Alumni Profile – Rohit Moghe, PharmD ’00
Rohit Moghe Brings UIC's Progressive Approach to Philly Pharmacy
At UIC, Rohit Moghe, PharmD '00, learned how broad the horizon for pharmacists could be. And he's taken that sense of pharmacy's expansive potential forward in his career, always seeking to push the profession's boundaries – and never settling for "low-hanging fruit."
"I'm not a person who wants to conform to norms and standards. I want to be a person who transforms those norms and standards," said Moghe, an advanced practice pharmacist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. "That's what drives me in every single aspect of my pharmacy practice and how I try to push the boundaries."
At Thomas Jefferson, in his native Philadelphia, Moghe works as a pharmacist and diabetes-care provider, as well as an education specialist focusing on chronic disease management in adults and geriatrics. In that role he educates patients on their medication — but even more importantly, he said, on lifestyle management, including diet and stress.
Meanwhile, Moghe continues working to bring to Philadelphia the sort of progressive pharmacy approach he encountered at UIC.
"All the preceptors I had … really modeled for me how important it is for us as pharmacists to be engaged in the whole spectrum of patient care," Moghe said. "And that modeling I took back with me to Philadelphia."
Moghe has put that perspective to use in working on health care policy at his institutions and in advocating for pharmacists' expanded roles. His training at UIC prodded him toward that approach by providing innovative, experiential education — experiences that led him to pursue ambulatory care, he said.
"I have to give hats off to [Drs.] Nancy Lasack [Shapiro] and Edith Nutescu. They were my preceptors back then, really great role models," he said. "I got to work independently, with excellent preceptor support, in seeing patients face to face and having an impact on their pharmacotherapy."
To expand on that educational foundation, and his leadership capabilities, Moghe added a master's degree in public health, from Thomas Jefferson, in 2010. Today, he uses that public health perspective in every patient interaction, as well as when working to improve health via population-health approaches.
His broad educational background also aids Moghe in one of his favorite duties: training Philly's next generation of pharmacists. Moghe has precepted some 450 students, trains residents and now educates his health care colleagues via an interprofessional training program.
"Being able to do that is by far one of my proudest accomplishments," he said.