August 28, 2023
As a child, Momodou Sankareh, Pharm.D. candidate class of 2027, remembers going to the pharmacy with his mom when he was sick and being intrigued by what was going on behind the counter. It was the mystery of the pharmacy that captured his interest from a young age.
In addition, his dad worked in wheelchair transportation—exposing Sankareh to different aspects of the health care system. “I always knew I wanted to do something in health care,” he said.
His eyes were set on the sciences, but it was his unique experience as a volunteer firefighter throughout high school and college that prepared him for the field. “You see people at their lowest moments and are constantly working in high pressure situations. Patient care is also key when responding to emergencies,” Sankareh said.
He remembers driving down the road at age 17 and seeing a sign recruiting volunteer firefighters. It piqued his interest, so he volunteered at the local fire department in Raeford, North Carolina as a junior fireman. He went to the station two to three times a week and eventually joined as a voted-on member at the age of 18.
“I did the volunteering because I liked the people I was around—there was a strong sense of community that kept me there,” he said. Sankareh continued to volunteer into his sophomore year at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro until he started working as a pharmacy technician at Walgreens.
While at Walgreens, his pharmacy manager encouraged him to apply to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. It was important to Sankareh to stay in his home state of North Carolina, and being the No. 1 pharmacy school, it was an easy decision to apply.
Going into this first year at the School, he has a strong retail background but plans to explore other areas like hospital and emergency pharmacy. He also has an interest in going abroad to learn more about pharmacy in other parts of the world—especially West Africa where his family is from.
“Ultimately, I plan to be curious, ask a lot of questions and learn about pharmacy along the way,” he said.
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