Jo Ellen Rodgers, PharmD, BCPS, earned both her bachelor of science and doctor of pharmacy at UNC-Chapel Hill. After completing a two-year residency at the Medical College of Virginia, she returned to her alma mater, this time as the teacher. First she completed a two-year academic fellowship at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, during which she served as a clinical instructor. Then, in 2000, she joined the faculty in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics.

Teaching is one of Rodgers’ main focuses, and she received the School’s Academic Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007 and 2008. She coordinates and teaches the cardiology module and the acute care elective, as well as other electives focusing primarily on cardiovascular disease. She also serves as co-director of the Cardiology Residency at UNC Hospitals. At the UNC School of Medicine, Rodgers serves as a committee member and instructor for the Clinical Cases course and as a recitation leader for the Pharmacology course. She also teaches frequently at the School of Nursing.

In 2009, Rodgers became one of the first faculty members at the School to implement the newly acquired Audience Response System, incorporating it into the cardiology module to allow students to apply the concepts they learned in class before being tested on them.

“Basically it allowed me to incorporate cases and related multiple choice questions that forced them consider, ‘How would I manage this patient?” Rodgers says.

Rodgers used the ARS by presenting case studies that applies to the material she had just covered and asking her students a series of multiple-choice questions related to the cases. The approach was well-received by students, and she found that the ARS led to increased student engagement.

“Before, I would just go through the material and they wouldn’t really have the opportunity to apply the material in the classroom, or I would go through a case and ask them to respond but they would be hesitant to speak up, so getting them to be actively involved and engaged was sometimes a challenge,” she says. “Now the students have ARS clickers which allows anonymous participation, and thus, we get close to 100 percent participation.”

Rodgers also likes the fact that the system allowed both her and her students to get instant feedback.

"Now they can attempt to apply what they have learned prior to leaving the classroom and, perhaps more importantly, I have instant feedback on which concepts they do or do not understand," she says. "This allows one to target and reiterate concepts that students did not readily understand on first pass.

“It gives you instant feedback prior to exam time on what they did and didn’t get. So you don’t have to wait until after the exams to go back and say, ‘You missed some important concepts.’ You can get it right before the exams.”

In addition to her teaching duties, Rodgers maintains an active practice as a clinical pharmacist with the Cardiomyopathy and Cardiac Transplantation Service at UNC Hospitals for six to eight months each year. She also conducts research, including a study on how famotidine, an over-the-counter drug for treating peptic ulcers and GERD, affects the pharmacokinetics of two commonly prescribed heart-failure medicines and an inpatient study comparing two diuretic strategies to manage refractory fluid overload in patients with acute decompensated heart failure.

On the service front, Rodgers is an active member of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) and North Carolina Association of Pharmacists (NCAP). She currently serves as faculty and Planning Committee member for the ACCP Pharmacothreapy Preparatory Course and chair of the Member Relations Ad Hoc Group, as well as a member of the NCAP’s Acute Care Executive Committee. She also serves as faculty co-adviser for Kappa Epsilon and received that organization’s Outstanding Advisor Award in 2005 and Career Achievement Award in 2007.

Rodgers also is the faculty adviser for HeartSmart, a cardiology interest group. She supervises students in offering blood pressure and blood glucose screenings to the local community.