By: Erik Pedersen, Senior Communications Manager
BALTIMORE – A Notre Dame of Maryland University pharmacy student was one of just five applicants from across the country selected to receive the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s CVS Health Minority Scholarship for Pharmacy Students.
Funmi Olateru-Olagbegi D’26 earned the prestigious national award following an extensive review process. Awardees were required to demonstrate leadership, academic success, and a commitment to advancing the profession of pharmacy and patient care during the application process.
“The School of Pharmacy always sends out emails with scholarship, job, and internship opportunities – they are very much invested in ensuring that we are successful,” said Olateru-Olagbegi. “When I first learned about this opportunity, seeing that only five students nationally would receive the award, I was not optimistic about my chances. I realized, though, that the previous winners took the chance despite those odds, and I decided to apply with that in mind. I was overwhelmed with joy and quite pleasantly surprised when I learned that I had been selected.”
Olateru-Olagbegi, who was the only pharmacy student in the nation selected earlier this year for a summer internship supporting the United States Pharmacopeia’s Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) Program, assumed several leadership positions during her first year on campus. A Dean’s List student, she serves as Vice President for the Class of 2026 and NDMU’s Christian Pharmacist Fellowship International (CPFI) chapter, President-elect for NDMU’s Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) chapter, and treasurer for the Phi Lambda Sigma leadership honor society.
In addition to pursuing her Pharm.D. degree at NDMU, Olateru-Olagbegi also hopes to earn a Master of Science in Healthcare Data Analytics through the School of Pharmacy’s collaborative partnership with Clarkson University.
Off campus, Olateru-Olagbegi is a member of the Health Professional Student Association (HPSA), an organization which is dedicated to increasing access to healthcare by helping students from underserved areas become health professionals. In 2022-23, she served on the student advisory board, which provides aspiring healthcare students with a variety of assistance, including interview practice, personal essay writing tips, scholarship resources, and financial aid application guidance.
“I’ve made it my mission to assist minority students with similar dreams of becoming healthcare providers,” Olateru-Olagbegi said. “In order to provide better patient outcomes and advance the pharmacy profession, we must recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion. As a young student pharmacist, it is important to see others that look like you in the profession, and it is important to broaden the scope of healthcare by better understanding that patients come from various cultures and backgrounds.”
Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.