Student Spotlight: Derrick Nwobodo
Derrick Nwobodo is a first-year PharmD student in the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy. He took a brief moment to share with us his unique pharmacy story from an international student perspective.
As an international student, can you tell me where you are from and what your background is?
I was born and raised in Nigeria and I arrived in the U.S. to start my freshman year at 16 in 2018. Nigerians strongly believe in education and when I came here it was to get my bachelor’s degree.
Why did you choose pharmacy as a field of study?
As crazy as it sounds, I always knew I wanted to do pharmacy because I wanted to be a drug expert. I didn’t want to be a doctor. I didn’t like physiology. I took chemistry and I loved it and I minored in it. Just the idea of knowing more about drugs and how they work fascinated me more than anything. Pharmacy offered me those opportunities and so I always knew that I was going to pursue pharmacy. My passion has never left me and it has kept me going in the program. Pharmacy is also a respected field in Nigeria. As a third-world country, most people only have access to a pharmacist because health care is so expensive and the divide between the rich and the poor is even larger than it is in the U.S. When you tell someone you’re a pharmacist in Nigeria, there’s a lot of respect because they know you are helping others in the community.
What do you hope to accomplish with a pharmacy degree?
I am still exploring that concept. The University has bombarded me with a lot of resources and people coming in every week to give us a seminar on what specialty in pharmacy they are in, and so it’s hard for me to say what I want to do. I'm at the phase where I have some interests. I'm interested in hospital pharmacy. I'm interested in geriatric care. I'm interested in HIV clinical pharmacy. But I haven't reached the point where I know this is exactly what I want to do. Pharmacy has a lot of paths and I'm happy the University showcases the broad range of career options you can have. It's not just retail and it's beautiful. Ask me again in three years.
How did the PharmSci major prepare you for your PharmD coursework?
PharmSci is not an easy major. It prepared me for pharmacy school by going over concepts that we would see in pharmacy school. Pharmacy school is different and more rigorous, but the great benefit of PharmSci is that topics you're being taught are not new topics when you get to pharmacy school, only more detailed. So, it becomes easier to learn. I never appreciated the major until I started my P1 year and recognized the drugs and mechanisms taught in class. Learning it became easier and if any major can help prepare you for what you're going to learn, it is worth doing in my opinion.
How did your scholarship help you?
I received the Quidel Scholarship for Future Leaders in Diversity and Inclusion and it was a scholarship that really helped me because my whole focus in my undergrad was to help students who had similar experiences like me. I worked on raising awareness of other issues that international students and minorities face. The University of Arizona is a predominantly white school, and when I got into college, I had to go through that phase of ‘who am I in America?’ I was a global ambassador where I was helping other students acclimates to the U.S. system and classes. And I also pursued other jobs that gave me the opportunities to interact with students from low-income households. It was something I was doing and I was doing because I loved it. And to get a scholarship was a real acknowledgement of my efforts. The scholarship has also helped relieve some financial stress.
What advice do you have for other international students?
Don’t be afraid to be different. It’s always good to acknowledge your differences because you didn’t grow up here and you have a different culture, ideals and ways to contribute. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. I feel sometimes the America culture wants you to shrink your identity and fit in with the rest. There’s security in that, but you also have to acknowledge the beauty of you is that you’re unique.
What would you say is unique or special about the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy?
It would be how caring everybody is. There's this homey feeling. It's a rigorous program, but there’s this caring and supportive community behind you. It’s this supportive community that really surprised me and what I love the most.