$1 Million Gift to Expand Rural Health Professions Program

Sept. 27, 2017
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The Molly Blank Fund of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation was established after Mrs. Blank’s 2015 death at age 99 to continue the pursuits of causes and organizations in which Molly believed. Her values can be summed up in a statement she often made, “Everything we strive to do in life is a gift. It’s our responsibility to share it, to give back to the world.” Pictured above is Molly, Arthur and Michael Blank.

Rural and medically underserved populations in Arizona lack access to pharmacists. But thanks to a $1 million gift from the Molly Blank Fund of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, new generations of pharmacists will have the opportunity to fill this need.

The gift establishes the Molly and Max Blank Rural Health Program Endowment at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. The endowment will be used to expand the college’s Rural Health Professions Program and Professional Certificate in Pharmacy-Related Health Disparities. Both aim to provide pharmacy students with training experiences in particularly remote or rural communities in Arizona. In honor of the gift, the professional certificate will be renamed the Molly and Max Blank Professional Certificate in Pharmacy-Related Health Disparities.

Access to health-care services is a top priority for the college, considering that the distribution of the state’s health-care workforce directly affects patients’ access to care. Fifteen percent of Arizonans live in a rural area but only 7 percent of Arizona’s pharmacists work in these areas, resulting in a considerable gap in service.

“This is the kind of major gift that will allow us to grow critically needed programs to help improve access to quality health-care providers in areas where it is needed most,” said Dr. Rick Schnellmann, dean of the college.

The Rural Health Professions Program began in 1997 and has grown from four PharmD students to approximately 20-24 each year, thanks to support from the Arizona Area Health Education Centers. Students are placed in areas from farming communities in Yuma to remote Navajo County to border towns like Nogales and Douglas. As of May, 86 students have earned the certificate.

“The University of Arizona’s land-grant mission focuses on serving our state in a meaningful way,” said John-Paul Roczniak, president and CEO of the University of Arizona Foundation. “Because of the Blank Family Foundation’s generosity, the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy is uniquely positioned to make an even greater impact on the health of Arizona, while also providing students hands-on learning opportunities.”

“My brother Arthur and I are pleased to be able to honor our mother’s legacy through a gift to the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy from The Molly Blank Fund,” said Michael Blank, son of Molly and Max Blank. “It is very appropriate that this endowment is named for our father and mother, as they were both deeply engaged in the pharmacy profession. Our parents would have been gratified to support the pharmacy needs of rural populations.”

For many students in the program, the experience leads to careers in rural communities, like 2017 College of Pharmacy graduate Kenneth Leutz, who opened a Sun Life Family Health Center Pharmacy in rural Florence, Arizona. Other graduates of the program highlight their experience working in rural areas when applying for postgraduate residency positions – which are increasingly competitive for students – allowing them to stand out from their pharmacy colleagues during the application process.

We have an excellent success rate with the program,” Elizabeth Hall-Lipsy, assistant professor and director of the program, said.

Employment statistics for RHPP alumni show that 52 percent have obtained postgraduate residency training, 34 percent are employed in a rural setting, and 47 percent are employed treating underserved patients.

"This program provides students firsthand exposure to the benefits and opportunities of working in rural areas,” Hall-Lipsy said.


About the UA College of Pharmacy
Established in 1947, the College of Pharmacy was the first health sciences college at the University of Arizona and is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Educating pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, the college participates in many interprofessional educational and research collaborations throughout Arizona and globally. It is ranked among the premier colleges of pharmacy in the United States and is often among the top 20 colleges of pharmacy in terms of external funding for research, including funding from the National Institutes of Health. For more information, visit www.pharmacy.arizona.edu.

About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. The UA Health Sciences includes the UA Colleges of Medicine (Phoenix and Tucson), Nursing, Pharmacy and Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, the UA Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona and the greater Southwest to provide cutting-edge health education, research, patient care and community outreach services. A major economic engine, the UA Health Sciences employs almost 5,000 people, has nearly 1,000 faculty members and garners more than $126 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn)

The Molly Blank Fund of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation was established after Mrs. Blank’s 2015 death at age 99, to continue the pursuit of causes and organizations in which she believed. The focus of the grant-making is on programs that address the interests Molly supported in her lifetime, including at-risk youth, arts and culture, and Jewish causes emphasizing social justice and interfaith coalitions.