Elsevier, the Tampa branch of a global information analytics business specializing in science and health, has made a gift to the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy to endow The Dean Kevin B. Sneed Inaugural Class Pharmacy Scholarship, which supports Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students. This will be the first class scholarship in the college to reach the endowment level, which will generate annual scholarships indefinitely.
“In the Taneja College of Pharmacy, we are always very focused on our students’ ability to be able to get through the program with as little debt as possible,” said Dr. Kevin Sneed, dean of the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy, “Elsevier’s gift will provide much needed support for a deserving student and most importantly, because it’s now endowed, students will receive the support into perpetuity.”
Each year, Elsevier helps students from the Taneja College of Pharmacy gain more experience in the field by hiring them as interns each year. The company also makes annual gifts to support the incoming pharmacy students’ orientation to the college. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic altering how incoming students arrived to campus this fall, Elsevier decided to change the format of its annual gift, from supporting orientation to supporting student scholarships at the college.
“Elsevier is a world-renowned company. We’re not only fortunate to have them here in the Tampa Bay area but we are exceptionally fortunate that they’ve been a partner with us since the day we opened the college. They are a treasured resource, in Tampa and for the college, and we look forward to continuing their mission to impart medical and pharmaceutical knowledge to all communities across the country and around the world,” said Dr. Sneed.
USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy students at the Taneja family’s gift announcement in August 2019.
This year, the Taneja College of Pharmacy will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary of welcoming its charter class of PharmD students. The college earned full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) in 2015, and received its largest gift, a $10 million gift from the Taneja family in 2019, which will move the college to the new USF Health in Water Street building in downtown Tampa. This fall, the Taneja College of Pharmacy welcomed 96 new pharmacy students to the Class of 2024.
“It’s truly an exceptional honor to have this endowed scholarship in my name. I’m very thankful to the inaugural class of 2015 for starting the scholarship, and I look forward to much continued support and success of the college as we head into the future of pharmacy,” said Dr. Sneed.
To learn more about supporting the USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy, please contact advance@usf.edu. To join Elsevier in supporting The Dean Kevin B. Sneed Inaugural Class Pharmacy Scholarship, visit giving.usf.edu/pharmacy.
Story by Jessica Martinez, USF Health Development and Alumni Relations