Melissa Badowski, PharmD, MPH, FCCP

Some people collect stamps. Melissa Badowski collects something far rarer: the ability to make complicated medication regimens behave in the real worldwhere patients have real lives, real barriers, and real side effects that did not RSVP to the treatment plan.

With credentials that read like the alphabet got a promotion (PharmD, MPH, FCCPand then some), Dr. Badowski is known for work at the intersection of HIV care, infectious diseases pharmacotherapy, telemedicine, and clinical education. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like when a pharmacist is not only “checking the meds” but also shaping systems, guiding practice, teaching clinicians, and helping steer specialty standardsher career is a pretty good case study.

Quick snapshot: who she is (and why the letters matter)

• Clinical pharmacy leader in infectious diseases and HIV pharmacotherapy
• Academic faculty in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy (University of Illinois Chicago)
• Telemedicine clinician supporting HIV care in correctional settings
• National service and leadership in specialty pharmacy organizations and guideline work
• Medical education contributor in continuing education and clinician-facing learning programs

Here’s the short translation of the headline credentials you’ll see attached to her name:

• PharmD: Doctor of Pharmacytrained to manage medications clinically, not just count pills.
• MPH: Master of Public Healthtrained to think in systems, outcomes, and population-level impact.
• FCCP: Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacyrecognition for sustained contributions to clinical pharmacy.

From training to specialty practice: building a career in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy

Dr. Badowski’s path includes rigorous clinical training designed for pharmacists who plan to work where the decisions are high-stakes and the margin for error is… basically “please don’t.” Her training includes residency work in pharmacy practice and pharmacotherapy with a focus in infectious diseasesexactly the kind of preparation that turns “drug interaction check” into “full-on clinical strategy.”

In academic medicine, it’s common to see a split identity: part clinician, part teacher, part researcher, part committee-member-who-knows-where-the-guidelines-live. Dr. Badowski’s career reflects that blend. She has held academic roles and, after completing residency training, joined the University of Illinois Chicago’s College of Pharmacy in 2010, where her work has remained strongly tied to HIV and infectious diseases.

The public health angle: why an MPH can change how HIV pharmacotherapy is practiced

HIV treatment is famously effective when it’s consistent, accessible, and individualized. The “individualized” part is where clinical pharmacists shine: resistance patterns, adherence barriers, kidney function, mental health meds, statins, acid suppressants, supplements, and the occasional “I started a new herbal tea TikTok swears by.”

The MPH lens adds a second layer: not only “what’s best for this patient today,” but also “what keeps patients engaged, retained, and supported across a system that may not be designed for ease.” That matters intensely in HIV careespecially in settings where continuity is hard.

HIV care via telemedicine in correctional settings: innovation with a purpose

One of the most distinctive themes associated with Dr. Badowski is HIV care delivered through telemedicine in correctional settings. On paper, telemedicine sounds simple: a video visit instead of an in-person visit. In reality, delivering HIV specialty care in a correctional environment is more like choreographing a small space launchsecurity protocols, clinic workflow, privacy, labs, medication access, transitions, and follow-up all have to line up.

Telemedicine models for HIV subspecialty care in prisons have been studied and associated with improved clinical outcomes such as virologic suppression and CD4 improvements when delivered by multidisciplinary specialty teams. That research helps explain why telemedicine isn’t just a “pandemic workaround” in this contextit can be a strategic tool for access.

What a clinical pharmacist contributes in this setting

In correctional HIV care, a pharmacist’s impact often shows up in places that don’t make headlines but absolutely change outcomes:

• Regimen optimization: aligning treatment with resistance history, comorbidities, and tolerability.
• Drug–drug interaction management: a daily reality in HIV pharmacotherapy, especially with polypharmacy.
• Adherence strategy: simplifying regimens when possible and building practical plans when not.
• Transition planning: supporting continuity during intake, transfers, and releasetimes when HIV care can fracture.

If you want a concrete example, imagine a patient stable on antiretroviral therapy who starts a new medication for reflux, seizures, or tuberculosis exposureeach one can quietly create a major interaction. A pharmacist’s job is to catch that early, adjust the plan, and keep HIV suppressed while the rest of the medical world does what it does: add more medications.

