- Health Disparities in Underserved Populations
- Culturally-Sensitive Care
- Community Service-Learning
- Medication-Assisted Treatment in Substance Use Disorders
- Social Entrepreneurship
Melanie Dicks, PharmD, MBA, BCACP
Associate Professor
Dr. Melanie Dicks is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy (UKCOP) where she teaches with a focus on patient-centered care in ambulatory and community settings. She coordinates and teaches in the Community Service-Learning component of the Patient-Centered Care Experience course series. Dr. Dicks also teaches in the Wellness & Health Promotion course. Within the College, she serves on the Academic Performance Committee and advises the UK chapter of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association. As a Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist, Dr. Dicks serves at Bluegrass Community Health Center (BCHC) where she is part of an interdisciplinary health care team and approach to provide medication therapy management, collaborative drug therapy management, pharmacotherapy consultation, and other clinical pharmacy services to optimize therapy for patient populations, including those vulnerable and indigent. She also serves as a preceptor for the UKCOP/BCHC PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency Program.
Dr. Dicks is a 2000 graduate of Kentucky State University, a 2004 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, a 2022 graduate of the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business & Economics, and was residency-trained at The Ohio State University. Her practice and research interests include the provision of culturally-sensitive care, caring for indigent populations, medication-assisted treatment in substance use disorders, community service-learning, and social entrepreneurship. Dr. Dicks continues with a passion in serving the comprehensive educational needs of pharmacy trainees as well as underserved populations. She strives to advance cultural diversity efforts with hopes of closing health disparity gaps to improve patient outcomes in underserved populations.
Expertise
Positions
- College Faculty
- Ambulatory Care Pharmacist, Bluegrass Community Health Center
Education
- PGY1 Pharmacy Residency, The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy
- Doctor of Pharmacy, University Of Kentucky
- Bachelor of Science, Kentucky State University
We wish to remember and honor those who inhabited this Commonwealth before the arrival of the Europeans. Briefly occupying these lands were the Osage, Wyndott tribe, and Miami peoples. The Adena and Hopewell peoples, who are recognized by the naming of the time period in which they resided here, were here more permanently. Some of their mounds remain in the Lexington area, including at UK’s Adena Park.
In more recent years, the Cherokee occupied southeast Kentucky, the Yuchi southwest Kentucky, the Chickasaw extreme western Kentucky and the Shawnee central Kentucky including what is now the city of Lexington. The Shawnee left when colonization pushed through the Appalachian Mountains. Lower Shawnee Town ceremonial grounds are still visible in Greenup County.
We honor the first inhabitants who were here, respect their culture, and acknowledge the presence of their descendants who are here today in all walks of life including fellow pharmacists and healthcare professionals.