by Seth Humble, PCCA's Digital Content Specialist

Since the beginning of time, human beings have asked important questions — questions that seek to provide a balm of existential comfort to the worldly fears looming over the human condition. Philosophers from Plato to Borgmann, Stoic to Postmodern, have probed the depths of the human mind, investigated the mystery of the human soul. Under the intellectual care of their collective wisdom, we are confronted by the one, truly impossible question.

It is the question that can potentially divide parent and child, split the closest of friends.

It is the question ever lingering on the lips of every human heart. 

“Who is the greatest lead singing front man of all time?” 

Nat Jones, RPh, FIACP, of PCCA Clinical Services, hears my question, and immediately, his eyes roll upward as he falls back in his chair. A smile splits his lips. “Oh, man.”

He reaches up and slides his fingers over his white goatee, giving the end a little tug; it’s a gesture that I quickly recognize to be his absent-minded tick of consideration. 

Nat Jones, like any great band’s lead singer, is a specialist. Nat works as PCCA’s liaison to the United Kingdom. Make no mistake though, Nat isn’t a one trick pony. Published author, former pharmacy owner of twenty years, medical formula inventor, respected speaker and consultant in the compounding industry, Nat Jones is a polymath, a modern Renaissance man. 

“I specialize in the areas of hormone replacement therapy, pain management, ENT and dermatology,” he tells me. “I typically focus in those areas. It makes me happy to help with difficult HRT questions; I’ve spent much my career in that area.” Not only a seasoned Clinical Services consultant, Nat is also PCCA’s official liaison to bespoke medication (the U.K.’s terminology for pharmacy compounding) compounders in the U.K. Nat spends a significant portion of his time lecturing across the pond, educating people on the power of personalized medicine. 

“There aren’t a large number of compounding pharmacies in the U.K., but our facility still needs a clinical consultant. It’s important for us to represent and advocate for personalized medication there. Important for us to lead the way, like we did here in the United States.

I ask him, “What does your role look like when you are there?”

“I’m giving lectures all the time, so I’m constantly building power point presentations,” he says, a rue smile on his face. “For me, it’s about being prepared and practice, practice, practice. I spend hours focusing on exactly what I’m going to say when talking about bespoke medication, to make sure that when I say it, it has the largest amount of impact.” Nat is comfortable at center stage. When the lights come on, he shines bright as they do. The PCCA employee chalks this skill up to having been in a rock band since he was 12 years old. 

Music is an enormous influence on Nat’s life — everything from country to rock to pop. Nat talks about bands the way other people talk about relatives: He knows them by name, tells me about their accolades, what makes them special. 

“Okay,” I start in on him, “What was your favorite band growing up?” 

Again, his head rolls back. “Oh, of course it was the Beatles. Geez Louise.” 

“And which Beatle were you?” 

“None of them,” he says, then grants himself the latitude to reconsider. “Well, maybe Paul. But, he’s a leftie,” referring to Paul McCartney’s left-handed guitar playing.

Nat is clear about two things: One, he loves helping people through customized medicine from both the lectern and the phone. Two, he’s a right-handed guitar player who is looking to give his audience what he calls, “a fat sound.” 

“Fat sound?” I ask.

“It’s got a fullness to it. All the singular instruments playing are individually heard, but never overpower the harmony. I cover mostly pop and country stuff. Everybody likes pop. People like to sing along with pop. It makes them feel upbeat, connected. Giving people that feeling is extremely rewarding.  When I play for people, I play music that will hold the audience. At least one Johnny Cash song, Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places,” people love that. But I try to keep it current with songs by John Mayer and Ed Sheeran. Ed’s got a really great sound.” 

Like many people who are confronted with a tough question, Nat has spent this entire time evading my original question. I fire it back over to him. “So, that in mind,” I say, “who is the greatest front man of all time?” 

A little hum of dissatisfaction escapes his lips, but Nat acquiesces: “Well, it’s got to be Mick Jagger.” 

I counter, telling him that I think Freddie Mercury is the, unquestionably the, greatest front man of all time. 

Nat, a man with a much more seasoned ear for music than I have, lets my opinion roll right over him. He lets out a chuckle, nice enough not to say that it’s at my expense. “Freddie was good too, yeah.” 

“Here’s the thing about front men,” Nat leans in, as if we’re about to share a secret. “It’s all practice. I’ve played in front of hundreds, heck, a thousand people from the time I was a kid. Fifty-one years, I’ve been in front of a crowd, either playing or speaking in front of pharmacists at conventions. It’s all practice. It’s like any band — in order to give people the show you want to give them, you have to practice. Practice where the beats fall, where the pauses are. I sit down by myself in a room, get out my slides, and give my lecture to an empty room. I’m rehearsing, always asking myself, “How can I help these people understand compounded medication, but also entertain them. The joke here, a funny slide there. That’s how people remember it. And those things only work because you’ve practiced them.”

I realize in that moment that this is the secret to Nat Jones’s charm: It isn’t his vast knowledge of the intricate systems of the U.K.’s compounding rules and regulations, nor is it his decades-spanning experience with helping treat patients when they feared there was no solutions to their problems. 
Nat Jones is a rock star talent with a journeyman’s work ethic, a man who did not allow the early fruits of an innate gift to whither on the vine of half-ripened satisfaction. He cultivated his talent, made it grow. 

This is Nat Jones. 

A dedicated PCCA Clinical Services team member. He travels across the Atlantic half-a-dozen times a year just to try and spread the word about all the good things pharmacy compounding can do in people’s lives. For over fifty years, he’s been practicing and performing, smiling and singing. He’s a compounding expert with a medical mind as keen as a C-sharp. He is the living embodiment of Beethoven’s heartfelt sentiment about practice: 

“Do not only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.” 

It is no secret that PCCA is proud to name him among our Clinical Services team.