Rx for Success: Manchester College Establishing Pharmacy School

Did you know that the inventor of Teflon® graduated from a small, liberal arts college in northern Indiana? Or that the person who discovered acid rain in North America graduated from the very same school? Also, count a Nobel Laureate in chemistry and the first female commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration among its graduates.

Manchester College, alma mater of those impressive alumni, has proven that it can turn out highly achieving graduates in various scientific disciplines. And with the help of a $35 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, the school is now able to delve into a new field with the opening of its School of Pharmacy in 2012.

The grant is the largest in Manchester’s history and will allow the college to start its first doctoral program on a Fort Wayne campus, where it will be surrounded by hospitals, pharmacies and health care facilities. When the school is accredited, it will enroll 265 students in the Doctor of Pharmacy program.

The college announced that it was planning to seek accreditation for a four-year doctoral pharmacy program in the fall of 2009, responding to a shortage of pharmacists and pharmacy school openings.

This new school comes at a time when there is also a growing physician shortage across the nation, enabling more students to pursue careers in pharmacy while staying in Indiana and helping to quell the brain drain. In our current edition of BizVoice® magazine, we explore the ways that pharmacists have been taking on a greater role in the health care system, helping to fill the gap left by a shortage of doctors. For all the details, read the full story in BizVoice.