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Learning About Compound Pharmacy By Christine Bang This past year I was fortunate enough to be paired with Dr. Joanne Whitney as my mentor in the RAMPS program. My main reason for being involved with this program was to learn more about compounding pharmacy. This was a field that I had always been interested in, but knew very little about. RAMPS allowed me the opportunity to network with one of the leading compounding pharmacists, Joanne Whitney. Dr. Whitney invited me to the Drug Product Services Laboratory at Laurel Heights, the official compounding pharmacy for UCSF. I knew Dr. Whitney from our CP courses, which made me a little nervous, but the conversation ran very smoothly once we introduced ourselves. I learned a lot about Dr. Whitney, her background and her passions, and came to realize what a remarkable person she is. She has an extensive education in chemistry, a true passion for pharmacy, and has been a very influential person in improving the field of pharmacy. Dr. Whitney was very warm and receptive and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say about the pharmacy field and what direction it was headed. We had a relatively lengthy discussion about our thoughts and opinions on the role of pharmacists in the health field. This conversation alone made my RAMPS experience worthwhile. Afterwards, she gave me a tour of the laboratory and introduced me to all the employees. I learned that our compounding pharmacy compounds many medications and placebos for numerous clinical trials. They work primarily on a larger scale and compounds medications for individual patients by special order only. I had the opportunity to see all steps of compounding for various drug forms, such as tablets, capsules, creams, ointments, liquids, suspensions, IVs, etc. They had various compounding devices such as ointment mills, suppository molds, capsule machines, Hobart mixers, tablet grinders, dispersators, to the simple mortar and pestle. The thing I found most interesting was the cleanroom. It was impeccably clean and equipped with a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter that worked with positive pressure. I learned that the lab is classified as Class 100 (ISO 5), meaning that the foreign particle (larger than 0.5 microns) count is not to exceed a total of 100 particles per cubic foot. I was amazed at how careful the workers are to maintain this level of sterility to ensure proper compounding of various medications. I realized that working at a compounding pharmacy is a lot like working in a lab and that’s not quite what I expected it to be. This helped me realize that I was more interested in compounding on a smaller scale for individual patients, not for large clinical trials. Dr. Joanne Whitney and I exchanged a few more e-mails but it was hard to meet with her after her retirement. But I can wholeheartedly say that the RAMPS program provided me with a great opportunity. Not only did I learn more about the field I was interested in, the information that I obtained helped me narrow my focus. In addition, I learned a great deal through my communication with Dr. Whitney. She was a great source of invaluable information and resources. I would strongly recommend the RAMPS program to anyone who is interested in learning about a specific field of pharmacy. It really helps to get your foot through the door, and who knows what kind of relationships may develop. Christine Bang is a second-year pharmacy student.
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