We recently connected with Louisa Wolowiecki and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Louisa, thanks for joining us today. When you’ve been a professional in an industry for long enough, you’ll experience moments when the entire field takes a U-Turn, an instance where the consensus completely flips upside down or where the “best practices” completely change. If you’ve experienced such a U-Turn over the course of your professional career, we’d love to hear about it.

Louisa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Louisa Wolowiecki PharmD. I am a traditionally trained PharmD -Pharmacist professional that decided to become a pharmacist because I loved science and how it related to the body. Over time, I’ve continue to acquire new skills as we always need to be growing and moving forward.

I loved learning about disease states and then knowing how to manage medications and all that it entailed with helping physicians and other providers in the acute care settings to help their patients achieve a positive outcome. I very much enjoyed working in the acute care (hospital) setting. I felt like I practiced at the top of my license. but over time, this demanding schedule was not conducive with raising a family. I began to look into other roles such as home care as well as retail in order to achieve a better work family balance.

When I pivoted to a retail setting, I enjoyed being the go to professional. I loved being a resource for providers as well as helping patients understand why they were taking medications and encouraged them to continue to be adherent, to ask me or their doctor/provider questions if they had concerns. I did come to recognize that many patients who were on multiple medications for a myriad of conditions were not getting any better- just managing the condition and often not very well.

Although I have been blessed with great health, I have seen my own health issues that I knew I needed to manage.
I developed hypothyroidism as a young adult. Later while I was pregnant with my second child, I developed gestational diabetes. As I went through midlife, I had to deal with menopause and all that it entailed.
The reason I feel and look as I do today is because I take a very proactive approach to maintaining my wellness.

I began to learn about different approaches for restoring and maintaining health by taking a root cause approach versus a traditional pill for an ill scenario. I learned that although our genetics play a role, our lifestyle choices and mindset play a huge role as well. Just because you are predisposed to a chronic condition, doesn’t mean you will develop it.

I’ve become advocate for women to take a proactive approach with their aging. You do NOT have to age the same way your mother or aunts did. There are so many opportunities to take back your health and not blindly accept a chronic illness predisposition or diagnosis. My mission is to help women recognize this and then help her move forward in taking the steps to regain her vitality.

I’m proud of the health care practitioner I’ve become. I am understanding and passionate about how to serve women so they can feel amazing and look their best

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I feel that being open to new ideas, learning new skills and persevering towards accomplishing my goal has really served me well. Additionally as humans we should always be growing and not settle for staying in our ‘comfort zone”
I also feel my compassion and passion for serving others has also been key.
I genuinely like coming up with solutions to problems.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Over the years, there have been many times when I consciously or subconsciously wouldn’t accept the answer I was given. When I decided I wanted to go to college, I was discouraged from attending for many reasons which seem silly in today’s world.
I was the first person in my family to graduate from college, my parents never attended neither did most of my relatives.
Thankfully, I had that mission in my head and nothing was going to deter me.

Once those around me accepted my decision to pursue higher education, the next was discouraging me from pursuing pharmacy. I heard every reason why I wouldn’t be successful and should be pursuing something like nursing or teaching. Again, I was not deterred and graduated near the top of my class with my undergraduate degree.

Years later, I felt the need to pursue my doctorate and again there were road blocks that I knocked down one step at a time.
I graduated with my Pharmacy Doctorate at the top of my class, while being married with two young boys.

Now, even later, my goal to change how pharmacists are perceived is also met with resistance. Most people do not comprehend how
very knowledgeable we are about different chronic conditions and how to manage them. If you are functionally trained to look at the whole person, we are not just knowledgeable about medications, but how this fits into the entire holistic person. So many people feel they are destined to live the same life their parents or relatives lived with respect to developing chronic conditions and living with them.
Thinking through the functional lens and knowing there is ALWAYS an underlying cause for symptom or condition is so amazingly eye opening that as someone who knows this CANNOT keep quiet despite the pushback.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @dr.louisa.pharmd
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dr-louisa-c-wolowiecki-pharmdimpact-your-life
• Other: calendly.com/drlouisaimpactyourlife/functional-holistic-consult

Image Credits
Brand photos by JoEllen Verna Portrait and JNC Branding