Ramsey Akel Ramsey is a rising P2 from Franklin, Tennessee. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, especially sci-fi and fantasy novels. He is also training to run the St. Jude Half-marathon this December!
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We have two more alumni officers to spotlight in this post: 2017 graduates Justin Chai and Carmen Esch. They serve as treasurer and secretary, respectively. Dr. Justin Chai
Dr. Carmen Esch ![]() What position do you hold? Secretary What do you do now? Completing PGY1 general pharmacy practice residency at Cookeville Regional Medical Center in Cookeville, Tennessee. Looking for a job upon finishing in June. How were you involved at UT? Served as Worthy Chief Counselor during the 2014-2015 academic year Tell us something fun about yourself I am getting married in July! I guess that’s technically something I am doing instead of about myself… but my life has been residency/wedding planning pretty exclusively. Something fun about myself that most people who know me probably already know is that my happy place is relaxing with a pint of chocolate ice cream watching the show FRIENDS… literally the best. Now you have met three out of five of our alumni leaders, so stay tuned as we wrap up our introductions next time with Drs. Drew Armstrong and Erika Wanner.
At the beginning of May, the chapter held our P4 graduation ceremony. We presented them with mortar and pestle sets as a thank you for all they’ve done for us. We are so proud of them for making it this far and cannot wait to see what the future holds for them! Following the ceremony, brothers met at Wiseacre brewery to spend time together before they all go their separate ways. It was also an opportunity to mingle with alumni in the area and learn about the benefits of being alumni, as well as how to stay involved. Congratulations, Class of 2018!
We held our annual awards banquet at the end of April at the Bass Pro Pyramid. Here are the awards we presented: P2 and WVC of Nashville Azur Priode was awarded the Kirk Hevener Award: This award is given to a Brother who has the ability to balance academics and leadership in such a way as to succeed in both, while simultaneously striving to improve the lives of those around them by generously giving their time and talents. Nominated Brother must have a minimum 3.3 GPA. Past WCC SJ Kim was awarded the Keith Sargent Service Award: This award is given to the Brother who has gone above and beyond to provide outstanding service to the school, the fraternity, and the community. We also honored SJ with the Pleasants-Tucker Scholarship: The Pleasant Tucker Scholarship shall be awarded to a Brother who continuously works to promote scholarship among the chapter WCC-Elect Evan Farris was awarded the Paul Rettinger Emerging Leader Award: This award is given to a Brother that has stepped up and shown great love and service for the Brotherhood. Past WCC and 2018 graduate Jessica Some was awarded the Whigham Brother of the Year Award: This award is given to a graduating P4 Brother who has served the fraternity unselfishly over the years. This individual promotes Brotherhood in everyday life and participates in fraternity events. P3 Dylan Knox was awarded the Hard Worker Award: This award is given to any Brother who is in good academic standing while actively participating and contributing to professional pharmacy organizations. This individual continues to promote service and leadership and continues to make Phi Delta Chi proud. Dr. Daniel Jinks also accepted his Distinguished Alumnus award at the banquet. Special Guest Speaker Dr. Tim Tucker![]() Dr. Tim Tucker, class of 1988, was our banquet speaker this year. Dr. Tucker told some great stories from his time at UT and his path to growing as the leader we know him to be. A past national president of the American Pharmacists Association, we were honored to have him as a guest. His leadership extends far beyond pharmacy and well into the community, having served on the town council and school board in Huntingdon. In his speech, he offered his sage advice to brothers: Dream big, don’t take “no” for an answer, and never meet a stranger. In case you were curious, Dr. Tucker has also a Wikipedia page about him. Some other PDC alumni in attendance included Drs. Erika Wanner, Joe Swanson, Kirk Hevener, and Andrea Bourque, who herself is not an Omega alumna but serves as Grand Vice President of Alumni Affairs.
In February, the Tennessee Pharmacists Association hosted their annual winter meeting in downtown Nashville. 7 PDC brothers attended, including members-at-large Sara Nimer and Erin Sherwin and delegates Zach Martin and Parin Patel. Rising P4 Anna Kegley Love also presented a poster at the TSHP meeting that weekend. In March, UT College of Pharmacy had nearly 100 students attend the APhA Annual Meeting in Nashville. PDC brothers from all campuses got to see how APhA operates, and of course, visit with the Grand Poobah Dr. Ralph Soroyan and PDC brothers from across the country at the PDC reception. Omega brothers also gathered at Clyde’s on Main to hang out and catch up over the weekend.
