5 Lessons from 2026 RPS Award Recipient Kim Redic

Each year, the Research Pharmacy Summit (RPS) presents the RPS Award for Excellence and Innovation to recognize an individual whose contributions have made a meaningful impact on IDS practice and the research pharmacy community. Reflecting this year’s Thrive theme, the award celebrates leadership, innovation, collaboration, and a commitment to advancing best practices that strengthen and elevate the profession of research pharmacy.

At the 2026 Research Pharmacy Summit, McCreadie Group was proud to honor Kim Redic, Assistant Director of Research and Allergy Pharmacy Services at Michigan Medicine, as this year’s award recipient.

For nearly two decades, Kim has helped advance research pharmacy through innovation, collaboration, mentorship, residency training, and contributions to national initiatives and best practice efforts.

Just as importantly, her colleagues describe her as a trusted mentor and thoughtful leader who invests in the growth and development of those around her.

At the award presentation, Kim reflected on the experiences, ideas, and relationships that have shaped her career. Below are five lessons from her perspective on advancing research pharmacy and how to support the people behind it.

1. Invest in the Next Generation of Research Pharmacy Professionals

Developing research pharmacy professionals has been an important part of Kim’s work. Her site was an early adopter of specialized residency training, developing the 2^nd PGY2 Investigational Drugs and Research program, serving as Residency Program Director for the first eight years of the program.

As Kim explains:

“I’m proud of the ways our practice has advanced through our specialized PGY2 Residency programs. These programs have allowed us to train graduates to hit the ground running in multiple careers and settings. Because residents are afforded a deep and broad lens on practice, they are invaluable members of the teams they join post residency.”

Kim has seen that work grow beyond her own site, with more than 15 programs now in place nationally. She has also served as a guest surveyor for Investigational Drugs and Research Pharmacy residency programs, giving her the opportunity to learn from other sites.

“It has been a privilege to be part of advancing practice both locally and nationally through residency training.”

2. Make Sure the Right People Have a Seat at the Table

For Kim, effective collaboration starts with representation. When we asked her how teams and institutions can work together to strengthen research pharmacy overall, she replied:

“By making sure all the right people have a seat at the table.”

At the local level, Kim’s team has worked to build representation and a voice throughout the research enterprise so its needs can be understood and considered in decision-making.

Nationally, she points to the importance of pharmacy professional organizations as well as collaboration across professions, industry, and regulatory partners.

“At the national level, it’s important to be recognized and supported within pharmacy professional organizations while also looking for ways to reach across professions in settings like NCCN and the Society of Research Clinicians. We need to continue building collaborations with industry and regulatory partners as well. These are the alliances that will ensure we can be successful in arenas like decentralized trials and optimized use of technology, including AI, for inventory management.”

3. New Perspectives Can Create New Solutions

Bringing different experiences and new expertise into a team can encourage innovation. For example, Kim’s IDS team added a non-pharmacist, non-technician Portfolio Coordinator, drawing from the study coordinator ranks to fill the role.

“This person is responsible for interfacing early with teams as part of the intake and activation process, and she has been invaluable in forging relationships with study teams, improving appropriate budgeting for our services, and serving as a resource to our team for non-pharmacy aspects of conducting trials.”

For Kim’s team, the role has brought new perspectives, expertise, ideas, and support for work that would otherwise fall to pharmacists.

“It has been so successful that we need to consider adding another to the team.”

4. Keep Building on the Work That Came Before

Research pharmacy continues to evolve, and the tools and approaches that support the field must evolve as well. Kim’s work on the Vizient Complexity Scoring Tool offers one example.

Almost a decade ago, the Vizient Complexity Scoring Tool was conceived locally with the University of Michigan team before being brought to the Vizient IDS Subcommittee for engagement and multi-site collaboration. Published in 2023, the tool provides a framework for thinking about levels of complexity in research pharmacy work.

This project was multi-site, with pharmacists across the country contributing, and it was a layered-learning opportunity.

But Kim doesn’t view the initial work on this tool as the endpoint.

“We knew at the time that this was a baby step forward, and we also knew that the complexity of our work is a dynamic thing. At the time we developed the tool, we weren’t thinking about gene therapy, decentralized clinical trials, or using AI to develop our internal documents, for example.”

As research pharmacy continues to evolve, Kim sees an opportunity for the next generation to continue that work:

“The next step is to iterate on the initial complexity scoring tool. I am challenging the next generation to think about how to test and improve it now that it has been out in the field for a few years.”

5. Go Beyond Mentorship by Advocating for Others

Mentorship has played an important role throughout Kim’s career, and she draws an important distinction between offering guidance and actively creating opportunities for someone else.

“We talk a lot about mentors, who are important for learning, professional development, career decisions, and growth. But equally important is having an advocate: an action-oriented colleague who works on your behalf to develop your skills and experiences and actively seeks opportunities for you.”

For Kim, advocacy is both a responsibility and a privilege, and supporting someone’s growth sometimes means helping them pursue an opportunity beyond her own team.

“In my experience, being an advocate is not always about offering a hand-up to something on my own team. It may instead be about becoming the wind in the sails away from my team to the next opportunity. A dear mentor once told me that when someone leaves a team, they create an opening for someone waiting to step up, and that is where advocacy can really work its magic.”

Ultimately, Kim sees those relationships as integral to moving research pharmacy forward:

“At the end of the day, mentors and advocates are the foundation for so much of what we care about most, including innovation and collaboration. We do not do this important and challenging work alone.”

Looking Ahead

When asked what excites her most about the future of research pharmacy, Kim pointed to a broader view of the practice, one that encompasses science, quality, technology, teams, and patients:

“Moving beyond just the product and moving out of the virtual (or actual) basement to focus on the science more, to focus on defining quality in this practice space, to focus on the technology more. And ultimately to focus on the people: our teams and patients, the ones on the trials, and the ones who will benefit from what we learn from those on the trials.”

Kim’s contributions reflect the collaboration, innovation, knowledge sharing, and professional growth celebrated by the RPS Award for Excellence and Innovation. McCreadie Group congratulates Kim on this recognition and thanks her for her leadership, mentorship, and contributions to advancing research pharmacy.

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