Introduction

In this episode of Script Your Future, host Sonja Pagniano interviews Natalie Novak, PharmD, a clinical pharmacist at Bryant Family Pharmacy who earned her doctorate at Mercer University in May 2024 and relocated from Georgia to Arkansas for a community pharmacy residency.

Natalie shares how growing up on a 3,000-acre ranch in rural Northern Colorado shaped her work ethic and sparked an early interest in medications, leading her to pharmacy after working as a technician in a small-town chain. She explains why she chose independent pharmacy and a community residency for hands-on service development, teaching, and research—especially leveraging Arkansas’s broader pharmacist prescribing protocols.

Natalie discusses NCPA Foundation support, including the Ownership Workshop Scholarship and the Neil Pruitt Senior Memorial Scholarship, how business-plan and ownership training shaped her view of entrepreneurship, and how networking through NCPA influenced her career. She highlights patient impact through naloxone access, medication packaging support, and her focus on rural pharmacy as an accessible healthcare hub, and encourages students to stay open-minded, get involved early, and pursue community practice without bias.

Interview

Sonja: Welcome to a new episode of Script Your Future podcast. Today we have Natalie Novak, clinical Pharmacist at Bryant Family Pharmacy. Natalie grew up on a ranch in the mountains of Northern Colorado and she earned her doctorate of pharmacy from Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, in May 2024, before she relocated to Arkansas to complete her residency at Bryant Family Pharmacy, which I think she recently completed. We’re very excited to hear more about that in a minute. She’s a pharmacist who is dedicated to enhancing patient care and advocating for the profession, while inspiring future pharmacists to do the same. We’re so excited to have her on the podcast. Welcome, Natalie.

Natalie: Awesome. Thank you so much, Sonja. I’m excited to be here.

Sonja: Awesome. Tell us what initially drew you to the residency at Bryant Pharmacy.

Natalie: Yeah, absolutely. I think during pharmacy school, through my involvement with NCPA, I truly developed this deep love for independent pharmacy. I was learning about all these unique and innovative things that were happening in the world of independent pharmacy, and I really wanted a good hands-on experience at what that looks like and what’s possible out there.

I decided I wanted to do residency in order to get a better background with some teaching experience and research and really get an opportunity to kind of try and implement some services and really get that hands-on experience. I was drawn to specifically the state of Arkansas, one to get a little bit closer to family, but also, I was drawn to Arkansas’s wider scope of practice. So, coming from Georgia to Arkansas, we have quite a few statewide protocols here in the state of Arkansas that really opened the doors for pharmacist prescribing. I was really excited for that and the opportunity to take those and make them into projects for myself during residency year.

Sonja: Pharmacist prescribing is huge. I know that’s like a big topic even this year of more and more states maybe looking to expand that or get it started. Tell us a little bit about that journey you took from your family’s ranch back in Colorado all the way to now practicing as a pharmacist in Arkansas…What was it like growing up on a ranch out there in northern Colorado? How did maybe some of those experiences shape your values and your work ethic, and what sparked that interest in pharmacy?

Natalie: I got that hometown ski town experience, but also, we had a 3,000-acre family ranch about 30 minutes outside of town. I really got that experience of what it’s like to live in a rural community, which is really where my roots are. Even though I don’t consider where I live right now rural, I think, especially after you’ve grown up there…I’m still feeling very passionate about those people that live in rural communities and giving them access to care. So, grew up raising livestock and in 4-H and FFA, showing horses, developed a really strong love for leadership. Kind of translated into pharmacy school, leading our NCPA chapter as well.

Really fell in love with the work ethic that it takes to raise animals out on a ranch. I mean, day in, day out, just because it’s raining outside, they still need to be fed. So I think that hard work and discipline, perseverance, are some lessons that I learned growing up in that kind of environment. The closest pharmacy to my hometown was 30 minutes away. The closest grocery store, the closest mall was two hours away. So I really grew up feeling that rural community. And so learned a lot through that journey. My journey to pharmacy school really started with animals. I fell in love with raising horses and market lambs and all that fun stuff. And yeah, in the 4-H project you learn a lot about the anatomy of a horse. And my horses were on a lot of medications, so I learned all about the medicine.