Research focus: HIV, infectious diseases, and the “real-life” medication problems

Dr. Badowski’s scholarship and educational work commonly centers on practical, high-impact challenges in HIV and infectious diseases pharmacotherapy. These include issues like:

• Long-acting antiretroviral therapy (who benefits, how to implement, what can go sideways)
• Rapid initiation strategies and bridging patients into sustained care
• Drug interaction guidance and medication safety in complex regimens
• Care delivery models including telehealth and multidisciplinary specialty teams

Long-acting antiretrovirals: convenience, complexity, and careful selection

Long-acting antiretroviral options are often described as a “game-changer,” which is trueexcept “game” implies rules are simple and everyone agrees on them. In real practice, long-acting therapy comes with questions like: How do you confirm eligibility? What about missed injections? What about resistance risk? How do you coordinate access and follow-up?

Clinicians in this space have contributed to consensus recommendations and practical guidance around long-acting antiretroviral use for treatment and prevention. This kind of work is especially pharmacist-friendly: it’s deeply medication-centered, implementation-focused, and allergic to vague advice.

Leadership and national service: shaping standards beyond one clinic

Dr. Badowski’s visibility isn’t only about direct patient care. She’s also associated with leadership and service roles in the broader clinical pharmacy ecosystemespecially where HIV and infectious diseases intersect with policy, specialty credentialing, and professional development.

Practice networks and professional leadership

Clinical practice networks matter because they turn “what worked in my clinic” into “what could work across clinics.” Dr. Badowski has been recognized as a founding chair of the HIV Practice and Research Network (PRN) within the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, a role that signals both subject-matter depth and community-building skills. (If you’ve ever organized clinicians, you know that alone deserves a credential.)

Board of Pharmacy Specialties and specialty credentialing

Specialty board work is where a profession defines what “expert” meansstandards, competencies, and expectations. Dr. Badowski has been associated with the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) ecosystem, and she was appointed to the BPS Board of Directors for a term beginning in 2026. That’s not just an honor; it’s a responsibility for the direction of specialty practice and certification.

Guideline work: translating evidence into everyday decisions

If you want to see how modern HIV care is governed, look at guidelinesconstantly updated, evidence-driven, and written with the assumption that real patients rarely match the “perfect” clinical trial participant.

Panel participation in U.S. antiretroviral guidelines is a significant marker of national trust. It means you’re not only reading the evidenceyou’re helping decide how it should be applied and communicated to clinicians who need clear, safe, actionable recommendations.

The work itself is not glamorous. It’s reviewing emerging data, debating wording (yes, wording), and deciding how to balance clarity with nuance. The payoff is huge: guidelines can standardize best practices across thousands of clinics, including places where infectious diseases expertise is limited.

Teaching and public-facing clinical education

Another through-line is education. Dr. Badowski is listed as faculty in clinician education initiatives focused on HIV prevention and treatment topicssuch as pharmacy-based PrEP/PEP education and other structured learning programs. That kind of educational role requires staying current in a field where “current” expires quickly.

She has also served as a medical reviewer/medical advisor in major health information networks in the past. Even when those listings note that reviewer status may no longer be active, they reflect a period where her expertise was part of content accuracy efforts for large public audiences.

What her credentials signal in plain English

Credentials can feel like professional seasoningsprinkle enough on and people assume it tastes smart. But in clinical pharmacy, the letters often represent specific competencies:

• BCPS (Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist): broad clinical pharmacotherapy expertise across diseases and settings.
• BCIDP (Board Certified Infectious Diseases Pharmacist): specialty expertise in infectious diseases, including antimicrobial stewardship and complex infection management.
• AAHIVP (American Academy of HIV Medicine credential): focused competence in HIV care and practice engagement.
• FIDSA (Fellow of IDSA): recognition of sustained contributions to infectious diseases.

Put together, they tell a story: a clinician-educator with deep infectious diseases training, HIV specialization, and national-level service in how the field defines and shares best practice.

How expertise like this shows up in patient outcomes

HIV pharmacotherapy is full of “small” decisions that aren’t small at all. Here are a few real-world scenarios where a pharmacist like Dr. Badowski would typically make a difference:

Example 1: The interaction that doesn’t announce itself

A patient is stable on antiretrovirals, then starts a new medicationmaybe for seizures, maybe for heart rhythm, maybe for stomach acid. The patient feels fine, labs look okay… until they don’t. Pharmacists trained in HIV drug interactions often prevent this story from reaching the “and then the viral load rebounded” chapter.

Example 2: The regimen that works in theory but not in a schedule

Some regimens are pharmacologically perfect and practically impossiblefood requirements, dosing frequency, side effects that ruin sleep, or pill burden that clashes with daily routine. HIV care is long-term care; sustainability matters. The “best” regimen is the one the patient can actually take.

