PNWU Dermatology Club and WSU Pharmacy Students Join Forces for Collaborative Workshop
PNWU’s Dermatology Club recently partnered with Washington State University’s Doctor of Pharmacy program to host an interprofessional compounding pharmacy workshop. The hands-on event brought future physicians and pharmacists together around a shared goal: strengthening patient care through collaboration.
Compounding — the practice of creating customized medications by mixing individual ingredients — offers a unique intersection between medicine and pharmacy, offering students the chance to apply precision, creativity, and clinical reasoning while witnessing the ways their professions naturally overlap. For PNWU DO students, the experience also provided an early look at the essential role pharmacists play in patient outcomes.
We spoke with several student participants about what they observed during the workshop and why experiences like this matter.
Shared Workspace = Shared Wisdom
Before their workshop ever formally began, Student Doctor Melissa Luu, PNWU-COM Class of 2028, noticed the power of interprofessional learning.
As PNWU DO students gathered supplies for a moisturizer formulation, WSU pharmacy students immediately offered insight — small technical suggestions drawn from their specialized training. What appeared to be a simple task, such as weighing ingredients, quickly became an example of how efficiently a process can run when each profession brings its expertise to the table.
It was a moment that captured the purpose of the workshop, and interprofessional education itself: future health sciences leaders learning from one another, sharing the unique skills they’ve been taught, and developing the collaborative foundation essential to becoming informed, capable, holistic healthcare providers.
“It reminded me of how this could translate to working alongside them in a healthcare setting,” Student Dr. Luu explained.
Student Doctor Carla Rezk, PNWU-COM Class of 2028, echoed that sentiment, noting that the collaboration allowed students to connect over complementary aspects of different disciplines.
“Bringing together various professional skills across the healthcare team is critical to delivering patient-centered care,” she said.
Understanding the Scope of Pharmacy
For Student Dr. Luu, one of the most striking takeaways was realizing how broad a pharmacist’s scope of practice can be — especially in Washington State.
“The Dermatology Club does this event annually with the WSU pharmacy students, and it always amazes me how many of us medical students learn that pharmacists in Washington can diagnose and treat minor ailments, prescribe certain medications, and order and interpret lab results,” she explained. “We tend to think only physicians or nurses can do those things, but pharmacists can too.”
For Student Doctor Akshat Mekala, PNWU-COM Class of 2028 and Secretary/Treasurer of the Dermatology Club, the experience offered a firsthand look at how pharmacists think.
“We each brought a unique lens — medical and pharmaceutical — to solving clinical problems together,” he said.
That professional bond holds particular relevance for dermatologic care, where patients often require medication adjustments, specialized formulations, or alternatives to standard prescriptions.
Personalizing Care
During the workshop, a PNWU student realized they were mildly allergic to a core ingredient in the moisturizer formula. Initially, it seemed like the entire recipe would need to be abandoned.
“I wasn’t expecting that there would even be a way around it,” Student Dr. Luu said. “But it turns out it was possible to omit the ingredient and still make a functional moisturizer. That’s one of the things I’ve come to love about compounding pharmacy.”
For Student Dr. Rezk, it mirrored real clinical collaboration.
“Collaborating in the lab to make the eczema cream during the compounding event is directly applicable to how healthcare providers work together to effectively problem-solve and deliver optimal patient care,” she said.
Student Dr. Mekala agreed, highlighting how the workshop illuminated the nuance of dermatologic therapeutics.
“I was surprised by how much thought goes into the base ingredients of a compounded cream — from the emollient to the anti-inflammatory components,” he explained.
“It gave me a new perspective on just how complex and personalized topical therapy can be.”
“This experience changed my perspective as a future provider,” explained Student Dr. Luu. “I can better understand how to treat patients who don’t respond to standard prescription formulations. I can think to consult a compounding pharmacist and create something individualized for them.”
Teamwork That Translates
The workshop ultimately underscored the value of interprofessional teamwork — a skill set that directly benefits patients.
“I think it’s important to understand that pharmacy and dermatology (or other specialties) overlap in patient care more than we realize,” said Student Dr. Luu. “Learning together helps us foster teamwork and communication that will eventually help us in our careers.”
Student Dr. Rezk agreed. “The healthcare team’s ability to work together greatly impacts the care patients receive,” she explained.
“Events like this encourage future healthcare professionals to collaborate across disciplines before we even enter the clinical setting,” added Student Dr. Mekala.
“For communities we’ll serve — especially in underserved or rural areas — being able to work efficiently with pharmacists can directly impact access to tailored treatments like compounded medications.”
Student Dr. Luu summed up the lesson simply: “We need each other.”
“Special thanks to Dr. Damianne Brand and Dr. Michael Scott for making this event possible!” she added.