Pharmacist helps Veterans achieve health goals
Sylvia Lombardo, PharmD, right, discusses medication in an exam room at the Altoona VA. As a pharmacist with VA, Lombardo can not only connect with Veterans to help them achieve their health goals but can also impact the future of Veteran health care by assisting trainees in their residency.
When Sylvia Lombardo, PharmD, 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 in 2022, 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,” said Lombardo. “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 under that scope of practice.”
After the good fortune of “matching” with the pharmacy residency at the Altoona VA in her own hometown, Lombardo looked forward to giving back to the Veteran community there.
“I found my residency year to be extremely rewarding,” said Lombardo. “I received a well-rounded learning experience and was able to really 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 healthcare team and make an impact in a Veteran's life.”
After completing her residency and working with the VA for another year, Lombardo has come full-circle by becoming a preceptor, or training supervisor, to pharmacy residents. Lombardo serves as a primary preceptor for the resident’s longitudinal residency project experience for the facility’s post-graduate year one program. This includes helping them with their quality improvement initiative which focuses 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,” said Lombardo. “It’s very gratifying to watch them grow throughout the year. We challenge them but support them along the way. I also 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.”
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.
Lombardo said working one-on-one with Veterans on their medication management is the best part of her job as a pharmacist.
“I’m able to really develop that rapport with each Veteran that 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,” said Lombardo.
As a pharmacist with VA, Lombardo can not only connect with Veterans to help them achieve their health goals but can also impact the future of Veteran health care by assisting trainees in their residency.
“It’s truly an honor and privilege to serve our Veterans,” said Lombardo. “Veterans are a very unique and special population and I think it’s been really fulfilling to help care for them. I really hope I can continue to work at the 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.
