From left, UNM-LA student Cruz Estrada, UNM-LA Science Dept. Lecturer II Derek Martinez and UNM-LA student Brittini Suazo in biology class. UNM-LA has partnered with UNM in Albuquerque to offer an Early Assurance Program for pre-professional health students interested in pursuing a doctorate in pharmacy. Courtesy/UNM-LA
BY KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
University of New Mexico (UNM) College of Pharmacy Dean Donald Godwin recently reached out to University of New Mexico-Los Alamos (UNM-LA) Chancellor Mike Holtzclaw and Dean of Instruction Brent Pickett with a great idea.
He proposed a partnership between UNM and the local branch college. The partnership is for the Early Assurance Program (EAP) for pre-professional health students interested in pursuing a doctorate in UNM’s College of Pharmacy.
“Basically, what it does is once a student completes 30 credit hours … and if that 30 credit hours is 3.0 higher in GPA, and you’ve taken Math 1220, which is college algebra, then you’re eligible for admission to their Early Assurance Program,” Pickett said.
“…once a student is in the early assurance program then that student gets advising that is College of Pharmacy specific,” he added. “They get put in touch with possible mentors that the College of Pharmacy provides to students admitted in the EAP. This is also a way that the College of Pharmacy is trying to reach out to partners and make it so that they can better recruit students who have ties, real connections to rural communities so that once they complete their pharmacy degree, they will go back to their home communities, which are often healthcare deserts. The College of Pharmacy program is their pharmacy doctoral program so you’re going all the way through to getting a pharmacy doctorate.”
The partnership was finalized with a memorandum of understanding being signed on April 7.
Pickett said there are between 30-35 pre-professional health students enrolled at UNM-LA. To enroll in the EAP, he said they should talk to their advisor, which is Grace Willerton. There is no cap for the program.
Pickett explained students will start in the pre-professional health program at UNM-LA. Then either at the end of their freshmen year or as sophomores, they will apply to the EAP.
After another year at UNM-LA, students will move on to UNM to complete their undergraduate program and transition to the College of Pharmacy.
“I like this because it creates a very clear pathway for our pre-professional health students in particular, if they are interested in pharmacy,” Pickett said. “They’ll get special advising; they will get connected to professional resources and they have assurance of admittance to the pharmacy doctoral program.”
Not only can the EAP help usher them into the pharmacy doctoral program but it also increases students’ chances of getting a well-paid job that benefits their communities, he said.
Pickett said the salaries for pharmacy doctoral graduates are impressive; they can earn around $120,000 a year. Furthermore, there is a shortage of pharmacists in New Mexico, particularly in rural areas and it is expected to get worse due to an aging population.
“I think for a certain type of person it is a really ideal career,” he said. “If you want to work with people, be helpful, but you are interested in science, including the life sciences, I think it is just a great option.”
“Can you think of other fields where someone can graduate from high school, go potentially across the street, and have their first year and then go down to the central campus and five years later potentially walk into a job for a $120,000 a year,” Pickett added, “with a very good chance of being able to move back to their home community, help people who they grew up with, or neighbors, family, friends … really I think it is a great option for people who have that set of interests.”
Pickett added that Godwin felt UNM-LA would be the ideal partner in this program because “(UNM) has alumni in our service area, so he said, one option is connecting students in the EAP to local pharmacists as mentors. Plus, I think that in general they liked the idea of partnering with the university’s branch campuses …”
In turn, Pickett said UNM-LA felt this would be a valuable program to participate in because “I think it is a clear and viable pathway for a subset of our students and for me that is reason enough.”
He added even if only two or three students apply per year, this will have a big impact on those two-three students and, “that’s a win.”
UNM-LA Science Department Lecturer II Derek Martinez and UNM-LA student Violet Starr in a biology class. UNM-LA has partnered with UNM in Albuquerque to offer an Early Assurance Program for pre-professional health students interested in pursuing a doctorate in pharmacy. Courtesy/UNM-LA
UNM-LA student Cameron Conners in a biology class. UNM-LA has partnered with UNM in Albuquerque to offer an Early Assurance Program for pre-professional health students interested in pursuing a doctorate in pharmacy. Courtesy/UNM-LA