Pharmacist in “The Happiest Place on Earth”

Haley Lang ’19 loved Peter Pan when she was growing up. Now he’s one of her patients. 

So is Tinkerbell. And Winnie the Pooh, Snow White, Gaston, Rapunzel, and all the other cast members who populate the enchanting House of Mouse. Lang is a pharmacist at the Disney Center for Living Well at Epcot Center in Orlando, right in the heart of Disney World. 

The center is a cast-members-only site for the tens of thousands of workers who make the magic happen. Lang and her colleagues offer counseling, health care programs, and interprofessional consultation along with medications and over-the-counter products. 

“My first P4 rotation was here and I knew by the end of it that this was where I belonged,” said Lang, who now works alongside that rotation’s preceptor, Melvin Nguyen. “The other day, Melvin pulled out the thank-you card I wrote after the rotation and it said ‘I will work here.’ ”

It’s a dream job for someone who grew up loving Disney. Her family used to take trips to Disney World every few years, they had all the VHS tapes, and she was at Disney On Ice while her brother was born. As an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, she entered the Disney College Program and worked at DinoLand USA in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, where she donned bright green fossil pants to sell merchandise. 

She started pharmacy school at University of Tennessee-Memphis before transferring to MUSC prior to her second year, in part because of the Disney rotation offered through MUSC. It didn’t hurt that boyfriend Nick Bender ’20, now a pharmacist at Publix in Orlando, was in Charleston.  

Her first job was with Walgreen’s, which is an unbranded partner with the Disney Center for Living Well (DCLW). When a position at the center opened up this past January, she leapt at the chance. The DCLW is unusual in that: 

• there are always two or three pharmacists working together and she has plenty of time for counseling patients
• all its patients are on the same insurance, simplifying reimbursements
• it’s connected to a medical practice with physicians right down the hall for consultation
• its patients are occasionally mermaids or Wookies or sentient toys

While cast members don’t actually show up in costume, their unusual occupations do make for interesting counseling. For instance, antibiotics can increase photosensitivity and she knows many of them work outside all day. Or she may need to evaluate timing and dosage for someone operating a ride to ensure alertness. Fortunately, Disney training helps create fast relationships. 

“Cast members are known worldwide for their kindness, and it doesn’t stop when they leave Disney,” she said. “I have the nicest patients. They learn your name right away because it is ingrained in them from working for Disney, so it helps form actual relationships.”

For students interested in following in her footsteps, Lang recommends the same kind of relationship-building.

“When I did my rotation, they said that openings were rare because everyone wants to work here,” she said. “But they said to stay in touch. So you should try to get the Disney rotation and get your foot in the door and then maybe try to get a job with Walgreens so you can transition into the site. Besides, Walgreens is a great company, too!

“And if all else fails, ‘Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust.’ ”