New Episodes Each Month
In partnership with Samford University’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Healthy Dose® is a monthly podcast that offers expert advice for healthy living. Hosted by Anthony Bolus, PharmD, each episode focuses on a topic that affects our health and wellbeing, offering expert opinions from pharmacists and other health care professionals.
Join us this fall as Healthy Dose explores important topics. In its first two episodes, Healthy Dose will discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, including who it affects, how it spreads, and the symptoms, complications and preventative ways to combat it.
New episodes are available on the third Tuesday of every month and can be found wherever you stream podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
Community pharmacy practice has been in the news quite a bit lately due to walkouts happening across the nation. Tensions are also rising about the decade long flawed payment scheme in our nation, initiated by drug insurance companies, which is paying pharmacies less than what it costs pharmacies to dispense the medication. This backward business takes away significant dollars from pharmacies and has already led to many pharmacy closures over the years… putting patient safety and your individual health at risk! Today we bring in the current chief executive officer and executive vice president of the American Pharmacists Association, Dr. Michael Hogue, as part of special two part series sharing perspectives and expertise on the status of community practice today and how these fees and payment structures from PBMs are causing serious side effects to pharmacies near you which will affect all of us if the problem is not fixed in time.
Tune in as Dr. Allison Hill, Pharm.D., RPh, director of Practice and Professional Affairs at the American Pharmacist Association (APhA), discusses the triple virus threat– COVID-19, RSV and flu– that you may encounter when returning back to school or back to the office this fall, as well as what defenses you can employ to protect yourself and others from these bugs! She also discusses the latest updates on the COVID-19 vaccine, including the new variant vaccine coming out later this month, along with the importance of receiving an annual flu vaccine. She will also give us information on a brand new, recently approved RSV vaccine that is now available for public use and can be easily obtained from your healthcare provider or local pharmacy.
In this month's episode, host Anthony Bolus talks to Maryam Iranikhah, Pharm.D., BCGP, FASCP, a professor at Samford University’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy. Together, they discuss everything you need to know about vitamins essential to boosting immune health in the fight against COVID-19 and other viruses, including vitamin D, Vitamin C and Zinc.
In this month's episode, we bring back Michael Hogue, an alumnus of Samford's McWhorter School of Pharmacy and dean of Loma Linda University’s School of Pharmacy in Loma Linda, California. He currently serves as president of the American Pharmacists Association, and he brings his expertise as a member of the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine work group to help us understand these vaccines in more depth: What is myth vs. what is fact related to them? What adverse reactions people can expect between dose 1 and 2, and why it is important to lift the sleeve and get the shot?
When caring for children, there are unique challenges, including dosage form, flavoring, patient cooperation and education. In this month's episode of Healthy Dose, host Anthony Bolus talks to Sam Blakemore, Pharm.D, M.B.A., the pharmacist manager at PedsRx Pharmacy Solutions, which is an independent pharmacy located within Children’s of Alabama. He shares some tried and true tips and tricks related to children’s medications.
Meet the Host
Anthony J. Bolus, Pharm.D. has worked in community pharmacy for more than 10 years, starting as a pharmacy technician in 2007. Bolus graduated from Samford University’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy with a Doctor of Pharmacy in 2013. Upon graduation, he became the pharmacy manager at a chain pharmacy in Calera, Alabama, returning to school in 2014 to complete a year-long postgraduate year one (PGY1) community pharmacy residency with Family Medical Services (FMS) Inc. and Samford’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy.
After completing the residency, Bolus was hired to be the full-time clinical coordinator of FMS, Inc., a position in which he has served for more than five years. Through this position, he helps oversee, train and create services beyond dispensing medication at all four of the independent store locations. Services include (but are not limited to) diabetes education, wellness screenings, immunization clinics, weight management training, and medication therapy management programs. Bolus also returns to Samford’s campus as an adjunct professor, helping when needed with different pharmacy practice labs and simulations. He currently serves as a preceptor for both Samford and Auburn University pharmacy students during their respective rotations.
In addition, Bolus is the founder and a producer of Healthy Dose®, a pharmacy radio show that began in 2011 and ran for six years on Birmingham’s Smooth Jazz Radio Station, WVSU-FM 91.1. In 2020, Bolus brings Healthy Dose® back to Birmingham through Samford’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy podcasts.
Outside of his work in pharmacy, Bolus is involved at St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church where he serves as the chairman of the St. Elias Maronite Lebanese Food and Cultural Festival that host more than 8,500 people each year. Bolus is married to Victoria and currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama.
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Disclaimer: Healthy Dose® is not intended to provide specific medical advice. Individuals should confer with their personal health care providers prior to making any changes to their treatment plans. The opinions and views of those appearing on Healthy Dose® are those of the individuals and not of Samford University or McWhorter School of Pharmacy.