Sonja: You probably learned all kinds of things about veterinary care related to that.

Natalie: Yeah, absolutely. And my mom would get this giant stock bottle of ranitidine and we would crush it with a pill grinder — a coffee grinder in our garage — like we were compounding before I even knew what that was. So I always was interested in some kind of science. I knew I wanted to be in a science field some way, shape or form. That’s kind of how it started. I think I realized maybe the emotional side of animals, the emotional attachment would’ve been a little hard for me. So I was like, well, maybe I could be a people doctor. Like, let’s look into medicine.

So when I entered undergrad, I went to West Texas A&M University, outside of Amarillo, Texas. Went there to ride horses. But I also really enjoyed the college down there. Just kind of majored in a general major, aiming to go to some sort of professional school. I wasn’t sure exactly what that would look like. And then I was looking like, you know, if I wanted to go to med school, I need this hands-on patient care experience. None of that really appealed to me. So I ended up getting a job at a retail chain pharmacy in my college hometown as a pharmacy technician. And that really opened my eyes to what pharmacists can do. Especially, my college town was pretty rural too. So I was able to really see that small town pharmacy vibe, even though it was a chain — got to learn the ins and outs of what pharmacy looks like, what pharmacists do.

And I just kind of fell in love with it and thought, you know, this is something that I could do for the rest of my life. So that’s how I found pharmacy.

Sonja: Wow, that’s so cool. So it really was quite the journey from crushing pills for your horse’s medicine to getting that first job in pharmacy to really open your eyes to the profession itself.

Natalie: Yeah, absolutely.

Sonja: Why independent community pharmacy specifically as opposed to like a chain or hospital pharmacy? What ended up getting you to that? Is it those local rural roots you had and wanting to make sure you’re as close to community as possible? Or was there something else?

Natalie: Yeah, I think that’s a big part of it. When I went into pharmacy school, I really didn’t know which path I was gonna take. I went in with a very open mind, joined a lot of different organizations, really ended up resonating with NCPA and finding myself in a position of leadership within that organization at our local chapter. And from there I just kind of took that and ran with it.

I think independent pharmacy, there’s so much flexibility to try new things. The pharmacy I currently work at is such a high volume — a uniquely high volume independent. We have a huge patient population, so I have the ability to kind of test and try out different things without that overhead of a corporation. And also the small town feel — I know all of my patients by name for the most part. So I think independents are just really uniquely positioned in the field to do innovative things and really test the waters and advance the profession.

Sonja: Absolutely. So when you were first kind of choosing that professional school, why did you end up choosing Mercer?

Natalie: So, tale as old as time. I met my husband in undergrad. He ended up getting a job out in Georgia right out of school. And so I followed him to Georgia. Was looking for pharmacy schools out there, applied to a few different schools. I ultimately chose Mercer just because I really love the smaller feel of the campus. Smaller private school — wasn’t as big as these huge campuses that I was touring. So, really loved that. And then everyone was so personable, and I felt like there were a lot of opportunities for growth for me, with rotation sites in the area. I also loved that Georgia has a really strong state association as well. The ability to get involved in lots of different great practice sites in the Atlanta area. So it was just a good fit all around for me.

Sonja: I’ve definitely heard a lot of good things. I know they have a lot of opportunities for pharmacy students to kind of get their feet wet with the different aspects, not just of independent community pharmacy, but also other aspects of the profession too.

Natalie: Absolutely.

Sonja: So I know some people are really hooked on hospital experience for clinical. Can you talk a little bit more about why choosing a community pharmacy residency might be better than a hospital experience?

Natalie: Absolutely. I think I knew from my first rotation at a hospital — in my first inpatient APPE rotation — I knew a hospital wasn’t really for me. I really loved the deeper thinking and how pharmacists were really involved in the care team from the clinical aspect. I think the environment wasn’t it for me. I loved the longitudinal relationships with our patients that we get to build in the community setting. Utmost respect for all of our hospital pharmacists. I think as far as residency goes, a lot of people don’t know that community pharmacy residencies are even possible. They don’t talk about them a lot in pharmacy school. But I say to all my students that are looking to further their education but not necessarily in a hospital setting that a community residency is a really good option…’cause I was able to get that teaching and that research experience, but also that experience in a community pharmacy setting. And there’s a wide variety of sites, you know, from chain pharmacies to independents to outpatient community pharmacies. Just a really great way to expand your knowledge and skillset, if the hospital may not be for you.