Example 3: The transition cliff

Transitionsbetween facilities, between coverage plans, between life chaptersare where chronic disease care can fall apart. Telemedicine programs and structured medication management can buffer those transitions by keeping expertise connected to the patient even when the setting changes.

FAQ

What does FCCP mean for a clinical pharmacist?

FCCP stands for Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. It’s generally awarded to clinical pharmacists with sustained contributions in practice, research, education, and professional service.

What does an infectious diseases pharmacist do in HIV care?

They help select and adjust antiretroviral therapy, manage drug–drug interactions, support adherence strategies, interpret resistance considerations, and coordinate medication plans alongside physicians, nurses, and other team members.

Why is telemedicine used for HIV specialty care in prisons?

Because access to subspecialists is often limited in correctional settings. Telemedicine can connect patients to specialty teams without requiring transport, and studies have associated multidisciplinary telemedicine HIV care in prisons with improved outcomes like viral suppression.

What is the ACCP HIV PRN?

It’s a professional practice and research network within the American College of Clinical Pharmacy focused on HIV care, scholarship, and collaboration among clinicians and researchers.

500+ words of experience-focused expansion

Experiences around a career like this: what the work feels like up close

Titles and credentials tell you what someone is. They don’t always tell you what it’s like to do the workespecially in HIV pharmacotherapy, where the science is sharp, the logistics are real, and the stakes are personal.

Experience #1: The quiet detective work of interactions. A surprisingly large chunk of HIV pharmacotherapy is calm, methodical detective work. You scan a med list and your brain starts running background checks: “This agent affects stomach pH… this one needs absorption… this one is boosted… this one is metabolized here… and this one is a walking drug–drug interaction in a trench coat.” The patient didn’t do anything “wrong.” The body is just complicated, and the medication ecosystem is basically a busy airport. The pharmacist’s job is air traffic controlkeeping everything moving safely, preventing collisions that the patient will never see (which is the goal).

Experience #2: Telemedicine that’s more than a video call. In correctional telemedicine HIV care, the visit is only the visible tip. The real work is the infrastructure behind it: ensuring labs are ordered and received, aligning medication access, anticipating transitions, and making sure the plan is realistic in that environment. You learn to be practical without becoming cynical. You also learn that small process improvementslike a reliable way to track labs or a consistent approach to medication reconciliationcan protect outcomes for a lot of people at once.

Experience #3: Long-acting therapy conversations that aren’t just about “convenience.” Long-acting antiretroviral therapy can be empowering for the right patient, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all upgrade. The clinician experience here involves careful selection and honest discussion: Can the patient reliably return for visits? What happens if a dose is missed? What are the backup plans? And how do we reduce stigma while making sure the medical plan is safe? You learn to love nuance. (And to keep a calendar that’s basically a clinical instrument.)

Experience #4: Teaching clinicians who are already smart and already busy. Continuing education faculty roles come with a particular challenge: your audience is capable, skeptical, and multitasking. The best sessions don’t just list guidelinesthey explain why recommendations changed, what common pitfalls look like in practice, and how to manage tricky real-life scenarios. A good educator also respects time: you don’t drown people in details; you hand them decisions they can actually use Monday morning.

Experience #5: Guideline work that is part science, part translation. Being involved with antiretroviral guideline work (or the ecosystem around it) is an exercise in translation. Clinical trials speak their own language. Real practice speaks another. Panel-style work lives in between: weighing evidence, considering edge cases, and writing recommendations that are both accurate and actionable. The “experience” is often less dramatic than people imaginelots of reading, lots of discussion, lots of precisionyet it shapes practice at scale. It’s the kind of impact that doesn’t show up in a single clinic note but can quietly improve care for thousands.

Put all that together and you get a picture of why a profile like Dr. Badowski’s draws attention: it represents a kind of clinical leadership that is equal parts patient-centered and system-aware. The humor, if there is any, comes from the truth that medications are powerful, patients are complex, and the best care happens when someone is brave enough to say, “Let’s make this plan actually work.”

Final thoughts

Melissa Badowski, PharmD, MPH, FCCP is frequently associated with high-impact HIV and infectious diseases pharmacotherapy work that blends clinical care, telemedicine innovation, professional leadership, guideline-facing service, and education. In a field where progress is fast and details matter, her profile reflects what modern clinical pharmacy looks like at its best: evidence-based, collaborative, and built for real life.