Meet the Pharmacy Residents 

Photo Credit: A.E. Baugh Photography 

Left to right: Allen Baugh, Kelsey Rox, Andrea Thooft, Brittani Weichman 

Meet the PGY1 Pharmacy Residents 

Allen Baugh, PharmD 

Pharmacy Education: University of Iowa 

Hometown: West Des Moines, IA 

Pharmacy project: Use of Droperidol in the Emergency Department for Moderate to Severe Agitation 

Career interests: Emergency Medicine, Critical Care, Transplant Hobbies: Photography, baking, hiking all the national parks, Legos, and reading books 

Why UnityPoint Health-Meriter? Meriter's staff and employees are very genuine and supportive. From the first to last question of the interview process, they ultimately wanted to get to know me and invest in me. They have created such a wonderful learning environment. With that being said, Meriter offers a variety of rotations and learning opportunities. Whatever learning experience you want, the staff do their best to accommodate you. They ultimately want to see you succeed, and I see that by their words and actions. Besides the program itself, UnityPoint Health offers amazing care to their patients. Interacting with the nurses, providers, and other staff, I would trust my own health care into their hands. 

Andrea Thooft, PharmD, PhD, MPH 

Pharmacy Education: Concordia University Wisconsin 

Hometown: Green Bay, WI 

Pharmacy project: Impact of a Pharmacist-Driven Antifungal Guideline on Appropriate Utilization of Antifungal Agents 

Career interests: Obstetrics, Cardiology, Infectious Disease 

Hobbies: Reading, spending time with my family 

Why UnityPoint Health-Meriter? One of my passions is women's health, so seeing that UnityPoint Health-Meriter offered an obstetrics rotation was very exciting. I was also happy to see the wide variety of rotations offered. I felt like having many different rotation experiences would allow me the opportunity to grow into a strong, well-rounded pharmacist. During the interview I could tell the pharmacy staff worked together, and the pharmacy department was a valued member of the health care team at UnityPoint Health-Meriter. Finally, I could tell during my interview that everyone was very welcoming and really wanted to get to know me as a person. 

Kelsey Rox, PharmD 

Pharmacy Education: University of Wisconsin- Madison 

Hometown: La Crosse, WI 

Pharmacy project: Guideline Development for Standardized Corticosteroid Initiation and Duration in the Neonatal ICU 

Career interests: I have significant interest in NICU, Pediatric, and OB pharmacy. Overall, I find most aspects of pharmacy fun and rewarding and like being a Jack of All Trades! I also find great reward in precepting students. 

Hobbies: I enjoy participating in the many activities the city of Madison has to offer including but not limited to; biking, taking my dog for a long walk by the lake, going to the farmer's market on the square, enjoying live music at the many venues, and getting a good bite to eat. 

Why UnityPoint Health-Meriter? I wanted to complete my residency with UnityPoint Health-Meriter for a number of reasons. I was initially interested because they house one of the largest NICU's in the state of Wisconsin and have a clinical pharmacist in the NICU every day. After researching further, I learned that the pharmacy department offers a robust variety of clinical hospital experiences including OB, ED, ICU, Cardio, Infectious Disease, and more while not being an enormous institution. I was drawn to the fact that Meriter is a community hospital that has been serving the Madison area and surrounding community for a long time. Finally, I completed an APPE rotation here in infectious disease which allowed me to get to work with many of the preceptors and staff here. The preceptors are clearly dedicated to helping train residents to be astute, confident, and competent in their practice. On top of that dedication to students, the pharmacy department is full of fun, sociable, and considerate people who are great to work with in a team. 

Brittani Weichman, PharmD 

Pharmacy Education: Drake University - Des Moines, IA 

Hometown: Des Moines, IA 

Pharmacy project: Effect of Pharmacist Intervention on Appropriateness of Perioperative Antibiotics 

Career interests: Infectious Disease 

Hobbies: Relaxing with my cat and birds, watching Netflix 

Why UnityPoint Health-Meriter? I initially looked at Meriter because I focused my PGY1 choices by those with PGY2s in ID and I already had a connection to UnityPoint in pharmacy school, but after interviewing I felt like the team really cared about their residents and wanted to not only teach them, but also get to know them as people. They also have a very progressive pharmacy practice; it was similar to the hospital I worked at in pharmacy school but after interviewing at other places across the country, I was excited for the high level of pharmacist practice. The whole pharmacy team has welcomed me and my co-residents and made Madison and Meriter feel more like home.