Launched in fall 2005, the UNC-Chapel Hill/ECSU Doctor of Pharmacy Partnership Program enrolls 10-15 students per year at the Elizabeth City State University campus. This partnership enables the Doctor of Pharmacy degree(PharmD) program to increase the number of graduates each year and to promote increased numbers of pharmacists working in underserved populations, especially in northeastern North Carolina. 

The PharmD is neither an undergraduate degree (such as a BS or BA) nor a graduate degree (such as an MS, MBA, or PhD). The doctor of pharmacy is a professional degree for pharmacists similar to the doctor of medicine (MD) for physicians or a doctor of dental surgery (DDS) for dentists.

Graduates of the UNC-Chapel Hill/ECSU Doctor of Pharmacy Partnership Program will receive a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill with acknowledgement of the partnership with Elizabeth City State University.  There is a strong dedication from faculty and administration on both campuses to insure that educational opportunities are equivalent for students on both campuses.  Course curriculum and admissions processes are identical for all students on both campuses.

Once enrolled in the PharmD program the student will follow an intensive four year curriculum including ten months of professional experience programs.  Students in the partnership program will remain on the ECSU campus for three years of didactic instruction in the professional education program, with the exception of program orientation and special events.  Instruction will be delivered through synchronous video-teleconferencing with some on-campus instruction and ancillary web-based instruction.  Students will have opportunities to interact with UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and advisors through a variety of computer mediated communications (CMC), as well as with a small number of pharmacy faculty and advisors residing on the ECSU campus.  Students will complete their experiential training through the AHEC system in the same manner as students from the Chapel Hill campus, with preferential scheduling in the northeastern region of the state.

For more information on the Doctor of Pharmacy degree please email us, call us at 252-335-3828 and ask for Dr. Huyla Coker, or click here.