PharmD Student Mitchell Timbol Receives CSHP 2020 Student Leadership Award

Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) Doctor of Pharmacy student Mitchell Timbol, PharmD ’21, was amongst the 13 students to receive the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) 2020 Student Leadership Award. Timbol received the award for his contributions to CSHP as President of KGI’s Student Executive Board, which include educating students about career opportunities in pharmacy, developing programs geared towards professional development, and organizing community outreach events that emphasize contributions to patient care.

“One event I was particularly proud of that we hold annually is our collaborative event, a residency roundtable,” Timbol said. “This year, more than 10 hospitals and institutions came to KGI to offer insight and tips to our students on how to become competitive applicants as they prepare to apply for post-graduate training programs.”

The leaders of these residency programs also discussed how to get the most out of their programs. Another highlight for Timbol was holding a joint legislative day with their sister organizations, the California Pharmacy Association and the American Pharmacy Association.

“Our ongoing goal is to highlight the importance of students taking an active role in the future of our profession through legislation,” Timbol said. “We had the opportunity to discuss our very own policy on Pharmacy School Certification for furnishing contraceptives. It was an amazing turnout and an inspiring view from our pharmacy leaders on how we can influence change in our profession.”

Timbol also helped to organize the first Community Chapter Event around mental health awareness at Fresh Check Day for KGI students, an event geared toward suicide prevention, mental health awareness, and stress relief.

“We recruited members to help create and develop informational posters on stress management and encouraged students to engage in a dialogue about mental health,” Timbol said. “To highlight the American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists  theme of workforce burnout, we thought this was the best way to promote and encourage active stress management, especially to our students.”

Additionally, Timbol assisted with many CSHP events geared toward helping people in the community. These included a presentation on the importance of quitting smoking and asthma at the Long Beach Rescue Mission, a drug take-back day where they helped retrieve unused or expired drugs and educated people on how to safely dispose of drugs, and a health fair in Artesia that provided blood pressure testing, blood glucose screening, and cholesterol screening to attendees.

Timbol appreciates that KGI’s School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is smaller than many pharmacy schools, which has enabled him to build long-lasting connections and pursue opportunities and achieve goals that would have otherwise been difficult at larger schools.

“KGI has given me the resources and platform to become a great student leader,” Timbol said. “The faculty have been so supportive and continue to encourage us to become strong leaders and clinicians.”

Among KGI’s faculty, Timbol feels that Christine Cadiz, Robert Stein, Daniel Kudo, and Tania Stewart have been particularly instrumental in helping him to develop his leadership skills.

Timbol plans to pursue a post-graduate training program upon graduation. He has a strong interest in ambulatory care, transitions of care, or managed care, and he hopes that a residency program will help solidify a specialty.

For Timbol, helping his fellow pharmacy students has been an important part of his journey while attending KGI.

“I never saw myself as a leader per se, but I thought that if I could help put just one student on a better path to pharmacy or even create one meaningful connection, I could rest easy knowing all of the hard work was worth it,” Timbol said.