Increasing Global Access to Medicines
This summer Caroline is serving as Roivant Social Ventures' Global Access Fellow, where she has been placed with Med Aditus to:
Research companies that are addressing cost issues and drug shortages in the US, for the purpose of identifying best practices applicable to Med Aditus' mission to improve access to affordable quality drugs in sub-Saharan Africa.
Assist in developing financial plans and revenue forecast models for a Med Aditus subsidiary.
Draft and submit funding and investment proposals.
Assist in refining slide decks for investor engagement.
A third-generation pharmacist, Caroline began working in her family's pharmacy in rural North Carolina at the age of twelve years old. It was here that Caroline found her passion working with underserved patient groups. In Caroline’s hometown (population 577), most residents must travel far distances to the nearest doctor or pharmacy, and the average patient visits a pharmacy ten times more often than their primary care provider (Carolina Pharmacy). Through seeing the impact that her father and grandfather had on her community, Caroline saw first-hand that pharmacists are both knowledgeable and essential.
Caroline shared, "Through my work, I hope to improve the quality of life of as many people as possible. I hope to do this in my career as a pharmacist, and with my Global Access Fellowship with Roivant Social Ventures and Med Aditus. Like the pharmacy that I grew up working in, my Fellowship will concentrate on care for underserved patient groups.”
We sat down with Caroline to learn more about her accomplishments to date, what personally drives her work, and how her summer internship will impact her career development.
Caroline has developed her leadership experiences to date through:
Completing Pharmacy internships at Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation and multiple TAS Drug locations.
Rotating in the geriatric wing and Emergency Department of the UNC Medical Center, where she worked with inter-disciplinary healthcare teams and put her pharmacy school learnings into practice.
Advancing business strategy for TAS Drug to enhance patient care, improve Medicare Part D star ratings, and develop alternate revenue streams. This included participation in CPESN Care Plans, payer opportunities, Medication Therapy Management, 340B programs, provider outreach, and clinic partnerships.
Reviving Eshelman's chapter of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and obtaining national recognition.
Developing a new model for collaborative identification and management of patients with Opioid Use Disorder, using a Payment for Performance Model, with the goal of addressing a serious unmet medical need overburdening the US Healthcare system.
Serving as a member of Eshelman's Senate Executive Council as Wellness Chair.
Are there any particular areas of medicine that you’re especially interested in?
"In pharmacy school, I realized that I have interests in many disease states, and diabetes has stood out to me. While medications are lifesaving, I am also an advocate for disease mitigation and prevention via nonmedicinal means. Diabetes has one of the largest disease burdens in the US, and many of my friends and family have this diagnosis. Type 2 Diabetes can be prevented. I am passionate about holistic health, which includes diet and exercise, making treatment and mitigation a passion of mine."
What caught your interest about the internship department that you will be working with this summer?
"Serving underserved populations has always been a personal mission, and I am so excited to expand my passion to a global extent. Of all the opportunities I researched, this fellowship seemed the most personal and wide-reaching. Some of RSV and Med Aditus’ core values include pursuing excellence, empowering people, serving others, integrity, honesty, transparency, and placing the patients interests first. These values resonated with me."
"Another great appeal of this RSV Global Access Fellowship and working directly with Med Aditus was the common background I shared with Dhiren Thakker, Med Aditus Founder and CEO. He was also raised within a family pharmacy and has spent decades teaching at Eshelman, and served as Interim Dean from 2017 through 2019.”
Med Aditus International, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with a mission to improve access to affordable quality medicines for patients in sub-Saharan Africa.
Founded in North Carolina, Med Aditus is deploying in Africa cutting-edge technologies such as portable continuous modular manufacturing and blockchain-powered digital quality management systems. In addition, Med Aditus seeks to contribute to the long-term growth and sustainability of the pharmaceutical industry by expanding workforce capacity, and reducing the pervasiveness of counterfeit and substandard medicines.
Roivant Social Ventures Fellowship Program
During the Spring 2023 semester all interns completed RSV's "Making Medicines" course at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the top ranked School of Pharmacy in the United States. This innovative course was designed to introduce PharmD students to the new drug approval process and key issues in drug discovery, pre-clinical testing, clinical trials, FDA approval, and global access to medicines. The course is taught by Lindsay Androski, RSV Founder & CEO, and Scott Singleton, Associate Professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.