Sonja: So that’s really helpful context. Thank you. So you ended up at Bryant Pharmacy? And you talked a little bit about kind of like why you really like the residency program there. Can you touch more on how you chose that specific pharmacy?

Natalie: Yeah, so during my fourth year I was researching residency sites, probably early on in my fourth year. I had a few criteria I was looking for in a site. I wanted them to be an independent pharmacy — that was obvious for me. I wanted them to be a member of the local or the state CPSN chapter. So Bryant Family Pharmacy is an Arkansas CPESN pharmacy. So I love that. And then I think during the interview process, what really drew me here is the flexibility for trial and error. The owner and site coordinator of our pharmacy pretty much lets the resident take their passion project and implement it. He’ll provide the resources for it. Whatever you wanna do, let’s try it. If it fails, you know, that’s okay. Let’s assess why that failure happened and maybe try again, or pick something different, go down a different route. In my case, I was lucky that what I wanted to implement was very successful and I just took it and ran with it and explored different ways to take that appointment-based model and really expand it further.

So I just really enjoyed — especially since we’re a high-volume store so there’s a lot of opportunity for the resident to get involved in all aspects of workflow. But also we’re very separated from workflow too, where I can spend time in the office developing ideas and services and things like that. The resident is only checking prescriptions on the bench one day a week, and the rest of the time is completely dedicated to service development and teaching.

Sonja: That’s incredible. I love that. What an awesome experience for you and how awesome for Bryant to put that together for students, especially when you’re trying to innovate and implement all of these cool things you’re learning. That’s such a good experience to be able to actually do it.

Natalie: Yeah, absolutely. It’s very cool.

Sonja: So you received the NCPA Pharmacist Mutual Ownership Workshop Scholarship from the Foundation back in 2023, and you were able to attend the workshop. I’m very curious — what did it mean to you to have a program like that be more accessible at that time, and what were maybe some of your expectations going into it versus what you ended up actually experiencing?

Natalie: Yeah, that was such a great experience for me as a student. I was able to attend the workshop in Charlotte, pretty close to pharmacy school for me, and I just think it’s an invaluable resource for students. I was so grateful to have the opportunity to go and do that. Especially to just kind of get your feet wet in the field of ownership….’cause I feel like as a student, ownership seems like this milestone that’s almost impossible to reach. And it just seems like something that’s so far out of reach you don’t even know where to start. So I was really excited to be able to go. I was working on our business plan for our NCPA chapter at the time as well, and so I was excited to go and just gain more knowledge.

Both to help with the business plan, but also to look at — okay, do I wanna be an owner in the future? Is this something I’m interested in? If it is, I’m a lifelong learner, I just wanna absorb as much information as possible. So I really had no idea what to expect going into the ownership workshop.

I was nervous, of course, because you’re in this room full of people that are current owners, but also aspiring owners that have been pharmacists way longer. I mean, I hadn’t even been a pharmacist at that point. So, I think the experience itself — I was just overwhelmed with information, I think in a good way. It was so comprehensive. Just walked through all the elements of ownership and things that I mean I had never even thought about when it comes to site selection for a pharmacy or financials or any of the legal elements. There’s so much of the background that goes into it that you don’t learn in pharmacy school.

Sonja: So that experience was just incredible for me. No, and I hear that a lot. It’s like the whole drinking from the fire hose analogy. So much. And that’s why some people go and they do it multiple times — ‘cause they say every time they get something different out of it, and every time they’re at a different phase of that journey towards owning a pharmacy. Do you remember some of the sessions you had? What was maybe the most valuable session from that at the time that you experienced it? Maybe a memorable speaker that you could share with our audience?

Natalie: I loved Gabe Trahans’s talk — I’m not sure if I said his last name right — on the over-the-counter and the front end section of the pharmacy. That was an area I hadn’t had much experience in, but had a lot of emphasis in pharmacy school on over-the-counters. Was excited to learn more about the merchandising side of that, ‘cause I had no experience in marketing, sales, anything like that. I think marketing presentations were also really valuable. And then the legal, the law — there’s just so much that goes into it. I was mind blown at all the things you need to think about when owning a business.

