Welcome from Dr. Kristy Lucas
At UC, we make great pharmacists!
If you aspire to become a caring, competent, impactful pharmacist, you have found your new home. Our students come from all over the country and world to develop into pharmacists who are prepared to practice at the top level of their training as valuable members of the interprofessional patient care team. They live our mission of community outreach, problem-solve by demonstrating innovative leadership, collaborate as well-respected professionals and succeed as students during training here at UCSOP.
We celebrate the accomplishments of our students, faculty, and staff and nurture a culture of diversity and inclusion. We have a uniquely diverse campus where everyone is welcomed and included in our pharmacy family.
We prepare pharmacy leaders committed to a life of positive impact on the community through advocacy, education, scholarship, and innovation, providing the highest level of culturally sensitive interprofessional patient care with an emphasis on underserved populations. We are proud of our graduates because they make a difference in the world around them.
UC’s campus has been ranked as the safest and most diverse in the region, and it is also among the most beautiful in the nation, nestled right on the riverbank of the Kanawha River and directly across from West Virginia’s state Capitol.
This unique location gives us the best of both worlds in pharmacy and healthcare training: the ability to practice skills and learn at the largest and most advanced medical centers in the state, and the ability to serve smaller, hometown pharmacies where pharmacists may be among the only healthcare providers available to address public health needs. We are nationally recognized for our service, community outreach, and our strong voice for rural and underserved populations.
Our curriculum prepares you to serve the profession across a diverse spectrum of practice areas, including community, hospital, outpatient, industry, research, government, and academic settings. It features a longitudinal approach, bridging the gap between the foundational sciences and clinical practice and allowing you to build upon knowledge and skills each year. You will learn from pharmacists actively practicing in their field every step of the way, and experience nearly 2,000 hands-on experiential hours, where you’ll gain experience in a wide variety of pharmacy settings as close as West Virginia and surrounding states, as far away as Alaska and Puerto Rico, and at prestigious institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic, FDA, CDC, and Indian Health Services. We also offer the option of adding either an MBA or an MSSL degree to your PharmD at no extra cost – adding to your value in the profession and offering you additional opportunities in your career.
To truly understand how UCSOP can become your new home, there’s nothing quite like a campus visit to feel that you’re at the right place. Our faculty, staff and I am happy to engage with you to learn what UCSOP is all about and help you to become one of our own. We would love to welcome you to the UCSOP family!
