Alumna combines a love of pharmacy and teaching
Caroline Asbill’s journey at the University of South Carolina began in orientation as a nursing student. By the end of the day, she had switched her major to exercise science.
“I always knew I wanted to go into health care in some capacity and I was always fascinated by the human body and its physiology,” she says.
After completing her undergraduate studies, Asbill explored her future career options. She shadowed a pharmacist and felt that pharmacy school would be a good fit. She went on to earn her Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2016. While committed to a career in health care, she held a deep respect for the field of education.
“My mom is one of three sisters who were all educators. I have always had a great appreciation for teaching. Now I have been able to marry health care and academia,” she says.
Asbill is the course coordinator for the health-systems pharmacy laboratory courses and director of the Aseptic Compounding Experience Laboratory in the College of Pharmacy. She also maintains her practice as a staffing pharmacist with Prisma Health Richland.
“Having a practice site and being in academia is of great benefit because I can provide my students with the most up-to-date information and real-life applications," says Asbill. "We try to expose the students to various health-system pharmacy settings, including hospital, long-term care and home infusion pharmacy.”
Asbill emphasizes the significance of the ACE Lab in enhancing student learning.
“It provides an immersive experience that allows for supervised exploration and hands-on training to make them successful practitioners,” she says.
She credits her team – Carl Dunn and Lori Rotola, both alumni of the College of Pharmacy – for the lab’s smooth operation and success.
“They offer such valuable expertise because they have filled a variety of roles, working with patients and in administration and operations.”
At the end of the day, seeing the students connect the dots is Asbill’s reward.
“The human connection, interacting with students, allows me to invest in them and see them grow,” she says. “To understand and to put into practice the skills and abilities that we pour into them, that is a defining piece of our profession for which I am so passionate.”
Topics: Pharm.D. Program, Clinical Pharmacy & Outcomes Sciences