The PharmSci undergraduate program is much more than a step towards pharmacy school – something founders of Pharmaceutical Alternative Careers Association (PACA) ,Jordan Ehrman and Agnes Ng, set out to highlight with a student organization.
“When we came into PharmSci, we realized pretty quickly that there weren’t any organizations geared towards students who were in PharmSci but did not want to go into pharmacy,” notes Ehrman.
Jordan and Agnes found that some students were unsure of what direction they wanted to take after graduation and they wanted to provide a space of exploration for students.
Their commitments to a post-undergraduate experience not limited to just pharmacy school is and continues to be the priority of PACA. They made sure that this mission was also reflected in their board members, which represents several different fields including law, research, etc. In addition, they present on a variety of different topics to maximize member exposure to different career paths from medical school to research.
PACA shows students the endless opportunities available to them after graduation, while also providing members with information in order to find success while they are completing their degree. One of the many impactful meetings Jordan recounted was a talk from a public health major, Magda Ramirez. “She gave this great talk on how important mental health is when you’re a student,” says Ehrman. “And it became this almost beautiful presentation where people would talk about their experiences, and she would talk about how they could look at that experience from an objective public health standpoint.”
As founders Ehrman and Ng get ready to graduate, they reflect on the effort that they put into creating a unique space for Pharmaceutical Sciences students.
“I hope… PACA continues to be this inclusive space where people can talk about how much they love science and how passionate they are about their goals,” says Ehrman.
If you are interested in learning more about PACA or their hosted events, you can subscribe to the PACA newsletter by sending an email to paca@uci.edu.