The Spring 2023 Joseph J. Bogdan, Inc. Healthcare Professional Scholarship Winner

Kascha Brown

Pharmacy student Kascha Brown has been named as the most recent recipient of the firm’s biannual scholarship. Kascha has made honorable sacrifices to pursue this degree and we know she will work hard to make a difference in the world of medicine. After graduating in May 2024, Kascha hopes to increase access to pharmaceutical services and decrease wait times in underserved communities. We wish Kascha the best of luck!

Read Kascha's Essay:

I was terrified of hospitals, growing up. It seemed that whenever a loved one was rushed to a hospital, they never returned home. The reasons varied, but that wasn’t something I could rationalize as a child. I saw no difference between an ambulance and a hearse. I’d often accompany my grandparents to their appointments, passively awaiting their healing in overflowing waiting rooms and in long pharmacy lines. But sometimes the wait was too long. My grandfather died in the waiting room of an understaffed emergency room. My elderly neighbor, who was too weak to wait in pharmacy lines, died waiting for a replacement for lost mail-order medications. As the trends continued, I felt compelled to step up. I wanted to educate my family about their chronic health conditions. I wanted to be an advocate. I’ve always longed to have a hand in providing the equitable health care that my community deserves.

My grandma was fortunate to have a phenomenal pharmacist who noticed gaps in her care and acted, providing education and tutorials when others on the care team had not. Patients at this independent pharmacy didn't have to wait to be cared for by her. In speaking with Grandma, the pharmacist learned that Grandma had been properly taking medications for months while experiencing awful side effects with no improvement in her condition. Moments later, the pharmacist spoke with my grandmother’s doctor and collectively decided on a different drug. In my eyes, she was a superhero. She rescued my grandmother from dying while waiting.

The passion that my grandmother’s pharmacist had for our community inspired me to serve my community, so that those in need will no longer have to wait. I decided to pursue a pharmacy career because it provides an opportunity for me to seamlessly use my past experiences as a teacher in underserved communities and breast cancer research scientists to fuel my fight against health inequity and to provide quality care and service to patients in medically underserved populations. I hope to continue these efforts as a practicing pharmacist, while also volunteering with clinics that offer free medical and pharmacy services as a means to stand in the gap and provide care for medically underserved populations. I recently spent this summer conducting research about the social determinants of health associated with pharmacy deserts and closures, and the subsequent impact on medication access, patient adherence, and patient outcomes.

Receiving this scholarship will help me complete my PharmD so that I can continue my life mission of working where the need is greatest: increasing access to pharmacy services and wait times in underserved communities and providing innovative solutions to existing health care disparities. My coursework provides me with tools to relentlessly advocate for my patients - ensuring they have voice and investment in their care plan; to be an empathetic educator - providing patient counseling that exceeds the standard; to be a brilliant investigator - sleuthing through medication history, drug interactions, and insurance formularies to ensure optimal treatment plans for my patients.