F.O. Butler Award winner Hellwig brings real-world storytelling to teaching

Despite being the recipient of numerous awards over the years, including this year’s F.O. Butler Award for Excellence in Teaching, Tadd Hellwig, a professor of pharmacy practice in SDSU’s College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, didn’t always picture himself as an educator.

When he arrived at South Dakota State University in 2008, he imagined teaching would be ancillary to the clinical pharmacy practice he loved. Over time, however, the teaching half of his 50/50 academic appointment became the part that quietly reshaped his focus.

“I didn’t really have a huge interest in teaching before I started,” he admitted. “But that’s the part I’ve really grown to love.”

What he discovered was that the practice of teaching wasn’t separate from his clinical work; it was fueled by it. His days working as an internal medicine pharmacist at the hospital helped him stockpile stories of real patients, actual decisions and very real consequences. And it’s those stories, he said, that allow him to teach in a way that resonates.

Students, he’s learned during his 18-year teaching career, don’t just need to memorize drug classes. They need to hear how everything works in practice. They truly learn by hearing stories of what works — and what doesn’t.

“As a teacher, I think it's hugely important to incorporate stories,” he said. “As the pharmacist, you know how things should interact and how they are supposed to work, but to learn from what actually happens makes a real difference in understanding.”

In one example, Hellwig described how a pharmacist might think about recommending a medicine for high blood pressure.

“Say there are 12 different classes of medications for hypertension, and without having actual experience, students may think, ‘We’re never going to get to the class four, five or six medications.’ Then, the patient has chronic kidney disease. Now, three classes are entirely out of consideration. What do you do next?” he asked.

“Being able to share these actual clinical scenario stories helps you know.”

On most mornings, Hellwig begins his teaching day at Sanford USD Medical Center. “We’ll start with the list of patients we are supposed to see and research their medical needs. Then, the students and I will meet and talk through the options,” he said.

“That time for discussion is important," Hellwig said. “As a student pharmacist, it can be intimidating to speak up around physicians.” By preparing students before going on rounds, Hellwig is, in essence, empowering them as professionals and preparing them to contribute as equals to the medical care team.

Hellwig also empowers his students through stories of making mistakes — or just not knowing something. Humility, like storytelling, is a teaching strategy.

“I'm not going to know everything. There's no way to know everything,” he said. “But I can tell students how I would look at a situation through the perspective of being an internal medicine pharmacist. I can talk to them about the types of things I want to know to make a good decision.”

He believes students should see that mistakes are not failures but opportunities for making better choices in the future. And when his students struggle, he listens closely and shares stories of his experiences over the years, talking them through the situation until the pieces all fall into place.

That is the heart of his teaching: the belief that learning is not just about what you know, but about how willing you are to share it.