JOHNSON CITY — Iris Kamgue, a first-year student at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy, was honored when she found out that her application for a national diversity scholarship was successful.

“To be selected as one of the five students is quite unbelievable,” said Kamgue, who was awarded by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) and CVS Health as a recipient of an $8,000 CVS Health Minority Scholarship for Pharmacy Students. She was chosen from among nearly 400 applicants across the country.

The CVS Health Minority Scholarship for Pharmacy Students is intended to promote and support a diverse population of student pharmacists by reducing the financial barriers and challenges for underrepresented minority students who are pursuing a PharmD degree. From Douala, a coastal city in Southwest Cameroon, Africa, Kamgue stated in her application a desire to take the health care skills she is learning at Gatton College of Pharmacy back to her home.

“I want to help modernize and revolutionize the health care system in Cameroon,” she said. “One thing in particular would be to open a 24-hour pharmacy or a hospital that has its own pharmacy inside so that discharged patients do not have to drive across the town to get their medications.”

This scholarship is consistent with Gatton College of Pharmacy’s goal to promote diversity. The college recently received one of two diversity grants from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation to support the pharmacy school’s commitment to recruiting a diverse student body. The $15,000 grant will help the college develop an outreach program aimed at currently enrolled pre-health professional students from the Appalachian region who are the first in their families to attend institutions of higher learning.

Founded as the nation’s first private college of pharmacy within a public university, Gatton College of Pharmacy receives no state money and makes an annual statewide economic impact of over $36 million. Over half of its graduates reside and practice in Tennessee. Learn more at www.etsu.edu/pharmacy.