Rachel LaBianca was awarded the 2016 Samuel B. Burrus Family Award for community service at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy 2016 Award Ceremony on April 24.
The Burrus award is presented annually to a graduating student of the school who exhibits outstanding and unselfish civic, community or church volunteer service outside the scope of regular pharmacy practice.
“I am honored to have been selected as the recipient of the Samuel B. Burrus Award for Community Service, and I look forward to continuing to serve those around me throughout my pharmacy career,” LaBianca said. “It is the unmatched excellence of the students, faculty and staff at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy that has inspired me to not only become a successful pharmacist, but also to use the skills I developed in school to ensure the well-being of my community both locally and across the globe.”
LaBianca has served as a patient care lab teaching assistant as well as the president of both Phi Lambda Sigma leadership fraternity and Pre-pharmacy Club. She served as the Doctor of Pharmacy interview coordinator within the Recruitment Ambassadors program and as the Operation Immunization co-chair within the Carolina Association of Pharmacy Students. She is also the recipient of the Howard and Mescal Ferguson Scholarship and the Fonnie Jackson Andrews Scholarship.
LaBianca has been an active member of her church ministry and outreach, developing and leading the young adult ministry at Fuquay-Varina United Methodist Church, as well as serving on two different mission trips. She also participated in the pilot year of the Global Scholars Program through a pharmacy rotation at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
The recipient of the Burrus student award receives a monetary award in addition to a donation made to the charity of his or her choice. This award is funded by the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Foundation and the Burrus family in memory of Samuel B. Burrus, who graduated in 1915 from the Southern College of Pharmacy in Atlanta.
“It is the unmatched excellence of the students, faculty and staff at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy that has inspired me to not only become a successful pharmacist, but also to use the skills I developed in school to ensure the well-being of my community both locally and across the globe,”
After graduation, LaBianca will complete a PGY1 pharmacy residency at Rex Hospital in Raleigh.