Sonja: So did you make any connections there that you’ve still maintained since?

Natalie: Yeah, absolutely. I think most of my connections that I’ve maintained have been with other students from other NCPA chapters. So there were some students from the University of Georgia that were there. We built really great relationships with them. Other leaders in pharmacy practice like Jonathan Mark West and people like that, that kind of served as mentors to me throughout my years in pharmacy school. Got to see them at the conference or at the ownership workshop and really reinforce those relationships, and we’re still in contact today.

Sonja: Excellent. That’s really great to hear. So have you applied what you learned from that workshop since then, like at Bryant Pharmacy or anywhere else in between?

Natalie: Absolutely. I’m so involved in the world of clinical service development. I don’t see as much of the ownership background, but when I’m developing a service, I am looking at financials and gross profit, what that looks like. And so having that financial background — and what really makes a service sustainable and then contributes to the business as a whole — was really good context to have coming into residency.

Natalie: And then one thing — I do a lot of marketing right now. I attempt to run our social media platform. I mean, a lot of developing services and getting people to come to the pharmacy is in marketing. And it was something that’s probably the one thing I didn’t expect to utilize as much during residency, but also in my career — just trying to grow things and I need people to know that these things exist in order for them to come in and make my service successful.

Sonja: So that’s great feedback… ‘cause you probably are like, okay, I know there’s a gap here. I know this needs filled, but now I need to convince people to actually access it and use it and do it.

Natalie: Yeah, absolutely. And that was part of my research project as a resident as well — on barriers to implementation of oral contraceptive prescribing specifically. And pharmacists were telling me our patients just aren’t asking for these services. They just don’t know that we can do this. And so getting the word out there is really the biggest challenge, and it’s where I spend a lot of my time.

Sonja: So you also received the Neil Pruitt Senior Memorial Scholarship. That scholarship is awarded to a student with demonstrated leadership qualities, academic achievement, and an interest in independent community pharmacy entrepreneurism. What did that financial support enable for you during pharmacy school? And where are you on your journey right now towards entrepreneurship?

Natalie: I think that scholarship was incredible to receive. I received it during my fourth year, so it really — those additional dollars, not only towards schooling, but enabled me to travel to explore different residency sites and look at what other pharmacies are doing, attend annual convention, things like that. So very invaluable contribution to my career with that scholarship. As far as entrepreneurship goes, I’m still exploring the potential of entrepreneurship. Like I said, that ownership seems like a mountain that just takes forever to climb. When I think back to when I first started residency, ownership was way more out of sight than maybe it is right now.

So I think where I’m at kind of on that journey is — like I said — exploration, but potentially going in as a partner. It definitely seems like a more realistic goal for me now. And I think that scholarship really helped me explore different things in order to develop that.

Sonja: Yeah, I think historically when we talked about ownership, we’ve always talked about like a true startup — like you’re building it from the ground up — but like in today’s day and age, it’s actually very, very possible to find someone to partner with. To get that first pharmacy going and then from there you can build new things much more easily once you’ve got that kind of framework and someone to lean on too. In terms of all of the things that can go wrong with pharmacy ownership, I know it can be a really daunting thing to look at. Feels much more attainable. And then so how have your leadership opportunities that you had as a student translated to your current work?

Natalie: Yeah, absolutely. I was highly involved as a student both in NCPA, APhA, POLA, all of the above.

I think my most valuable experiences came from my involvement in leadership in NCPA… not only through the conferences and things like that, but truly networking and being involved. That really gave me the most valuable opportunities.

When I was applying for residency, I either knew every program director for the program I was applying to, or I knew someone who had a close relationship with them. So that networking really — those letters of recommendation, and being able to have your program director pick up the phone and call someone who knows you personally is really critical. Any kind of job opportunity, residency, things like that. I think networking was one of my big takeaways. And then I learned a lot through leading my NCPA chapter. We actually received the chapter of the year award, I think in 2024 as well. So all of that leadership experience also translates into — we have a 50-person staff here at the pharmacy.

