This year, Mercer student pharmacists and student organizations provided over 13,000 hours of service to patients throughout the communities they serve.
Student members of ASHP-ASP were active over the past academic year. P2 students Dominique Taylor and Joanna He traveled to Romania and Taiwan, respectively, to represent the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF). Members Thao Nguyen, Jimmy Godwin, Janhavi Punyarthi and Jason Gaines attended the Summer Leadership Institute. In February, the chapter’s Generation RX chair, Chelsey Wamsley, was recognized in the Regional 3 Member Spotlight for her service to the chapter, and the chapter’s Finance VP, Dominique Taylor, was elected Student Exchange Officer-elect for the IPSF student exchange program. Lastly, in March, P3 student, Courtney Knight Jennings represented the chapter at the annual Patient Counseling Competition in Nashville, Tennessee.
Members of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) attended the national convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the chapter took second place in the National Scrapbook Competition. Three students received scholarships. P4 Jeremy Bennett received the NPhA Foundation, The Kroger Company and the Walgreens Student Pharmacist Excellence scholarships. P3 Soumya Vishwanath received the Dr. Denise Norman Book Award, and, P2 Jacarmen James received the Dr. Carleton Maxwell Book Award. Fourth-year students Kayla Harris and Meron Mezgebe received second place recognition in the NPhA Foundation Poster Competition. Additionally, chapter members Kayla Harris (recording secretary) and Meron Mezgebe (Region 5 facilitator) were elected to national office. In November, the chapter’s Remember the Ribbon Committee received national recognition for its new initiative to partner with AID Atlanta to get students certified in HIV testing.
Kappa Psi brothers attended the biennial international Grand Council Convention in Naples, Florida in August 2017. While at the Grand Council Convention, P4 brother Jeremy Bennett received the Kappa Psi Foundation Scholarship. P4 brother Joshua Leggette was featured as a Recruitment Bootcamp panelist. The Gamma Psi Chapter also was named the No. 1 chapter for a second year in a row for accumulating the highest number of chapter points for service, fellowship, fundraising and philanthropy.
Not only were the brothers of Kappa Psi busy, but Kappa Epsilon sisters were too. Five sisters attended the National KE Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. The chapter received an honorable mention award for its philanthropic works.
Center for Clinical Outcomes Research and Education (CCORE) sponsored summer internships
The following students were selected for CCORE-sponsored summer internships offered exclusively to Mercer University College of Pharmacy students through partnerships with various organizations in the Atlanta area.
- UCB, Inc. – Alex Kilgore
- The Medical Affairs Company – Stacy Ndubuizu
- InPharmD – Tamerra Jones
- North Georgia Rheumatology – Faiza Ahmed and Sterling Serfoss
- CCORE on-campus research – Tuong-Vi Huynh
Post-Graduate Residency and Fellowship
According to the most recent published national data, the graduating class match rate to PGY1 residencies was 14% for all colleges and schools of pharmacy. For Mercer’s PharmD Class of 2018, 35 students applied for an ASHP-accredited PGY1 residency and 22 students (62.9%) matched. Four alumni were designated as an early commit to a PGY2 residency program while another eight alumni went through the match process. Of those eight alumni, seven (87.5%) matched with a PGY2 program.
In addition to clinical post-graduate training within a health system, students may pursue post-graduate training with national associations, pharmaceutical industry and managed care providers. These post-graduate training opportunities provide novel experiences for those with a PharmD degree. Three members of Mercer’s PharmD Class of 2018 are completing a fellowship in these areas.
In all, 65.8% of our students who sought post-graduate training will be pursuing additional education either in the form of a residency of fellowship.
