Jennifer Moulton works to keep Iowans healthy every day. Whether acting as senior vice president of professional and educational affairs at the Iowa Pharmacy Association or serving as a pharmacist, Moulton raises awareness about safe use of medicines.

“A pharmacist can work with a patient, rather than just putting pills into a bottle and throwing it at them,” Moulton said. “What we try to do is make sure people understand that medications are an essential part of their health care. We want people to utilize their pharmacist.

“Studies have shown that for every dollar spent on medication therapy, an additional dollar is spent to correct problems created by those medications. Over-the-counter doesn’t always mean safe.”

Moulton says patients sometimes purchase over-the-counter drugs without consulting a professional to make sure they interact safely with medication they are already taking. Also dangerous is when patients are seeing several doctors, all of whom are issuing prescriptions. The physicians don’t always know about all of the medications the patients are using. The cost of correcting medication therapy problems could be greatly decreased by more directly involving pharmacists in managing the therapy.

“The pharmacy is the point where you can see the big picture,” Moulton said. “People need to work with their pharmacists and their doctors to make sure any medicine taken is right for them.”

Moulton received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. While attending the university, she had an internship with the Iowa Pharmacy Association.

“I just liked the idea of being able to help patients and work with them one-on-one to better manage their medication. [Being a pharmacist] is a helping profession. Then I got an internship here, and it really got me interested in helping pharmacists help their patients. I feel like I can help a lot more people that way.”

Moulton creates continuing education programs, lining up and determining faculty to teach Iowa’s pharmacists about professional and leadership development and keeping them up to date on topics such as diabetes, osteoporosis and anticoagulents. The Iowa Pharmacy Association also has networking events and holds conferences to cultivate young leaders.  

“Iowa is really progressive in the pharmacy profession,” Moulton said. “We have members throughout the state who are very innovative and feed us ideas. They provide valuable insight that helps set the stage for us to advocate for them and improve the care they can provide for their customers and their businesses.”