Front and Center: Alexcia Carr
Published on Thursday, February 24, 2022
By: Ruth Cummins
Editor's Note: In honor of Black History Month’s 2022 theme, Black Health and Wellness, we want to celebrate the contributions, breakthroughs and cultural richness of Black professionals and students at UMMC. See more Front and Center features.
Alexcia Carr got some strong clues growing up that she would go to school to be a pharmacist.
“A lot of people have a ‘person,’ and my grandfather was that person,” said Carr, who will graduate in 2023 with a Pharm.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.
“I went with my grandfather to doctor’s visits and gave him his medications,” Carr said.
Then in 10th grade, she said, she asked her chemistry teacher: If you could do it all over again, what would you do?
“She said, ‘I would have been a pharmacist,’” Carr remembered. “I never changed my mind since then.”
The McComb native will soon reach her goal. “The doctor of pharmacy is a seven-year degree,” she said. “We spend five years on the Oxford campus, and two years on the Jackson campus.
“Oxford is more about learning, and Jackson is more about doing,” she said. “We have a lot more interprofessional opportunities here. We go to the clinics and the hospitals. We get a lot more experience.”
That doesn’t mean Carr and her fellow students on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus don’t spend a good bit of time in the classroom. On top of that, Carr has a job. “I work at Walgreens as a pharmacy intern,” she said. “We can do everything that the pharmacist does, but under their supervision. Sometimes I fill, and sometimes I give COVID vaccines. I can counsel patients on how to take their medicines.”
Ask Carr what she likes to do in her spare time, and she’ll tell you she’s been trying to find more of that lately.
“I love trying new things. I’ll almost never say no,” she said. “I like traveling to new places and being outdoors. I recently rediscovered my love for dancing – cardio hip hop, but a little more jazzy.”
She’s got a pretty good idea of her post-graduation plans.
“I don’t want to do a residency. I’m more on the research side,” Carr said. “I want to get my Ph.D. and do research in social administration and behavioral sciences in pharmacy.
“I’m definitely not your typical pharmacy student.”
Carr “is a fantastic student, always present and engaged,” said Dr. Meagan Brown, a clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice on the UMMC campus.
“She is goal oriented and knows what she wants to do. I know Alexcia will do great things in pharmacy and truly change the profession for the better.”