Dallon Barfield, PharmD candidate in the Class of 2026, was working in his family’s construction business while taking classes when a visiting emergency department pharmacist at Sonoma State University changed his trajectory. What had been a general interest in medicine became a clear career path that many pharmacy students never consider: the Indian Health Service (IHS).

His family supported his higher-education goals, making it possible for him to attend school while working full-time in solar installation during the pandemic. Once classes returned to being in-person, he continued as a seasonal worker and narrowed his focus toward completing pharmacy prerequisites instead of earning a bachelor's degree. He set his sights on grad school at UCSF and its world-class network, and also began exploring government-related career paths that could help expand his options for managing student loan debt.

UCSF connections come through

Barfield’s interest in public health deepened when UCSF School of Pharmacy Student Learning Director and PharmD Advisor Julie Reed, MSSW, PhD, introduced him to a pharmacist who had served in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS). The all-officer uniformed service, which Barfield is now in the process of joining, responds to public health emergencies and supports federal agencies.

But it was in a class taught by Pamela Schweitzer, PharmD ’87, that Barfield focused more directly on IHS, after learning that the agency offered pharmacy residencies. He was inspired by Schweitzer’s close connection to the communities she served and reached out to her personally for career advice.

“She was giving me a lot of guidance based on her decades of experience with IHS — not only about the personal and financial benefits of joining, but also about what it means to serve groups of people that really need health care in this country,” Barfield said. “And then I learned that she had been assistant surgeon general for the United States. It was an amazing contact that I just happened to meet through UCSF.”

Schweitzer recommended that Barfield complete an APPE rotation with IHS, but UCSF did not yet have a contract with the agency. Samantha Valle-Oseguera, PharmD, an associate professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy, worked to secure a federal contract on Barfield’s behalf. Barfield also reconnected with Schweitzer, who helped identify IHS sites accepting pharmacy students. He ultimately completed a rotation on the Navajo Nation in Chinle, Arizona, that confirmed his calling. 

In May 2026, Barfield’s growing commitment to public health earned him the United States Public Health Service Excellence in Public Health Pharmacy Award, which recognizes pharmacy students who make significant contributions to public health and advance national health priorities through pharmacy practice.

His time on the reservation shaped his understanding of culturally specific patient care. For example, critical monitoring could quickly become a logistical challenge when severe storms flooded unpaved roads and prevented patients on blood thinners from reaching the clinic. In other cases, long distances and a lack of formal addresses made community outreach more complex.

“Access isn’t just about whether someone wants treatment,” he said. “It’s about where they are on a map, and whether they can physically get to care.”

Building trust as clinical practice

Barfield recalls a class at UCSF where a professor asked, “What is a pharmacist’s most important responsibility?”

“The answer was to build trust, and that’s especially true in IHS.... Immersing yourself is what helps most,” said Barfield, recalling being invited by a patient in Chinle to a healing ceremony called a “Yeibichai.” “You can’t just tell people what they need to do. You have to understand their beliefs, too.”

Barfield is currently onboarding at a tribal consortium in Anchorage, Alaska, where he is gaining a deeper understanding of traditional practices that may not appear on a standard medication list. In Chinle, for example, he learned that Navajo tea, a common herbal remedy used in the community, can have important clinical implications.

“If you don’t ask the right questions, you could miss something huge and make a medication error,” he said. “Cultural awareness plays a critical role.”

Expanded scope of practice

Working in IHS settings has also expanded Barfield’s view of what pharmacists can do. In resource-limited environments, he said, roles are less rigid, and expectations are broader. He recalls being asked by a preceptor to make a “banana bag” (a bag of intravenous fluids mixed with vitamins and minerals) on his first day in Chinle.

“I’d never compounded something like that before, but he had me calculate the dose and then make it right there on the spot,” Barfield said. “These facilities are often understaffed, so you might take on three or four different roles.”

Barfield also participated in outreach efforts, including community-based immunization events at basketball games and STI screening programs that incentivize testing. “There’s a lot more room for creativity, but it’s also out of necessity. You’re constantly thinking outside the box to meet goals in the community.”

Barfield said he leans into wisdom offered by his grandfather, who managed the family business for 30 years as it shifted from concrete to solar. “You can find a way to have a bad day in any situation, but you can only control the things you can control,” he said. “That positive outlook carries on with me and my rotations, and into my choice of careers.”