Each year, Omega chapter tries to schedule a visit to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The visit is a great opportunity to understand our role in Phi Delta Chi’s national philanthropy, and to see the impact the pharmacy profession can have on the care of cancer patients. Several PDC alumni and students work either in the pharmacy or in research at St. Jude.
As the Omega chapter began to discuss whom we should award the Outstanding Alumnus Award, there was no question that Dr. Daniel Jinks was most worthy. A recent graduate, Dr. Jinks has maintained close ties with the chapter and its members. There is not a single brother who does not know his name or face. He is almost always present at every event we host throughout the year, and he always makes it a point to befriend each brother and new member.
While at UT, Dr. Jinks served as Worthy Alumni Liaison. In the spring of 2017, Dr. Jinks began the process of gathering Omega alumni to reinstall the Alumni Chapter. After much hard work, national and regional officers came to the Omega Chapter house on October 28, 2017, to perform the ceremony. It was a full house! We as a chapter are immensely thankful for Dr. Jinks’ support, dedication, and friendship. He embodies every principle of a Phi Delta Chi brother. Therefore, we are extremely happy to present this award to him. We’ve collected a short Q&A to introduce him as our alumni chapter president: What is your graduation year? May 2016 What do you do now? I am a Pharmacist employed at Boatwright Pharmacy in Millington and Atoka How were you involved at UT? I was the Alumni Liasion for PDC for two years. I went to two MRMs in Charlotte, North Carolina, the 2nd was in Nashville, Tennessee. I attended two Regionals with PDC. One in Nashville, Tennessee and the other Ocean City, Maryland. Went to Grand Council in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was also the Chair of Community Pharmacy special interest group and attended an APhA Annual in Orlando, Florida. Tell us something fun about yourself? I recently bought a motorcycle (over this summer). It is a Harley Davidson, Heritage Soft-tail Classic.My Jersey name is “Star Fox”. This was given to me by my Big. It derived from me being a Star Wars Fan, I like to play video games, and there is a game called Star Fox, and the song, “What did the Fox Say” came out and was always stuck in my head…I’d always ask folks, “What did the Fox Say?” On Saturday, January 6th, we initiated 74 candidates into our brotherhood. If you live in Memphis, you may know that the day started off a little chaotic—there was a protest scheduled near Health Sciences Park. This led to campus shutting down. Since we were already set to go in the building, we were essentially on lock-down.
Despite the excitement, initiation ran smoothly. It was a special experience to show our ritual to these new brothers and to teach them more about the fraternity’s history and traditions. The day ended with Jersey Night, held at the fraternity house. We presented each jersey to the candidates individually, with each big recollecting how they first met or chose their little and explaining how they chose each unique jersey name. ![]() On Friday, January 19th, PDC Omega had the pleasure to host Omega alumnus Dr. Joshua Caballero to speak at a leadership seminar for the whole school. He began with an overview of his experiences as a student, as a resident and fellow, and as a pharmacist. As the author of “Get the Residency,” most of his advice was geared towards students interested in pursuing residencies or fellowships. However, his advice was also valuable for those who may not consider a residency. First, place awards in the first two pages of your CV. Plan your most challenging APPEs for early in rotations. Join one to three professional organizations and commit to participating in them. Get to know professors, and look into doing research projects. Organize and take notes on all residencies to which you apply and consider bringing these to the ASHP mid-year meeting. Most of all, Dr. Caballero reflected on the value of joining a professional fraternity. His time as a PDC collegian were some of his best memories. The relationship between Phi Delta Chi and Kappa Psi was supportive as well, one of the highlights of being a member of a fraternity at UT. ![]() I would like to share with everyone the exciting news that the College of Pharmacy has shared in honor of Dr. Phelps' retirement. The following is from the UT College of Pharmacy announcement. "Dr. Stephanie Phelps will be retiring this academic year after a 36-year career with the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, of which more than 25 years she also served as our APhA-ASP Chapter Advisor. She has continued to make a significant impact on the quality of our pharmacy program and has influenced countless student pharmacists in both their education, leadership and professional development. "Before leaving the UT Health Science Center, we would like to create a scholarship endowment for student pharmacists in her name as a way to recognize the important contributions she has made in the areas of education and leadership. Please help honor this distinguished individual by going to the following website uthscalumni.com/PhelpsSchol and making a donation. We know you will want to give generously to the Stephanie Phelps Scholarship Endowment, and we thank you in advance for your support." |
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