Sharks Rx Spring 2018 | NSU College of Pharmacy

language,” Jouve Gonzalez said. “There were days that were very tough for me. It was very overwhelming.” That feeling of being overwhelmed, however, has been alleviated with the help of NSU faculty members and a scholarship she earned to assist with financial difficulties. “Once, I decided to see one of the professors, and he was so understanding. All the professors are there to listen to you and help you with what you need,” she said. Jouve Gonzalez has gone on to become president of Rho Chi, the academic honor society in pharmacy, and is an international student ambassador for NSU and the University of Havana in Cuba. Earning a pharmacy degree from NSU’s College of Pharmacy is difficult enough on its own. Earning one with an accelerated academic schedule because of a devastating hurricane is nearly impossible. However, Tarraza Santos is making the impossible possible. His fall semester was interrupted by Hurricane Maria’s devastation at NSU’s Puerto Rico Regional Campus, forcing him and his classmates to complete the fall semester in significantly less time. “I’m also doing an internship with Kmart, and every Saturday I’m working in the community pharmacy with them,” Tarraza Santos said. “It’s really good experience, because right now, I’m in a pharmacotherapy course.” Part of his drive comes from his desire to honor his mother’s legacy. His mother, Wanda Santos Marrero, Pharm.D. (’07), a graduate of NSU’s postbaccalaureate program in Puerto Rico, was recently recognized as an invaluable preceptor by the campus. “To have the opportunity to serve, to help others, it’s my passion,” Terraza Santos said. “That is why I study pharmacy.” Xiong credits NSU with setting her on the right path to continue studying for her PGY1 and PGY2 residencies. “Those pharmacotherapy courses laid a super solid foundation for me to build up from there,” she said. “It’s a good knowledge base, so I really appreciate the faculty for those courses.” Despite financial and other challenges, she moved forward with her PGY1 residency at Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia, South Carolina, and is now completing her PGY2 residency at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, Jouve Gonzalez left her home country at age 18 to move to Austria for school before landing an opportunity to come to the United States. “I never knew I wanted to be a pharmacist. In fact, I was in Austria to study international business,” she said. “Once I came here, I wasn’t able to start college right away. I went for a little course they were offering in Miami Dade, and I applied as a pharmacy technician. After volunteering for 600 hours at Walgreens, I got hired.” Working at Walgreens allowed her to focus on one of her most beloved aspects of pharmacy: connecting with people. “Being there in the community pharmacy is something I started to like. That’s when I started to do all my prerequisites and ended up in the pharmacy school,” she said. Spending time away from her mother and her grand- mother in Cuba has been a struggle for Jouve Gonzalez. “While I’m in school, I have to work so I can sustain them,” she said. “There are people who depend on me, and that puts even more pressure on me.” That pressure extends to completing a pharmacy degree. “You come from another country, and this isn’t your first Gonzalez Santos