The Department of Pharmacy, Brac University and California Northstate University, College of Pharmacy (CNUCOP), USA hosted a virtual Open House event on October 06, 2021 at 8:00 pm (Bangladesh Standard Time). The event was held to introduce the students to the new BPharm - PharmD Pathway Program. This new pathway program is being introduced in Bangladesh for the very first time by the Department of Pharmacy, BracU.
The session was held on Zoom for registered students, their guardians and alumni of the department and was live streamed on Facebook from the Department of Pharmacy, Brac University Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BracU.Pharmacy). The speakers at the event were Professor Dr. Eva Rahman Kabir, Chairperson, DoP, Brac University, Professor Dr. Hasina Yasmin, Deputy Chair, DoP, Brac University, Professor Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Member, BoT, Brac University, Dr. David Dowland, Registrar, Brac University, Professor Dr. Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, Convenor, Bangladesh Education Watch and Bangladesh Health Watch and Former Vice-Chair, BRAC and Professor Dr. Samia Huq, Dean of General Education and Professor of Anthropology at Brac University. The speakers from CNUCOP were Dr. Xiaodong Feng, Dean, Dr. Fakhrul Ahsan, Distinguished Professor, Dr. Ashim Malhotra, Assistant Dean of Accreditation and Program Development, and Dr. Olivia Phung, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs. Esteemed guests from pharmaceutical companies and research institutes of Bangladesh also joined the event.
The welcome speech was given by Professor Dr. Eva Rahman Kabir, where she informed the students about the growing interest in pharmacy practice and the need for more patient-care oriented pharmacists and hospital based pharmacists in Bangladesh. Keeping this future prospect in mind, it was her desire to provide the students of the department with the opportunity to pursue PharmD as a professional degree. Professor Dr. Yasmin emphasized on the benefits of the BPharm-PharmD pathway for the students.
The students were introduced to CNUCOP and the BPharm-PharmD pathway. The speakers of CNUCOP discussed in detail about the profession of pharmacy in the United States and also gave an overview of the admissions process in CNUCOP. They also explained the Rx Mentoring Program of CNUCOP and how the students could benefit from it. Professor Dr. Fakhrul Ahsan shared his personal and professional experiences. The students’ queries about the BPharm-PharmD pathway program were addressed by the panelists.
The 2 hour 30 minutes long virtual program was moderated by Ms. Namara Mariam Chowdhury, Lecturer at the Department of Pharmacy, Brac University, and the overall technical part of the event was taken care of by Mr. Easin Uddin Syed, Mr. Faruque Azam and Ms. Tanisha Momtaz, Lecturers of the Department of Pharmacy.