Makayla Hopp (’18) serves as assistant pharmacy director for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and oversees a team of 18 pharmacists who play a role in filling prescriptions for the entirety of the state’s prison population.

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the fall 2022 edition of Hearts Together, a Concordia University Wisconsin and Ann Arbor special magazine edition.


It’s hard to grow up in Waupun and not be reminded of the criminal justice system. The Wisconsin city is home to three prisons, including the state’s oldest penitentiary. About one-fourth of Waupun’s 11,300-person population is incarcerated.

Although Makayla Hopp (’18) never had any direct experience with correctional institutions growing up, the Waupun native was acutely aware of their presence in her hometown. So when it came time to rank her rotation preferences while in her final year of pharmacy school at CUW, she naturally paired with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC), whose pharmaceutical facility is in Waupun.

Hopp stayed on with the DOC after earning her PharmD in 2018, and quickly rose to a leadership position due to her aptitude and affinity for her native city. She now serves as assistant pharmacy director and oversees a team of 18 pharmacists who play a role in filling prescriptions for the entirety of the state’s prison population. Altogether, Hopp and her team fill about 2,500 prescriptions a day.

“Our goal is patient care,” says Hopp. “Ultimately, we want to reduce recidivism. We want to provide the best possible care for our patients while they’re here in order to set them up for success.”

That attention to exemplary care was modeled to her at CUW.

“It’s more of a community at Concordia,” Hopp says. “The professors know you and care about you, and if you need to get ahold of them they’re available to you. At Concordia, they’re really invested in your education.”


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In 2021, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) extended CUW School of Pharmacy’s accreditation for the maximum eight-year term and named it one of only five “Noteworthy Examples” of exceptional achievement nationwide. Learn more about SOP by clicking on the link below.


—The fall 2022 Hearts Together magazine hit mailboxes in early October. View a PDF version of the magazine here. If you are not on our mailing list, but are interested in receiving a free copy, email Jennifer.Hackmann@cuaa.edu.