New recruitment scholarship established by Donohoes and Brophys
A VCU School of Pharmacy recruitment scholarship has been established by Krista and Brendan Donohoe and Gretchen and Don Brophy.
A recruitment scholarship is one made available to a student who’s been accepted by the school but who has not yet matriculated. Think of a football scholarship … but this one will go toward a good, solid pharmacy education.
The donors’ names might sound familiar if you’ve been around the school in the last decade or two. Krista Larson Donohoe graduated from the School of Pharmacy in 2010 and returned the next year as an assistant professor. Don and Gretchen Brophy are in their 22nd year as professors at the school. And all three work in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science, which Don Brophy chairs.
How did this co-endowed scholarship come about?
“As a student, I had always thought about funding a scholarship,” said Donohoe. Now that she is on faculty, her decision to look into the possibility of giving back was inspired partly by the fact that her sister won a recruitment scholarship to James Madison University’s physician assistant program.
“That helped incentivize me,” she said. That and the fact that Donohoe’s husband, Brendan – who works in investments – was on board with the idea. But the couple had a certain amount in mind and wondered if they might find a co-investor to help achieve the endowment threshold.
In the meantime, the Brophys had been longtime members of the school’s Galen Society for leadership donors and already were contributing on an annual basis.
The Brophys had spoken to SOP development director Ellen Carfagno about giving opportunities, including a scholarship if the donation could be shared. As it happens, she told them, she knew of another couple who just might be interested.
“We would like to do anything that would help our students,” said Don Brophy. “Anything that will aid students, we’re all in.”
The match was made, and a scholarship was born. “It’s going to a great cause,” Brophy said. “Our students.”
“We are really excited about this scholarship,” added Gretchen Brophy. “We know it will help students achieve their goal of becoming pharmacists.”
Both couples agree that the School of Pharmacy is an excellent destination for newly recruited students. “That’s why I came to work here!” exclaimed Donohoe.
To learn more about scholarships available to VCU School of Pharmacy students — or how to create one or make a donation — click here.
Categories Alumni news, Faculty news, Student news