Page 12 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2023

COAST NOTE
Pharmacists may be the most accessible health care professionals, and there's a shortage nationwide. William Carey University School of Pharmacy opened to help
fill that need and graduated its first class in 2018. The third class of 39 students recently graduated through an accelerated program.
“COVID really opened the eyes of people and the government to the value of pharmacists and their ability to contribute to health care,” says Dr. Michael Malloy, dean of the school. “During the pandemic, pharmacists gave 300+ immunizations and continue to do so. They also provide medical therapy management and counsel to patients for free.”
Malloy, who has an impressive resume in pharmacy and academics, was the founding chair of the Massachusetts Central University School of Pharmacy in Wooster and dean of health sciences.
“We opened at a time when there were 140 schools of pharmacy in the country but the president of William Carey University thought South Mississippi needed a school,” Malloy said.
Most of the school's students are from Mississippi and Louisiana with a few from Alabama. The sojourn of becoming a board certified pharmacist can take seven years. William Carey has an accelerated program that, with prerequisites from a university or community college, takes two years and 10 months. “We offer an opportunity to students who have a keen desire to be in the profession and start to work. They finish with a PharmD degree – a professional degree – not a graduate degree,” Malloy said. “It can be good for a second career too.”
He points out that students can have a job waiting for them as soon as they pass the state boards. Some starting salaries are in the $120,000 range. “With our students graduating in April, they can take board exams and get in line for jobs.”
The school is fully accredited and is allowed to have classes of 64 students. They also find opportunities for students to do residencies in the area. “Because we're small and agile we can adapt to the needs of the community, change our curriculum and provide what students need,” Dean Malloy said.
Malloy feels pharmacy schools have not done a good job of educating the public about what pharmacists do. For that reason, he is doing a lot of outreach.
12 | June 2023
story by Lynn Lofton
photos courtesy of
William Carey University