The dean of the University of Iowa’s College of Pharmacy spent the past week visiting two-dozen pharmacies across the state, from Sioux City to Mason City to the Quad Cities.
Dean Jill Kolesar says the goal of the tour was to build relationships and get feedback to see how the college can support local pharmacies and the services they provide to Iowa’s communities.
“In our rural areas, there is a shortage of healthcare providers. What we’re seeing is our pharmacists are helping fill that gap,” Kolesar says. “I was really impressed and inspired by some of the things they’re doing in their communities. They’re helping manage diabetes, they’re doing new screenings and really trying to plug the gap in healthcare delivery in these rural areas.”
There are only two pharmacy colleges in the state, at the UI and at Drake University in Des Moines. The Iowa City institution sees between 80 and 120 pharmacy students graduate each year, while she says Drake graduates about 55.
Kolesar says that’s far too few.
“We are seeing a shortage of pharmacists and we are also seeing a shortage of pharmacies, a lot of them are closing due to issues with pharmacy benefit managers, for the most part,” Kolesar says, “but we’re really excited that there has been new state regulations that have been passed that are trying to address some of these issues.”
She says only about one in five newly-graduated UI pharmacists leave the state.
“Eighty to 85% of our students stay in the state of Iowa,” Kolesar says. “We do send a number of our students for residencies, which is additional training after they’ve completed their program, but many of them also come back to the state to practice.”
A Wisconsin native, Kolesar was named dean at the UI in July of 2024, after a stint at the University of Kentucky and 20 years on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin. She was recently named to Forbes’ 2025 “50 Over 50” list, which honors visionary women whose work is shaping industries and changing lives.
The post Iowa pharmacists are in demand as they try to fill healthcare provider gap appeared first on KSCJ 1360.
