As of August 2021, we will be transitioning any new graduates to the "alumni" page on our website! We are excited to continue to sponsor BIPOC pharmacy school alumni.
Sponsorship remains important even after graduation due to a number of alarming disparities in our field. Based on the results of the 2019 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Pharmacist Workforce Study, minoritized ethnic groups continue to be underrepresented in the pharmacy field when compared with the general population. Black pharmacists represent only 4.9% of licensed pharmacists and just under 6% of practicing pharmacist respondents self-identified as "other", which AACP details as American Indian, Hispanic/Latino, or other (1).
The same survey reports a striking disparity in unemployed pharmacists, with 9.8% of Black respondents indicating they were unemployed versus 6.3% of those that fell under the "other" category, compared to just 4.3% of White pharmacists.
Further, Black graduate school alumni are nearly twice as likely to have graduate school debt than their White colleagues (40% versus 22%) (2). Whereas White students owe an average of 12% less than they borrowed four years after graduation, Black students owe an average of 12.5% more than they borrowed. Hispanic, Latino, and Black respondents were most likely to report that student loan debt was a reason for delaying buying a home, having children, or getting married.
We are hopeful that continuing to support alumni will result in decreased stress and financial burden, allowing for our BIPOC colleagues to truly thrive. Sponsors interested in specifically donating to alumni can do so on the 2021 Sponsee Alumni page.
Sponsees who are interested in having their information removed from our website can request to do so at any time by emailing us at pharmgradwishlist@gmail.com.
AACP National Pharmacist Workforce Study. https://www.aacp.org/sites/default/files/2020-03/2019_NPWS_Final_Report.pdf Published January 10, 2020. Accessed July 6, 2021.
Student Loan Debt by Race. https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-by-race. Published June 9, 2021. Accessed July 6, 2021.
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