STATEWIDE ENGAGEMENT
Undergraduate Research Experience Shaped Student’s Pharmacy Future
Pharmacy student Rahma Mohamed (far right) took part in a program focused on providing fresh produce to people with chronic diseases. Mohamed worked alongside (L to R) Jenifer Allsworth, Ph.D., vice chair of biomedical and health informatics at the School of Medicine; Janet Rhone, community health strategies director at University Health; Kelsey Gardiner, assistant professor at the School of Nursing and Health Studies; and Rachel Relic, case manager at KC CARE Health Center.
Before Rahma Mohamed (BHS ’25) became a first-year pharmacy student, she was part of a research team at UMKC’s School of Nursing and Health Studies looking into the effectiveness of a program called FoodFARMacy. The program, a yearlong intervention through University Health, provided fresh produce to people with chronic diseases, such as diabetes.
Mohamed’s involvement in the program while obtaining her bachelor’s degree gave her a newfound assurance in the healthcare provider she plans to become.
“The whole experience has given me (faith) in myself and what I can accomplish,” Mohamed said. “It’s really given me confidence to go out there and do more for the public.”
In addition to pursuing her pharmacy degree, Mohamed is also earning her Master of Business Administration — taking advantage of the School of Pharmacy’s partnership with UMKC’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management, which offers pharmacy students a quicker and more cost-effective way to earn both their Pharm.D. and their MBA.
But three degrees still won’t be quite enough for Mohamed. She sees public health as an avenue to advocate for her patients on a larger scale.
“When I complete (my MBA and Pharm.D.), I hope to get a master’s in public health because it really is in my heart,” Mohamed said.
The FoodFARMacy program gave her insight into the growing “food as medicine” movement, which provides people with nutritious food, using it to promote optimal health and healing while reducing disease. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ most recent data, 13.5% of U.S. households (about 18 million people) experienced food insecurity at some point in 2023.
Because of her experience and knowledge in this area, Mohamed now plans to incorporate “food as medicine” into her own pharmacy practice.
“We were able to see some significantly improved metrics in the participants — decreased hypertension and other improved biomarkers,” Mohamed said. “When I’m a pharmacist, not only will I be dispensing medicine, but I also plan to inform my patients about the importance of a healthy lifestyle through food.”
Mohamed got to present some of the FoodFARMacy team’s research at a national conference for the Society for Public Health Education.
“They were all really interested in the work we were doing,” Mohamed said. “Some of them even said how much they would love to see similar projects implemented at their universities.”
The FoodFARMacy program helped Mohamed build a community of like-minded health professionals who value the work they do.
“We all wanted to see positive changes in people,” Mohamed said. “It felt like everybody was doing the most they could to make that change happen.”
"The whole experience has given me (faith) in myself and what I can accomplish."
RAHMA MOHAMED (BHS ’25)
Training Pharmacists for Rural Communities
The School of Pharmacy marks milestone anniversaries in Columbia and Springfield, reflecting UMKC’s long-term commitment to rural care
Carly Steuber (Pharm.D. '17) helped to revive UMKC's Introduction to Rural Health course at the School of Pharmacy's Columbia location.
In rural Missouri, a community pharmacist is often more than just a person behind the counter. They’re a first stop for medical questions, a trusted face for immunizations and sometimes — the only accessible healthcare provider for miles.
For decades, the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy has worked to ensure those communities don’t lose that valuable lifeline by training future pharmacists close to home, so they can return to serve the places that raised them.
This year, UMKC School of Pharmacy marks two milestones in that effort: 20 years of pharmacy education in Columbia, Missouri, and 10 years in Springfield, Missouri. Together, the rural satellite campuses reflect a long-standing commitment to addressing pharmacy shortages.
“Our satellite campuses provide access to high-quality pharmacy education for those who wouldn't be able to move to Kansas City,” said Dean Russell Melchert, Ph.D. “They are graduating and having an impact on more rural areas in the state, providing care for people who otherwise wouldn't have a pharmacist to take care of them.”
Southwest Missouri has already seen dramatic improvements in pharmacist shortages in the area thanks to the School of Pharmacy’s presence in Springfield.
“We've graduated 206 pharmacists through that expansion, and nearly 80% of them are practicing pharmacy in Missouri, and of those, almost 64% are practicing in southwest Missouri,” Melchert said. “The impact has been tremendous.”
The UMKC School of Pharmacy is setting an example that expansion doesn’t have to require extensive university investments. Rather than building new schools from scratch, UMKC created satellite campuses for the School of Pharmacy in already existing institutions, allowing the school to reduce overhead costs.
“We demonstrated that we could expand our program from Kansas City to our Mizzou campus and do that in a very cost-efficient way,” Melchert said. “We did the same thing outside of the UM System, partnering with Missouri State University in Springfield.”
Supported by seven faculty members in Columbia and six in Springfield, students from those campuses have access to the same core curriculum as the students on the Kansas City campus.
One course, Introduction to Rural Health, is aimed at preparing students for the realities of working as a pharmacist in a rural area. Previously offered, and revived this spring, the course is led by Clinical Assistant Professor Carly Steuber (Pharm.D. ’17). Steuber grew up in the rural town of Mount Vernon, Missouri, attended the Columbia campus for her undergraduate and pharmacy degree and now works at a clinic in Fayette, Missouri.
“I'm really excited because I think it'll introduce a lot of the topics about rural health to our students who are interested,” Steuber said. “Many are from rural communities, and I'll just kind of show them the complexity, the nuances of all of that, before they go out on their rotations, hopefully to some of those rural sites.
"There's a lot of literature that supports the idea that people from rural communities want to go back to rural communities to work."
CARLY STEUBER (PHARM.D. ’17)
Steuber spends time with some of her students on Mizzou's campus.
Between offering courses focused on rural health and creating campuses closer to rural communities, the School of Pharmacy is focused on training students who are more likely to practice in rural Missouri.
“There's a lot of literature that supports the idea that people from rural communities want to go back to rural communities to work,” Steuber said. “There are many who don't want to move so far from their support systems, especially when they're entering a difficult, strenuous, professional degree program.”
Reducing the barriers to access pharmacy education is vital in areas known as “pharmacy deserts,” which are communities where residents have limited or no access to local pharmacies.
“We have significant pharmacy deserts around the rural areas of this country, and that's a significant problem,” Melchert said. “People think, ‘Well, they can get their medicine in the mail.’ But it's kind of hard to get a vaccination in the mail.
By educating students close to home and encouraging them return to rural areas to practice, UMKC School of Pharmacy is helping sustain access to care in communities where losing a single pharmacist can mean losing a pharmacy altogether.
“We're helping make sure there are pharmacists out there, and hopefully also putting a dent in keeping pharmacies from closing,” Melchert said. “Because if there are no pharmacists to hire in rural areas, pharmacies can’t stay open.”
Left: University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Missouri. Right: UMKC's School of Pharmacy in Springfield, Missouri.