Pharmacist helps Veterans achieve health goals

When Sylvia Lombardo grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania, she knew she wanted a profession where she could help care for others. After discovering she had strong skills in math and science, she shadowed a pharmacist in high school and knew that was the career path for her.

After graduating from Duquesne University, she began looking for places to complete a residency. VA immediately stood out as a top option, based on her research.

“VA was always at the top of my list. VA has a long history of training successful pharmacists and also offers a really unique opportunity for pharmacists to practice at the top of their license in that practice,” Lombardo shared.

After matching with the pharmacy residency at the Altoona VA in her own hometown, Lombardo looked forward to giving back to the Veteran community there. 

Pharmacists make an impact in a Veteran’s life

“I found my residency year to be extremely rewarding. I received a well-rounded learning experience and was able to develop those critical, clinical decision-making skills. I was also able to learn firsthand from my training supervisor how pharmacists can really be an integral part of a health care team and make an impact in a Veteran’s life,” she said.

After completing her residency and working with VA for another year, Lombardo has come full circle by becoming a preceptor, or training supervisor, to pharmacy residents. She serves as a primary preceptor for the residents’ longitudinal residency project experience for the facility’s post-graduate year one program. This includes helping them with their quality improvement initiative on data-collection, manuscripts and posters to present at various forums.

“Working with the residents is one of the more exciting parts of my job. It’s very gratifying to watch them grow throughout the year. We challenge them but support them along the way. I really think that working with trainees helps me support my own lifelong learning as a pharmacist because I learn from them sometimes just as much as they learn from me,” Lombardo said.

In addition to supervising residents, Lombardo also works in the clinical care setting where she is a part of a team that assists Veterans with managing various chronic disease states, such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, weight loss and heart failure.

“It’s an honor and privilege to serve our Veterans.”

“I’m able to really develop that rapport with each Veteran I see. It’s nice to be able to share in their excitement when they meet their goals but also be there to support them when they need it,” she said. “It’s truly an honor and privilege to serve our Veterans. Veterans are a very unique and special population, and it’s been really fulfilling to help care for them. I really hope I can continue to work at VA and continue serving them throughout the remainder of my career.”

The mission of educating health professions trainees is one of the four statutory missions of VA and is overseen by the Office of Academic Affiliations. Working with over 1,500 academic institutions and 120,000 trainees in more than 60 clinical disciplines throughout the nation, VA’s health professions education program makes VA the largest provider of health care education in the United States.