Ohio Northern University student Katie Westgerdes, a fifth-year pharmacy major from Coldwater, Ohio, is ONU’s inaugural recipient of the Cardinal Health Pharmacy Scholarship Award. The Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy was one of 13 pharmacy schools from across the nation selected in 2011 to receive funding from the $1.1 million Cardinal Health Pharmacy Scholarship Program.
This scholarship will help defer the costs of Westgerdes’ tuition at Ohio Northern. In addition, Westgerdes has been invited by Cardinal Health to attend and be honored at its annual Retail Business Conference in Orlando, Fla., in July.
“Receiving the Cardinal Health Pharmacy Scholarship Award was such a surprise and great honor,” Westgerdes said. “It is extremely rewarding to be recognized for my hard work and determination at school, the National Community Pharmacist Association and Kappa Epsilon. It is just as exciting to be recognized for my ambition to be a pharmacy owner and to have my dreams encouraged. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to attend the Cardinal Health Retail Business Conference in Orlando. This conference will be a great networking opportunity that could greatly further my career and help me reach my goals.”
At ONU, Westgerdes has been involved in several organizations over the past five years: the local mentoring program Ada Friends, the professional pharmacy fraternity Kappa Epsilon (KE), and National Community Pharmacist Association (NCPA). She has held a position in both KE (professional projects chair, vice president of social, and potential new member educator) and NCPA (Outreach Committee chair, Programming Committee chair, and Membership Committee chair).
As a result of her involvement and ambition, Westgerdes has received several awards from these organizations: Kappa Epsilon Sister of the Year 2011, NCPA Outstanding Member of the Year 2012, and Kappa Epsilon Executive Member of the Year 2012. She also helped the business plan team in 2010-11, which won first place in the Ohio Pharmacists Association Business Plan Competition.
Universities that were selected to participate in the Cardinal Health Pharmacy Scholarship Program offer strong nuclear, independent or hospital pharmacy curricula. Each school received an endowed scholarship ranging from $50,000 to $125,000.
“Cardinal Health serves more than 7,000 community pharmacists across the country, and we’re one of the nation’s largest employers of nuclear and hospital pharmacists,” said Mike Kaufmann, chief executive officer of Cardinal Health’s Pharmaceutical segment. “We passionately believe in the essential role pharmacists play in making sure patients receive safe, high quality health care. That’s why we’re proud to partner with Ohio Northern University to invest in developing tomorrow’s pharmacy leaders.”
Cardinal Health is a health care services company that improves the cost-effectiveness of health care. As the business behind health care, Cardinal Health helps pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and physician offices focus on patient care while reducing costs, enhancing efficiency and improving quality. More information about the company may be found at cardinalhealth.com and @CardinalHealth on Twitter.
