Spirit of Community Service: Ally Dering-Anderson, Pharm.D.

Ally Dering-Anderson, Pharm.D., of the UNMC College of Pharmacy, will receive the Spirit of Community Service Award at the annual faculty meeting, which this year will be held virtually through Zoom at 3 p.m. on April 14.

• Name: Ally Dering-Anderson, Pharm.D.
• Titles: Pharm.D., RP, FAPhA, wife, mom, grandma
• Joined UNMC: June 2010
• Hometown: Crete, Nebraska

How did you start in your community service activities?

I don’t remember when I wasn’t involved. My parents were exceptionally active in community service, and I figured that’s just what people did. My activity with the Behavioral Education and Threat Analysis (BETA) program started when one of the program coordinators heard my radio show and thought maybe a pharmacist would be an interesting program. I’ve been helping them ever since.

BETA is a group within the police forces and the state patrol. I talk with them every year about the side effects of mental health medications and how patients with mental health diseases really, truly act differently. They aren’t scary, just different. Since, sadly, law enforcement gets called on these folks often, I try to help them deal with these folks safely for all involved and maybe with a newfound compassion. That grew to include the social workers and other client services people who work with people who have mental health diseases. Then it expanded to the shelter for abused women and now we also include the parole officers and school resource officers.

Why do you feel community service is important?

We all live here. I don’t have a million dollars, and I don’t have any artistic talent, but I do know drugs. When I can help people in our community understand something about drugs, I feel as if I’ve done something good. For many of the people I have the honor of speaking to, they don’t know what questions to ask. It’s not that any pharmacist couldn’t or wouldn’t answer, it’s just that the people don’t know to ask – – I can help them with that. For the people who deal with patients dealing with mental health problems, I actually get to help two groups of people. I get to help the caregivers and the police force and by helping them understand the patients, I can help the patients – – in a roundabout way.

What are the greatest rewards of teaching?

The students – – always the students. Watching them go on to make dramatic changes in our world is the best of the best! They also ask the most exciting and thought provoking questions. They may complain about studying for class now and again, but I bet they don’t know that I study to prepare for them too.

Describe a moment in your career when you realized you had picked the right profession.

There are two that come immediately to mind, and I can’t pick between them, so you get them both.

Our oldest daughter and my husband run in the Vegas Half-Marathon almost every year. A couple of years ago, I was with our daughter in the gift shop at one of the hotels and there was a runner from Australia who was looking for paracetamol (the Australian name for acetaminophen or Tylenol). The sales clerk had no clue, but I heard the conversation and was able to hand her what she wanted. The look on our daughter’s face was amazing!

I did a live, call-in radio show to talk with people about their pharmacy questions. One of the listeners took the time to tell my dad that he thought I had saved his life. On the radio!! How cool is that?

What are the biggest challenges you face as a teacher?

Teaching is the joy of my professional career. If there’s a challenge I see it as an opportunity. My biggest professional challenge is that I’m a very slow writer! I have data that I want to publish and thoughts that I want to share and writing them seems to be a hurdle every time. I wish that I could get better, and I’m grateful that I get to break up my attempts at writing with teaching! I think that all of us are challenged when it seems that there are those who are actively anti-science, but the reality is, they are in the minority and even they can be taught sometimes.

How do you know when you’ve been successful as a teacher?

I teach pharmacy law, so it’s not as if a student will be able to tell me – – I saw a patient yesterday and used what you taught me! My visions of success most often come after our students graduate and go on to change their part of the world. They’ll call or write with questions to advance the practice or they’ll ask for help drafting a collaborative agreement to present to the Board of Pharmacy. That’s when I feel the success.