UW-Madison Launches New Effort to Train More Pharmacists

Wednesday, September 6th, 2023 -- 11:00 AM

(By Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) The University of Wisconsin-Madison has launched a new effort to train more pharmacists from around the state.

Accrding to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, the initiative offers high school seniors and first-semester freshmen at UW System universities an assurance they'll be admitted to the flagship's Doctor of Pharmacy program.

Pharmacists don't just work at retail drugstores, said UW-Madison School of Pharmacy Assistant Dean Jeremy Altschafl. In fact, around 65 percent of graduates from the school's Doctor of Pharmacy program go on to work in specialized roles coordinating patient care in hospitals and clinics.

Altschafl is now working to recruit students into UW-Madison's PharmD Early Assurance program, which promises a seat in the pharmacy school to high school seniors or freshmen students starting their first semester at any state university if certain conditions, like a 3.2 grade point average, are met. 

The PharmD program is a four-year professional degree for students that complete between two and three years of prerequisites like calculus, chemistry, physics and statistics.

It's a new pathway, Altschafl said, allowing students to finish their pre-pharmacy requirements at UW System schools closer to home before transferring to UW-Madison to complete their training.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.