Alumni Profile – Kyle Shick, PharmD ’07
Over the last 12 years, Kyle Shick, PharmD ‘07, has enjoyed an active professional life – and not one he could have easily predicted as a UIC student.
Departing UIC with “the clinical foundation to practice anywhere,” Shick began his career as a hospital pharmacist in Lexington, Kentucky, before moving into clinical pharmacy at the 254-bed OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois.
Shick’s career began to veer from that seemingly pre-destined path in 2013 when he was appointed Saint Anthony’s director of pharmacy. Responsible for a $24 million budget and nearly 50 employees, Shick began displaying his chops as a progressive healthcare leader. He expanded clinical pharmacy services, improved safety measures and quality compliance, introduced revised metrics around staff accountability and productivity and boosted employee engagement.
“My goal was to optimize the pharmacy team, operate at the top of our licenses and have everyone push on the same goals,” Shick says.
Promoted to regional pharmacy director of operations in 2015, Shick’s star continues to shine. He currently oversees four hospitals in OSF Healthcare’s Northern Region as well as some 75 employees, including systemwide coordinators who specialize in infectious diseases, critical care and oncology service lines.
And in working both in and beyond the pharmacy realm, he’s proven himself a valuable leader in OSF’s Healthcare enterprise. He contributed to the transformation of pharmacy operations throughout the 13-hospital system, established a PGY-1 pharmacy residency program that’s elevated practice and staff expertise and helped craft the transition of staff, units and flow into Saint Anthony’s new $85 million, 78-room North Tower in 2018.
“The solid clinical foundation I received at UIC lent itself to accelerated growth,” Shick says. “That’s allowed me to transition into these different roles and take on some really unique and compelling opportunities to improve patient care and broaden my career.”