2013 Preceptor of the Year: Erika Howle
University of Michigan - C.S. Mott Children's and Women's Hospital
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist - Pediatrics Oncology
Erika (Howle) Mora, PharmD, grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Georgia in 2007 (Go Dawgs!). She completed her PGY-1 residency at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Georgia, her PGY-2 oncology specialty residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and is Board Certified in Oncology Pharamcy.
Erika is currently a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, practicing in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's and Women's Hospital in Ann Arbor and an Adjunct Clinical Instructor for the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. Dr. Howle has precepted third year pharmacy students in Direct Patient Care rotations and fourth year pharmacy students in Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology rotations.
An aptitude test administered in elementary school once predicted that Erika would grow up to be a Tug Boat Captain. While she does love being on a boat, her career interests have always centered around the medical field, and she has been in her dream job at the University of Michigan for the last 3.5 years. Her professional interests include clinical practice guideline development/standardization, neutropenic fever outcomes research, and pediatric pain/palliative care. One of the most rewarding parts of her job, besides working with amazing patients, is the ability to precept students and residents.
Student Nominations:
"Dr. Howle graciously added me to her APPE in addition to two other students. I appreciated her decision to accommodate my interest because I realized that as a preceptor, teaching students in a thoughtful manner takes time and patience. She was very attentive to each of us and provided thorough evaluations to help us achieve our potential. Dr. Howle took the time to assess my learning style, to provide daily feedback that was both constructive and supportive so that I felt I was learning and improving my clinical skills each day. She always welcomed questions and encouraged us to think critically, to prioritize the needs of our patients, and ensure we knew how to work up our patients comprehensively. Peds Hem/Onc is a personal interest and I felt comfortable with this complex area of therapeutics, this resilient and complicated patient population, and how to be a competent and confident clinician. Many of these skills were developed and strengthened over the 5 week APPE and I credit this challenging and satisfying experience to my outstanding preceptor. As a patient and family-centered pharmacist, it is clear that Dr. Howle is seen as an approachable expert and a very well-respected member of the team, who fights for the patients' best interests. She has inspired me as a seasoned professional and preceptor. I am fortunate that she is a mentor, who afforded me the opportunity to be her student."
-Meenakshi Shelat, U of M College of Pharmacy Student, Class of 2013
"Words cannot begin to express the absolute brilliance of Dr. Erika Howle as a preceptor, pharmacist and role model. During the first days of my pediatric hematology/oncology rotation, Dr. Howle provided a very detailed outline of the daily topic discussions we were to prepare for. In addition, she helped guide me and my fellow colleagues through the process of working up patients with very intricate disease states and treatment protocols. By the second day we started on rounds. Dr. Howle was always prepared before we began rounds and, as the weeks progressed and our knowledge grew, she always had questions for us in an attempt to teach us something. Moreover, everyone in the Mott Pharmacy Department, as well as physicians and nurses on the heme/onc team, respects Dr. Howle. Lastly, she provided invaluable feedback every Friday, at midpoint and during the final eval. She spent 2-3 hours on EACH student's eval providing each of us with a full page of comments for EACH evaluation question. Not only does Dr. Howle care and strive to be the best pharmacist to her patients and colleagues, she is an even better preceptor."
-Anthony Elias, U of M College of Pharmacy Student, Class of 2013
