Georgina Rubal-Peace, PharmD
Class of 2008
Halfway through a degree in nutrition, Georgina Rubal-Peace decided to go into pharmacy.
While working as a dietetic technician at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital in Tucson, Rubal-Peace did a lot of drug/nutrient interaction and diabetes education. She discovered that she liked working with patients.
After deciding to attend pharmacy school because of the patient-centered opportunities the profession provides, Rubal-Peace enjoyed life as a student at The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy—-especially because of her involvement in the International Pharmaceutical Students Federation.
“I love to travel—-I’d take any opportunity to travel,” says the former IPSF student exchange officer.
Rubal-Peace traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, for the IPSF World Congress in August 2007.
During her stay, Rubal-Peace tried different foods, fruits and things she’d never heard of before
“I learned to write in Chinese characters, watched performances, went to hot springs and visited lots of temples,” she says.
Rubal-Peace was one of 11 COP students who attended the conference—-helping the UA chapter boast more students in attendance than all of the other U.S. pharmacy schools together.
She also organized a pharmacy independent study course in Puerto Rico during the summer of 2006.
“I really like Puerto Rico,” she says. “The hospital I was at was very different, with people walking around with guitars, singing to patients. It was very relaxed.”
She used the independent study not only to gain practical experience abroad, but to better her foreign language skills.
“I wanted to get better at Spanish in pharmacy, so I did that during the independent study,” she says. “The pharmacists there wrote in English but spoke in Spanish.”
As much as she loves to travel, Rubal-Peace, now a clinical pharmacist at University Physicians Hospital, plans to stay in Tucson.
“I love it here,” she says.