As CharLeigh Steverson, Class of 2024, wraps up her third year as a student pharmacist, she has a full resume of service and experience before she enters the pharmacy profession as a practitioner.
The list of roles she has undertaken is lengthy. She has been an inpatient pharmacy intern for Prisma Health Children’s Hospital, junior board member for the South Carolina Pharmacy Association and representative for Pharmacy Legislative Week. Steverson has held committee roles with Sigma Alpha Omega, Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International, Phi Lambda Sigma, the National Standing Committee on Policy with the American Pharmacists Association, the Academy of Student Pharmacists and the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding. She is also president of the Alpha Lambda Chapter of Kappa Epsilon and a student ambassador for the College of Pharmacy.
“As a SCPhA junior board member and serving on the House of Delegates Policy Taskforce and legislative co-chair, I hope to use my passion for policy to further advocate for my profession on the state level,” she says.
As pharmacists, we play an important role in health care, and it is important to speak out about our profession ...
Steverson also hopes her service will be an example to other students. As part of an initiative to help increase student interest in policy development, she helped create a student policy challenge through SCPhA. Student teams examine issues within the pharmacy industry and submit resolutions that could be selected for implementation by the association.
During the summer of 2022, she worked as an intern in Washington D.C., for U.S. Congressman and pharmacist Buddy Carter of Georgia. She attended weekly doctor’s caucus meetings to discuss ways to improve the nation’s public health.
As part of her fourth year, she has policy-focused rotations lined up, including with the policy team for Mutual Drug, which advocates on behalf of the independent pharmacy sector.
“As pharmacists, we play an important role in health care, and it is important to speak out about our profession,” she says.
Through her involvement and service roles with multiple organizations, Steverson has learned the value of not only time management, but more importantly, the ability to work with and communicate with a variety of people.
“I believe this will help me to be a more compassionate pharmacist in interacting with my patients,” she adds. “I want to first practice as a pharmacist to help me better advocate for the profession.”
Topics: Pharm.D. Program, Student Experience