A WISE INVESTMENT
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I work for the United Nations World Food Programme—the largest humanitarian agency in the world, and I owe this position in large part to the Auburn Graduate School. Grad School offered something that schools usually don’t put in recruiting brochures—a one-onone mentorship experience, and opportunities to get work experience got me closer to reaching my career goals.
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Angela M. Montoya BA, Marketing MS, Human Development and Family Studies Hometown: Cali, Colombia Private Partnerships Division United Nations World Food Programme
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Pharmacy Care Systems is an interdisciplinary department within the Harrison School of Pharmacy. There are a total of nine students currently in the department and about half of the students already hold a master’s degree. These students come from diverse backgrounds, as some students have an undergraduate degree in pharmacy while others, such as Michelle, do not. Pharmacy Care Systems offers master’s and doctoral degrees; having a pharmacy degree is not a requirement for admission to the program. Both graduate-level programs prepare students to work for organizations such as the CDC, pharmaceutical companies that require research, or academia. The professors in the department work closely with each student to develop an individualized study plan that fits the goals and desires of the individual. Breland has finished her first year in the PhD program and has begun her dissertation research. Her focus is on patients’ healthrelated outcomes and the pharmacist’s role in patient counseling through the provision of medication therapy management (MTM) services. Along with one of her co-chairs, Dr. Jan Kavookjian, and pharmacy professors from three other schools of pharmacy, Breland developed a survey that was distributed to first-year professional pharmacy students. The survey examines the students’ perceptions on patient counseling practices and whether they consider providing these services to patients as important and relevant to their future role as a pharmacist. The survey also asks student pharmacists to report how often they currently provide counseling services to patients at their practice sites and how often they see pharmacists at their practice sites providing patient counseling services. The survey will be re-administered to the student pharmacists when they are in their third year of pharmacy school to examine whether their perceptions have changed. Eventually, Breland would like to develop a manuscript of her research for publication. The findings of her research may have important implications for changes and/ or enhancements to pharmacy school curriculum and training to place greater emphasis on this important role of pharmacists. With the data collected from the survey, Breland developed an abstract to the AACP, an academic pharmacy professional organization called the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. AACP is the premier professional organization for individuals