Our  feature pharmacist is Ellen Taube, pharmacy manager of White Drug #38 in Virginia, MN. Ellen is not a native of Minnesota, but rather, grew up in Moline, Illinois. She didn’t always want to be a  pharmacist. She started college in an elementary education program and after one year of college taught vacation bible school for a week. The kids were amazing and creative, but she says

she had no idea how to control the classroom!

 

After that revelation, Ellen remembered she liked chemistry in high school, so decided to give

pharmacy a try. At least when two chemicals are combined, she knew what reaction to expect, quite

different from kids. Ellen received her B.S. degree in pharmacy from the University of Iowa in 1975,

did a residency in hospital pharmacy at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, MN, and from there served in staff pharmacist positions at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, WI.

 

Ellen wasn’t quite done with her career path yet, so in 1986 she enrolled in a masters degree program to prepare for the ministry as an ordained pastor in the Lutheran church. She served her one year of internship (student pastor) in Tanzania, East Africa in the village of Usangi. There she worked with a visiting Tanzania pastor in his congregation, where her duties included preaching, teaching religion, and visiting the sick and shut-in members. All of this in the Swahili language! Ellen received her Masters of Divinity degree in 1990 and her first position was as a pastor of two small congregations in northeastern Iowa. From there she became an associate pastor at a larger congregation in central Iowa.

 

Then, in 2000, Ellen reconnected with a long time friend who convinced her to come to Minnesota and was hired part time by Thrifty White as a pharmacist in June 2001 in Virginia and re-launched her “third career” into retail pharmacy. In January of 2007, Ellen was offered the position of pharmacy manager in #38 Virginia and accepted that position, where she remains today.

 

In her current role as PIC, Ellen enjoys interacting with both the employees as well as her patients. She likes the challenge of learning new things, enjoys her schedule which permits a lot of time for outside interests. Ellen’s current projects in the pharmacy are working to help raise peoples’ environmental awareness about the correct way to dispose of outdated or unwanted medications. She is also

enthusiastic about recycling plastic stock bottles and paper that is generated in the course of business. Ellen completed an immunization course and is currently offering flu shots in the store, and has served as preceptor for four pharmacy interns this past year.

 

Ellen’s outside interests include working in a mid-sized vegetable garden along with keeping a well landscaped yard in good shape. She and her partner have one adopted dog and two adopted cats which keep them busy. Ellen volunteers at church in the areas of worship and education and has begun playing tennis in Virginia’s new indoor court complex. In closing, she says when she runs out of things to do,

she’ll organize her work bench in the garage!

 

Thanks Ellen, for your dedication and hard work in a very competitive pharmacy market in Virginia. With your leadership, sales continue to grow in the pharmacy as well as the bottom line. We appreciate your efforts and consider you an integral part of the Thrifty Drug Store team. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.