Not all 50 people at one time, but we have 50 people that work here. And that’s a lot to manage. So you have to be a leader day in, day out. All pharmacists have to act as managers, leaders when they’re on the bench. So all of that leadership experience really translates into day-to-day and getting buy-in from my technicians for new services. And it’s just really important and really valuable experience for me.

Sonja: Well, yeah, and I would say all this experience you’re getting — if you did wanna pursue ownership in the future — that’s gonna be invaluable to you because you’ll already know how to lead essentially a pharmacy that you own. ‘Cause all the pharmacists essentially have ownership in the pharmacy that you’re working. Like, getting all of your techs to get on board for a new service — that is hard work. It’s really hard. So I do wanna hear a little bit about your business plan competition experience. I know it was a team thing that you were part of. I’m wondering though, what the experience is like on an individual level as part of a team. Kind of how did you guys split things up? How did you kind of go about it?

Natalie: Absolutely. So I kind of led the project. Kind of developed; we developed the ideas together and kind of modeled it based on a pharmacy that I had done some rotations with and had a good relationship with in pharmacy school. Our team really divided it up based on our strengths. I find that’s something that I excel in — identifying, you know, oh, you’re a numbers guy, okay, you’d be great for the financials. You’re interested in social media, let’s tackle the marketing side. I like to write, so maybe let me tackle the vision and mission statement and some of the writing components. So we were really able to split it up that way.

It was a great experience. Learning how to put together a balance sheet — all the financials that go into it — I still feel like I have more to learn there. It was crazy, but it was really fun. Really fun teamwork experience.

Sonja: So were there any key lessons that came out of developing that plan?

Natalie: That’s a great question. I think it gave me a lot of insight into ownership in the future — the ownership workshop combined with the business plan competition really showed me that some things may feel a little bit more attainable for me, but also like there’s a lot that goes into this that we don’t think about on a daily basis. So that was one of my big takeaways; I have a lot to learn. I also really just enjoyed getting to work with my team on that project — it was a lot of fun — and building close relationships with the pharmacy that we modeled our plan after as well. Really catapulted me forward and I’m still in connection with those people today as well.

Sonja: Yeah, I would’ve never even thought about that…how, because you’re working so much on a specific pharmacy, you would then also develop that relationship. Yeah, absolutely. A great takeaway. So how did those three experiences — the scholarship for the ownership workshop, the Neil Pruitt Senior Scholarship, and the business plan — altogether shape your understanding of ownership? And you’re in this place now where you’re working at a pharmacy, you’re in charge of developing new services. How do you feel about ownership? Like, be for real. Do you feel good about it or do you still feel kind of like, ah, I don’t know might not be for me?

Natalie: For sure. I think each of those elements — the scholarship and the workshop and the business plan — played a unique role in shaping my comprehensive view of what ownership really looks like. And then add in the residency experience as well. And I got to see some behind the scenes of what that looks like, and looking at service viability and things like that. So I think all of those experiences really work together to give me a good understanding.

Honestly, I think it kind of scared me a little bit in the beginning because it’s this huge lofty goal. So I think I kind of took a step back from maybe wanting to go towards ownership just because there’s so much information to learn and I was just a 24-year-old pharmacy student who felt like I didn’t have it all figured out.

Sonja: You feel like the sky’s the limit. You’re like, I can do this, I’ll do it right after I graduate!

Natalie: Exactly. And then you look at all the things that go into it, you’re like, whoa, okay. Hold on a second. So I think I took a step back from maybe wanting to pursue ownership. But you know, following residency and seeing the way that the owner that I work for does things, I think put things into perspective for me and made it feel a little bit more attainable. But all that knowledge is not gone. Like I still have retained so much from those experiences that hopefully I can carry forward one day.

Sonja: I think you’re just gonna keep building on it. I think every year in your pharmacist practice, you’re just gonna always be thinking of new, innovative things, implementing new things, dreaming up like, well, what if someday?

Natalie: Yeah, for sure. I love that part of it.

Sonja: So can you share an example maybe of a patient impact situation that you’ve had that’s really energized you in your pharmacist practice?

