During their four years in the UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aliya Daulat and Jason Alessio were actively involved student leaders, both members of several on-campus and pharmacy-related organizations and associations.
With a family comprised of lawyers and journalists, Daulat was eager to try her hand at a different career, in the sciences. After being hired as a pharmacy assistant after high school, she was inspired to pursue a career in pharmacy. “I loved how you can do everything you want in one profession,” says Daulat, speaking to pharmacy’s wide range of opportunities as health-care professional, community leader and business entrepreneur.
Early in her pharmacy education at UBC, Daulat threw herself into volunteer work. She served as a member of the Pharmacy Undergraduate Society (PhUS), facilitating communication between faculty and students and representing her peers at UBC senate meetings.
And as an active member of CHIUS, the Community Health Initiative by University Students, an interdisciplinary student and resident team, Daulat delivered multiple presentations in partnership with medical and nursing students, speaking to the needs of the Downtown Eastside population and informing these patients about how pharmacists can be involved in their health.
“Overall throughout my experience at UBC, I was really proud that I was a pharmacy student.” With plans to begin her career in the hospital setting, Daulat is excited about her future career possibilities in the dynamic field of pharmacy.
For Jason Alessio, pharmacy is a family business. Growing up alongside his pharmacist father, Alessio was confident about following the same career path.
With a keen interest in advocating on behalf of the pharmacy profession, Alessio was heavily involved throughout his time at UBC as a student representative. He was thrilled to serve three terms as a BCPhA student ambassador, beginning in his second year. As a representative of the Association to faculty and students, Alessio helped educate the UBC group on the BCPhA’s new goals and policies. He also traveled to Victoria for Pharmacy Day in 2015, acting as a student ambassador and advocating for the role of pharmacy with various participating MLAs.
“I think advocacy first starts with every pharmacist,” he says. “I hope to continue staying involved with the BC Pharmacy Association, whatever that may be in the future.”
Through the PhUS, he served as sports coordinator, setting up fun sporting events for faculty and students to connect in a unique way, through events such as dodgeball, a ski trip, a visit to a Whitecaps game and more. He’s also used his PhUS participation to assist in and co-organize (in his third and fourth year) an annual speed networking event where students receive tips and hints on networking, working with a mentor through a fun, lighthearted model based on speed dating.
Following graduation, Alessio will move to the Interior to start work in an independent pharmacy, to be closer to his family. He hopes to one day move into a managerial as well as business ownership role.
“I feel that would give me the freedom to practice in a way that would be the most beneficial,” he says. “It’s a unique avenue for pharmacy – to run your business and optimize patient care at the same time.”