FDU's 1st Pharmacy Class Now in Session

new School of Pharmacy starts class on Monday with 85 students enrolled in the inaugural class to pursue Doctor of Pharmacy degrees.

University officials have been planning the program for the past four years, and it wasn't until June that they found out they could enroll the first class when they from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

Dr. Michael Avaltroni, interim dean of the pharmacy school, said he is excited for the first class to experience the "groundbreaking nature" of this new program that the Florham Park campus has to offer.

"Our hope is that the students gain full appreciation for a vast number of opportunities that we see emerging in the area of pharmacy," Avaltroni said, "and we hope that they will also gain a better understanding of the profession and their responsibilities as healthcare professionals."

In addition to the PharmD, students have the chance at pursuing a dual degree for a master's in a number of healthcare-related disciplines. The students must qualify to pursue this secondary degree by meeting admission requirements maintaining a 3.0 in the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum.

Alvatroni said that the school saw a very strong interest in its first year, receiving over 650 applications for the 85 spots.

The admitted students got their first taste of pharmacy school last week where they attended orientation from Aug. 20 to 24.

At orientation the students have been getting a lot of training experience already, and on Thursday they participated in a program called "Into the Streets."

With this program, the students went into the communities of Florham Park, Madison, and surrounding areas to perform service projects for different agenices and organizations ranging from serving at assisted living facilities to cleaning up at the local police and athletic league.

"We're excited because we want them to be community health professionals so we feel the best way to get them comfortable with that is to put them right out there not to do health things just yet, but to get them out there engaging with people," Alvatroni said.

Orientation week culminated with a white coat ceremony on Friday.

After becoming only the second pharmacy school in New Jersey—with Rutgers being the first—Alvantroni said he's ready to welcome the new class and is excited for them to get a broad view at the pharmacy industry through the curriculum.

"We're excited to be making a home in Florham Park at this time and very excited to get out into the community, begin to become a real well-known entity for putting out students who are very valued health professionals part of an interprofessional team, and really engaging in the future of pharmacy."