Natalie: Absolutely. I think — oh man — there’s so many. I’ve had a lot of fun the past couple years developing services that I feel like have made a big impact on our patient population. I call it almost like primary care at the pharmacy. During my residency I dispensed about 500 boxes of Naloxone. Trained on those, developed medical billing mechanisms for billing for the time of not only assessing whether the patient is a good candidate for Naloxone — which everybody is in my opinion —but anyway, is the patient a good candidate for Naloxone, and then training them on how to use the product as well. So that was really impactful for me from a public health perspective to really expand access to Naloxone. I also — I feel like this next experience really showed me how important those relationships you’re building are with your patients. I had a patient’s daughter come in to the pharmacy and her mom had just passed away. She was managing her dad’s prescriptions and was just so overwhelmed…they were doing tapers on his seizure meds and there was just so much going on.

And I was able to sit down with her, come up with a plan to get that taper packaged, to get all his medicines packaged and really make things easier on them. And when I had everything said and done prepared for her, was going through it with her at the register, she teared up. Just because it meant so much for someone to take a step in, show how much we care as healthcare providers for their wellbeing and the things that we can do to help make their lives easier. That was really pivotal for me in the middle of my residency when you’re tired and there’s so much going on — just little impact stories like that where you’re like, I’m really making a difference in these people’s lives.

Sonja: Absolutely. You’ve given me those chills, you know, when you get to telling a story like that. So, what’s your perspective right now on rural pharmacy? Because I live in a town probably sort of like you do where everybody calls it rural ‘cause they live in a city, and it’s like, we’re not rural…people around us are rural.

Natalie: Rural, absolutely.

Sonja: Yeah. So what is your perspective on that? We’ve had so many pharmacies close in these communities. As a foundation, we just launched the Rural Pharmacy Ownership Accelerator. We really want more pharmacies open in these communities. We want more people like you, for example, going back to your communities and being able to open sustainable, viable pharmacies there. I’d love to hear kind of your perspective on it and how we can support this next generation pursuing ownership.

Natalie: Yeah, absolutely. I think, especially in Arkansas, we hear so much about the maternal health crisis and opioid crisis. There’s so much going on in the world that pharmacists can really play a critical role with, and really be that — my vision for my services at my pharmacy is really this all-inclusive, all-encompassing healthcare hub. Like, you go to the pharmacy first for everything. You need to get a test, get your medication, things like that. And I think that is so valuable in rural communities. Where the closest healthcare provider may be a hundred miles away. And these people need care as well. And pharmacy can really be that more accessible access point for our patients. And I think the relationships that we build that are longitudinal really build that sense of trust, and being able to be that person that they come to first.

I think it’s hard to establish pharmacies in rural areas. Even just finding people to work right can be difficult. But I think finding those people that are passionate about it from those rural areas is really critical — like what you guys are doing — and encouraging them to take the path of ownership.

I think we hear so many negative things lately about pharmacies closing and the challenges that we’re facing. But I think it’s also important to acknowledge the positives of what we get to do day in, day out, and the freedom of… I get to design my business the way I want it to be. And my services are unique from the pharmacy down the road. And I have control over that. So I think that’s really important for people to understand and for students to hear as well. I think there’s a lot of underrepresentation of community pharmacy in academic settings.

Sonja: Absolutely. Yeah. We really need to be encouraging our students that community pharmacy is not just what you see in the retail chains. There’s so much more to it, but we don’t have that representation in academia from independent pharmacists like we should. Well, we also need them working. We need them everywhere.

Your story though, it reminds me so much of our current NCPA President, Kristen Riddle, because I think they live on a ranch, and so she has also kind of done that juxtaposition of — when you’re taking care of animals and livestock, there are a lot of things going on there that really are similar to the community pharmacy world. Yeah. And then also, to your point about flexibility, I think there’s something I read in an article where she was like, I was able to be there for my kids because I owned my own pharmacy. I was able to take the time because I was the owner. Yes. I also missed out on things. And yes, it was still challenging and hard, but there is something to be said for being able to control that on your own and say, you know, these are our hours for the store, and this is what we’re doing. Or you have your kids in your store, and they get to hang out with you in a spot in the store.

Natalie: Yeah, sorry to interrupt.

Sonja: No, you’re good.

