Eric Pitts, Pharm.D, MBA, CPHQ

Executive Master’s in Clinical Quality, Safety & Leadership
Spring 2022 Graduate

What’s your background? What has your life been like since the Georgetown EMCQSL program?

My background was first in clinical counseling and neuroscience.  I had initially wanted to become a child psychiatrist.   I then used these skills to attend pharmacy school and graduate in 2008.  I got my MBA in 2014 and have been the Director of Pharmacy at Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital since 2018.  Since completing the EMCQSL program I have tested the waters to see how I could use my pharmacy knowledge and the EMCQSL to expand my role at Medstar.  My ultimate goal is to become a Chief Operating Officer at a Medstar hospital and I believe my focus on patient safety gained during the EMCQSL provides invaluable skills to attaining this goal.

How did your time in the EMCQSL program help prepare you for your current career?

            The EMCQSL program taught me safety tools that I could easily apply to my role as Director of Pharmacy.  In my department, we are always looking for safer ways to buy, store, label, and dispense the 2000 drugs that we have on our formulary.  Throughout my time in the EMCQSL program, I took a critical look at our current departmental operations and carefully examined if what we were currently doing was indeed “best practice.”  I am here to report that my department is better, and I am a better safety leader and change agent as a result of my time and completion of the EMCQSL program.

What advice do you have for students looking for future careers or future programs to apply to?

            This program, in my opinion, really stresses the importance of working in interdisciplinary teams to create safety change.  While I had led many such teams in my current role, this program taught me to value the unique perspectives of each team member in a way that I had never experienced before.  Further, the program gave me all the inner resources needed to absorb each team member’s input and combine it into a meaningful whole.  While group activities are not always a favorite amongst online learners, I believe the group work in this program is one of the most important parts of the overall experience.  This work leads to critical thinking that produces life-long skills that can be applied to future safety projects, not just the current academic assignment.