2021 Incentive Grant Recipient: Sam Miller, PharmD
Residents and their Preceptors
Project Proposal: BreatheOut: Effectiveness and Feasibility of a Pharmacist-Led Culturally-Tailored Tobacco Cessation Program for Transgender and Gender Diverse Patients
Sam Miller, PharmD, RPh, currently serves as the PGY-1 Community-based Pharmacy Resident at The Ohio State University - Equitas Health in Columbus, Ohio.
BreatheOut is a pharmacist-led smoking cessation program for transgender and gender diverse patients that is designed with culture and identity at the center of health promotion. The transgender community bears a disproportionate burden of tobacco use due to minority stress and discrimination, a history of predatory tobacco marketing to the LGBTQ+ community, and a lack of effective models for promoting smoking cessation to trans individuals. Given the tools, pharmacists are uniquely poised as highly accessible medication therapy experts to partner with patients who have been historically underserved to help meet their health goals. As a pharmacist and also a transgender person, I see a myriad of opportunities for pharmacists to engage in the care team for trans patients and make an impact on health disparities, including tobacco use.
I am honored to receive an Incentive Grant to support a project that centers around my two passions: highlighting the strength of the transgender community and showcasing pharmacist-led and community-centric health promotion. As a pharmacist who is also transgender, contributing to research that may give back and improve the health of my community is an opportunity that is valuable to me both professionally and personally. My hope is that this project will provide evidence for one of many pathways that pharmacists can add value to the interdisciplinary healthcare team for transgender patients.