a pharmacist preparing medications for patients

Through Concordia University's School of Pharmacy, you can become a skilled pharmacist that is able to serve anyone, anywhere.


Applying pharmacist skills and patient care to prison populations

Concordia alumni Makayla Hopp, PharmD has found her niche in pharmacy. She now uses her skills to serve an uncommon patient population. Currently, she is the Assistant Pharmacy Director for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) which manages all of the state’s prisons. Makayla utilizes her knowledge in pharmacy and her compassion to do something others might consider uncommon, but is needed and is of value.

During Makayla’s APPE (Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience) rotation at Concordia’s School of Pharmacy, she was able to work with the DOC. After her rotation, she worked as a pharmacy technician with the DOC during her last year of pharmacy school. Makayla earned her Doctor of Pharmacy in 2018 and accepted a position as a licensed pharmacist with the DOC.

After only three years on the job, she is now in a management position and supervises a team of 17 pharmacists. The main challenge of her job is providing optimal care to the prisons when no direct patient-to-pharmacy contact is allowed. Despite the challenges, she is excited to find new ways for her team to get more involved with patient care.

Engaging relationships and focused curriculum

During Makayla’s time at Concordia’s pharmacy school, she appreciated the helpful relationships between faculty and students. She found the student-friendly schedule was set up so that during pharmacy rotations you could just focus on those off-site experiences. And when not doing rotations, you knew that your time could be solely dedicated to coursework.

Building a pharmacy career focused on patient-care

Your future career in pharmacy is what you want it to be. You can apply your pharmacy knowledge and patient-care skills almost anywhere. As you consider a career in pharmacy, here is a little insight from Makayla.

“Pharmacists are becoming more and more involved with patient care and taking more responsibility in the healthcare team. It is very rewarding to know that you are helping others.”

Start your pharmacy career at Concordia.

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