Five brothers all find their calling as Badger pharmacists

By Katie Gerhards

From the oldest to the youngest, the Konkol brothers—Justin, Paul, Derek, Bryan, and Jonathan—span 14 years. While other siblings with big age differences have disparate interests, the Konkol brothers are united around a shared, though unexpected, passion: pharmacy.

Naturally, Justin Konkol (PharmD ’06), the eldest, was the first to gravitate toward the field during his late high school years, at the suggestion of his mother.

“Because our mom was a nurse, health care was something that we were all already used to,” says Justin. “The two pharmacists my mom worked with at the hospital spoke highly of it, and it was a booming field, so when my mom recommended pharmacy to me, it made a lot of sense.”

He was already interested in both health care and science, and he fondly remembers walking past the pharmacy as a child, going to meet his mom at St. Michael’s Hospital in Stevens Point, Wis., near his hometown of Amherst Junction. “The pharmacists always made it a point to say hello to us when we went past,” he recalls.

These positive memories, combined with the promise of a thriving job market and the opportunity to help people, were enough to convince Justin to jump into pharmacy. Little did he know that he was blazing a trail at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy that all of his brothers would choose to follow.

Following the family line

Because many pharmacists have traditionally been businesspeople and entrepreneurs, it’s not uncommon to find the career passed down generation to generation. But in the case of the Konkols, it was a spark in one sibling that caught on like wildfire.

After Justin had begun taking his pre-pharmacy courses at UW–Madison, his brother Paul was close on his heels.

“I knew I wanted to be in the medical field, and the patient-provider relationship was always intriguing to me,” says Paul Konkol (PharmD ’06). “And I think I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I had heard about Justin’s interests as well.”

“Family has always been very important to us, and going to the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy always felt more like a family than a school.” –Jonathan Konkol

Paul fast-tracked his pre-pharmacy courses at UW–Madison, while Justin says he took the “scenic route.” Both were accepted into the School of Pharmacy in the same year, despite Justin being two years older than Paul.

“During pharmacy school, we had a great relationship, but we’re very different,” says Justin, who participated in many professional societies and preferred social studying. Paul, on the other hand, preferred to pop in some earbuds and bust out some homework by himself.

Derek Konkol (PharmD ’10), the third brother in line, appreciated what his older brothers had chosen to study, but he was set on finding his own way. “I just wasn’t going to do what my brothers were doing, so I went into civil engineering at UW–Madison,” he says. “But when I got to my second summer as an engineering intern, it hit me that this really wasn’t what I wanted to be doing.”

So, he got a job at the same pharmacy where Justin and Paul had worked during their time in pharmacy school—East Side Copps, in Stevens Point, Wis., which would eventually employ all five of the Konkol brothers. Derek was immediately enraptured by the patient interaction. After perusing the curriculum course list, it was a done deal. He, too, would apply to the School of Pharmacy.

“When I started at the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy, the professors were like, ‘Oh, another one of you,’” he says. “They were both successful and worked hard, and I had to live up to that standard.”

Coming from a small high school in Amherst Junction, this was a feeling and experience that Derek was already well-acquainted with. “In a family of six kids, it was the norm.”

Bryan Konkol (PharmD ’14), on the other hand, knew early on that he wanted a career in pharmacy, thanks to his older brothers’ influence. “I’ve always looked up to my brothers,” he says. “While they were in college, I was in the seventh grade, and I remember I had to write a paper about what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I wrote about becoming a pharmacist.”

For the youngest brother, Jonathan Konkol, who is currently a third-year PharmD student at the School of Pharmacy, his future was similarly set from an early age. And like his brothers, he knew he wanted to study pharmacy at UW–Madison.

“My most eye-opening experience was during a pre-pharmacy course as an undergraduate,” Jonathan recounts. “I’ll never forget when Professor Beth Martin asked if anyone was from the Central Wisconsin area, and I raised my hand. She picked me out of probably 100 students, and she was like, ‘Are you a Konkol?’” According to Professor Martin, he just had those “Konkol eyes.”

“Family has always been very important to us, and going to the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy always felt more like a family than a school,” says Jonathan.

Finding distinction in a shared path

All of the Konkol brothers might have chosen pharmacy, and chosen to pursue it at the same world-renowned institution, but they each also followed their own interests and explored different areas of pharmacy through Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs), residencies, and jobs.

“Pharmacy school is your opportunity to see the profession from a lot of different sides, so why not take advantage of it to guide you to what you want to do long-term,” says Justin. “There are a lot of pathways within the School of Pharmacy’s curriculum, and the changes the School continues to make really sets students up well for a career in many different practice areas.”

