A Prescription for the Future

“If you can’t see me, you can’t be me.”

“It’s important to be in the room.”

“I have an obligation to give back.”

These are phrases Karen M. (Wilson) Brim, invokes repeatedly, and are clues to her life’s philosophy.

From perspectives gained through a career spanning more than 40 years and counting, Brim acknowledges the many challenges, including systemic racism, discrimination and bias, that as a Black woman in the field of pharmacy, she has faced throughout her life—and also how she met and overcame them, making it her mission to guide others in doing the same.

Brim, who has spent the last 20 years as a clinical pharmacist at Buffalo-based insurer Independent Health, says that in her youth, she wasn’t sure she’d even go to college. “I was exploring what I wanted to do. I had a child while I was in high school, and my father died when I was 15, leaving my mom widowed and raising eight children,” says the lifelong Buffalo resident matter-of-factly.

Despite being a young mother grappling with loss, Brim responded to the encouragement of Lester Robinson, a Black pharmacist from her community who came to speak at Bennett High School. There he observed that she could use a slide rule, among other skills.

“He convinced me that I could go to college,” says Brim. “Academically, I wasn’t worried, but I couldn’t navigate how: Who would pay? Who would support and help me through it?”

After graduating high school, she went to UB anyway. During an intro to pharmacy class in her first year, she met Assistant Dean of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Katherine Flickinger, who asked her if she was serious about the field. “I said I was still exploring, and she invited me to come talk to her,” says Brim. She did, and Flickinger offered to guide Brim through the program, encouraging her to ask for help when she needed it. And again, Brim listened.

Thus began her journey to earn her degree, commence her professional life and dedicate herself to becoming a visible role model and a change agent for the health and health care of others like her.

“When I started, the common stereotype of a pharmacist was a mysterious person in a white coat behind a counter,” says Brim. “After years spent working in a retail pharmacy setting, and now in managed care, I realize that the pharmacy walls have to be expanded. Instead of ‘doctors without borders,’ we need to be ‘pharmacists without counters.’”

An effective way she’s found to meet community members where they are is through Independent Health Foundation’s Good for the Neighborhood program events, where she tables under the Ask the Pharmacist banner. The work supports her belief in providing space for people—especially those from underserved populations and communities—to have comfortable conversation with pharmacists.

“When I started doing the Ask the Pharmacist table in Black communities around 2015, people saw me as a credible resource; they could ask me questions,” she says. “I’m able to tailor conversations to meet the participants’ social, cultural and sometimes linguistic needs. Understanding traditions and culture is vital to our interactions. We sometimes see hesitancy around health and health care topics. Being there gives us an opportunity to talk to their fears—not to convince them, but for us to understand. It can make participants feel safe, not judged…and ultimately improves care.”

Her commitment to making an impact both on and behind the scenes has garnered recognition: she has been honored in the community with Buffalo Business First’s IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Awareness) award and a “Selfless Among Us” acknowledgment from WGRZ-TV.

Another avenue of approach for Brim is peer networking and nonprofit support: Around 2016, a group of Black female pharmacists came together—in her living room. Unnamed and operating informally, the group has grown to support its members and throw its weight into community events and organizations that focus on increasing educational access for Black, female and underserved students.

To help further her goals of elevating others like her, and to encourage “diversity of thought,” she gives back to her alma mater in several ways. She has volunteered as a dean’s alumni ambassador for over a decade, mentoring PharmD students, and she also takes on other alumni-oriented responsibilities when asked, such as serving on panel presentations and being a guest speaker at events.

“Despite the time it takes, one of the reasons I remain involved is because it’s important that students of color see me,” she explains. “I stayed in Buffalo; many students of color leave after graduating. I meet students both face-to-face and via e-reviews. I had some advocates and mentors, but I didn’t have a ‘playbook.’”

“I received a stellar education, and I was definitely prepared academically,” adds Brim. “And people helped me along the way; I have an opportunity and obligation to give back, to offer students a level of comfort and help with navigating the system.”

The school has acknowledged this work, most recently by awarding Brim the 2023 Orville C. Baxter Memorial Professional Practice Award. “Receiving the Orville Baxter award was especially meaningful; he was one of my instructors—and more than that, he made me feel comfortable,” says Brim. “He was a mentor to so many, academically and socially. He wanted to ensure that we would be successful, actively advocating on our behalf.”

Brim is also a member of Independent Health’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Core Team, as well as a board member for both the Independent Health Foundation and Evergreen Health. “I find board work very rewarding. Evergreen Health, which focuses on underserved and diverse populations, has wonderful leadership,” says Brim.

“I appreciate the school and Independent Health for recognizing the work outside of the lines,” says Brim. “They’ve both given me a platform and enabled me to go out and talk to people, to look at how to elevate the health status of those who can’t access the health care system and get what they need. And when community members—people I’ve helped with things like their medications—report back to me with positive results or a better understanding, it affirms my purpose.”