Student Exchange Program Crafts Cultural Competency for Pharmacists

I did not realize I was Black until third grade. I was raised by a large Black community, so blackness was all I had known. It was normal to do cornrows, to have parents with accents, and even more normal to have dark skin. After that first day in third grade, my once boisterous Black community dwindled to 2. In replacement, there were hair straighteners and skin definitely not as dark as mine. For a while, my blackness was foreign in this new environment. It was not until I entered the Cooper-Stewart Longitudinal APPE Exchange Program that I was able to regain this sense of community in a way like never before.

Diversity, Pharmacy, Student Exchange, Pharmacy Student | Image Credit: © Studio Romantic | stock.adobe.com

The program was developed between the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy (Pitt), whose student body is 57% White, and Howard University College of Pharmacy (HUCOP), whose student body is 58% Black. The goal is to immerse students in an environment outside the scope of what they call their professional and academic norm. Three students from Pitt and 2 from HUCOP completed 3 consecutive 5-week advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) rotations at the opposite institution. This allowed all students to diversify their rotation experience and enhance their definition of what it means to be culturally responsive.

Pharmacy is a field where disparities present themselves boldly. The lack of health literacy, provider access, and pay assistance combined with further external factors explains the health care gap. Experiencing firsthand the communities that are knee-deep in the systemic inequities made the Cooper-Stewart exchange students recognize and account for those factors. Most students applied to this program in hopes of diversifying their experiences outside their familiarities. Joe Chen, a Pitt exchange student, described a sheltered upbringing that denied him exposure to discrimination, racism, and inequity. These rotations allowed him to understand that ignoring inequities has consequences. “I was able to immensely develop my ability to care for patients with different backgrounds and upbringings, especially in the ambulatory care setting, where a lot of personal background plays into the health care recommendations for patients,” he said. He believes he left HUCOP in Washington, DC, with a profoundly different view of identity, social determinants of health, and why inclusion is important in health care. Arjun Narain, a Pitt exchange student, agreed. The program “gave me a space to improve as a health care provider by acknowledging my own perceptions and identities. Acknowledging diversity as a layer that impacts individual experience was an important lesson. Overall, I feel more mindful now and cognizant of opportunities to speak up,” Narain said.

This program created well-rounded professionals by allowing us to forge a path outside our comfort zones. Most of my skill set came from working with common disease states in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At HUCOP, I rotated at the Center of Infectious Disease Management and Research. This presented a multitude of interactions with rare disease states and infections like HIV/AIDS. Similarly, Chen and Narain cycled in a sickle cell disease clinic. Chen discussed his lack of sickle cell knowledge prior to HUCOP due to the small sickle cell population in Pittsburgh, but HUCOP provided a large community of people with the disease for him to learn from.

For a while, my blackness was foreign in this new environment.

Chioma Nwokochah, a HUCOP exchange student, elaborated further, saying the Cooper-Stewart exchange program “challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and adapt to a new environment. Exposure to the environment broadened my understanding of patient care and interprofessional collaboration, which has prepared me to serve a broader range of communities.” Saba Saeidi Rizi, a HUCOP exchange student, said stepping outside HUCOP allowed her to “confront [her] biases, embrace diversity and inclusion, and cultivate empathy for people from all walks of life.” She said her experience in a tuberculosis clinic that primarily served immigrants gave her an understanding of “cultural competence, communication skills, and the importance of a dynamic health care landscape.”

The varied backgrounds of the exchange students made each participant’s experience unique and monumental. Weekly Zoom meetings surrounding personal and group reflection helped forge a connection of my own growth with my peers. The most intimate conversations surrounded discovering and dissolving our biases. The meetings also centered around broadening our professional perspectives with guest speakers. Nwokochah credited these meetings with allowing her to stay up to date with advancements in pharmacy, research, and technology. Our personal development throughout the program was quantitatively and qualitatively tracked through quality improvement surveys, which showed a significant increase in students’ cultural awareness, sensitivity, knowledge, and skills after completing the 10-week exchange program.

About The Author

Rena Reid, PharmD, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in 2024. She is now a community pharmacist at Giant Eagle Pharmacy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

All 5 students said the Cooper-Stewart exchange program benefited them, and they aim to continue to dedicate their profession to dissolving disparities. Chen hopes to continue helping underrepresented patient populations as a PGY-1 resident at the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Alabama. He believes the Cooper-Stewart exchange program provided him the resources he needs to meet that goal. Narain, Nwokochah, and Saeidi Rizi are thankful for the meaningful, lifelong relationships the experience granted. Narain said the opportunity led to his first academic publication. “Initiatives like the Cooper-Stewart Longitudinal APPE ExchangeProgram are instrumental in preparingfuture pharmacists…to thrive in a constantly evolving health care landscape while championing diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Nwokochah said, and Saeidi Rizi called it a “transformative experience.”

I hope to use my role in community pharmacy to continue the work the Cooper-Stewart exchange program started. The students of this program thank Pitt Pharmacy and HUCOP for enriching us, reigniting our sense of community, and crafting us into culturally responsive pharmacists.