WILMORE, Ky. — Asbury University and the University of Kentucky announced an agreement guaranteeing up to five pre-pharmacy Asbury students a year placement in UK’s Doctor of Pharmacy program.

What You Need To Know

  • Five Asbury University students are guaranteed a seat in UK's College of Pharmacy Doctor of Pharmacy program 

  • The program allows students to complete their undergrad pre-pharmacy degree in three years at Asbury and four years at UK 

  • Asbury students have gone onto have careers at NASA and Boston Children's Hospital 

The program allows students to complete their undergraduate degree in biology-pre pharmacy in three years at Asbury and the last four years at the UK College of Pharmacy to get their Doctor of Pharmacy degree in seven years.

“It’s really the best of both worlds because they can get a solid foundation in the liberal arts, which is really important to employers,” said Abby Laub, director of strategic communications at Asbury University.

According to a U.S. News and World Report in 2020, the UK College of Pharmacy is the sixth ranked pharmacy school in the nation and requires 72 hours of pre-pharm credit hours for admission. This partnership allows five Asbury students a year to stay enrolled in Asbury and having a smooth transition as they further their education.

“They get hands on experience from the get-go, they don’t have to wait to get into the labs because of our smaller class sizes, a lot of professor mentorship,” Laub said.

Once students complete with the Asbury/UK program, they have a wide variety of roles they can work in as a pharmacist.

“A lot of our students will look into things like clinical pharmacy or specialty pharmacy, community pharmacy so there’s a lot of different ways that our students are employed once they complete their degree here,” said Jason Edwards, director of admissions management at UK College of Pharmacy.

Edwards said pharmacists play a critical role in the medical outcome and wellbeing of all patients.

“I think through COVID we’ve seen the tremendous impact that pharmacists have made on community health through vaccinations and testing especially,” Edwards said.

Laub says this partnership allows the talent pool to stay in Kentucky and support the health care field in the Commonwealth.

“We try to do things at Asbury that keep the best and brightest here in Kentucky; if you look at Fayette County, Jessamine County, Scott County; all the counties in this area are really growing very quickly,” Laub said.

Asbury students that started in the pre-pharm program have had careers with NASA and Boston Children’s Hospital.

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