Marci Forristal Accepted into KU Pharmacy Doctoral Program

2015 May 21

Marci Forristal , 22, of Salina , KS, who graduated May 9, 2015, from Kansas Wesleyan University with a B.S. in Biomedical Chemistry, has been accepted to the four-year Pharm.D. Program in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Kansas. She will begin her graduate studies at the Lawrence campus this fall.

Forristal said she chose the KU School of Pharmacy because it has a solid reputation as a well-rounded and respected program. KU trains pharmacists who serve the people of Kansas and researchers who help solve the world's most pressing medical problems. These students, learning from some of the world's most respected and accomplished pharmaceutical scientists, go on to careers in pharmacy practice, research, industry or academia. The Pharm.D. Program offers a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree upon completion for students like Forristal who are interested in pursuing a career as a pharmacy practitioner.

After high school, Forristal went first to KSU Manhattan for the Pre-Pharmacy major. Midway through her freshman year, she switched her major to Nursing, which brought her back to Salina and Kansas Wesleyan. In December 2012, she began working as a pharmacy technician at Salina Regional Health Center. Her experience there, working on a team of respected healthcare professionals in pursuit of providing the best patient care, convinced her to return back to a pharmacy path, and she switched her KWU major to Biomedical Chemistry. She has continued to work at the hospital pharmacy since then.

After she completes her Pharm.D. at KU, Forristal plans to stay on at the University of Kansas Hospital and pursue its 12-month PGY-1 (post-graduate year 1) residency program in pharmacy practice to become a skilled clinical pharmacist working in a hospital setting. Depending on the nature of the program, and her interests, she may pursue a second year of residency (PGY-2) to specialize in a particular field of pharmacy practice. Areas that currently interest her are emergent/critical care and internal medicine.