When it comes to learning any new skill or enhancing existing ones, the role of a well-informed, experienced, and engaging instructor cannot be overstated. Our team at ACA understands this well, and that’s why we have put together a team of professional instructors who bring real-world experience and insights into the classroom.
The goal is to ensure our learners get to experience the best of both worlds – theoretical knowledge backed by practical insights. Our low instructor/participant ratio allows for individual attention and interaction.
Hillary Howell
As a young teenager, Hillary worked as a pharmacy technician until graduating high school in 1998. Her passion for medicine led her to enroll in the Doctor of Pharmacy program at Ferris State University and graduated in 2004. Shortly after graduating, she married her high school sweetheart and took a position as a retail staff pharmacist at a local pharmacy chain. This ultimately led to a manager position with the same company.
Hillary has two children, Hunter and Tanner, which she adores. 10 years into her position as a manager, her husband James was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer, leiomyosarcoma of the prostate. During his journey, the family decided to look into alternative treatments using both conventional and alternative therapies. Sadly, James’ journey ended 18 months later. As a single mother, Hillary decided to take her career in a new direction. She opened Michigan’s first integrative cash based pharmacy, Apothecary & Co, in 2019, focusing on helping others to find their root cause instead of applying a “bandaid”. Apothecary & Co proudly specializes in compounding, point of care testing, and functional medicine consulting. Since opening in 2019, Hillary received her Certified Clinical Nutrition designation in 2021. She is currently pursuing a certification program through the Institute for Functional Medicine. Besides the love for functional medicine, her other passion is medicinal herbalism leading her to complete coursework through Rosemary Gladstar’s The Science of Art and Herbalism program.
Nancy Stoehr
Nancy Stoehr earned her PharmD from the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Pharmacy in 2006 and is currently enrolled in the Master of Education Teaching and Learning program at Concordia University Wisconsin. She is a Fellow of the American College of Apothecaries and a Fellow of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists. Nancy has been carrying out her vocation as an Assistant Professor at Concordia University Wisconsin School of Pharmacy since 2012 where her teaching focus is pharmaceutical dosage forms and extemporaneous pharmaceutical compounding for the community patient. Her research focuses on stability and quality of compounded dosage forms and formulation development as well as scholarship of teaching and learning within the non-sterile compounding laboratory.
Nancy has a background in sterile compounding as a home infusion pharmacist and as a hospital pharmacist. She is currently continuing her pharmacy practice as a compounding pharmacist with Skywalk Pharmacy in Milwaukee, WI which has a non-sterile pediatric community compounding focus. She enjoys incorporating practice and research into her education of technicians, pharmacists and future pharmacists.
Dawn Ipsen
Dawn Ipsen, PharmD is owner and pharmacist of Kusler’s Compounding Pharmacy in Snohomish, WA and Clark’s Compounding Pharmacy in Bellevue, WA. Dawn graduated from the University of Washington in 2001 where she received the Dean’s Outstanding Service Award. Dawn is a Full Fellow of the ACA and ACVP. She holds memberships with the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding and Washington State Pharmacy Association.
She is a Clinical Instructor for the University of Washington School of Pharmacy and an Affiliate Faculty Member for Bastyr University. Dawn has served on the Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA) Advisory Counsel and was Chair of the WSPA Compounding Special Interest Group (SIG). Currently she serves on the APC Legislative committee. She was named UW School of Pharmacy 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award for Excellence in Pharmacy Practice. Dawn has presented on the topic of pharmaceutical compounding to healthcare provider, patient, and peer groups. She is dedicated to helping her community find solutions to medication problems through personalized medication therapies.
Connor Jones
Connor Jones, PharmD, FACVP, was born and raised about 40 miles outside of St. Louis city in a rural area surrounded by hardwood forest. It was in the outdoors that he fell in love with nature and animals and realized his passion for animals at the age of about 5. Some of his fondest memories are of his frequent trips to Lone Elk Park, the Saint Louis Zoological Park, and hiking in the hardwood forests of Missouri. His childhood idol was Steve Irwin.
Connor graduated from Saint Louis College of Pharmacy in 2015 and has been working at Lindenwood Drug in Saint Louis since 2010; first as a student and now as a Compounding pharmacist. His work there started as an intern in the traditional portion of the business that helped him learn that his passion was community pharmacy. He then proceeded to work ever more in the compounding portion of the business, helping to provide vital solutions for his patients, human and non-human alike.
Connor lives in St. Louis with his dogs Bud, Buster, and his cat Brody. His best days at work are when he gets to meet any of his veterinary patients (despite his best efforts, the Saint Louis Zoo refuses to let him meet any of the patients he’d made prescriptions for). When he’s not at work, his hobbies include anything involving the outdoors.
