Author: [AUTHOR] Published on 6/1/2024 12:00:00 AM
Jacqueline Gerhart, MBA, PhD, Clinical Pharmacologist, Pfizer, Reading, Pennsylvania
What excites you about participating in the ASCPT leadership accelerator program?
I am thrilled to join the very first cohort of the Leadership Accelerator Program! I was inspired to apply after my recent experience organizing a session at last year's Annual Meeting, and I feel that it is a great opportunity to give back while learning more about what it takes to keep such a successful and cohesive Society going. I am especially excited about the mentorship aspect of the program, in which we are paired with a mentor for about 18 months to work on both short- and long-term professional goals.
Who has inspired you in your career?
At the very beginning of my career, I worked for an incredible manager who told me that the way she would know if she was successful in her career was if the people she mentored ultimately achieved more than she did herself. This selfless perspective has stuck with me in the years since, and I strive to apply it to the teams I work with and the people I support.
Do you have a favorite tip or trick for clinical practice or research that you want to share with fellow members?
In all aspects of my clinical research, I strive to put myself in patients' shoes. I am a very quantitative-minded person, and I find it can be easy to be lost in the numbers of an analysis or the details of a protocol. Keeping the patient journey front-of-mind ensures that the work we do is always rooted in patient needs and patient reality, and I find that this is what keeps me focused and motivated.
What is your favorite society memory?
I especially enjoyed catching up with my colleagues in person during last year's Annual Meeting. On the last day of the Meeting, I partnered with the Student and Trainee Community to lead a session about effectively communicating via presentations. We had a lot of fun engaging the audience in an interactive portion in which, as a group, we designed a hypothetical ASCPT poster about how to make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. It was a lighthearted and great way to close out the Annual Meeting.
What was your childhood dream job?
When I was growing up, I wanted to be a movie screenwriter. To me, the idea of crafting stories that could captivate an audience and impact people was very alluring. While I wait for my big break into the Hollywood writing scene, I still enjoy focusing on the scientific story behind my research, and how I can best communicate that research story to various audiences within the industry.
Dr. Gerhart has been a member of ASCPT since 2017.
