At 16, Steve Chen had already finished high school and wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next. That's when his neighbor, a pharmacist, convinced him that pharmacy was a great career because, Chen recalls, "he said I could make it anything I wanted."

Chen went even farther: these days the associate professor of clinical pharmacy at the USC School of Pharmacy works toward making the entire profession a more equal partner in the health-care field.

When he was interning in a hospital pharmacy, Chen realized many of the patients were there simply because "their medications were so badly managed." Who better, he thought, than a pharmacist with training in all medications to help them adjust their regimen and get back on track?

Chen pioneered programs like the award-winning one he runs in the safety-net clinics in Los Angeles, where the pharmacist is the primary contact for patients with chronic illness. Under protocols, the pharmacist orders lab tests and prescribes the medications. The result: patients with diabetes, hypertension, asthma and other conditions have much better control and more frequent contact with a health-care provider.

Healthier patients produce health-care savings, keeping them out of hospitals and emergency rooms. Chen's work has delivered this in spades at the clinics.

Convincing insurers and licensing organizations that pharmacists are equal partners is still an uphill battle, Chen acknowledges. "It all comes down to changing the culture, changing how other healthcare professionals view pharmacy, showing that our work in the clinics is having an effect on patient outcomes." But then, that’s just part of making pharmacy what he wants it to be.