August 25, 2023
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Tazche Turner, Pharm.D. candidate class of 2025, was selected as one of 20 students across the country for The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s (AACP) Aspiring Academics Program.
The AACP Aspiring Academics Program was designed to facilitate a deeper understanding of career paths in academic pharmacy. AACP received more than 200 applications from student pharmacists across the country and selected 20. Over the next year, the inaugural cohort will participate in monthly modules, mentorship, networking, a group project, involvement with AACP and the opportunity to have a poster presentation at the 2024 AACP’s Annual Meeting in Boston.
“I’ve always been passionate about academia. From a young age, my mom always talked about the importance of learning and higher education,” said Turner.
Her first career dream was to become a kindergarten teacher, but as she got older, her interests expanded to science and business. Turner has a distinct memory from volunteering in high school with her family’s non-profit. They ran science-based educational themed parties in homeless shelters. She dressed up as a scientist—lab coat and all.
“There was a little girl that looked at me and said she wanted to be like me—she wanted to be a scientist. That’s when I realized the importance of representation in higher education,” she shared. This fueled her desire to go into academia and she ultimately decided to pursue pharmacy because it combined all her interests.
Applying to this AACP program was an obvious decision for Turner as she builds upon her pharmacy school experience so far. In particular, the networking and mentorship opportunities were important to her. In addition to having an AACP group mentor throughout the program, each student has a home mentor and Turner is proud to partner with Assistant Director of the Center for Innovative Pharmacy Education & Research (CIPhER) Kathryn Morbitzer.
“Tazche is an upcoming leader within the Academy. In addition to her academic achievements, Tazche has already demonstrated a superb ability to work with other students and faculty while integrating herself within many of our School’s initiatives,” said Morbitzer, Pharm.D., ‘17 M.S., associate professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education. “The AACP Aspiring Academics Program will serve as the perfect complement to Tazche’s training through adding to her skillset, providing networking with academic leaders and providing further inspiration for her to pursue a career in academia.”
Turner is looking forward to seeing how this program will enhance her current research areas of business training in pharmacy and social, equity and inclusion research within case-based learning. Since students from all over the country will be working together and learning from each other and their institutions, she is excited to see how the program will impact pharmacy curriculum on a larger scale.
“I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be part of the inaugural program,” said Turner. “It is an honor to be selected and given the opportunity to contribute to the future of pharmacy education, practice advancement and increase representation within the field. I am excited to work alongside the next generation of pharmacy educators through Aspiring Academics as we work to enhance pharmacy education for all.”
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