Jeremy Brown, PharmD: Director of Pharmacy
Jeremy’s background in his own words:
“I grew up in Coos Bay for a majority of my childhood, moving to the International Falls, Minnesota area when I was starting seventh grade. It was a drastic culture and climate change going from the temperate mild, but wet, climate of southwest coastal Oregon to a place affectionately know as “The Icebox of the Nation” that regularly received over 6 feet of snow per year and hit temps as low as 40 below zero. I graduated from high school in 2002, got married to my amazing wife, and went to community college locally for 1 year where I heard a speaker from the University of Minnesota speak about the pharmacy school there and their program. This led to me changing from pursuing a career as a marine biologist studying animals for pharmaceutical development, to pursing a career as a pharmacist. I realized begging people for their money to fund my research was not a talent I was gifted at 🙂.
“I then spent one year at a small community college in southern Michigan focusing on my undergraduate required courses for pharmacy school. This is where I got my first job in the world of pharmacy as a pharmacy cashier and then as a pharmacy technician with CVS pharmacy. My wife and I moved to Georgia after one year in Michigan, and I continued working as a pharmacy technician for CVS and also Rite Aid. I spent a couple of years working full time and completing the rest of my undergraduate.
“I spent a couple of years working full time as a pharmacy technician and completing the rest of my undergraduate courses. I applied to Mercer University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and was accepted. At this point I went from being a pharmacy technician to a pharmacy intern. I worked for Rite Aid and Walmart as a pharmacy intern.
“After completing my Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Mercer, I started working for Walgreens pharmacy as a float pool pharmacist. I did this for about 3 months before I took a Pharmacy Manager position with Rite Aid pharmacy in Brunswick, GA. I worked hard and made enormous progress at this store to turn it around, and I was able to not only get it off of the “to be shut down” list, but also to being one of the most profitable stores in the district. This was about the time that the first Rite Aid bankruptcy was happening and they started shutting down and selling stores. I decided the right move was to leave Rite Aid and join Walgreens pharmacy.
“I worked for Walgreens pharmacy in the same town for a few years as the pharmacy manager there. I saw tremendous success there, more than doubling the prescription volume of the store and taking the flu shot average from about 100/year to over 1200/year in less than 2 years. Unfortunately, living in the hot, humid, subtropical climate of the southeast comes with a lot of dangers, namely tornadoes, hurricanes, and wildlife that tries to kill you. So after a brief visit to the Oregon coast, my wife and I decided to move our family to Bandon, as this is where a lot of my family is located, and I grew up in the area.
“I started in Coos Bay at the Walmart pharmacy as a staff pharmacist in November of 2018. I quickly became the pharmacy manager there in August of 2019 and was the manager through October of 2021. I again had much success, increasing prescription volumes and vaccination rates, as well as dealing with all of the intricacies of the Covid pandemic. In 2021 I had the opportunity to take on a Clinical Pharmacist role at Bay Area Hospital, and I had always wanted to work in the hospital setting, so I shifted gears and started a new branch of my career in pharmacy.
“I started out at Bay Area Hospital in October of 2021 as a clinical pharmacist and after about a year I started being trained in order to work my way up to a leadership position. I applied for and received a position as the Clinical Operations Supervisor January 1st of 2023, and I remained in this position for the next 2 plus years.
“In mid April of this year, I took the role of Director of Pharmacy at SCHHC. Taking this position helped me to achieve a goal I set for myself way back in 2010 when I was on one of my rotations. I am excited to be here and look forward to the amazing things the team here will be able to accomplish.”
Jeremy’s team includes Pharmacist David Zelman and Pharmacy Techs Christina Harner, Sara Baker, and Ashley Conrad.
(Jeremy and his wife, Jaclyn, who works as the Payroll Clerk/Human Resources Coordinator for the Bandon School District, live in Bandon and have three children.)
