Anastasiya Shor, PharmD, BCPS 

Every pharmacist is a medication expert. Dr. Anastasiya Shor’s work goes even deeper, leveraging her clinical experience, research prowess, and communication skills to serve as an essential resource to the healthcare field.

Pharmacy professionals, faculty, and students commonly encounter drug-related questions as part of their practice and learning. If they can’t find satisfactory answers from the usual resources, they can submit them to the Drug Information Center at the Touro College of Pharmacy, where Dr. Shor is the director.

Can the antiviral drug baloxavir be crushed and administered via a feeding tube? Do GLP-1 weight-loss medications affect the effectiveness of birth control pills? Dr. Shor and her team field questions like these from healthcare professionals, faculty, students, and preceptors (licensed pharmacists who supervise and train students during hands‑on clinical experiences) affiliated with Touro College of Pharmacy, and provide evidence-based information to support clinical decision-making.

Being able to apply my knowledge and to deliver help in such a versatile and meaningful way is the real reason I became a pharmacist.”

This complimentary service is offered to Touro College of Pharmacy affiliates, with responses typically delivered within several days depending on complexity. She’ll comb an array of databases, synthesize medical literature, and turn to her network of experts to arrive at unbiased, scientifically grounded information.

“We make sure that healthcare professionals are able to practice with the most current information and the most up-to-date evidence, and support safe and evidence-based patient care. … Every single question is a chance for me to learn, too.”

Some queries involve complex clinical scenarios, others are more general. Recently, a hospital asked the Touro Drug Information Center about best practices for storing mannitol, a diuretic that helps reduce swelling and pressure in the eye or around the brain. The solution crystallizes easily at lower temperatures, making it unsafe to give intravenously. Dr. Shor conducted extensive research and reached out to personal connections to learn how other U.S. hospitals handle the medication.

“I was able to provide a very comprehensive answer in terms of the right temperature conditions, the equipment considerations, as well as what they could do if the mannitol solution does crystallize. … It was a bigger-scale question that affected a lot of patients, and now they can address it.”

Dr. Shor first fell in love with research while working for a start-up that focused on improving medication access and reimbursement in Europe. She later honed her communication skills as a community pharmacist who regularly interacted with patients. Dr. Shor’s time working as an investigational pharmacist in clinical trials, managing study medications and protocol requirements, gave her a new appreciation for all the research behind the literature she interprets today. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she supported the nutritional needs of people with disabilities and learned how to navigate the administrative side of pharmacy.

Each career chapter strengthened Dr. Shor’s work today as a drug information specialist. “I often have to put myself in the team’s shoes to understand what their need is, what information they will find most useful, and how they want to receive the answer.”

With the rise of social media and artificial intelligence (AI), Dr. Shor finds her skills more valuable than ever. She keeps up with new AI-based tools and how they can be used responsibly to support clinical decision-making. And she takes every opportunity to help tech-savvy students and patients think critically about the endless health information they find online.

“Knowing how to discern AI’s limitations and where it is most effective is a big part of what I do on a daily basis, including mentoring students. … We look at [generative AI outputs] point by point and analyze what it does well and what it could do better. And I think that it’s very important for clinicians in the field to be aware, too, to make sure that we are supporting responsible and informed clinical decision-making.”

Knowing how to discern AI’s limitations and where it is most effective is a big part of what I do on a daily basis, including mentoring students.”

Outside of Touro, Dr. Shor has volunteered on international medical mission trips, including to her native Ukraine. “Being able to apply my knowledge and to deliver help in such a versatile and meaningful way is the real reason I became a pharmacist.”

For Dr. Shor, being a pharmacist means being there for people.

“We know your medicines and your health information. We want you to get the care that you need, and we want to keep you safe. We are your strongest advocates.”