Natalie: That’s, I think that’s one of the things I love about developing clinical services, especially at this practice site, is I had co-residents that were residents at, you know, an outpatient hospital pharmacy and also at a chain that’s big in Arkansas. They have so much red tape they have to go through to do anything. And I work right next to the owner almost every day. And I just turned to him and I’m like, “Hey, I think I wanna do this”. He says, “alright, let’s do it”. So there’s no legal, there’s no HR — it’s just the owner and I making decisions on what we feel is best. So yeah, that’s one of my favorite things about…that’s a huge perk for sure.

Sonja: Thanks for mentioning that. So what’s your current message for students considering a career in independent community pharmacy, and what would you tell your younger self starting at Mercer?

Natalie: That’s a great question. I’m gonna start with what I would tell my younger self. I think I did a good job as a student of getting involved. I just would tell myself to run with NCPA sooner. I wish I had been able to go to annual convention the first year I was in pharmacy school, ‘cause I just built so many meaningful connections through attending convention and just, just being a part of that organization, meeting students from other chapters and things like that. So I just would wanna get involved and hit the ground running as soon as possible.

My message for current pharmacy students is really similar to that. I think academics are very important, and I feel like a lot of people say this, but I really wanna emphasize it. The academics are important. It’s really important for you to be a good pharmacist. But it’s also important to be involved. Knowing or having a secondary connection to all my residency program directors — that could happen in any role, in any job moving forward.

And you just never know. Pharmacy’s a small world, everybody says, but I really had that firsthand experience of the connections that I built really having catapulted me into my career, which is really cool. So I’d also encourage students to keep an open mind because I went into school thinking maybe I wanted to go in and work in a hospital, but here we are thriving in an independent. And so I think it’s important that that open mind extends also past what the school is trying to tell you to do, what they think you should do. I didn’t listen to that. I went a completely different direction because that’s where I wanted to go. So yeah, I was very shocked at that.

But you know, I’m a big proponent that we need very intelligent, very driven community pharmacists also that are willing to deliver a high level of patient care.

Sonja: Yeah. And like, it’s like what you said earlier — there’s nothing wrong with pursuing another type of pharmacy, right. But I do think there’s a lot of bias that happens in higher education related to independent community pharmacy, and I think it’s because they have this idea in their head of this old school retail pharmacy situation where you’re just counting pills. And that’s just not true anymore. There are so many cool pharmacies out there doing really innovative things for patients and really thinking outside of the box in terms of how to collaborate with different providers in their community.

And I’ve even seen where they’ve gotten with a wellness studio and they’re doing stuff with yoga at the pharmacy and they’re combining with mental health and just really fun, cool things. I think you’re doing a disservice to independent community pharmacy if you don’t encourage people to also look into that further on their own. I think everyone should make their own decisions.

Natalie: Absolutely. No, I agree a hundred percent.

Sonja: So how can people connect with you if they wanna get in touch with you?

Natalie: I am on LinkedIn. Would love to connect with people on LinkedIn — Natalie Novak. And then my email address is [email protected] if anyone would like to get in touch with me.

Sonja: Awesome. Thanks so much for your time today, Natalie. I love talking to you and I have a feeling we’re gonna be talking to you again in the future ‘cause I just have a feeling you’re going places.

Natalie: Aw, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. And I really appreciate everything that the foundation has done for my career. So thanks so much.

Episode Summary

On the Script Your Future podcast, host Sonja interviews Natalie Novak, a clinical pharmacist at Bryant Family Pharmacy who grew up on a 3,000-acre ranch in Northern Colorado, earned her PharmD from Mercer University in May 2024, and moved from Georgia to Arkansas for a community pharmacy residency. Natalie explains her passion for independent pharmacy developed through NCPA, her interest in Arkansas’s broader scope of practice and pharmacist prescribing, and why community residencies provide teaching and research opportunities while building longitudinal patient relationships. She describes choosing Bryant for its high-volume setting, flexibility, and resident focus on service development, including naloxone access and an oral contraceptive prescribing barriers project. Natalie discusses NCPA ownership workshop and scholarship experiences, business plan competition lessons, leadership and networking benefits, perspectives on rural pharmacy access, and advice to students to get involved, keep an open mind, and pursue community practice despite academic bias.

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