Suzanne Keyes
Suzanne Keyes, Pharm.D., FACA, IFMCP
Adjunct Instructor American College of Apothecaries
Dr. Keyes graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University College of Pharmacy in 1996 and returned to academia in 1999 enrolling in the non-traditional Doctor of Pharmacy pathway offered through the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy. In 2004, she graduated with her Doctor of Pharmacy, the highest degree offered to pharmacists.
She has had 20 years’ experience in varied pharmacy settings; retail management for a chain drugstore, nursing home consultant, hospital pharmacist and her current position as the lead functional medicine pharmacist in her compounding pharmacy in Western Oklahoma. Suzanne’s passion to get to the underlying cause of disease is what drove her to pursue advanced education and become the seventh pharmacist in the world to become a certified practitioner through the Institute for Functional Medicine.
Dr. Keyes is trained to view chronic disease in a ‘systems biology’ approach rather than a ‘symptoms-based algorithm’. Her mantra is simply put, “…we are the culmination of seven biological SYSTEMS and NOT hundreds of SYMPTOMS”. It is this philosophy that has helped grow her in-store consultation practice and has led to countless improved outcomes of patients far and wide.
Aligning herself with the root cause model, Dr. Keyes’ philosophy remains steadfast; “with the proper support, the body has an innate ability to heal itself.” The combination of Dr. Keyes’ pharmacy knowledge of nutrient depletion and her functional medicine education of the biological pathways allows for a thorough assessment of a patient’s nutrient status and the manifestation of symptoms thereof. Dr. Keyes then designs supportive therapies that include supplements, nutrition and lifestyle modifications, to provide patients with desired outcomes, arresting and even reversing chronic disease.
As a Fellow of the American College of Apothecaries, Dr. Keyes spends her time outside of the lab designing, speaking for and teaching several courses at the home office in Bartlett, Tennessee as well as traveling to individual pharmacies for ACPE-accredited onsite training.
Dr. Keyes has been honored with invitations to speak about functional medicine for nationally recognized organizations such as the International Association of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) and the National Association of Community Pharmacists (NCPA) on several occasions across the country. In the last 2 years, Dr. Keyes has been interviewed and her practice highlighted online by both Dr. Blair Thielemier (Pharmapreneur Academy; Elevate Pharmacy Summit) and Dr. Alex Barker (The Happy PharmD).
One of Dr. Keyes’ most memorable moments was being selected by Ortho Molecular Products as the 2016 “Spotlight Pharmacist of the Year”. Again, she was interviewed and her practice highlighted in their nationally publicized newsletter, reaching over 9,000 providers and colleagues alike.
Aside from her many speaking engagements and running a successful compounding/hybrid pharmacy, Dr. Keyes enjoys spending time with her husband of 20 years traveling abroad, riding motorcycles, and playing with their 8 year old boxer, Magi. Above all, Suzanne admits her greatest joys will always be her three adult children, Taylor, Tyler and Alyx.
Matthew 19:26
“With man these things are impossible; but with God, ALL things are possible”
Marisol Lopez
Marisol Lopez earned her Bachelor degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1990 from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). In June 2007, she completed her Master degree in Public Health, at Medical Science Campus with a major in Public Health Administration. She has received training and certifications on USP <797> Pharmaceutical Compounding, Sterile Preparations and USP <795> Pharmaceutical Compounding – Nonsterile Preparations Non Sterile at U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) Rockville, MD; Sterile and Non Sterile Compounding and Veterinary Symposiums from Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA).
Marisol also participated in international compounding courses in Salvador Bahia, Brasil and Madrid, Spain. She works as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Pharmacy of PR and has developed non-sterile and sterile compounding laboratory experiences for first and second year pharmacy students. She has offered continuing education presentations in USP 795 and USP 797 for the Continuing Education Division of the School of Pharmacy, University of PR, and the Puerto Rico Pharmacists Association, (Colegio de Farmaceuticos de PR). In addition, Marisol has collaborated in the development of the compounding sections of the Pharmacy Act of Puerto Rico.
In 2006, Marisol developed an aseptic techniques training for Spanish speaking pharmacist and pharmacy technicians, based on USP 797, and continues providing consultations and courses to promote the adherence to quality in compounding. Marisol has participated in clinical research activities and aseptically compound study agents, following USP 797 regulations, in drug-study protocols in the Clinical Research Center for the School of Medicine at UPR. As part of her active participation in the pharmacy profession in PR, Marisol received the honor of being named the Innovative Pharmacist of the Year Excellence in Innovation Award in 2014, from the Puerto Rico Pharmacist Association (Colegio de Farmaceuticos de Puerto Rico), sponsored by Upsher-Smith Laboratories.
At the present, she is the President of International Society of Pharmaceutical Compounding (ISPhC) based in Spain, a member of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) and a Fellow of the American College of Apothecaries (ACA) and the American College of Veterinary Pharmacists (ACVP). Marisol represents Region 2 on the ACA Board of Directors.