JOURNEY TO THE BALKANS

Participants in the Maymester program enjoy a break in Varna, Bulgaria.

As many of their peers prepared for summer vacation, 13 USC School of Pharmacy undergraduates traveled throughout southeastern Europe for the Maymester class Balkan History, Geography and Folk Medicine. The 20-day trip was led by course instructor Terry David Church, assistant director of undergraduate education and a faculty member in the school’s Department of Regulatory and Quality Sciences.

The itinerary took students through parts of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey to explore folk medicine’s evolutions, benefits and consequences as well as sustainability. “We also learn about the cultures, histories and experiences of the people in these countries,” Church says of the course.

Stone & Compass—a nonprofit educational and cultural organization that partnered with USC in offering the trip—hosted the students at its 2,000acre property in the Balkan Mountains and helped coordinate excursions.

Highlights included a botanical and bee farm tour that detailed the healing properties of honey and local herbs, and a trip to a hot spring in Greece to learn about hydrothermal medicines. The students also learned about the medicinal properties of regional plants from professors at the Istanbul University Faculty of Pharmacy in Turkey, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Romania, and Medical University of Sofia Faculty of Pharmacy in Bulgaria.

“This trip really opened my eyes to the endless possibilities and applications of plants in the world of medicine,” Pharmacology and Drug Development (PDD) student Jack Saville says. “Every professor at the universities we visited stressed how important it was for their pharmacy students to be able to identify plants that could be used to help treat patients.”

Recent PDD graduate Samantha Skinner adds that she was fascinated to learn about the terms “pharmacognosy” and “phytopharmacology,” both of which relate to the study of medicines from plant sources. “Pharmacists in other parts of the world take botany classes and familiarize themselves with the therapeutic properties of plants—something pharmacists in the U.S. don’t have much knowledge about,” she notes.

Students also attended planning meetings for a new clinic being built in the Bulgarian village of Stolat by Stone & Compass, which is committed to building global partnerships and projects that help those in need. Second-year PDD student Mikey Null gained perspective into the challenges arising from how the region’s natives view traditional Western medicine.

“Running a small healthcare clinic is much more complex than I had initially thought,” Null says. “We had to learn how to cater to both Western and folk medicine, without excluding one or the other in meeting health needs.”

“Travel is a phenomenal way of learning new things. It builds creativity and makes for a more dynamic thinker,” Church says.

such diversity is a unique and eye-opening experience. USC is one of the top universities that anyone dreams to join.”

Preparation for Global Practice

PharmD students in their P4 year can choose an International Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) to fulfill an elective, six-week rotation. In collaboration with the Professional Experience Programs office, the Office of Global Initiatives is building upon existing partnerships to expand the number and diversity of destinations open to students for APPEs. Recent placements have included universities in Japan, Ireland, China and Taiwan. Future destinations may include Egypt, India, Bulgaria, Colombia and Kenya, according to Graham. Shorterterm Global Pharmacy Experiences enable students to explore the practice of pharmacy in various international settings.

Yijun Cai, PharmD Class of 2025, who hails from China, says these programs “fully immerse students into foreign health systems to offer firsthand experience in global health challenges.”

Samer Sultan, PharmD Class of 2024, conducted a research internship this summer with the College of Pharmacy at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, where he worked on datacollecting tools and translated patient education materials from English to Arabic for a new prediabetes program.

“I also got exposed to the community pharmacy practice by spending a day training in a community pharmacy,” he says. “It was a huge opportunity for me to grow and expand my knowledge. As an Egyptian and Middle Easterner, it was a privilege to participate and to give back to my community.”

A global perspective is also integrated into coursework at the school. “The curriculum includes how to respect cultural and religious differences, and the skills needed to work in a multidisciplinary team,” notes Julia Wang, PharmD/Healthcare Decision Analysis Class of 2024.

“For a regulatory professional, working cross-functionally and even globally is getting more demanding nowadays. Having peers from around the world with various backgrounds is extremely helpful,” adds Wu, who says she learned a lot about drug regulations in India and Korea by connecting with classmates from those countries.

Strong International Presence

With more than 400,000 members of the Trojan Family worldwide, the USC Alumni Association has a large and growing international program, including 26 international clubs in locations ranging from Sao Paulo to London to Taipei. USC also maintains nine international offices. Trojan pharmacists similarly span the globe.

The most recent addition to the school’s international portfolio is a partnership with National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan for both undergraduates and master’s students in biomedical engineering and regulatory science. The innovative joint degree programs come at a time of rapid growth for the biomedical industry, filling a large—and largely unmet—international demand for regulatory professionals.

The school continues to seek new opportunities to expand international collaborations. “The pharmacy field is global, and our graduates must be, too,” Graham says. USC is wellrecognized globally and has always made sure that all international students feel comfortable and included. My peers from different countries have also shown me a glimpse of their traditions, culture, food, art and music, and I am so grateful for the experience.”

RONAK SHETHIA, a second-year MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences student