Sullivan Univ. to launch pharmacy school

Louisville hasn’t had a pharmacy school since 1947, when the old Louisville College of Pharmacy was moved to the University of Kentucky.

But that’s about to change. In response to a growing national demand for pharmacists, Sullivan University will break ground tomorrow for a pharmacy college in a renovated building on Gardiner Lane, across Bardstown Road from its existing campus.

It will be the first doctoral program for Sullivan, which calls itself “Kentucky’s Career University,” training students for a range of careers — from business managers to bakers, paralegals to professional nannies.

And it responds to a national demand that is acute in Kentucky, according to the Pharmacy Manpower Project, which maintains an index of states’ pharmacist shortages. Kentucky has the second-largest shortage, behind Alabama.

The growing need for pharmacists is fueled by several factors, including the aging of the baby boom-generation; more and better medications for chronic conditions; and the spread of 24-hour pharmacies, including those in food and discount stores.

“The number of prescriptions … has gone up dramatically,” said Peter Vlasses, executive director of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. “Pharmacies are opening everywhere.” The national council is currently reviewing Sullivan’s application for accreditation for its pharmacy school.

The number of pharmacy colleges nationally is also on the rise. Since 1999 their number has grown by nearly 25 percent, to 103, Vlasses said — and more are being planned.

Sullivan’s school will become Kentucky’s second when classes begin next July.

It will provide an in-state alternative to UK, whose highly rated but overcrowded pharmacy college accepts one in eight applicants.

Within a few years, Sullivan expects to turn out nearly 100 pharmacists a year — enough to fill roughly one-fourth of the current estimated shortage in Kentucky.

The college also could help business leaders recruit drug-related firms to town, and its faculty pharmacists could collaborate with medical and dental researchers at the University of Louisville, officials said.

But for Patrick Starowitz, 24, the school could provide something more basic — the chance to stay in his hometown while training for his career.

“I’ve grown up in Louisville my whole life and I love the city of Louisville.

Convenience-wise, my family’s here, my job’s here,” said Starowitz, a recent U of L graduate who is a pharmacy technician at a Kroger store in St. Matthews.

He hopes to be in Sullivan’s first pharmacy class, though he has also applied to other schools.

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