SHARKS RX Spring 2016 Magazine

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 20 O ne might wonder how Nour Samra, a class of 2017 Pharm.D. student, does it all. She is consistently at the top of her class, the recipient of nu- merous scholarships, the president of the NSU chapter of the Student National Pharmaceu- tical Association (SNPhA), an intern at Target Pharmacy, and more. To find the answer, one must first understand what truly drives Samra to lead, achieve, and succeed. Samra’s path to the NSU College of Pharmacy (COP) was anything but ordinary. She was born in Wichita, Kansas, but spent most of her young life in Miramar, Florida. Then, in her last year of high school, her family decided to move back to its native country, Syria, living in Damascus for six years until the conflict there escalated. In the sum- mer of 2012, her parents made the difficult decision to return to Florida, and the family left Damascus just two days before the war caused the airport to close. For Samra, the move meant leaving the pharmacy program in which she was enrolled at Arab International Univer- sity, even though she was close to graduating. Back in the United States, she looked for a way to finish what she had started. “I was passionate about pharmacy in Syria, and I was willing to do whatever it took,” she explained. “I knew NSU had a pharmacy program, but it was discouraging at first because the school couldn’t take most of my credits.” Tenacious Student Driven by a Purpose Samra was determined to get into NSU’s COP as quickly as possible, and although it should have taken four semesters to complete her remaining prerequisites, she completed 60 credit hours in only two semesters, having to enroll in two different universities to avoid maximum enrollment poli- cies. “When I’m determined about something and excited, I get a little delusional. But I did it,” she said. “And I only got one B . Other than that, I got straight A s.” She took the PCAT entrance exam and interviewed with NSU even before she had completed the required classes. “I was so lucky to be given a chance,” Samra said. “When I got the phone call that I’d been accepted, I literally began to cry.” Samra started the Pharm.D. program in the fall of 2013 and has not slowed down since. She is in the top 5 percent of her class and takes on numerous leadership roles. In addition to being president of the SNPhA, she is a student board member on the Broward County Pharmacy Associ- ation, vice president of Rho Chi, a student ambassador in the Dean’s Ambassador Program, a peer mentor, treasurer of the Muslim Association of Students in Health Care, and more. She has also been awarded numerous prestigious scholarships, including the Tylenol Future Care Schol- arship, the Kroger Endowment Scholarship, the Richard and Hannah Stern Endowment Scholarship, the Publix Endowment Scholarship, and the Walgreens Diversity Advancement Award. By Ellen Wolfson Valladares