Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy to receive $2 million grant toward dual degree program

The Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy will receive a $2 million grant from The Mario Family Foundation to fund scholarships for students finishing their last two years in the PharmD/MD dual degree program, according to an article from Rutgers Today.

The money from this grant will be used to facilitate The Mario Family Foundation Endowed PharmD/MD Scholarship, which will go toward supporting a distinguished group of interdisciplinary practitioners in the fields of pharmacy and medicine. 

The University’s PharmD/MD program was created in 2013 as the first PharmD/MD dual degree program in the country, according to the article. It places a focus on educating students in health care policy, research and clinical settings.

Forty-five students have taken part in the program so far, and applications for the fall semester are due the first week of January 2022.

Students chosen for the program will matriculate into the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School following the completion of the PharmD program and will not have to take the MCAT exam typically needed for medical school applications, according to the article.

"This is a real game-changer in that it will provide support to future health care innovators that will use the strengths of both professions and become change agents in pharmacy and medicine,” said Joseph Barone, dean of the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.