Michael Veve, PharmD
Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science
Q: When did you join the faculty and what drew you to UTHSC?
A: I joined the faculty here at UTHSC in June of 2017 and what drew me here was the opportunities the position held. There are not many positions out there where I would be able to split faculty between my practice site in infectious diseases and the College. Infectious diseases is what I trained for throughout my residency and fellowship so this was a great opportunity.
Q: How did you decide to become a pharmacist?
A: I was always drawn to chemistry throughout middle school and high school and I worked at a retail pharmacy throughout high school. I knew then that I wanted to pursue pharmacy instead of med school. I was really drawn to the opportunities that pharmacists had to improve patient care.
Q: What advice would you give to prospective pharmacy students?
A: My advice to prospective pharmacy students would be to pick the brains of people affiliated with pharmacy about what pharmacists can really do and what opportunities there are out there. Also, I would say get your feet wet and work in a pharmacy. When I was in school a lot of my fellow students were naïve to pharmacy, they felt like it was what they wanted to do but they hadn’t worked in pharmacy before.
Q: If you had to do it over would you still be a pharmacist? If not a pharmacist what would be doing instead?
A: If I had to do it all over again I think I would still be a pharmacist. I enjoy my job and I enjoy giving back to the students and to the community. This job checks all those boxes. If I wasn’t a pharmacist I feel like I would be doing automotive design or something else in the car industry. I always like auto mechanics and tinkering around on cars.
Q: Who has influenced you most in your life?
A: I don’t know that there is just one person that I could say here. My family and my parents in particular have been very influential to me as well as my mentors at the Albany College of Pharmacy and throughout my fellowship.
Q: If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?
A: I would love to have dinner with Angela Merkel. As one of the leaders of the free world she is a great example. She is a fantastic woman and she emulates what it means to be a leader and care about other people.
Q: What would be your last meal?
A: Lasagna is one of my favorite dishes and my mom makes a real mean lasagna. If I could have that as my last meal I would go out pretty happy. I’m a craft beer so if I am going out I wouldn’t mind having a nice Michigan craft beer and for dessert I would want a tiramisu.