In recognition of her outstanding work as a clinical pharmacist, Nicole Bookstaver, 2009 Pharm.D., has been selected as Woman Pharmacist of the Year for Health-Systems. The award is presented by Pharmacist Moms, founded in 2017, to provide women pharmacists the opportunity to network, collaborate and offer genuine feedback in a closed-door, trusted setting.
The group presents the award as part of American Pharmacists Month, and specifically on October 12 in honor of the first female pharmacist in the United States, Elizabeth Gooking Greenleaf, who was a mother of 12 and serves as an inspiring role model for thousands of women who desire to be a pharmacist.
Bookstaver is manager of ambulatory clinical pharmacy services for Prisma Health-Midlands. Beginning January 2021 through May 2021, she oversaw the pharmacy portion of the vaccination clinic conducted at Gamecock Park.
“COVID-19 has consumed a great portion of this year, and it was an amazing opportunity I was given to lead that effort. But the other work did not go away – the efforts to grow and expand pharmacy services on the ambulatory side and meetings,” she says. “I have a high-functioning group of people who provided me with a lot of grace in letting me lead the COVID vaccination effort and leaving them to handle all the other work. I couldn’t have done what I did this year without them.”
Bookstaver also gives much of the credit for her success to her husband, Brandon Bookstaver, 2004 Pharm.D., clinical associate professor and director of the Residency and Fellowship Training program at Prisma Health-Midlands.
“He essentially became a single parent during that time,” she says. “His passion allowed me to do what I needed to do with the clinic.”
Nicole is gracious, kind, brilliant, joyful and goes above and beyond in everything she does...
Reagan Barfield, Pharm.D. Clinical Assistant Professor
Reagan Barfield, 2019 Pharm.D., clinical assistant professor and director of the Tandem Health - UofSC Residency Program, nominated Bookstaver for the award.
“Nicole is gracious, kind, brilliant, joyful and goes above and beyond in everything she does, not only to serve the profession of pharmacy, but also to serve those she leads,” Barfield says. “She has been an incredible mentor to me since starting residency, and even more so now as I have transitioned into a practicing pharmacist.”
In sharing the award with her support team, Bookstaver is proud of her role as a pharmacist, a wife, and a mother.
“I want to be a good example to those around me. I don’t juggle everything well all the time, but I feel it is possible to have gone to pharmacy school, excel in your profession and have personal relationships and a family,” she adds. “I’m also very grounded in my faith – it is a big part of me.”