Curiosity Blossoms into Quest for Knowledge

Pharmacy Path Provides Perfect Blend for Growth, Knowledge of Medicine 

The sharing of Old World knowledge with a child curious about how the human body works is what led Petar Jordanov, recent Pharm.D. graduate, to choose pharmacy as his life’s pursuit.

Born in Bulgaria, Jordanov said his grandmother was a big part of his interest in medicine and pharmacology growing up.

“She would point out to me different trees and plants where certain medications come from like aspirin,” Jordanov said. “I thought it was really cool how you can take a small molecule and it has some sort of effect on your body.”

At the age of 10, Jordanov and his family emigrated to Montreal where he learned French. The harsh winters of Montreal and picturesque scenery of British Columbia caused Jordanov and his family to move to Vancouver where he mastered French and graduated from high school with a bilingual diploma.

As an undergraduate majoring in biomedical physiology, Jordanov’s interest in pharmacy was piqued by a professor who told him about the role of clinical pharmacists. Jordanov began looking at pharmacy schools in the U.S. Around this time, he met the woman – a Texan – he would marry. Ultimately, he chose UHCOP because of the Texas Medical Center and the learning opportunities offered outside of the classroom.

And the winner is…

During his first year of pharmacy school, he learned about the Eakman Family Endowed Scholarship offered through the West Texas Pharmacy Association (WTPA). Jordanov applied and won.

“I found out that the scholarship is awarded every year, so the next year came along and I thought, ‘Let me try. Maybe I can win it again,’” Jordanov said.

And that’s precisely what happened – for four consecutive years. Jordanov had the opportunity to meet Doug Eakman, B.S. (’73), a community pharmacist at San Angelo-based Medical Arts Pharmacy who established the scholarship with the help of fellow WTPA members.

“Even though I’m not from West Texas, I definitely felt welcomed and appreciated and loved, and I hope one day I can give back,” Jordanov said.

Pharm.D. and Fatherhood

In his third year of pharmacy school, Jordanov became a father. The result: better grades than before he had his child.

“Having a strong baseline knowledge I had built over my first two years really helped me when my son was born because I wasn’t having to relearn every module,” Jordanov said. “With my son, it was all about time management. If I had time to do something, even if it was 10 or 15 minutes, I sat down and I did it.”

Patience with Patients

As Jordanov progressed in his pharmacy studies, his love for pharmacy was reaffirmed during a hospital patient interaction in his fourth year experiential rotations. Through tears, the patient told Jordanov he had been taking his blood pressure medication but was still unable to get his blood pressure under control.

“I said, ‘Let’s go over your medications to make sure you are taking the right ones,’” Jordanov said. “When the patient told me not to worry because he always remembered to take his ‘horse pill,’ that’s when it clicked because blood pressure medications are usually small pills. As it turned out, he was taking the wrong medication.”

After sitting with the patient and going over each of his medications, Jordanov was moved by the patient’s response.

“He said he had never had an encounter like this where someone sat down with him and went over his medications,” Jordanov said. “Bonding and connecting with this patient and uplifting him was really rewarding for me.”

Interest in Infectious Disease

A newly minted graduate, Jordanov will transition to a PGY1 pharmacy practice residency at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Next, Jordanov has his sights set on pursuing a PGY-2 specialty residency in infectious disease before starting a career in clinical pharmacy specializing in infectious disease with a focus on antimicrobial stewardship.

“In every rotation I had, there was an aspect of infectious disease,” Jordanov said. “It’s really interesting that there are bacteria that can outsmart your antibiotic. After volunteering in Dr. Kevin Garey’s lab my P2 year, I thought, ‘This is what I want to do.’”

Jordanov has already seized on opportunities in the infectious disease arena. In January, presented a poster at the Gulf Coast Consortia’s 7th Annual TMC Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship Conference in Houston. Afterward, he was selected to give a rapid-fire, five-minute presentation to leaders in the medical field about his research, which explored antibiotic-resistant organisms and their mechanisms of resistance.

Jordanov’s perspective on pharmacy school is straightforward.

“Big things are achieved in small steps,” Jordanov said. “Pharmacy school is all about momentum and doing it every day. P1 and P2 is the time to learn the most you can. Everything will start clicking together.”