Metro School students explore future through new College of Pharmacy program
It is a Wednesday in the middle of January – a painful 10 degrees outside – and students at Metro Early College High School in Columbus, Ohio, begin class with a confounding question: “Does a drug create a new function in the body?”
Josie Silvaroli, PhD ’24, academic Fellow at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, poses this question at the front of a newly renovated classroom while Senior Lecturer Daniel Michel, PhD, sets out rows of pastel cups along a back counter.
The pair is opening the third of six classes in the Metro School pharmacy series. Created by Dr. Michel and co-designed by Dr. Silvaroli, the series promotes awareness of pharmacy and pharmacology careers to high school students.
“By targeting these high school settings, we can illuminate a pathway that a young person can pursue for their career,” Dr. Michel said.
Dr. Michel’s program was initiated prior to the recent establishment of the College of Pharmacy’s Pathways and Recruitment Opportunities for Pharmacy Exploration and Learning (PROPEL) program to raise pharmacy career awareness among urban and rural Ohio precollege students.
“This work nicely taps into PROPEL’s goal to prepare a pharmacy workforce that meets the medication-related needs of diverse communities,” said Nicole Kwiek, PhD, professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs and educational innovation at the college. “We firmly believe that everyone benefits from access to pharmacist-provided care, and energizing young learners about how much they can do as a future pharmacist is a start.”
On this particular day, Drs. Michel and Silvaroli are introducing students to the role of pharmacology researcher. After Dr. Silvaroli’s introduction to pharmacology, the duo walked students through a mock DNA isolation lab. With blue Gatorade, Dixie cups and some basic lab materials, the high schoolers carried out simplified techniques used by real drug researchers.
“My lab shares the Metro School’s excitement around STEM education,” Dr. Michel said. “When I reached out to ask how we could capitalize on the school’s enthusiasm and get involved, I found Metro’s J-term program, which brings in outside experts to teach a class. I wanted to create a curriculum that would make pharmacy topics engaging and enjoyable for students.”
Metro was established in 2006 as the first STEM school in the state of Ohio. The school’s curriculum provides a small, intellectually vibrant learning community to prepare students for a world where math, science and technology are key.
“One of the first things I did was ask the class who was interested in health care,” Dr. Michel explained. “Over half the hands in the room shot up. But as I narrowed down the careers, asking who was interested in being a doctor, nurse, etc., no one raised their hand for pharmacist.”
Throughout the six-class series, the instructors sought to remedy that disparity by helping students build their knowledge of pharmacy from traditional community settings to the buzzing labs of drug discovery.
The high schoolers became oriented with clinical pharmacy by completing compounding simulations, medication safety reviews and a pharmacy Q&A panel featuring Ohio State BSPS student Ellie Hill, PharmD student Mallory Snyder, and Advocacy Fellow Bella Blankenship, PharmD.
“Asking the [pharmacy] students questions helped me realize that there are more career choices other than nurse and doctor,” one Metro School participant noted.
Once familiar with traditional pharmacist roles, the class tackled non-traditional pharmacists, advocacy, pharmacology and drug development.
Dr. Silvaroli, a recent graduate of the pharmaceutics and pharmacology PhD program at Ohio State, dissected the study of pharmacology and demonstrated how researchers like herself develop drugs specific to an individual’s genome.
As a group, she and the students reasoned out how drugs affect the body’s functions and isolated students’ DNA to illustrate the influence of their genome.
“I enjoy the moments while teaching students where I can share real-world experiences about the concepts to further engage them,” Dr. Silvaroli said. “I hope students will have a better understanding of the different opportunities out there and understand that the path is not always straightforward.”
Students continued to employ theories of pharmacology by demonstrating how antacids treat heartburn and discussing the origins and capabilities of drugs.
Finally, students explored the importance of advocacy and outreach in health care, a fitting conclusion for an outreach series.
Dr. Michel conducted an in-class seminar on the role of medical advertising, after which, students designed their own public service announcements on the health topic of their choice.
Across the range of pharmacy topics, Dr. Michel was pleased to see students increase their engagement with the material.
“It’s important that we don’t just present a varnished version of the career,” Dr. Michel said. “I appreciated that the panel discussed some of the challenges in being and becoming a pharmacist and our labs showcased the range of applications that pharmacy has. One of our goals for the students is a better appreciation for and understanding of pharmacy, including the knowledge of what it takes to pursue it as a career.”