From Nutrition Aide to Pharmacy Technician: Suhaila Awwad’s Career Journey
When Suhaila Awwad started her career at Northwestern Medicine in early 2020, she was only looking to get her foot in the door in healthcare. With the help of colleagues and some career exploration, she’s now a certified pharmacy technician at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital.
Awwad began working as a nutrition aide at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital, which was the perfect role for Awwad’s first-entry level job. To become a nutrition aide, the requirements are a high school diploma or equivalent, plus one year experience and an Illinois Department of Public Health Food Service Sanitation Certificate.
While working as a nutrition aide, Awwad began to understand more about roles and other careers in helping patients and made a connection with the hospital’s pharmacy manager. Awwad began asking questions about working in pharmacy, and she quickly learned that it may be the right fit for her.
Awwad discovered she would not need to return to school to become a pharmacy technician, but instead, she could apply for an Illinois Pharmacy Technician license. And in just four months after starting at Northwestern Medicine, Awwad received the required license and began her new role as a pharmacy technician.
Awwad was excited to start her new position and was trained in important skills like compounding medication, which pharmacy technicians use to tailor to the individual needs of each patient. To build her knowledge, she bought several books and asked her colleagues as many questions as she could to maximize her learning.
“Being a pharmacy technician was a whole different world for me,” Awwad says. “My first year I was a basic level one technician and began learning the ropes. I learned about different medications, what they do and how they help patients.”
Awwad also learned more about different positions within the pharmacy department. She began training with chemotherapy technicians and realized she was interested in compounding chemotherapy, which is the process of creating medication specifically for cancer treatment. This eventually became her primary role at Huntley Hospital.
“It really interested me and made me fall in love with being a pharmacy technician,” Awwad says.
While working, Awwad also prepared for her certification exam, which would allow her to expand her knowledge and duties as a pharmacy technician beyond her license. She began studying on her own, but also gained several important technical skills while working day-to-day. After two years and many hours of hard work, she obtained her certification.
“After studying so hard and getting that certification, I feel like I’m more part of the pharmacy world now,” Awwad says.
In 2023, Awwad transferred to Palos Hospital, where she works as a general pharmacy technician three days a week and helps compound chemotherapy two days a week. Awwad says she’s grateful to have held positions where she’s had both direct and indirect interactions with patients.
“The end goal of both roles is always to take care of the patient,” Awwad says. “As pharmacy technicians, we’re very much behind the scenes, but we do play a vital role in patient care.”
Next up, Awwad hopes to attend pharmacy school to become a registered pharmacist with the help of the Northwestern Medicine tuition assistance program.
Full-time employees can receive up to $10,000 and part-time employees can receive up to $5,700 in tuition support benefits. Northwestern Medicine also offers discounts for continuing education and training benefits, and a student loan repayment resource.
“With the benefits Northwestern Medicine offers, I do hope to become a registered pharmacist and continue helping patients,” Awwad says. “Northwestern Medicine is always investing in our professional growth, which allows us to expand our knowledge and develop new skills. To me, that’s very rewarding because it helps me strive to be better every day.”
Learn more about Northwestern Medicine healthcare professionals and technician jobs.