The UNMC College of Pharmacy has 10 prospective students and counting committed to be a part of its inaugural cohort to matriculate pharmacy school at the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus. The first UNMC pharmacy class at Kearney is set to enroll for August 2025 and could grow to as many as 16 students.
The committed prospective enrollees all are Nebraska residents, and several are products of UNMC’s Rural Health Opportunities Program and Kearney Health Opportunities Program pathway programs. The students come from Hastings, Elgin, Hebron, North Platte, Schuyler, Doniphan, Elm Creek and Grand Island. They will be products of UNK, Wayne State College and Central Community College.
They will undertake the same curriculum as their Omaha counterparts, often synchronously through the latest in distance-learning technology. Instructors will conduct training from both the Omaha and Kearney UNMC campuses, giving students at each location a mix of in-person and blended technology-based learning.
“We are viewing it as two locations, one program,” said Don Klepser, PhD, UNMC’s interim dean of pharmacy.
This synchronous-learning model has been used successfully by several UNMC College of Allied Health Professions programs with students at both Omaha and Kearney.
UNMC also has recently hired three new faculty members dedicated to pharmacy at the Kearney campus:
- Kristen Driver, PharmD, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice and science, brings experience in ambulatory care pharmacy practice, rural population health quality assessment and chronic disease management as former patient aligned care team pharmacist at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Grand Island. She is a 2020 alumnus of the UNMC College of Pharmacy and has resided in Grand Island since graduating.
- Kyle McCartney, PharmD, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice and science, previously served as pharmacy manager at Kearney Regional Medical Center. He specializes in pharmacy management, acute care pharmacy practice, antimicrobial stewardship and pharmacy informatics. He will serve as the college’s director of community partnerships for the Kearney area. He has lived in the area since his UNMC graduation in 2013.
- Kiran Sapkota, PhD, is assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences. He earned his PhD from UNMC and was formerly an instructor of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience at UNMC’s Omaha campus. He brings expertise as a researcher and educator in neuropsychiatric disorders, neuropharmacology, drug discovery, and pharmaceutical chemistry.
Linda Sobeski, PharmD, inaugural associate dean for the UNMC College of Pharmacy’s regional pharmacy school at Kearney, said that enthusiasm is high within the central Nebraska pharmacy community for UNMC’s further expansion into the area.
“We definitely already have a strong presence here in the mid-central part of the state,” she said.
The UNMC College of Pharmacy Office of Experiential Education and University of Nebraska Foundation hosted a reception for preceptors at the Health Science Education Complex in Kearney in the fall. The reception was well attended and well received, college leaders said.
The college already works with 37 preceptors across 27 clinical sites within a 50-mile radius of Kearney. Established clinical rotation sites in the region include Cozad, Grand Island, Hastings, Holdrege, Lexington, Minden and St. Paul.
About 70% of the preceptors in the surrounding Kearney area are UNMC alums, according to college data.
“We have so many alums in this part of the state; we have so many people excited about us coming out here,” Dr. Klepser said.
Amazing work Dr. Sobeski! Excited for the future of this program!