Meet Sam Bliss, Boston Medical Center's new Investigational Pharmacy Services (IPS) Manager
Please join us in welcoming our new Investigational Pharmacy Services (IPS) Manager Sam Bliss to Boston Medical Center. Research Operations recently had the pleasure of sitting down with him to learn more about his experience, leadership style, and what he is looking forward to. He can be contacted via email at Samuel.bliss@bmc.org and looks forward to working with you.
Johanna: Sam, do you mind sharing a bit about your experience prior to joining BMC?
Sam: I have a diverse pharmacy background, starting with retail pharmacy, followed by industry, and most recently, 10-years of hospital experience. The last six of my 10 years at NYU was in the investigational pharmacy.
Johanna: What are the primary reasons you pursued this leadership role?
Sam: I wanted to take the next step in my career, to be more involved in the early stages of the drug administration process, and I look forward to having more impact on the trial selection. BMC collaborators felt like a good fit for my personality and leadership style.
Johanna: Who is your leadership role model and what character traits do you admire about them?
Sam: I absorb a lot of different ideas from a wide variety of people, books, and podcasts. However, more specifically, I enjoyed working with John Papadopoulos, who is the director of Clinical Pharmacy Services at NYU Langone Health. He stays up to date on the latest clinical trial developments, publishes his own work, and impressed me with his management style and bandwidth for training staff and residents. He recognizes that training matters because the upcoming students and residents are the future of medicine. If they succeed, we all succeed.
I envision allocating some of my time to educate the students and residents in our department around why research, specifically investigational drug management, matters...
Johanna: What will you miss most about NYC?
Sam: Proximity to family members and seeing all the TV filming in the streets. Additionally, seeing random people, like Idina Menzel (played leads in Rent, Wicked, Frozen). Going to a Yankees game!!!
Johanna: What are you most looking forward to experiencing in Boston?
Sam: I am really excited to walk around the city and try several of the restaurants. My first stop will be tapas, either at Barcelona or Toro. I also love coffee and have enjoyed the Americanos at Mod Espresso.
Johanna: What is your vision for the IPS and how does that integrate into the overall inclusive research practices at the BMC?
Sam: I am excited to help grow the department and expand the number of protocols that we offer. This would include new types of research, perhaps like gene therapy or other cutting-edge treatments. These treatments could allow us to offer novel drug therapy to our patients, who may not otherwise have access to these types of interventions.
I look forward to working with and getting to know the researchers, study teams, and BMC leadership to collectively advance our research vision.
