Position/Where:
Clinical Associate Professor, Department
of Pharmacy Practice at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Career Highlights:
Dr. Butler teaches graduate level pharmacy students and practices as a clinical pharmacist, providing medication management and diabetes education to uninsured patients at the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic in St. Charles, Missouri.
She is an advocate for increasing cultural competency among healthcare professionals, decreasing health disparities among minorities and underserved patients, improving health literacy and incorporating innovative, active learning strategies in the classroom. She has secured grants focused on providing medications for uninsured and has served as co-principal investigator for educational grants for innovative pharmacy, instructional strategies. Butler has published multiple peer-reviewed articles in national pharmacy journals and books and she has provided numerous national, regional and local presentations.
Awards:
SIUE School of Pharmacy
Teaching Distinction Award, 2009
Rho Chi Pharmacy Honor Society, 2009
Education:
Doctorate of Pharmacy,
Mercer University Southern School of Pharmacy (2005)
Pharmacy Practice Residency (Emphasis in Primary Care), University of Illinois- Chicago (2005-2006)
Board Certified Pharmacotherapy
Specialist (2008)
Personal:
She is married to Dr. Isaac Butler (who is also a pharmacist) and they have two young children, Isaac II and Kennedy Marie.
Butler is an active member of the Ark of Safety Christian Church in St. Charles, Missouri serving as the Head of the First Aid Response Ministry and the Assistant Head of the Teen Ministry alongside her husband.
St. Louis Connection:
Butler grew up in Brunswick, Georgia and lived there the majority of her life. Her husband is originally from St. Louis and he got a job offer here the year before they married.
Your journey to success:
As a child, I was blessed to have parents and extended family that instilled the value of education in me. In elementary through high school I excelled academically and actively sought out opportunities for exposure through internships and participation in summer programs such as the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine.
I did not always dream of being a pharmacist but I knew I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare. I originally wanted to be a physician but kept my mind open to other possibilities and started shadowing persons that looked like me in different healthcare careers. During my high school shadowing experiences I was exposed to pharmacy as a career option and was truly impressed with the different career paths a PharmD could offer.
While in pharmacy school, I had a mentor who was my pharmacy professor and provided clinical pharmacy services at Grady Hospital in Atlanta serving indigent and minority patients. I loved the idea of educating and empowering underserved patients while educating and empowering students. Because of her, I am a pharmacy professor and clinical pharmacist today.
The success that I have had over my life is because of God’s blessings and favor. Also, my mother instilled in me the importance of having a servant’s heart by showing me through her example of selfless giving. I believe that to whom much is given much is required and it gives me great.
