Student Success on Display during Year-End Ceremonies

May 6, 2019

Two events this spring showcased the academic and co-curricular achievements of students at the Wegmans School of Pharmacy.

Students thank the Wegmans School of Pharmacy community for their support.

In late April, 26 members of the Wegmans School of Pharmacy were inducted into the Phi Lambda Sigma Epsilon Delta and Delta Zeta Chapter of Rho Chi honor societies.

The following students were inducted into Phi Lambda Sigma Epsilon Delta: Ashley Blanchard, Emily Gadarowski, Maria Levchuk, Alixandra Mann, Juliette Miller, Albania Mitchell, Brittni Thomas, and Shanaya Bulmer.

Rho Chi Honor Society inductees included: James Cutaia, Devin Donnelly, Courtney Dudla, Heather Eastman, Sydney Estock, Nicholas Faber, Alexander Forys, Jocelyn Furer, Allison Hitchcock, Jenna Houk, Paige Jaskula, Steven Luc, Gurminder Sanghera, Samantha Schermerhorn, Jessica Tousant, Elizabeth Uttaro, and Murray Wright. Dr. Mona Gandhi was also inducted into the honor society.

During the School’s annual awards ceremony on Wednesday, May 1, students and faculty were recognized for their dedication to the pharmacy field.

Sylvanus Chupp was selected as the 2019 Swigart Scholarship recipient, given in memory of Dr. Scott Swigart, founding dean of the School. The scholarship recognizes a student who is in good academic standing, demonstrates leadership abilities, and is involved in activities within the School, community, church, or civic organization, or works full- or part-time.

In 2018, the School created the Dr. Jack Brown Clinical Research Award, named in honor of pharmacy faculty member Dr. Jack Brown, who passed unexpectedly in fall 2017. The award, given to Kristen Poteat, recognizes third-year students who have a record of clinical research accomplishments.

The Thomas and Eileen Hogenkamp Scholarship was given to Alicia Vassallo. The scholarship is given to a full-time first-year student who has worked hard and shown effort in making the world a better place. Recipients are also selected based on a written essay that discusses their pharmacy career goals.

Mikaela Brown was the recipient of the Deborah A. Steimle Woodard Award, which honors a fourth-year student who reflects the values Woodard embodied throughout her pharmacy career.

Lauren Adamchick was named the recipient of the Burcroff Memorial Scholarship, which provides support to a first-year pharmacy student who shows great promise in pharmacy studies.

New this year was the creation of the First Generation Pharmacy Student Award, given to a first generation pharmacy student who displays promise in academics, leadership, and service. The inaugural recipient was William DePasquale.

Matthew Cheung, Juliette Miller, and Xiaodi Chen received awards given by CVS Pharmacy. They were recognized for their academic achievement, interest in community pharmacy practice, and time spent working as an intern or volunteer with an organization that supports underserved populations.

Joy Uzoma, Tinos Worksew, Albania Mitchell, and Vichka Khoy were recipients of scholarships promoting diversity and inclusion and multilingual scholarship from Walgreens.

Samantha Sherry was selected as the Pharmacy Society of Rochester (PSR) award recipient for her essay responding to the question, “What would convince myself and my peers to join PSR or similar pharmacy organizations?”

Samantha Mahar and Sarah Bisesi were recognized for their significant achievements at the local and national American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Clinical Skills Competition.

Muhamed Miljkovic was recognized as the winner of the local American Pharmacists Association Patient Counseling Competition. He then represented the School of Pharmacy at the National Patient Counseling Competition in Seattle, Washington.

Each year, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) hosts a clinical pharmacy challenge and at the ceremony, Matthew Cheung, Jeremy Rushby, and Jenna Stogsdill were recognized as winners of the local competition. After winning the School’s competition, they will compete nationally in written and online rounds covering many different clinical topics in September.

The 2019 winners of Fisher’s ACCP Clinical Research Challenge local competition were Morgan Marriott, Michelle Brown, and Michael Sellars.

The winners of the 2018-2019 Alvin F. and Ruth K. Thiem Foundation Scholarships were: Abigail Bornstein, Ina Buga, Shanaya Bulmer, Hailey Button, Xiaodi Chen, Lirika Emerllahu, Aleah Groman, Morgan Marriott, Juliette Miller, Albania Mitchell, Megan Newkirk, Ting Xu, Brittni Thomas, Jessica Tousant, and Joy Uzoma.

During the ceremony, the School also recognized exceptional faculty members and preceptors.

The Outstanding Advisors of the Year were Drs. Lipika Chablani, Alex DeLucenay, and Shawn Fellows.

The 2019 Teachers of the Year, selected by each class, were Dr. Anand Sridhar (P1 class); Dr. Mindy Lull (P2 class); Dr. Karl Williams (P3 class); and Dr. Shawn Fellows (P4).