It’s the beginning of another beautiful autumn in Madison. The days are crisp, the UW Marching Band is practicing “On, Wisconsin” down the street, and hundreds of pharmacy students are buzzing around Rennebohm Hall. While the graduate students don’t take a break in the summer, their seminars start back up again in the fall. It’s great to learn of their progress and the discoveries that will soon be part of the scientific literature. The energy the students bring to campus this time of year is truly rejuvenating for all of us faculty and staff.
As the new academic year ramps up, I’d like to share how we are addressing the PharmD enrollment challenge, highlight some amazing student outcomes, and discuss a couple of ways we plan to maintain our forward momentum.
Attracting top talent
Our biggest challenge to our teaching mission is recruiting outstanding “Wisconsin class” students. Regular readers of this column know that the number of applicants to pharmacy schools nationwide has declined by nearly a third in recent years. During this same period, the number of schools has increased by about 9%. With more schools vying for fewer students, we have been working hard to attract the best students to apply here. We have completely overhauled our recruitment methods, including establishing the Early Assurance program and strengthening our traditional visits to high schools and colleges across the state. We have also launched the Pharmacy Forward campaign to raise scholarships to seal the deal with our top applicants.
As a result of these and other efforts, our last class and the class beginning this fall are close to our 20-year average of 130 students. The class beginning this fall comprises 132 outstanding students with an average cumulative GPA of 3.62. About half of them hold bachelor’s degrees, 74% are women, 15% are first-generation college students, and 11% are from historically underrepresented communities. About two-thirds are Wisconsin residents, with the rest hailing from all across the country and around the world. We are excited to welcome them to campus!
Our recently graduated students have set a high bar for our current students to clear. The class of 2024 scored a 96.7% first-time pass rate on the NAPLEX (third best of the 142 U.S. schools) and 100% of the 113 Badgers (fourth largest cohort in the nation) who participated in the ASHP Residency Matching Program in 2025 matched with a residency. Finally, 97% of our graduates surveyed last year were employed within 6 months. The outcomes of our PharmD grads are truly outstanding and a testament to the quality of our students, the dedication of our staff, and the passion of our faculty for preparing our students for success.
To maintain this level of outcomes for our students we must continually update and evolve our curriculum. This academic year we are rolling out a major new series of nine integrated science and therapeutics courses. This new integrated pharmacology and pharmacotherapy curriculum is intentionally designed to teach — in a coordinated, synchronized manner — the molecular mechanisms of drug action and how these medications are used clinically to treat disease. This approach will provide students a deep understanding of how drugs work and allow them to make optimal clinical decisions for their patients in real-world settings.
Harnessing alumni expertise to stay ahead
We are also thinking about how best to prepare our students for a future that’s coming fast. This is an area where our Board of Visitors can provide valuable advice. Our Board is composed of alumni who are outstanding leaders in pharmacy and pharmacy-related sciences. These visionaries are proud Badgers who give back by advising the School on where they see pharmacy heading from their perspectives.
Two areas that are key for the future are an appreciation for the utility and limitations of artificial intelligence and a deep understanding of the business and economics of pharmacy, and our BOV members are prepared to guide the School toward that future. Artificial intelligence will have a major impact on how pharmacists work and how scientists make discoveries. Joel Jones (PharmD ‘07), vice president of pharmacy informatics at Epic Systems, is well-positioned to see how AI will be used in healthcare settings in the years to come. Steve Rough (BS ’91, MS ’94) is chairman of Visante, which is a specialized consulting firm focused on helping health systems accelerate strong financial and operational performance through pharmacy. We are indeed privileged to have visionaries like Joel and Steve help us design curricula and learning experiences to prepare our students for the future of pharmacy and pharmacy related sciences.
Despite the significant drop in applicants to pharmacy schools nationwide, our faculty and staff have worked hard to recruit outstanding students and provide them with a first-rate learning environment that prepares them for the future of pharmacy.
On, Wisconsin!
Steven M. Swanson
Dean and Professor