Ethan Knox

Sarah Spinler’s Rho Chi Lecture highlights the power of connection

By Ethan Knox ’20 on JULY 07, 2026 @BingUNews

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Professor Sarah Spinler is the 2026 recipient of the Rho Chi Lecture Award, which was awarded earlier this year.

Spinler’s lecture, titled “Get Out and Mingle,” began with a fact that may seem obvious but that many forget.

“We want satisfaction in our career, but there is much burnout within our profession,” she said. “About 50% of pharmacists will experience burnout. It has to do with our increased workload and an imbalance between our career goals, our personal goals, and our family goals. And what we strive for is well-being and happiness with our choice of career and the balance that we have.”

Addressing the benefits of mingling, Spinler shared some advice about how you can get started and gave examples of where she thought it helped her in her personal and professional life.

“Mingling in a sense is socializing,” she said. “It’s both personal networking and professional networking to help you build balance and community. And that community will help support you as you go through your ups and downs of your personal and your professional life.”

Rho Chi is the academic honor society of the pharmacy profession. It seeks to advance pharmacy through sustained intellectual leadership. The Lecture Award, as one of the society’s highest distinctions, seeks to encourage and recognize outstanding achievement by distinguished scholars who have made significant contributions to the health professions.

Nominees may be selected from any area of arts, letters, or sciences (education, research, industry, or government), or from any other field, if the accomplishments or achievements have significantly contributed to the advancement of the health professions. The committee was impressed with Spinler’s substantive contributions, not only to the profession of pharmacy as an educator and scholar, but also for her work as a clinician.

In the lecture, Spinler thanked Director of the TRUST Program and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice Rachel Lucas and the students at the Binghamton University Rho Chi chapter, who nominated her for the award.

“We get a shared experience from the individuals we mingle with, which helps build the meaning to our own life,” she added. “It encourages us to learn about different perspectives, and it allows for intellectual growth. More importantly, it builds both empathy for others, getting us out of our own mental silos, and it helps build community and connection. That community and connection is what’s going to keep longevity and personal and professional satisfaction in our lives. It helps reduce loneliness, isolation, and improves mental well-being.”

She added that there are also scientific benefits to mingling — it decreases blood pressure, improves survival, lowers BMI, and can be as influential as diet, being a nonsmoker, and having adequate sleep. It also helps build immunity through social interactions, which release oxytocin and endorphins. And as we age, it also may help prevent mental and cognitive decline.

Spinler concluded her talk by recommending a “5-3-1 rule” — interact with three to five different people every day; each month, have three meaningful, deeper interactions; and each day, talk a little bit with all kinds of people for a total of about one hour. She advocates that being a good listener who is authentic and generous with their time can increase happiness as a person and a professional and increase longevity in the pharmacy profession.

“Use your network, such as your faculty members, to help connect you and meet people that may have similar interests to you,” she said. “And that could help sustain your career and grow your interests.”

Presented during Rho Chi’s annual national convention, the award includes an inscribed plaque recognizing the achievement and a $1,000 award.

Spinler’s lecture can be watched here.