Inaugural class at UH-Hilo pharmacy college takes oath

Monday, October 15, 2007 8:51 AM HST

By JASON ARMSTRONG

Tribune-Herald Staff Writer

Medical and educational history were made Sunday afternoon in Hilo when the first students to study pharmacy in Hawaii recited the Oath of a Pharmacist.

The “white coat ceremony” signified a rite of passage for the 90 students studying to become the first graduates of the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s new College of Pharmacy.

“It’s the first professional doctoral program here on campus,” Lisa Seese, director of student services for the college, said of the Doctor of Pharmacy degrees that will be awarded when the class graduates in 2011.

“They’re finally here, and they’re doing well,” she said after members of the inaugural class, dressed in white coats, publicly declared to be compassionate and respectable health care professionals.

Getting to this point has taken eight years, UHH Chancellor Rose Tseng told the students and audience members assembled at the UHH theater.

Students with the University of Hawaii at Hilo College of Pharmacy take an oath during the White Coat ceremony Sunday for the inaugural class. “Years from now, when the College of Pharmacy is recognized as one of the finest institutions of its kind anywhere, they’ll be able to look back on this day and realize that they were part of history in the making,” she said.

The approval process involved getting federal money for a feasibility study to justify the need, convincing the Board of Regents that the school is necessary and conducting a national search for a dean, Tseng added.

“It’s like giving birth to a new baby,” state Rep. Jerry Chang, D-Hilo, said after leaving the stage, where he helped congratulate the students.

The result of all that work is Hawaii’s first school of pharmacy, Tseng said, noting only four states don’t offer a pharmacy education.

“(Hawaii’s) kids used to go to the mainland, and they don’t come back,” she told the Tribune-Herald.

Now, mainland students are coming here to study pharmacy, with nonresidents comprising half the inaugural class.

Among them is Mark Reeves, a 47-year-old from Indiana.

“I’m not the oldest in the class,” said Reeves, who just missed getting accepted at the Purdue School of Pharmacy and is “very excited” to be getting his education at UHH.

Also pleased that the four-year pharmacy degree is being offered in Hawaii for the first time is Honolulu resident Annie Mar.

“I knew I wanted to stay home for school, and this is an excellent opportunity,” she said while talking with fellow students.

“I always felt like we needed a college of pharmacy here,” Mar added. “It’s nice to be home.”

The Class of 2011, capped at a maximum 90 students, was chosen from about 240 applicants, Seese said.

She expects close to 800 applicants for enrollment in the Fall ‘08 semester.

“We’re not graduating enough pharmacists to fill the need,” Seese said.

Entry-level pharmacists can earn more than $100,000 a year by working in Hilo pharmacies, said John Pezzuto, dean of the College of Pharmacy.

He said there’s a “tremendous” shortage of pharmacists.

Students seeking to pursue a pharmacy degree at UHH should have completed at least two years of college experience, pass an entrance examine, demonstrate their commitment to the profession and do well in a personal interview, Pezzuto said. “We’ll strive to accept every qualified resident,” he said.