Interview with a pharmacist – Dr. Pharm. Emma Cretu 

 

# The most important value from a professional point of view is knowledge.

#The pharmacy profession has no weak points, only people have.

#I think that in our profession it is mandatory to have mentors and models.

 

She is 38 years old, Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biofarmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy – Carol Davila University of Medicine Bucharest, Emma ha started her teaching career in 2003, immediately after graduating from the faculty. At the same time, she began her clinical pharmacy residency, then became a pharmacist specialist, then a primary pharmacist, and in 2011 she has earned the doctor of science degree.

During her career she worked within the closed circuit pharmacy, open-circuit pharmacy, she worked in the National Medicines Agency, she even had her own pharmacy, due to the fact that she was always open to new opportunities.

Emma is one of those pharmacists who inspires through the courage to always explore unspoken paths, through the desire of evolution and continuous development, and through curiosity and creativity about every challenge.

• How did you start your career and  who guided you to Faculty of  Pharmacy? 

I do not come from a family of pharmacists; in fact, none of the family members are pharmacists, but when I was little, my favorite game was with my grandmother’s drugs and I just knew I wanted to become a researcher. Later, I radically changed my choice and the dream of my life was to be a dancer. With it I went through the last year of high school, but I was struck by the family’s hostility. My parents put a great deal of pressure on me to follow a college, they hoped – medicine, because, as they said: in our family and grandparents and parents went to college, and my sister was a math teacher at Sorbonne, so an extra reason for me to be an intellectual. So I woke up in the 12th grade that I had to choose a faculty and realized that I was only able to feel at home with chemistry. I was Olympic in this field, so I was interested in the faculties that required chemistry for the admission exam. I chose the pharmacy just because it sounded more exotic than the others, but I had no idea what I would do in college, and all the more I will do next. I only lived with the hope that someday I would be a dancer. In the first two years of college, I asked my dad every week if it was so bad if I dropped out of college and did not understand why he did not think there were enough intellectuals in the family and why one renowned daughter (my sister) was not enough for him; that’s it – there is a black sheep in all families. During the third year, however, surprisingly, I fell in love with the faculty of pharmacy, I think due to the technique, pharmacology and pharmaceutical chemistry. Only then did I begin to understand what kind of faculty I am studying and how beautiful it is.

 

• How do you perceive the profession of pharmacy today?

The profession of pharmacy is as complex, noble and health-conscious as it always has been. This profession has no flaws, only those who practice it can have.

• What are your most important values ​​and how did they influence your professional decisions?

The most important value from a professional point of view is knowledge. The desire to know influenced my entire professional activity.

• What are the strengths of a pharmacist in your opinion? 

Only the pharmacist can really know the medicine, all the medicines, with all the advantages and disadvantages of each of them. It is a matter well known by pharmacists, by doctors, by patients, by everyone.

• If you were to point out something that was of use to you, which would be it?

The discipline that this profession implies and respect for the knowledge of a pharmacist.

The university environment, here people are highly educated and very well trained, and these aspects clearly influence you positively.

• What is the best life lesson you have received?

I do not think there is a week not to receive a life lesson, and this for 15 years … 

• If you were going back in time, would you choose this profession?

Certainly. If I were to go back 1000 times, I would only choose this profession because it seems to me to be one of the few professions in which the exact science fits perfectly with the nobleness of helping people.

• What are the weakness?

The profession of pharmacist has no weaknesses, only people have.

 

• What would you do differently in your career? Why?

Nothing. Even though I have made professional mistakes over time, I’ve learned a lot from them and I think they were helpful lessons for me, they did not pull me back. I always gave the profession everything I could give. And I will continue on that line. Certainly there are people who could have provided much more than me, but these are my limits.

• What motivates you to go forward?

The love I have for my professional activity and my achievements so far.

• What would you like to have known when you were at the beginning?

The reality of the healthcare sector in our country. Unfortunately, its discovery took many years.

• What advice would you give to those who are at the beginning to do or not to do?

Always be knowledgeable! Be always aware of all that is new in the pharmaceutical field, and never drop the standards that the profession and the oath imposed upon the graduation of the faculty require. 

 

 

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