Christa Currey: What does a cardiology pharmacist do?
Dr. Kazuhiko Kido: A cardiology pharmacist helps ensure patients with heart conditions are receiving the safest and most effective medications. I work closely with physicians, nurses, and nurse practitioners and physician assistants to select appropriate therapies, adjust doses, and monitor for side effects.
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Although my specialty is the heart, I consider the whole body, because other organs can directly affect how heart medications work. For example, if the liver is not functioning properly, it can change how medications are processed, which may require selecting different drugs or adjusting doses to keep patients safe.
CC: What types of heart conditions do you help treat?
KK: My main specialty is heart failure, but I also help care for patients with irregular heart rhythms, such as atrial fibrillation; heart attacks, pulmonary hypertension, and other conditions where medication management is essential for heart function and overall health.
CC: What’s the best part of your job?
KK: The best part is seeing patients improve—when they start feeling better, breathing easier, and being able to enjoy their daily lives again. Knowing that the medication plan I helped design played a part in that progress is incredibly rewarding.
CC: Can you share a moment where you felt like you truly made a difference?
KK: One memorable case involved a patient with pulmonary hypertension who developed dangerously low platelet counts from an IV medication. I identified the possible drug-induced cause of the low platelet count, investigated alternative treatments, proposed a plan with the team to safely switch to an oral medication, and closely monitored the transition. I recommended a dosing schedule to safely switch therapies, tapering off the IV medication while gradually increasing the oral medication during hospitalization. After the change, the patient’s platelet count improved enough that they could safely restart needed blood-thinning therapy to prevent clots without significantly increasing the risk of bleeding.
CC: What is the most challenging part of your job?
KK: One of the most challenging parts is that sometimes there isn’t enough clear evidence or research to guide the perfect medication plan. Heart patients can be very complex, and the available information doesn’t always tell us exactly what to do.
But this is also where pharmacists can make the biggest impact. We rely on our training, experience, and deep understanding of pharmacology to think through the problem and find the safest and most effective option for each patient.
A good example is the patient I mentioned earlier with pulmonary hypertension who developed very low platelet counts from a medication. There wasn’t a lot of evidence to clearly tell us which alternative therapy would be safest. I had to analyze the pharmacology of each medication, compare risks, and design a careful plan. That approach helped the patient’s platelets recover and allowed us to safely restart important blood-thinning therapy.
So even though the lack of evidence can be challenging, it’s also one of the moments when pharmacists make a meaningful difference in a patient’s life.
CC: What special training do you need to become a cardiology pharmacist?
KK: After earning a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree, most cardiology pharmacists complete a Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy residency, and a Postgraduate Year 2 (PGY2) residency in cardiology or a related specialty.
CC: What advice would you give a student thinking about pharmacy?
KK: Be curious and open-minded. Pharmacy is a career where science, problem-solving, and helping people come together. If you enjoy learning how medications work and want to make a real impact on patients’ lives, pharmacy offers many exciting paths.
CC: What personality traits fit well with being a cardiology pharmacist?
KK: Detail-oriented thinking, compassion, teamwork, and a desire to learn continuously. Cardiology changes quickly, so being adaptable and eager to keep learning is important.