options and accepted a spot in Fresno, California.

However, just a few weeks before his classes were slated to begin, the college lost its accreditation, and Abe reached out to Binghamton’s team — who offered him admission after hearing his story. He is especially appreciative of then-Director of Admissions Rachel Perry, who he credits with guiding him through the process. This taught him the importance of networking, a skill which he now uses daily.

He credits Binghamton’s hands-on experiences, like skills labs and rotations, for his success. He found that learning how to become more empathetic and engaged as a provider has made a huge difference in his career.

Now, he works to extend that compassion to the veterans he works with in his new role.

“The pharmacy school taught me to build those connections with people in different areas and have those close touchpoints with them,” he said. “The school is honestly like a family. These professors and pharmacists are there for you and your education, and they want you to learn and succeed. You can feel that the whole time you're at Binghamton and even after graduation.”

Bridgette Falco, PharmD ’25 

Falco wasn’t even at SOPPS yet when she came to her long-term interest in psychology.

“I ended up settling on this when I was interviewed at Binghamton,” she said. “Dr. [Bennett] Doughty interviewed me and explained to me what his role was, and now the program that I'm in is the program that he originally graduated from!”

Like Doughty once did, Falco works as a PGY2 psychiatric pharmacy resident at the VA in West Haven, Connecticut. To get there, during her senior year in high school, Falco pursued an educational/vocational training program as a pharmacy technician, and thanks to that experience, she moved immediately into her career at an independent pharmacy in Ronkonkoma, New York. Then, to expand her options, she decided to pursue her pharmacy requirements and applied to Binghamton, where she was instantly smitten with the building and people.

As she worked through her college career, she was thankful to Binghamton for exposing her to opportunities that challenged her first instinct.

“Binghamton works hard to get away from that stigma associated with pharmacy as a field,” she said. “We all have a lot of different paths that we can go down as pharmacists. You don't have to work at CVS; you don't have to work at a hospital. You could do a fellowship, you could find a niche career, you could be a professor. And Binghamton provides great role models for all those different positions.”

That interdisciplinary education and variety of options was so important to her that she pursued the TRUST program and later the VA residency for similar reasons. It paid off; she finds that her experiences at Binghamton prepared her to do something new every six weeks. Currently on an inpatient psychology rotation, no day is ever the same, which she finds rewarding.

Additionally, since her patients may experience health crises unique to the population and VA’s have a higher scope of practice, she can also explore innovative treatment along with multimodal approaches.

“It allows me to dive deeper than the typical SSRI,” she said. “We're using experimental medications, and the VA is really fore fronted with research — another quality that I got from Binghamton, since we are required to do a capstone project.”

Although she’s now settling into her PGY2 year, Falco still believes that her biggest successes were often from what she, at the time, might have considered “failure,” and urges students to keep that in mind when moving forward.

“There are always people to reach out to. You want to get 100 on every exam. You want to get an A in the class. But it's impossible to know everything,” she said. “Even if you did, you will never be fully prepared for what happens as an actual pharmacist. Realizing that it's okay not to know everything, and nobody knows everything — even professors who have been teaching for decades — is when you really learn."