Piedmont Profile: Krystal Green

Krystal Green is the driving force behind PVCC’s new Pharmacy Technician program: she is the program’s director and an associate professor who teaches many of its courses.

“There are so many different avenues in the Pharmacy Technician field,” Green exclaims. She would know; she has tried many of them herself. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, Green worked at Walgreens to experience the retail side of the profession. She then shifted to hospital work at Chippenham Hospital, and later, to the nuclear pharmacy services at Cardinal Health. She also has experience in pharmacy education: she started a Pharmacy Technician program at Virginia College and is now drawing upon that experience to build a similar program here at PVCC.

She has ambitious plans for the Pharmacy Technician program and speaks passionately of the opportunities it can provide for students. “This is an exciting time to get into the field,” she insists. “Especially with the evolution of the technical field, the sky is the limit, particularly when it comes to education.”

She hopes that the Pharmacy Technician program will “expose students to as many aspects of the field as possible,” while also training them in universal skills such as sterilization techniques and dosage calculations.

According to Green, pharmacy education is both practical and rewarding. “We want to make sure that what students learn in the classroom, they can do in their jobs,” Green explains. Thus, much of the training caters to the roles available at nearby hospitals, and many of the classes are hands-on labs. At the same time, even with a skill like mathematics, “I try to let [students] know how critical it is, but also how rewarding it can be.” Much like Green’s experience of the profession itself, pharmacy education is a challenge, but a rewarding one with a very real impact on the people it serves.

This combination of technical savvy and relational skills extends to Green’s personal life as well. Although she faces a busy work schedule, she also loves travel, trying new restaurants, playing with her dog, Mena, and spending time with people. “Be it family, friends, or…anyone, really,” she said, “you learn so much from interacting with other people. Those are the things that are really priceless.”