For example, Justin chose to do a residency in hospital pharmacy after graduation, and is now a pharmacy manager at Froedert Hospital in Wauwatosa, Wis., while Bryan leapt into community pharmacy through the Roundy’s grocery chain in Rothschild, Wis., where he became a pharmacy manager within months of graduation.

Derek also took the community pharmacy route with Roundy’s, this time in Wisconsin Rapids, and differentiated his expertise through specialized clerkship APPEs.

“I knew I wanted to end up in community pharmacy, so when I did my fourth-year APPE rotations, I chose areas that I didn’t think I’d get to experience, such as the ICU, ER, and transplant unit,” says Derek. “Now I have two or three different transplant patients here, so those things that I did differently have helped me better understand my patients.”

Like Justin, Paul also went into hospital pharmacy, and his role recently evolved into piloting a neuro/pain management program at SSM Health in Madison to increase provider support and patient care within a clinic setting. This type of opportunity is something he cherishes about the profession. “You can really make a difference in the ever-changing field of pharmacy,” he says. “No day is the same.”

Jonathan is also feeling the pull toward community pharmacy—despite Justin’s efforts to lure him into the inpatient realm—drawn in by the close provider-patient interactions and the chance to make a difference in patients’ lives and health. But, as he still has a year of clerkships ahead of him, only time will tell.

Family ties beyond pharmacy

The Konkol brothers are noteworthy for their shared interest in pharmacy, but that’s just the tip of the health care iceberg for this family. They have a sister, JoAnn, who chose to forgo pharmacy in favor of nursing, following in her mother’s footsteps. And Paul and Derek’s wives are also both in nursing.

“About 80 percent of our family works in health care,” says Justin. “So the few remaining uncles and my dad probably get pretty bored listening to us when we get together for holidays and vacations.”

Often, the family ends up in some sort of discussion about the relationship between pharmacists and nurses in hospitals, with some light razzing for good measure. If Justin complains that the nurses want them to work too fast, his mom turns it around that pharmacists are just too slow.

“You can really make a difference in the ever-changing field of pharmacy. No day is the same.” –Paul Konkol

“Everybody has their input and their idea, and it’s actually really nice because we get different perspectives in terms of both inpatient and outpatient care, from nursing and pharmacy,” says Derek. “We kind of get to see the whole workings, and it gives us a different perspective.”

Health care isn’t the only common thread in the Konkol siblings. The brothers also share a love of sports and music—each of them plays multiple instruments and dabbled in the family band, and each of them played football at some point. Derek, however, brought that particular passion with him to UW–Madison in a big way.

His second year as an undergraduate, Derek was a walk-on player for the Badgers, and continued to play until his second year of pharmacy school. Barry Alvarez, the widely admired former coach of the Badgers football team and current athletic director, even wrote him a letter of recommendation for his pharmacy school application.

“That was one of the best experiences of my life, but it took a lot of time and dedication,” he says, remembering waking up at 5 am to lift weights for two hours, then heading to class until 2 pm, before football practice from 2:30 pm until 8 pm—just enough time left over to study, sleep, and do it all over again.

“But there’s nothing like running out of the tunnel at Camp Randall on a Saturday morning, with thousands of people cheering you on,” Derek says.

That experience also helped him become a better pharmacist, he says, because it reinforced the crucial role of teamwork in success. Each person in the pharmacy—pharmacist, technician, cashier, and so on—has to work together to push for a great patient experience.

Leaving a Konkol legacy

Instead of feeling the weight of the family reputation as a burden, each of the brothers decided to take it as a comfort and a challenge to maintain the good Konkol name.

“As brothers, we give each other a hard time, but if it weren’t for them, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today, and I know they’ll be there for me the rest of my life,” says Jonathan.  “All of this goes back to what our parents instilled in us, to be the best that we can be, and all of my siblings live by that.”

They took on pharmacy school as individuals, but the Konkol brothers have always been willing to help each other out, whether it’s making recommendations on a class schedule, giving advice before admissions interviews, or even reviewing a pharmacy school application at midnight the day before it’s due (your brothers are looking at you, Derek).

“I hope that when people hear of the Konkols, they know us as passionate practitioners who are willing to go the extra mile.” –Jonathan Konkol

Scattered around the Central Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Madison areas, the Konkol brothers are making an enduring impact on the health of Wisconsinites.

Although the School of Pharmacy is probably 12 or so years away from potentially welcoming its next Konkol—rumors are already abuzz for Justin’s eldest, just 8 years old—there is already a legacy in the works.

“As a pharmacist, you’re not just a drug dispenser. You’re a therapist, sometimes a psychologist, and a resource to help patients get the information they need to improve their health,” says Jonathan. “I hope that when people hear of the Konkols, they know us as passionate practitioners who are willing to go the extra mile.”

Read about other School of Pharmacy alumni Eric and Jenna Gresens (BS ’98) and their innovative pharmacy practice.