Jim and David Mangan are two years apart in age, work about two hours from each other, and lead pharmacy operations at two different health systems in Massachusetts.
The brothers grew up in Troy, N.Y., and were raised by parents who worked in healthcare as certified registered nurse anesthetists, according to an article from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Jim Mangan, the elder of the pair, is the director of hospital pharmacy at Cape Cod (Mass.) Healthcare, and David Mangan, PharmD, is the chief pharmacy officer at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Health in Worcester.
Growing up, Jim and David excelled in math and science but did not always know they wanted to be pharmacists, according to the ASHP article. Jim was thinking about going into law until a neighbor, who was a district attorney, recommended he explore pharmacy. David was undecided before eventually joining Jim at the University of Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.
Now, as two health system pharmacy executives, they call each other at least twice a week to trade updates on home improvement projects and work.
"It's more of a sounding board than guidance," David said. "He knows what he's doing, I know what I'm doing. You usually don't get new things you've never ever seen before that you can't work through."