Class of 2024 Graduates from the Wegmans School of Pharmacy

The Wegmans School of Pharmacy honored its baccalaureate and doctoral graduates during a Commencement ceremony held on Saturday, May 11. In addition to receiving their diploma, the graduates of the Pharm.D. degree received their doctoral hoods.

This year marked an important milestone for the School of Pharmacy, as it graduated members of the first cohort of its online pathway. The School opened its "virtual" doors to the first-ever cohort of students participating in the online pathway in fall 2020. The first online or hybrid Pharm.D. pathway offered by an institution in New York state—Fisher’s online pathway graduated 14 students from seven states. Three members of the graduating cohort will go on to engage in a Post-Graduate Year One Residency.

At the ceremony, Dr. Curtis E. Haas, chief pharmacy officer at the University of Rochester Medical Center, received a President’s Medal in recognition of his leadership, partnership, and impact on the School of Pharmacy.

For 17 years, Haas specialized in critical care pharmacy practice and maintained an active teaching, practice, and research program with numerous publications and national presentations in critical care therapeutics. In 2000, he accepted a tenure-track faculty position in the school of pharmacy at the University at Buffalo, where he was promoted to associate professor with tenure. In 2006, he accepted his current leadership role at the University of Rochester. During his tenure at the institution, the department has expanded more than threefold in size and has become an enterprise-wide contributor to the success of the health system, including more than a 10-fold growth of clinically trained pharmacy specialists in both acute and ambulatory practice environments.

His many professional service activities include serving two three-year terms as a board member for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (AACP), including serving as the president from 2012 to 2013. Haas also served two three-year terms on the Pharmacotherapy Specialty Council for the Board of Pharmacy Specialties, and was one of the co-authors of the successful petition for recognition of critical care as a pharmacy specialty. He was a founding member of the Critical Care Pharmacotherapy Trials Network, which has now merged with the Discovery Network of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Haas has been involved in the training and education of pharmacy students, residents, and fellows for more than 30 years. At Fisher, he is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Wegmans School of Pharmacy and has delivered lectures and talks to students on the future of the pharmacy profession, including as a keynote speaker at the School’s White Coat Ceremony.

In his speech, he reflected on his own graduation from pharmacy school. “I realized there was so much more I needed to learn and experience if I was going to have a meaningful impact on the provision of care to patients,” Haas recalled.  “I had to have a plan to continue to develop and grow as a professional to meet what I considered my obligation.”

He explained that lifelong professional growth is a combination of personal ambition and practice environment.

“I hope that each of you find an enriching environment that helps you with your lifelong professional growth. What will be your plan to achieve continued professional development over the next several decades? You will need one,” he advised.

After the bachelor’s and doctoral degrees were conferred, Jamie Cantones Lucresio and Karnjit Brar, presidents of the Class of 2024, offered remarks on behalf of their classmates.

“As we look to the future, let us remember that our education does not end here. The world of health care is ever-evolving, and as pharmacists, we must continue to learn, adapt, and innovate. As we do, let us embrace the challenges of tomorrow with the same courage and determination that brought us to this moment,” Cantones Lucresio said. “Whether we become community pharmacists in bustling cities or rural towns, researchers pushing the boundaries in medicine, or leaders in hospital settings, each of us has a role to play in shaping the future of health care.”