First Alaska-based pharmacy school program to start in 2016

The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is starting a pharmacy school program in partnership with Idaho State University (ISU). It will be the first pharmacy school entirely based in Alaska.

According to the Associated Press, classes will begin next year and the first class is expected to have between 10 and 15 students.

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Tom Wadsworth, ISU’s assistant dean of Alaska programs, said the program is designed to provide Alaska-specific training to pharmacists who will, hopefully, remain in the state.

"The premise is that we get pharmacists, clinical pharmacists, who are reared in the state, who are from here and who will be networked into the pharmacy community here, so they stay here," Wadsworth said.

Students will attend classes at the UAA, but will receive doctor of pharmacy degrees from ISU. The students will also attend some classes via videoconference.

The UAA students will pay out-of-state tuition, which is about $18,000 per semester.