Alexandra (Alex) N. Cochran, PharmD 

Dr. Alex Cochran was in the fourth grade when she first watched her mother overdose. Though shaken, she knew to call for help and tend to her younger brother and sister.

What she remembers most about that day happened during the car ride home. “Who helped Mom?” she asked her father, who was driving.

After a pause, he answered: “A pharmacist.” Little did they know that the little girl’s future had just been set in motion.

“From that day, I was committed. There was never a doubt that I was going to become a pharmacist,” Dr. Cochran recalls, nearly 20 years later.

I knew that I would love pharmacy. What I didn’t account for was how overjoyed I would be in academia. This is my dream job, being able to pour myself into the next generation of student pharmacists.”

To get there, she focused on doing well in middle and high school. She became the first in her family to attend college — three years at the University of North Georgia, then on to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis, where she completed her bachelor’s degree and earned her doctorate in pharmacy in 2024.

“It was a dream come true to walk across the stage at UTHSC and become a pharmacist.”

A postgraduate residency in ambulatory care and academia at South College School of Pharmacy led to a full-time position as an assistant professor of pharmacy practice. Today, Dr. Cochran splits her time between teaching at the pharmacy school and caring for young patients at Dolly Parton’s Children’s Hospital, both in Knoxville, Tennessee.

“I knew that I would love pharmacy. What I didn’t account for was how overjoyed I would be in academia. This is my dream job, being able to pour myself into the next generation of student pharmacists.”

At the hospital, Dr. Cochran specializes in treating children with cancer and gastrointestinal disorders. In addition to being the medication expert, she helps families navigate challenges like prior authorizations and financial assistance programs — whatever it takes to get the life-changing treatment they need.

“Being a pharmacist means helping a kid who is facing a chronic illness they will never be able to walk away from. We can help them have a normal childhood that allows them to do things like go to recess, go to sports practice, and play an instrument in their school band.”

Recently, she helped a woman who was desperately trying to fill a prescription for her 10-year-old granddaughter. After countless phone calls to pharmacies around town, she finally reached Dr. Cochran. The girl had been newly diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and, although she wasn’t a patient at the hospital, Dr. Cochran diligently took the necessary steps to help them obtain the specialty medication from the outpatient pharmacy.

“Our mindset will always be: Put the child first. It is so rewarding.”

On her days at South College, Dr. Cochran lectures on pediatric pharmacy topics, as the only such specialist on the faculty. When her department chair retired, she took over teaching the “Basics of Communications” course, which helps pharmacy students explore how to communicate with patients and other healthcare professionals.

She lives for the “aha” moments when something clicks in the classroom, or when students swing by her office to ask questions. The day her first class of pharmacy students graduated was an emotional one.

“I looked at all of them in cap and gowns, knowing that they are going to make an impact on so many lives, because they are now pharmacists. Teaching them even for one class means the world to me.”

I got this firsthand look into substance use disorders … and now I’m honored that I get to teach people how to care for these patients”

Perhaps most poignantly, Dr. Cochran also inherited the class on substance use disorders (SUD). She approaches the topic with a hard-won blend of expertise and empathy. As a child, she found it hard to understand what was happening to her family. As an adult, she came to understand that SUD is a lifelong illness. She’s still working on restoring a relationship with her mother.

As a pharmacist, Dr. Cochran knows there is hope for recovery.

“I got this firsthand look into substance use disorders … and now I’m honored that I get to teach people how to care for these patients. [People with SUD] deserve to have real treatment. They deserve to have doctors who care. I don’t shy away from my personal story, because it’s what made me the pharmacist that I am today.”